rack stuff

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soulblooddivide

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i have a mesa dual rect 2-chan. and it sounds AWESOME but i want to clean up my solos alittle bit with some compression and eliminate the hum, and maybe add some sustain... im looking at the rocktron hush and/or the dbx comp/gate... plus i have alot of pedals and i kinda wanted to run stop the mud from them... thanks for the responds in advance...
 
Rocktron Hush

I know this response is a little late. I just ran a search on Rocktron here to see what other people might have had to say about this little pedal.

I bought a Rocktron Hush pedal because it only costs around $49 when I had the same problem. Mainly I wanted to eliminate some hum noise and electricity in the background on a bowling alley microphone. It's an excellent tool and did exactly what I wanted it to do even though it's designed for guitars. The only thing is you have to send whatever instrument or mic you're using through some kind of processing first. Plug it in at the end of your guitar stompbox chain and it'll work beautifully.

It tightens up the threshold is what it does. And it does a really excellent job of it. I'm not exactly 100% on the differences between compression and threshold. Some people think they're the same, but they're not. I've even heard that some less-professional compression tools labeled "compression" are actually threshold limiters.

Please someone correct me if I'm wrong. Basically compression will do better at silencing gaps between singing or playing and open up the sound again when you begin singing or playing. Threshold, from my experience with the dial on my Rocktron Hush, would close up the sound and squash the electric frequencies even cleaning up the bowling alley mic sound of my noisy mic. And the effect is extremely pleasing if you are getting a lot of hum from your junk.

So for the money, if you need to limit threshold, a Hush pedal beats the DBX by at least a hundred+ dollars.

In my humble O.
 
actually, a compressor can actually bring out noise... as you lower the threshold (the point at which compression kicks in), your peaks get closer to where noise lies, and when you raise the volume to compensate for what was lost in compressing, you also increase the noise. in a gate, the threshold sets where the signal's volume is cut. other controls, such as attack, release, hold, and other settings govern how the signal is gated.

to answer the original question... if you want to have both hum elimination and the effects a compressor has on sustain, i'd just go with a compressor/gate combo. i believe the hush uses a frequency dependent gate, but i'm not sure, i've never really looked into it. as far as mud, i'd blame bad cabling or your pedals not being true bypass.
 
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actually, a compressor can actually bring out noise... as you lower the threshold (the point at which compression kicks in), your peaks get closer to where noise lies, and when you raise the volume to compensate for what was lost in compressing, you also increase the noise.
Click to expand...

I know. Actually, from my experience, that's the reason compression didn't work very well for me at noise reduction. The DBX compressor essentially would mute both noise and tone at the extreme ends of the audio spectrum, then turning the volume up would bring back the noise (kind of half muted) and create a dull, half-muted vocal (or instrument) too. The reason I got a Hush was because it didn't reduce the tone.

The Rocktron Hush actually brought clarity to the sound, virtually eliminating all the buzz and hum and hiss without detracting from the tonal quality. I know it's meant for a guitar, but you can really hear the the crystal clarity that little Rocktron pedal creates on an extremely "colorful" microphone like my bowling alley mic.

They say the Hush lowers the threshold floor. "HUSH the Pedal is actually a form of single-ended noise reduction that tracks your signal all the way and pushes the noise floor below the point where your ear can hear the noise. It does not hurt your sustain or chop off the end of your notes." (http://www.rocktron.com) It's a one knob box. Just turn the dial to the point where you can't hear the hiss or whatever. It's really awesome.

If you want to increase sustain, just do it on the computer with a plug-in. If you want more live sustain, and you have a lot of electricity (hiss/hum/buzz/etc), you're going to hear it if you try to sustain a guitar tone with the noise gate by adding gain to the hold and release. So you should probably get a Hush anyway or figure out if you need a better humbucker or whatever before you get a DBX gate.

:rolleyes:
 
the noise won't be pronounced if the guitar's signal lies above the noise... and if you really have that much noise, you are going to want to look at your cabling, sheilding, pickups, effects, tubes and the wiring of your playing/recording area. a good compressor doesnt really mute anything, and it's purpose is not noise reduction. it seems like you're saying that a noise reduction unit, a completely different tool with a completely different purpose, will replace a compressor. noise reduction sometimes involves frequency specific compression and gating, but in no way is it going to function as a broadband compressor, catering to the whole signal.

the rocktron doesnt create any clarity, it just removes the dirt from your signal, and i think the causes should be looked at first. i'm not saying the thing isn't useful, but as a tool for getting rid of unwanted noise, it seems skewed to have that as the main tool in your audio arsenal.
 
Dude, just try the Hush pedal before you dis it.

Ok, first of all, this isn't an arsenal issue. In terms of open-air noise from a base microphone the clarity the Hush creates is amazing. It isn't exactly "crystal" because it's a colored vintage mic. But the sound is suddenly clean, crisp, and clear. It removes all the open air noise when turned all the way up, controls feedback, and when the floor drops out exponentially as a word is spoken into the mic... it seems to my ear to work better than any compressor I've ever used. As far as sustain or any other effects to add to your "arsenal," you'll have to look elsewhere, but it's a mighty fine fix-it tool. For guitar especially since that's what it's designed for.

With the Hush, you don't even need a rack unit, just the pedal, and that's only 49 bucks compared to the DBX. You can get a rack model though if you feel the need for it. Either way works great. If you want FX get an FX tool, if you want to clean up, get a clean up tool.

Compression is never an arsenal weapon.
 
I have a 2 channel Triple Rectifier and a Rocktron Hush IIC rack unit. I turn my effects loop on both channels by default, and I run my FX loop through one channel of my Hush. That seems to get rid of all preamp noise. So, basically, you can have the amp on 10 and have it dead silent, then wham... a wall of noise.

I actually run my pedal board into the front of my head. :)

I've been contemplating getting a pedal/channel switching Midi rig (Bradshaw RSB18 or a Rocktron All Access + Digital Music GCX)... but I've been telling myself I don't need it, though it would probably help my sound with all these non-true bypass pedals.

Anyways... I digress...
 
I know it's not exactly what you asked, but if you want to tighten up your solos, reduce noise, and add sustain, you should turn down your preamp gain, turn up the master volume, and fiddle with your mids.

It sounds to me as if you are trying to fix your basic sound with effects, ignore this post if you have already explored these options.
 
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