Metal players who dont use a noise gate?

[Georgeclooney5150]

Besides John pettruci is there anyone else?
Ever since I started playing metal I was advice to always have a gate on because of the noise produce by high gain amps but recently I started turning off the gate, and bring down the threshold on the noise gate quite low on some noisy amps, and also turn down the gain on the amp.
I like how the guitar responds to my playing and im having more fun. feels like playing for the first time all over again. You also get a different tone, might minimal, but its there. Idk why I kept the gate on all the time, and threshold at noon or sometimes past noon.

 

[ArtDecade]

I don't use a noise gate.

 

[JSKrev]

I didn't until a couple years ago. If you're judicious with the gain and don't need those rapid stop/starts, you're usually fine without one. There are those situations where feedback becomes unwieldy, so it's helpful to have it on the board.

 

[Rev2010]

If you like the sound of noise, go gate-free. If you prefer silence when you stop playing and love the sound of a nice quick riff/stop/play/stop without all that shitty noise in between then use a gate.

Honestly it's silly, sounds more like you're just trying to convince yourself you don't need to spend a few hundred for a good gate. A good gate will NOT suck tone. I use the ISP Decimator II G-String and it's amazing. I much much prefer it on then off. To each their own.

 

[SalsaWood]

All gates will have an impact on tone if they are actually needed and doing their job, that's why I don't use one live. At home I do, because feedback every time I have to punch in or out is obnoxious and my musical sketchings are pretty utilitarian or self gratifying. I don't care about the crowd's opinion on anything, either. I'm there to have fun just like they are.

There are some ways around it, like OP and other folks have already mentioned about the gain/volume and concentrating on keeping rests very clean. I find gates just take out too much character from my playing, and I don't play djent styles where I need a hard knee in my sound. They are invaluable all things considered, but do what floats your boat.

 

[NoodleFace]

Prefer mine off as.well but I've found playing shows it's a necessity. You never know when a venue is going to have noisy wiring or lights that will fuck you up with squealing.

 

[ArtDecade]

No one cares about a little extra noise when they can experience my teased up hair, spandex covered rear, and choreographed hip thrusts.

 

[budda]

I forget if the axe has default gate still on on my presets, trad rig no gate.

 

[nightsprinter]

Type O Negative and Vallenfyre?

 

[odibrom]

I don't use a noise gate.

... me neither...

Now with rig talk, I have a "Kill Switch" programmed on my pedalboard and always reset to clean sound when the music stops. Noise is only bad when uncontrolled, otherwise it's (part of the) music.

As some have already said, I found the noise gate to eat too much of what I like or expect to hear from my playing, specially the dynamics...

 

[Kaura]

Nah. Team noisegate here. Since I mostly use single-coils I want to hear at least some of the notes instead of just hisses and shizzles.

 

[RevDrucifer]

I’m not a fan of gates but they’re practically a necessity for high volume/smaller rooms unless you want the amp feeding back every time a pause comes in.

 

[tedtan]

A properly set up gate "four cable gate" (like the ISP Decimator line) really shouldn't cut anything you actually want to hear off, only the unwanted hiss/noise/etc.

 

[Lukhas]

If you play incisively enough, you can (at times) get away without a noise gate.



Not sure how metal you consider him to be, but Steve Vai doesn't like to use a noise gate. Personally I play in REAPER, and the ReaGate settings in there are without real comparison to most pedals. It can be really finely adjusted.

 

[Baelzebeard]

A good gate, in the correct spot of your signal path, and set correctly will not ruin your tone.

I don't use them for super tight stop start riffs though. Just to kill the hiss when not playing. I set the threshold to open with very light signal, and to close slowly. I can still manipulate feedback as desired, and whatnot.

 

[myampslouder]

Back when I was actually playing in a band I never used a gate. I was using EMGs at the time so the pickups were already pretty quiet. I also just got really fast on the volume and still to this day I have the habit of immediately going for the volume at any point that I'm not actually playing. All that was purely just a byproduct of me just not having the money for a good gate at the time.

Really good gates are also just a lot more affordable now and a lot more transparent and responsive. If I was to start gigging tomorrow the first thing I'd do is order a gate just because it makes life a lot easier on stage.

 

[CleansingCarnage]

Do gates really affect your sound that much? I am used to playing digital, where I doubt it makes any difference, but is it true that gate pedals used with an amp actually can suck tone and dynamics? What about amps with built in gates?

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

Do gates really affect your sound that much? I am used to playing digital, where I doubt it makes any difference, but is it true that gate pedals used with an amp actually can suck tone and dynamics? What about amps with built in gates?

Unless you use stupid extreme settings or shitty gates, no. Use something good like an ISP Decimator and set the knob properly and you're golden.

 

[myampslouder]

Do gates really affect your sound that much? I am used to playing digital, where I doubt it makes any difference, but is it true that gate pedals used with an amp actually can suck tone and dynamics? What about amps with built in gates?

I wouldn't say they really affect the tone but some older designs can be a little slow which can be annoying if you're playing stuff with a lot of starts and stops. They can have like a bit of lag before they open up and as a consequence you lose some attack and some are just sort of hard to get a good compromise between keeping the noise cut off and actually letting notes ring out.

There are so many really good options now and some being super affordable so that's kinda more of a 10 year ago problem.

 

[SalsaWood]

A properly set up gate "four cable gate" (like the ISP Decimator line) really shouldn't cut anything you actually want to hear off, only the unwanted hiss/noise/etc.

This is what I use and how I use it. It's not transparent/uncolored being the biggest factor of things.