ISP Technologies Decimator Noise Reducer

The number of people bad mouthing the NS-2 to justify their purchase of something shiny and digital is amazing. Whatever this pedal may or may not do it certainly doesn't have a decay knob! If you have a dynamic style of play the NS-2 is the one to use as you can control the decay time of the signal. It's like a Dynacomp vs a Super Comp. The Dynacomp has a set attack whereas the Super Comp is adjustable. I use the Super Comp and the NS-2 rather than the Dynacomp and the Smart Gate.

Simple to use just plug it in first thing in the chain after the guitar. Crank guitars humbucker and amps gain, turn knob till feedback stops during play. You'll end up around the -40db setting like eveyone else.

Schecter Blackjack 006 guitar using the Seymore Duncan JB at the bridge.
Full tone and volume ajustment on guitar in this test.
Monster Rock cables (use a good cables people trust me it matters)
Carvin V3 Amp pushing a 4x12 cab with Eminence Legend 125's
Amps gain 10!!!!

I DON'T CARE WHAT ELSE YOU READ!!!!!! Put the Decimator first in the chain. If the guitar pick-ups are gated you won't have feedback when doing fast stop and go high gain playing. You'll find yourself around the -40db setting. It doesn't touch my tone or sustain AT ALL with this set up. As for the hiss at idle here's the perfect solution ready. Play your guitar or go to the clean channel.

After this is set to the above if you split the coil on guitar or go to the neck pick-up you WILL suffer sustain loss. No biggy though feedback is not a problem really here and the Decimator can be turned on and off on the fly you know.

Had it for 6 months now through several gigs and practice with no problems.

Would not want to go without it!!! I play alot with the gain set at 10 and probabaly wouldn't be a bad Idea to get a back up.

You won't need help once you figure out to place it where I said it works best.

The only upgrade here would be from the Boss NS2 you might be using cause thing KILLS it hands down.

If you play high gain sounds it's a "MUST HAVE" in your rig. Remember put it FIRST in the chain nothing should be in front of it except for a maybe a tuner, you WANT to gate your pick-ups here people.

I don't care what happens to it if it where gone I would replace immediatly! If you play high gain it should be the ONLY added piece of equipment you have if you only had one.

It helps my playing in every way by killing the feedback.

If you love to play at HIGH gain levels it's a must have so just get it and I swear you'll never use anything else until technology evolves even furthur.

Simple to use its one knob get real!

About as transparent as it gets period. I consider this NOTHING more than a feedback suppresor and thats it. My buddy bought one after using mine he loved it so much and check out the youtube vids on it.

I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU READ use this first thing in line from your guitar and not through any loops or after other pedals yada yada bla bla bla what ever people say or tell you THEY ARE WRONG. Gate your pick-ups and its a beautiful thing to have and its PERFECT for a high gain rig.

If you do it this way you'll find your setting right around -40db just like everybody else that knows what this thing is actually good for. GATING YOUR PICK-UPS! If you don't like hiss while at idle then stop crying about it and play the guitar.

TANK

I did call them one time to ask how to turn the knob and they were VERY helpful and polite. (support really?)

Top notch gate for your guitar. Until I need another gate I'll stick to these or until something better comes along. For now it the holy grail of gates.

22 yrs. of playing. I'm an 80's metal head I mean like Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and NOT gay hair so called panzy metal ok. I love high gain set ups the most cause in my opinion they are VERY challenging to play and rock so hard.

THIS PEDAL IS A MUST FOR ANY HIGH GAIN RIG! Just gate the guitar (FIRST THING IN LINE)and thats that.

I find this VERY simple to use. I go to the highest gain I can on my Carvin V3 and turn the one knob until feedback quits. It's set to a hair above -40db which is I think where everybody finds the sweet spot. There's one good demo of this on youtube with a MESA amp check it out and ignore these guys expecting anything more than a noise gate and giving this bad reviews.

I gave it an 9.5 for rating here for the fact there is a tad bit of tone colouring. More like an extreme mild gain kill than tone change so once again ignore the retards negative reviews.

This thing reacts FAST!! I love it and its by far the BEST noise gate out there at this price range. Unless your ABSOLUTE anal about tone change you won't even care it's there trust me. Guys like me who use this for what its actually for find it to be crucial for playing HIGH GAIN channel.

