New Pedal Day: EHX - The Silencer

[Hanaywhat]

Picked up this noise gate as I'm getting way to much buzzing and humming with 9 pedals on the board so obviously I needed to add a 10th. Power supply is maxed out but my Snark tuner pedal has a power output to jump to another pedal when it's off. Anyways I noticed this noise gate has an effects loop feature with return and send. I'm not sure exactly how it works or what it's for. Anyone else use this pedal? I'll post an update after I hook it up and play.

 

[Ebidis]

Noise gate...

The most unexciting pedal ever.

HNPD.

 

[joebtone]

Picked up this noise gate as I'm getting way to much buzzing and humming with 9 pedals on the board so obviously I needed to add a 10th. Power supply is maxed out but my Snark tuner pedal has a power output to jump to another pedal when it's off. Anyways I noticed this noise gate has an effects loop feature with return and send. I'm not sure exactly how it works or what it's for. Anyone else use this pedal? I'll post an update after I hook it up and play.

What does it sound like?!

 

[Murdog]

HNPD!

 

[Ebidis]

What does it sound like?!

Sounds like nothing you've ever heard.

 

[Hanaywhat]

What does it sound like?!

I've got to wait for my woman to go to bed before I try it because if she finds out I bought another pedal she will lock me outside again.

 

[J-Mart]

Picked up this noise gate as I'm getting way to much buzzing and humming with 9 pedals on the board so obviously I needed to add a 10th. Power supply is maxed out but my Snark tuner pedal has a power output to jump to another pedal when it's off. Anyways I noticed this noise gate has an effects loop feature with return and send. I'm not sure exactly how it works or what it's for. Anyone else use this pedal? I'll post an update after I hook it up and play.

Have one, pretty decent gate. Doesn't close as fast as a decimator, but for the price it's great. Doesn't color the sound. I use mine in the loop to shut everything down. The pedal's loop is cool for noisy pedals in front of the amp. Like anything, it all depends on your rig.

 

[joebtone]

What does it not sound like?

I've got to wait for my woman to go to bed before I try it because if she finds out I bought another pedal she will lock me outside again.

That’s cool, you can’t wake her with a pedal that makes no sound....so it’s all good.
Hope it works better than an old Boss NG I had.

 

[Ebidis]

What does it not sound like?

That’s cool, you can’t wake her with a pedal that makes no sound....so it’s all good.
Hope it works better than an old Boss NG I had.

A pedal that makes no sound...

I need to buy one of those for someone in my band.

 

[Hanaywhat]

Have one, pretty decent gate. Doesn't close as fast as a decimator, but for the price it's great. Doesn't color the sound. I use mine in the loop to shut everything down. The pedal's loop is cool for noisy pedals in front of the amp. Like anything, it all depends on you're rig.

So I patched her in. Still trying to get the settings dialed in. It seems to work but the gate doesn't open fast enough and the first note or chord I play doesn't always sound. Also I'm running a SD1 into a big muff PI with tone wicker. The gate works fine for the individual drives but when they're both on the gate doesn't close until I turn the threshold past 3 ocock and then it doesn't open back up again even though I'm playing. So far I rate this product 4/10.

 

[J-Mart]

So I patched her in. Still trying to get the settings dialed in. It seems to work but the gate doesn't open fast enough and the first note or chord I play doesn't always sound. Also I'm running a SD1 into a big muff PI with tone wicker. The gate works fine for the individual drives but when they're both on the gate doesn't close until I turn the threshold past 3 ocock and then it doesn't open back up again even though I'm playing. So far I rate this product 4/10.

I dont know how experienced you are with noise gates, but what you're explaining is the issue with them in general. The threshold level that you need to silence your dirty sounds is too much for the cleaner sounds, it won't open.

Just by your picture, I would suggest putting the gate first, with guitar going into it the input, all the drives in the loop of the pedal, then from the output of the pedal, to your modulations and delays. That is the most effective way to use those type of gates, because it senses the guitar through the input to set an initial level and then gates the noise in the loop.

 

[Hanaywhat]

I dont know how experienced you are with noise gates, but what you're explaining is the issue with them in general. The threshold level that you need to silence your dirty sounds is too much for the cleaner sounds, it won't open.

