Noise Gate recommendation?

Can anyone recommend an inexpensive noise gate pedal that works well with bass? I don’t need a lot of bells and whistles, I just want to see if it will stop the humming that I’m getting out of the amp when the bass is idle.

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Try rolling your pickup balance all the way to the P pickup and see if the noise goes down. You might be picking up electrical interference through the J.

If so, the next step is to track down the interference :slight_smile:

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I’ve already done that and it doesn’t help.

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Noise both active and passive? Volume knob affect the noise?

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Yes, both passive and active. The humming increases with the volume and especially with overdrive kicked on.

It’s unnoticeable when I’m playing, it’s only when the bass is idle on the guitar stand.

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Yuck. Sounds like maybe a shielding issue for the electronics compartment, since you ruled out the J pickup, but hard to say.

Since it increases with the volume, a noise gate might actually help. But probably best to find the cause of the interference and why your bass is picking it up.

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FYI, It only started (or I only noticed it) when I switched from the Rumble 100 to the Rumble 500 amp head and cab.

Also, before anyone asks, I already tried direct to the amp (eliminated the pedal board).

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Your Zoom actually has a noise gate in it. Or a thing like a noise gate. Look for an effect called ZNR and add it to an empty patch maybe?

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Yeah, I used to use that ZNR effect when I had the Zoom, but now since I’ve switched to a pedal board I need to try a pedal.
I guess I could get one from Amazon and if it doesn’t solve the problem I can return it and investigate further.

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Ahh, I thought you still had the Zoom.

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also do you use a specific speaker cable (and not an instrument jack, like the one you have between your bass and your amp head) between the amp head and the cab ? it’s unlikely to be the problem but as I’m thinking about this, I’m asking.

when you set the volume pot of the bass to zero, do the hum totally stop, or not ?

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Yes

Yes

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ok, I’m pretty much sure it’s just that your P pickup is not optimized for a great noise management (like a lot of bass pickups). the J pickup MUST generate a lot of EMI noise, by the way it’s designed, that’s why I (and @howard before me) focus on the P pickup.

to give a comparison point, the pickup I have on Greenie is a DiMarzio, pretty much a very early (70’s) pickup made specifically for extreme rock and metal, and it’s dead quiet. the pickup I have on the plywood BEAD thing is a high-end modern P pickup and it’s also dead quiet. the stock pickups on those two basses were not so quiet, probably like your pickup on the Yamaha.

so, yeah, a noise gate will probably work.

it’s a bass, so the EMI problem is not a so big issue (compared to a guitar) and so I’m almost sure that a random noise gate would work. if I were you I would buy a cheap chinese noise gate like a Amoon, Koko, Caline, Rowin or another of those brands. it would cost about $20 , you can find them on Aliexpress and probably Amazon. I’m quite sure you don’t need something more expensive.

if you’re really too rich :grin: this thing is the absolute best noise gate I’ve ever seen and tried. it’s incredible. I tested it with a guitar (higher frequencies = more prone to EMI) with very high gain. I’m talking about gain like you can not archieve with a TS9 or something like this ; much much much more.

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