Yes there is still plenty of hiss at idle but thats not what you should be using it for. I found another way to kill that hiss its called "playing the guitar"

It will KILL feedback and will "NOT" kill sustain at all set "properly" with good high gain pick-ups. (Seymore Duncan JB here) If you won't to incorperate feedback in a part of a song just turn off and then back on while on the fly. If your after high gain grind this thing is a MUST have in a good rig. Just check out some top playing artists rigs and see how "many" of them use this beast.

So far its been no problem with PLENTY of use for 7mo. now. I leave it pluged in most of the time although I have used batteries with it at a few gigs now. On that not use only GOOD name brand battery and a new one each gig. As the battery weakens the ajustment of the threashhold will need to be reset so if at a gig just put in a new battery and turn off when at break and you won't have any problems with that.

Not needed. It's got ONE knob for God sakes how hard could this be?

Overall its a MUST have in a high gain rig. The effect it has on tone if you will is so minute that the gate trick this bad boy has is well worth EVEYTHING!

simple but does not do what the company promises

Please read this revieuw carefully, I have no intent to spawn negativism on this produkt or company, this pedal might be your holy grail, however it is by FAR NOT what the company tell it is.

After reading the revieuws below I took the risk to buy one before trying it.

Firts of all: there are two ways of noise control: noise reduktion, wich simplified explained permanently that takes certain frequencies away, like dbx or dolby on, tape or like the rocktron hush.

A second way is by noise gatewich rougly work like this; the gate opens and lets sound/noise trough or closes and shuts everything up.

The Decimator is a noise gate, NOT a noisereducer as ISP claimes.

They also advertise this produkt as made by the team of engeneers that developed the rocktron hush.

Coud be, but I can't see what one has to do with the other, they use other principles/technology.

Sound then: here is where I was stunned, better say shocked; this pedal COLOURS your sound very very heavely+

There is an overal gainboost of around 6 decibels and a very pronounced enhancement of the uppermidfrequencies.

The reason most people won't notice this is because the pedal is NON true bypass, and the Colouration is exactly the same in bypass mode. Wich might very well be the reason it uses a NON true bypass anyway?

So unless you attach the pedal in a true bypass loop or record something with the pedal in the circuit versus the pedal removed from you circuit(watch those meters for the db boost), you will not notice, anyone will notice.

This colouration can be very musical because it accentuates the frequenties that make a sound cut trough a mix or a band, the typical rock sound frequenties.

I am dazzled though that a company dealing in soundenhancement will add its own colouration.

I spend a fortune on a switching system that isolates every pedal/rack to avoid colouration but still haven't found a good way of noise reduktion, this produkt is an insult to me.

I read a lot of good revieuws and heard good soundsamples from people using it to taim the preampnoise of a high gain amp.
I can imagine that this pedal works good in that situation.
The gainboost and uppermidpronouncition will add to their sound, and since this musical style does not use a lot of dynamics (that's simply a fact, no offence ment), the gate will close and oppen as desired.

I play with a lot of dynamics though, and there is simply no way to adjust the pedal right.

It will ignore softer passages or have them "tremelood" in and out, it muffles any sound that is not heavely distorted.

I tried it in various positions in the amp-pedal chain and with various gainlevels and find it only works well with lots of distortion before the pedal and a continuous guitarlevel. It just can't handle the slightest dynamics. See peoples respons on using it on the clean channel.
Highgainamps compress a lot wich helps to remain the level.

The exterior is almost indestructable, time will tell about the inside.

My advice is TRY it in your own setup before you BUY it; it is by far NOT what the company tells you it is, but it just might be your homy grail pedal....

Yeh it's easy. One knob.

They do what they are supposed to do, when they are new.

I've owned 2 of these things. I used 1 in front and 1 in the loop of my ENGL Fireball and Peavey 5150, 6505+. Both Deci's have crapped out at critical times. Sometimes it's the output jack, sometimes it's the switch, sometimes it quits working/starts working again if you so much as touch it, sometimes I have to step on it several times to engage or disengage it. I'm finished with these pieces of crap because they are not roadworthy. They do what they're supposed to do when they work, but cheap components and half-***ed craftsmanship doesn't last very long. Sorry ISP. Your pedals suck and they've failed me for the last time.