Just by your picture, I would suggest putting the gate first, with guitar going into it the input, all the drives in the loop of the pedal, then from the output of the pedal, to your modulations and delays. That is the most effective way to use those type of gates, because it senses the guitar through the input to set an initial level and then gates the noise in the loop.

Ok I'll try that. Should I put my chorus or phaser in that loop as well?

 

[J-Mart]

Ok I'll try that. Should I put my chorus or phaser in that loop as well?

No. Typically modulation doesn't really add noise.

 

[J-Mart]

So I patched her in. Still trying to get the settings dialed in. It seems to work but the gate doesn't open fast enough and the first note or chord I play doesn't always sound. Also I'm running a SD1 into a big muff PI with tone wicker. The gate works fine for the individual drives but when they're both on the gate doesn't close until I turn the threshold past 3 ocock and then it doesn't open back up again even though I'm playing. So far I rate this product 4/10.

I forgot to mention it, but for max effect, you'll want to have reduction and release all the way up. Faster closing and more reduction. With the release as you have it might let some noise come through as your guitar signal is decaying.

 

[Hanaywhat]

OK. So I hooked up the effects loop feature and reorganized my drive pedals. Noise gate is now near the front of signal chain with compressor, overdrive and fuzz running in the pedal loop. Noise gate goes back out to modulation. This works WAY better. Does exactly what I want it to do with big muff and SD1 cranked. Board sounds better than it's ever been and I'm happy with the purchase. The problem before was the gate wasn't sensing the signal fast enough but now with it in front it senses it before drive, and using the effects loop, is able to suppress the drive hiss and hum. It took me about a day to wrap my head around what J-mart was explaining. Appreciate it, thanks.

 

[Houdi Elbow]

I have a Silencer. Had it on my board for a few months, but eventually went back to using my Boss NS2.
The Silencer is a good pedal, don't get me wrong, but I find the Boss so much easier to set up.

 

[Butcher of Strats]

Dont think of it as having an FX loop.

The input of the gate needs to see your guitar so it knows the difference between light picking and fuzz pedal noise.
Then the output goes to noisy pedals, thrn back to the gate for attenuation of non music noise, then to your amp.
Its prdal function, not an added FX loop.

Im not sure if a poorly wired noisy board with inadequate power supply is going to be fixed though?

Also figure that ganging more pedals off the tuner output power isnt a fix if your PS is not up to powering all those pedals.

 

[Hanaywhat]

Dont think of it as having an FX loop.

The input of the gate needs to see your guitar so it knows the difference between light picking and fuzz pedal noise.
Then the output goes to noisy pedals, thrn back to the gate for attenuation of non music noise, then to your amp.
Its prdal function, not an added FX loop.

Im not sure if a poorly wired noisy board with inadequate power supply is going to be fixed though?

Also figure that ganging more pedals off the tuner output power isnt a fix if your PS is not up to powering all those pedals.

Power supply works fine. Everything sounds great. Poorly wired how?

 

[J-Mart]

OK. So I hooked up the effects loop feature and reorganized my drive pedals. Noise gate is now near the front of signal chain with compressor, overdrive and fuzz running in the pedal loop. Noise gate goes back out to modulation. This works WAY better. Does exactly what I want it to do with big muff and SD1 cranked. Board sounds better than it's ever been and I'm happy with the purchase. The problem before was the gate wasn't sensing the signal fast enough but now with it in front it senses it before drive, and using the effects loop, is able to suppress the drive hiss and hum. It took me about a day to wrap my head around what J-mart was explaining. Appreciate it, thanks.

Glad it worked out. I run a very similar setup on my main board, but I use an MXR noise clamp; I find, on my rig, it opens and closes a little faster than the silencer. I still carry the silencer around in my cables bag just in case a venue has dirty power or too many neons or something for which I might need more Silence. lol

 

[J-Mart]

Dont think of it as having an FX loop.

The input of the gate needs to see your guitar so it knows the difference between light picking and fuzz pedal noise.
Then the output goes to noisy pedals, thrn back to the gate for attenuation of non music noise, then to your amp.
Its prdal function, not an added FX loop.

Im not sure if a poorly wired noisy board with inadequate power supply is going to be fixed though?

Also figure that ganging more pedals off the tuner output power isnt a fix if your PS is not up to powering all those pedals.

Great explanation, I tried to simplify it a little, but spot on.