Any experience with a TC Sentry on an EVH 5150 III 50 Watt?

[sevenstringgod]

Hey guys! I just ordered a TC sentry but I wanted to see if anyone has some experience using it with an EVH 5150 III 50 watt. I just use a dispatch master to add some reverb in and a plumes OD but I was wondering which would be the best way to order my pedals to help tame down the red channel a bit. Thanks.

 

[JesperX]

This is my exact setup, actually. The Sentry is decent, but you gotta set it up right. I have my pedals and the amps preamp in the loop of the Sentry so that everything gets gated. This would be:

Guitar -> Tuner -> Sentry Input.
Sentry send -> pedals that go before the amp -> amp input.
Amp fx loop send -> pedals that go in the loop -> Sentry Return.
Sentry output -> Amp fx loop return.

Your whole chain will be gated by the Sentry this way, with the signal trigger coming straight off your dry guitar sound.

 

[sirbuh]

They work well together.
As JesperX mentioned just spend a quick minute to dial it in and off to the races.

 

[sevenstringgod]

This is my exact setup, actually. The Sentry is decent, but you gotta set it up right. I have my pedals and the amps preamp in the loop of the Sentry so that everything gets gated. This would be:

Guitar -> Tuner -> Sentry Input.
Sentry send -> pedals that go before the amp -> amp input.
Amp fx loop send -> pedals that go in the loop -> Sentry Return.
Sentry output -> Amp fx loop return.

Your whole chain will be gated by the Sentry this way, with the signal trigger coming straight off your dry guitar sound.

Awesome, I'm gonna try it today I was pretty busy with work and other shit going on. What settings are you guys using? This is the first time I own a noise gate with more than 1 knob lol.

 

[Mike_R]

This is my exact setup, actually. The Sentry is decent, but you gotta set it up right. I have my pedals and the amps preamp in the loop of the Sentry so that everything gets gated. This would be:

Guitar -> Tuner -> Sentry Input.
Sentry send -> pedals that go before the amp -> amp input.
Amp fx loop send -> pedals that go in the loop -> Sentry Return.
Sentry output -> Amp fx loop return.

Your whole chain will be gated by the Sentry this way, with the signal trigger coming straight off your dry guitar sound.

Just curious - wouldn't this routing cut off any time based effects that are in the loop like delay or reverb when the guitar signal stops?

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

Just curious - wouldn't this routing cut off any time based effects that are in the loop like delay or reverb when the guitar signal stops?

It would. Just run your time based effects after the Sentry output and they'll work like normal

 

[JesperX]

It would. Just run your time based effects after the Sentry output and they'll work like normal

Yea for sure, do what suits your situation. I’m mostly recording so I will often just have the gate off for sections that need that, but you could put those after the Sentry output if that works better for you.

 

[sevenstringgod]

Just curious - wouldn't this routing cut off any time based effects that are in the loop like delay or reverb when the guitar signal stops?

But that's the whole point isn't it?

 

[Werecow]

But that's the whole point isn't it?

Most people think reverbs and delays sound a bit silly if they cut off like a switch being turned off, and spoil the whole ambience they are there to create, but if you want that happening it can be set up either way.

 

[Mike_R]

But that's the whole point isn't it?

I think the purpose of noise gates is to gate noise. I suppose its up to you if you consider your reverb pedal an effect or noise.

 

[sevenstringgod]

This is my exact setup, actually. The Sentry is decent, but you gotta set it up right. I have my pedals and the amps preamp in the loop of the Sentry so that everything gets gated. This would be:

Guitar -> Tuner -> Sentry Input.
Sentry send -> pedals that go before the amp -> amp input.
Amp fx loop send -> pedals that go in the loop -> Sentry Return.
Sentry output -> Amp fx loop return.

Your whole chain will be gated by the Sentry this way, with the signal trigger coming straight off your dry guitar sound.

So finally had the time to plug in everything as your reccomendation. Had to retube the amp, and was pretty busy all week. Anyways, the red channel is still noisy as hell. Any suggestions to tame it down. The sentry does wonders on the blue channel, but I'm still kinda having some trouble managing the noise with the red.

 

[KailM]

How high is your gain on the red channel, and are you boosting it too?

Mine is dead silent with my NS-2 in the loop. Any volume. I’m wondering if your Sentry is defective; it shouldn’t be that hard to kill preamp noise.