Don't know. Don't care. They're pedals suck, so I can only assume the support does too.

yup, simple to use...

okay...here is my 2 cents.

I find negative reviews are almost always made by people who are focusing on the peripherals of a units use.


I mean, it's a noise gate.... flag all the "it eats sustain" and carry on.... I mean jesus people, what do you think it's going to do? add sustain?????

Okay, so I have owned them all.. Boss NS2, MXR Smart Gate, Rocktron Hush.. and in my experience, the ISP is a superior product.

what works for me is; a fast and transparent gate to stop my guitar 'leaking' especially in the palm muted stops.. then a nice high quality compressor to take what the gate lets through and maximize it.. I recommend the KEELEY comp, T C ELECTRONICS Nova Dynamic, BBE Sonic Maximizer and I have had AMAZING results (for the money) from the Boss CS3 with the opto coupling modification..very very very much improved from the std CS3... then I use an ARMY of pedals after the compressor, whammy, 2 wahs, 2 XXL's, a dunlop Tremolo, an OG Small Stone Phaser, a voodoo labs chorus and a few other little numbers............ ;) these all feed straight into the amp's front end (5150II or my Triple Rec'...sometimes both)
In the effects loop I then have a Rocktron SuperC hush Sysytem, a BBE Sonic Maximizer, a Boost RVB and Boost DLA (both SansAmp products and both very very nice) and a TC Nova Delay last..



here is the skinny.

Use a Fast Gate, STRAIGHT OUT OF THE GUITAR and a good noise suppressor First.. out of the FX Loop. the gate cleans your playing up (esp for high gain pick ups) and the suppressor will reduce hiss from the OD channel.

all these cats who complain and whinge are just dicks...
TRUST ME
the ISP is the BEST gate around, thoufgh I would still use the MXR smart gate even though they do very slightly boost/expand and colour the tone..... forget the NS2 unless its a bargain or an emergency..they DO eat tone regardless of gating performance. The ISP gate is MUCH MUCH faster than the Ns2 and utterly transparent compared to the MXR.

the Rocktron Hush is an excellent supressor if used with the Gate at ZERO!!!!!! and the THRESHOLD set to whatever it needs to be to supress the OD channel Hiss. DONT expect ONE pedal to both Gate your Guitar AAAAND suppress the Amp's pre amp hiss.

Though the ISP Rackmount Twin Channel and Nova Dynamics (which both feature 2 channels) can be routed to do both, channel A gates the gat PRE amplifier...channel B quietens the Pre Amp, via the FX loop.



is this clear and obvious?


if you use Distortion Pedals...get ready for Noise. IT COMES WITH THE TERRITORY! all these dicks who try to run the ISP AFTER their stupid Fuzztones and Metalzones and other such NOISE GENERATING UNITS (duh) are retarded.
If you want metalzone sizzle and whatever for your Pantera riffs, but are not keen on the noiseyness...... LOOK INTO THE LINE6 UBER METAL..... it has a sweet as gate BUILT IN and still has all the satisfying CHUNK of the typical distortion pedal........

100% reliable. set and forget baby.

never required em.

been playing for 17 years. Acoustic stuff from Andy Mckee to the tea party but my number one love is METAL. Pantera, Death, Meshuggah, Cephalic Carnage, Akaname, Morbid Angel and the like.. but I also love King Crimson, GnR, Sage Francis and Anticon Hip Hop..immortal technique, massive attack, circle takes the square, envy..........




If I may....


Gates (pedals); ISP, then the MXR, then whatever else.. NS2 etc
Supressors (rack); Rocktron Super C hush, ISP Decimator rack thingy with the 2 channels....although it IS a pedal, I FULLY rate the NOVA Dynamic for FX loop quietening..



I play a USA strat with vintage hot noiseless pick ups, a Peavey EVH Wolfgang, A 1981 Ibanez RG750, a Jackson KEVIN BOND flying V, a Jackson COW 7 string (with an extra 9 volt - 18 volt EMG707) a 20 year old Epi Les Paul with DiMarzio tone zone (coil tapped) in the bridge and PAF Pro in the neck and an ESP Viper Baritone with a Dimarzio X2N inthe bridge and a Dimebucker in the neck...yes, in the NECK. I have owned and played almost every pick up under the sun and I am not loyal to any brand... they all have their strengths and charms and weaknesses. BUT the 5150II and EVH wolfgang ARE a match made in heaven, albeit with a slightly chalky edge to the tone.. this combo is to die for, Thank You Eddie Van Halen :)
I have a Triple Rec' a 5150II a fender TWIN and a Marshall JVM210 head... I use a celestion cab loaded with 16 OHM celestion G12M (modern lead) speakers.

