Selling: ISP Decimator X

In anticipation of  incoming chemo bills, there are some pedals I need to let go for the sake of funding. The ISP Decimator X here is one of them. It's the typical ISP Decimator noise reduction pedal but in a space-saving format. Used for about 5 times, comparing it to BOSS' NS-2 along the way. Thank you in advance for your support in making my ends meet. You may think it's not much but every dollar goes a long way. When you are sick, you struggle with the recovery rigour. Post-recovery, you struggle with bills.

• ISP Decimator X, noise reduction pedal
• Box & pouch included
• Condition: 9/10
• Self-collect: CCK / Yew Tee MRT station
• No reservations / trades
• Confirmation / query: subversion.sg@gmail.com
• Price: $139 (final)

Ironed

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

Silence is golden

Well, let's put in perspective- silence at the right moments is indeed golden. My set up has plenty of drive coming from both a pedal & the amp's dirty channel. I've been through many noise reduction units & deem them all as practical. Useful is a matter of application which is largely personal. The purpose of having a noise reduction unit is to eliminate extraneous noise from your playing; all those background humming, hissing, pick scrapes & accidental picking could all be hushed. The understanding of silence here is when you stop playing, these noises wouldn't be heard. We need to understand that the extraneous noise  cannot be eliminated to begin with but can control when they should not be heard.

Any down side of using a noise reduction unit? Yes.

• affects gain
• affects selected frequencies
• affects sustain

However, these setbacks are only apparent if the users are not objective when having a noise reduction unit in their set up. For instance, if you max out all the controls without understanding what each does, you are going to suffer the stutter effect; some lightly picked notes failed to get across the noise threshold & got muted. You also need to do a needs assessment- do you need a noise reduction unit especially so for those observing a low drive signal chain. 

Seen above: EHX The Silencer. 

Shhh...

Ah, finally. My insatiable quest for a noise reduction unit- it's inevitable if one embraces excessive high gain. Appraisal to come.

TC Electronics: Sentry

We end September with this piece of news from TC Electronics. It's another noise reduction unit out there but offering something different. 1) The pedal has a frequency noise reduction focus, meaning, you can target the frequencies which are generating noise instead of gating the entire signal. 2) The pedal has a loop feature so you connect the noisy culprit (most probably a pedal yes?) in parallel & again, this will not gate your entire signal. Now, that's a very welcomed perspective in this light.

Hushing

Looks like I'm bent on an over drive over dose but this set up was intentional. I needed to know the real threshold of this Rocktron Hush pedal since it's one of the leading names in noise reduction technology. So a strong drive source (Boss) made the line up, followed by a standard drive source (Nux) & finally, a gain pusher (Artec) which isn't a drive source per se but in conjunction with any drive unit, would provide a drive supplement to boost things up.

The Hush was initially placed before the Boss but the threshold level was strong enough to cut out guitar signals at its maximum application. It's then placed between two drive sources (as depicted) & it reacted accordingly, meaning, it silenced the signals once no playing takes place so all background hissing which are gain-related were rightfully muted. In between the Nux & Artec, the Hush had problems keeping the noise at bay because the preceding drive units overpowered its  maximum threshold level. Placed at the end of the signal chain, the pedal was rendered ineffective. So it sat there in between the yellow & green drivers to manifest its maximum potential till I ended the morning's session.

Is there a correct place for a noise gate to be? It depends on the player's set-up. Keep in mind that the role of such a device is to silence unwanted signals at the player's behest so if it's not doing just that, then that position where it was set to be becomes questionable. The onus is on the player to experiment & embrace what works for him/ her. At the end of any trial & error, there is always an insight in what makes the set-up work. This is where sharing empowers knowledge.

Mooer: Noise Killer

This is only my second gear-related purchase this year. Things are a little slow but that's how it will be for some time to come because I have reached a certain level of saturation somewhat. No hurry, I will do selected pickings this year. The pedal you see above is Mooer's Noise Killer.

It's the fourth noise reduction unit that came into my residence. As you can see here, the pedal's nothing too extensive in terms of dimensions. Control is a mere threshold knob & the flick switch is an option between soft & hard modes. The job of any noise reduction unit is to eliminate signals that fall below a specified level so the range here extends from -70db to +10db. At maximum setting (+10db), it mutes your guitar signals entirely (I was using a humbucking guitar the last time I employed this pedal. If you don't realize it by now, this would make a great kill-switch function. But how much threshold should you specify for your personal use? It depends on the following considerations (among others):

• the number of pedals with gain contribution coming into the NK's input
• the type of pickups you are using (low/high output)
• your picking intensity
• how much volume is coming from your guitar

The implication here is that one has to repeatedly specify the threshold setting depending on one's setup. The hard/ soft modes allow for decay consideration. This pedal runs on plug-in power, the reason it's able to be manifested in such trimmed dimensions. Considering its effective delivery as a noise reduction unit with minimal settings & a light-weight being to boot, the Mooer NK is a worthy consideration. Be warned that at certain threshold selection, it might affect your tone so you just have to hear it in action before parting with cash.

Mooer: Noise killer
List: SGD120
Availability: SV Guitars

Beta Aivin: NG-100

This is my new noise reduction pedal, something very affordable by Beta Aivin (NG-100). It works very well to say the least & very easy to use as well. I do own the Carl Martin noise reduction unit but that pedal is only equipped with a threshold control. Yes, that helps a lot for those of us who do not wish to tweak ther noise reduction unit but it's no harm owning a variation of the same thing.

Beta Aivin: NG-100 Noise Gate
Availability: Standard Value
List: $65