Here we go- a very affordable noise gate by TC Electronic. If you are familiar with this range of effects by TCE you are assured of two things: 1) Quality 2) Value-for-money.
The Iron Curtain is a noise suppressing unit with two essential controls- threshold & decay. The former is the effects limit setting which passing signals have to overcome to be manifested over at the amp. Background hissing, cycle hums & extraneous noises have difficulty getting through this barrier so to speak unless the unit itself was created with a very low threshold range. The latter, in simple terms, controls the extent of ringing notes; sustain if your will. Some heavy metal dweebs prefer an immediate muting after each picked note, others want to hear their notes die a natural death. Whatever the preference, you deal with this knob to get the desired outcome.
Most pickups (only passive ones were used for this review) couldn't get past the threshold limit of about 40%. However, higher output humbuckers (eg. Duncan's SH-6) require a higher threshold limit of 70% +/-. If you are the type who tempts the noise suppressing unit with a drive pedal, be informed that the IC was conceived for best performance involving a direct instrument connection.
Battery access requires a removal of the base plate. The screws keeping that attached to the main housing are the very small ones you see above- definitely not a wise thing to do at dark performance venues. This might be the only gripe I have with this pedal, everything else are no frills, deserving of the asking price.
The Iron Curtain is a member of the second wave of affordable TCE pedals which re-assures the player with budget limitations of quality returns. It's neither boutique nor skimpy, something in between & treading on affordability more than deliberation.
Rating: 75%
TC Electronics: Iron Curtain
Noise reduction/ elimination unit
Availability: Swee Lee Co.
List: $79
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