I do want a EVHIII stack though.....that's next on the "to get" list!!


Yes I would buy again. Yes I fully rate this pedal. Yes it does what it is supposed to do.





sorry for ranting on and on. Just tired of hearing people bleat like goats about how the ISP DOESNT satisfy them. when it truly TRULY is the sweetest noise gate PEDAL around.

Easy as - just turn it up with your guitar and amp at the volumes you need then listen to the noise stop. I use it straight after my amps effect send then to delay (or whatever effect you choose) and back in again. I get no tone suck or degredation at all. And believe me I do notice tone suck using a peavey 6505+ with crappy effects in there. I am very fussy with it. One problem is that after playing really heavy high gain stuff then going to my clean channel the higher decimator settings for high gain can be too much for the clean channel. I have to turn up my clean channels preamp to compensate. worth it though.

BC Rich Metal top Warlock with Dimebucker + Lil 59er pickups
Peavey 6505+ head and cab
ISP Decimator
MXR Carbon Copy Delay
BOSS GT10 (from peavey line out > GT10 for effects>to my other amp)
Marshall AVT150 combo with an extra single cab (for my high end sound)
BOSS RC-2 Loop Station
BOSS LS-2 Line Selector
BOSS MT-2 Metalzone
Planet waves twisted pair cables for the Peavey
Dimarzio cables for the Marshall
I try not to use the BOSS stuff with my valve amp as they suck tone on
my amp, particularly in it's loop. The RC-2 and LS-2 aren't too bad
but the LS-2 does add a slight bit of noise.
The Decimator manages these pretty well. The only problem comes with changing channels to clean as I mentioned above but it has no tone suck at all.

seems solid as and has given no problems. Looks and feels like a quality pedal when you hold it in your hands. Solid in construction.

Defintately seems like a noise gate built for really High gain use to me. For a beast of an amp with heaps of push. I don't know if it's analog or true bypass but it definately sounds like it is. It is very transparent. If people are having trouble with their notes being cut out then I think it's more to do with how they have their amp set (they need to drive the preamp a bit harder), how they have their decimator set (too high threshold) or their effects chains are wrong.
It's the best one I have used so far and with my rig it works well.

One button does it all

This unit is being bandied about as the best noise suppressor on the market..I used it for the 20 minutes it was working in a band rehearsal,I wasnt impressed,as it didnt cut out a large part of the high gain noise from my jvm,and contrary to belief it sucks your tone badly,the gate also cuts in ending sustained notes...then fizzzzz it just packed in

A definate no i,m afraid...It only lasted 20 mins in a rehearsal...if I was paid to use it whilst gigging,i,d have to carry a boss ns2 or an mxr as backup,in case it packed in again....I play high profile gigs,and i just couldnt trust it.....

I paid ??140.00($200.00)for this piece of kit..lasted 20 mins..several contact e-mails sent without reply...eventually got a lame reply from someone called buck claiming to be the designer,and asked me to send it around the globe at MY EXPENSE...for REPAIR....lol...needless to say thats the only contact I got from these" fly by nights"

I play high energy rock music,and expected this to solve an age old problem with high gain amps...i,ve been playing guitar 34yrs,and play prs,gibson,musicman guitars through 2x marshall jvm heads,coupled to 4x marshall 100w 4x12s...i,d feel sorry for the poor thief that stole it..i,ve since replaced it with a boss ns2,which isnt as good as isp,s exaggerated claims...but manages to do its job where it matters,on stage,in front of a crowd...i,ve still got it,it doesnt work,its nice and shiny,and i suppose it,ll make a nice ??140.00 tree decoration at xmas

Only 1 knob! It is powered by my Boss daisy-chaining chord that I use to power all my single Boss pedals.

