Noise Gates & Noise Suppression Pedals

Noise gates and noise suppression pedals eliminate - or greatly reduce - unwanted noise. Originally only available in big studio hardware, they have now become available in handy pedal formats.

Noise suppressors work by letting anything above a certain volume pass through while killing anything below a certain volume. The ‘threshold’ is how you can pick what this volume is. This doesn’t mean unwanted noise is gone for good, however, it only works when you are not playing. Another way of imagining this is like a child safety gate; kids are only kept out while the gate is shut. As soon as you open it to get through yourself they can get out with you!

Noise gate pedals are particularly popular among metal guitarists. They enable them to play with huge amounts of gain but still have a clean, precise tone without any unwanted hissing and screeching.

What Makes Expression Pedals Different?