 

[sevenstringgod]

How high is your gain on the red channel, and are you boosting it too?

Mine is dead silent with my NS-2 in the loop. Any volume. I’m wondering if your Sentry is defective; it shouldn’t be that hard to kill preamp noise.

I don't think it's deffective, it's working really well on the blue channel. I always have the boost on, even on the green channel I like to have add a little dirt. Anyways, boosted and gain a tad below 1 o' clock.

 

[sevenstringgod]

How high is your gain on the red channel, and are you boosting it too?

Mine is dead silent with my NS-2 in the loop. Any volume. I’m wondering if your Sentry is defective; it shouldn’t be that hard to kill preamp noise.

By the way, I'm using a plumes by earthquaker devices with it, which doesn't add any additional noise that I can percieve. I also have a protone deadhorse but it just makes a horrible mess that you can't stand.

 

[KailM]

I don't think it's deffective, it's working really well on the blue channel. I always have the boost on, even on the green channel I like to have add a little dirt. Anyways, boosted and gain a tad below 1 o' clock.

No wonder it's noisy -- you're using a truckload of gain and boosting it. On the red channel I set my gain a hair above 9 o'clock unboosted. That's more than enough gain for death and black metal. The blue channel has quite a bit less gain than the red; even dimed it's about where the red channel is at 9 o'clock. I would turn your gain down a lot on the red channel, and consider not even boosting it -- it's capable of being very tight and saturated without an additional boost.

 

[Werecow]

If the sentry is setup correctly in the amp's loop, while not playing there should be the same amount of noise as the blue channel no matter the amount of gain on the red, as the gate should be completely closing down the signal from the pre amp. If it isn't, something is wrong with it in some way.
If you're talking about noise or feedback before the gate has chosen to close, that's a different matter. Gain at 1 O' clock on the red channel with a boost as well with the amp at a loud volume is a pretty insane amount of gain. Try knocking the gain down as you turn the volume up.

 

[EdgeCrusher]

The best thing I've done with my 5150 III 50 watt was swapping out the v1 12AX7 with a lower output tube, a JJ 12AT7. This cleaned up all three channels, and allows me to run the gain at 5-6, whereas before I had it at around 3-4 out of 10 on the red channel.

I typically don't even bother running my TS808 and Boss NS2 these days. If I do, the NS2 cleans up any bit of noise with no issue.

 

[sevenstringgod]

The best thing I've done with my 5150 III 50 watt was swapping out the v1 12AX7 with a lower output tube, a JJ 12AT7. This cleaned up all three channels, and allows me to run the gain at 5-6, whereas before I had it at around 3-4 out of 10 on the red channel.

I typically don't even bother running my TS808 and Boss NS2 these days. If I do, the NS2 cleans up any bit of noise with no issue.

I'm really considering it tbh. How noisy is the red channel if you aren't playing? Even if I mute the strings a lot, it still lets out a lot of noise. I love the red channel though, leads are creamy as hell so if I manage to fix that I will literally have my dream amp.

Also, did you just swap the v1 12ax7, or the v2 and others as well?

 

[KailM]

You only need to swap out V1, as that will reduce the gain that all the other tubes receive. I've never cared for a 12AT7 in V1 of my amps (5150s, 6505s). I find that it takes away a little too much, uh, balls...for lack of a better term, and I can't get it back by turning up the gain. I do use a 5751 in V1 though, which does reduce the gain a bit, but doesn't decrease the aggressiveness.

The red channel is noisy regardless. If I have it turned up loud, and mute the strings with both hands, there is a pretty loud hum. The NS-2 kills it instantly, and has no trouble doing so. I use pretty light-handed settings on it too. It shouldn't be that hard to kill preamp hum. Really, the red channel has entirely too much gain if you go beyond 10 o'clock. You're not really gaining anything by turning it up higher (see what I did there) except to oversaturate the preamp and reduce the definition of your chords. Especially if you're boosting it. Have you tried lowering the gain and testing to see if your Sentry still struggles with it? When I have boosted the red channel, I find that I had to turn the gain below 9 o'clock to get anything useable, and this is with a 5751 in V1. And I love, love, love tons of gain and saturation.

 

[Seabeast2000]

"We have nothing to gain but gain itself" - FDR