Very effective, but it worked way better for me BEFORE all effects instead of after. I found the same was true with the Boss NS-2 I had used in the past. The Decimator works great for me in holding off feedback under very high gain conditions, significantly better than the Boss NS-2 or the built in noise reduction in Boss Multi-effect units I've used in the past.
I haven't noticed any impact on my sound because of this pedal, and I've got the picky ears of a professional guitarist who's been playing almost 30 years.

I've only used it for one month now, but it is built like a tank.

Haven't needed any.

Best noise reduction I've ever used - would definitely buy another if it were destroyed or stolen.

It's only got 1 knob...so it's too easy to use if you do it right. Apparently some people have been using this thing wrong (I don;t know how that's possible) hence bad reviews. It's super easy...you plug it in at the end of your pedal chain or in the effects loop of the amp with knob all the way down. Without playing and everything turned on, you simply turn the knob up until the hiss or hum goes away. It's that simple.

This thing is fantastic! It cuts out the noise and lets the vast majority of the signal through. Right now I have 2 of these things and they work great in my chain.

My setup is :
Seymore Duncan Blackouts -> Dunlop Zakk Wylde Wah -> Boss CS-3 -> MXR-10 Band Equalizer -> Ibanez TS-9 -> EH Micro POG -> Decimator-> Peavey 6505 Combo -> MXR Carbon Copy -> BBE Sonic Stomp -> Decimator

The 6505 is a noisy beast as is...throwing the effects I have, especially the compressor, make it even noisier. I have the first one to get rid of the signal chain noise and the second to get rid of the hiss of the amp and both do a great job. This DOES NOT DEGRADE MY SOUND AT ALL, even with 2 in place. There is some slight clipping of the signal if the sounds gets really low, but the signal is nearly inaudible at that point. Basically it will cut off when the signal reaches the volume of the hum/hiss.

This thing is built like a Boss pedal, and those are sturdy as hell. I doubt this thing will break any time soon.

I haven't had to deal with them at all.

I'm into playing high gain metal and this beast is great at cutting out the noise of my extremely noisy pedal chain and amp. This thing is by far and large an insane improvement over the Boss NS and much, much easier to use. It does nothing to my tone other than cut off the signal when I stop playing. I will definitely be keeping this thing as a part of my rig from now on, at least until they come out with something better which probably won't happen anytime soon.

Too easy to use - it needs a decay control in addition to the lone control for threshold. I guess you could stomp on it to engage/disengage the noise gate as your note is decaying, but that would be a bit ridiculous.

Used with a wah and a couple distortion pedals ahead of the Decimator. Unfortunately, the only thing decimated was my playing dynamics. The attack is preserved well and the threshold adjustment works just fine.

The real problems show up during the decay. Ideally, the noise gate will let a note ring naturally until the note is almost silent, even if that means some noise passes through, and then it will close. The Decimator starts to close far too early and cuts off the decay in a very unnatural manner. It actually struggles to "decide" if it should close and creates something like a weak tremolo effect during the decay. This happened pretty early in the decay when the guitar signal was still strong. This was simply unacceptable, and it cannot be adjusted because there is only a threshold control - no decay control.

Seems very well built, but it is not going to be around in my rig long enough to be tested for reliability.

never dealt with ISP customer support

This pedal will only be useful for styles which have absolutely no need to preserve the decay or play with any dynamics. I bought the Boss NS-2 and was surprised with the Decimator as a gift. The NS-2 worked perfectly and will be staying in my rig while the Decimator will be exchanged for something useful. Obviously, there would be no way to know this without trying both - unless you read this post.

All that is required is a brain and decent ears. One knob.

Astonishingly good. Waaaay better than the Boss. For the fellow a few reviews below... yes, it is a noise gate. All devices that suppress noise are noise gates. Think about it!

I run a somewhat compressed signal into an attenuated high gain amplifier; this may be part of the reason why the Decimator works so well for me. I can imagine that people playing cleaner tones with greater volume variance may find the Decimator less useful. for me, this device does fantastically usable, simple and effective. The buffer is very transparent and makes it especially useful at the end of my effects chain before the signal goes to my amp.

Built like a shiny chrome brick. No basis for concerns or a rating yet.

No basis for a rating yet.

I am very impressed with this device. It's completely quashes all hiss and feedback before I begin playing, yet allows me to sustain a note or intentional feedback indefinitely. Perfect for my hard/punk rock band. I was skeptical but now I believe!

Very easy to use. Plug in and twist the single knob until the noise is gone.

I bought this to replace my Boss NS2 because the AC power input developed a short and I didn't have time to fix it. I've been using the boss pedal for years and it was not too bad but it wasn't ever able to get rid of the noise that i got through my pickups from air interferance(even tried sheilding the entire guitar with copper tape in the cavities and it didn't help). So I figured I'd upgrade to something a little more expensive this time.

I tried the decimator in the front end and in the loop. I have to say that the front end is perfect for me. Having it in the loop requires twisting the knob a lot further to get rid of the noise and I'm not to comfortable with that. Besides which it's only the pickup noise I'm bothered by. My amp is realatively quiet with the overdrive channel on.

One thing that is great about this pedal is that it really does catch all the tiny spaces between palm muted notes. The reaction is much faster than the Boss pedal and as long as you don't have the threshold set too high, it won't interfere with sustain.

My current set up is: Schecter 7 string guitars(C-7 and 007 Elite both with Duncan JB bridge) >> Fender rack tuner >> ISP Decimator >> B52 AT 100 Tube Head >> BBE Sonic Stomp(in the loop) >> back to B52 Head >> B52 4X12 loaded with Eminence speakers(2 manowars and 2 red white and blues in an X pattern)

Seems very solid.

I play progressive metal and have been playing for 14 years. Not that i have used tons of other noise suppressors but I am very happy with this one because it does exactly what it is supposed to. I'm not sure what kinds of problems some of the other reviewers on here have had with it but I have never seen a rig in my life that didn't have some amount of noise when using high gain. A good quality amp should make too much noise to begin with. The decimator will definately take care off all the pickup noise. If you still get feedback, you're either standing too close to the amp or you have too much gain going into the front end.

this is easy just turn the threshold knob ,this means that you can set the thres. level when you want the gate to act.simple ey!

This is a not noise reduction pedal as ISP claims,but simple a noise gate,so when I was buying this pedal I was thinking <cool> this is a noise reduction pedal,so I spend a $120 for a poor!!! noise gate.The company probably don't know what noise reduction means,well nobody is perfect,so before you buy make sure that this is what you want.To get this thing work you have to put the pedal first in chain not last!!

Very easy, just one knob. Just be careful not too turn it too high up.

I used this on my Peavey 6505+ with a Mesa Boogie Rectifier Std Cab. I play high gain metal.

I had the Decimator set to 11 o clock.

This noise gate is the best I??ve ever tried! It??s just amazing how it makes my amp completely silent between staccato notes. And you can still play sustained notes without having them cut at the end!

Most important of all, the ISP Decimator does NOT colour your sound! Compared to the popular Boss NS2, the Decimator outclass the NS2! This is how a real noise gate should be.

Though be careful not to turn the knob up too high. 11 o clock works fine for me. Above 12 o clock will only cut the sound.

Seems very reliable and built like a tank.

Haven??t dealt with them.

I??d recommend this noise gate to anyone shopping for a noise gate pedal. Especially if you are picky not to loose any sound. It??s a bit more expensive than some of it??s competitors, but it is well worth it!

Turn knob clockwise until noise's gone. Can be powered with either a 9 volt battery or a 9 volt regulated adapter, negative center pin. It isn't true bypass.

10-Very easy to use.

I use Fender Custom Shop instruments, Fulltone effects and cable, Monster Rock cable, a Toadworks Redux Asynchronous Delay, a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 power supply, and a Traynor amplifier retubed with Eurotubes.

I place this pedal right after my guitar, and/or first in my effects chain.

Sometimes I don't use effects and plug it in on top of my amplifier. When I use a humbucking sound I unplug it.

The ISP Decimator works great. It does affect my tone: no 60 cycle hum/line noise = better sounding guitar, effects, amplifier, better overall sound.

10-Pristine sound quality.

Solid as a rock. I've had this pedal for about a year, no problems.

10-Very dependable.

Never had to speak to them.

No Opinion.

Great pedal. Try one!

10-Fantastic Value!

One knob, which would seem easy enough, but you probably won't find a setting to work with each effect you have.

I guess the point is to find the minimum threshold where the buzz/hum is gone. The problem is that at idle, there's no hum, but then as soon as you even begin to play a note, there's fizzle. The hum/buzz isn't back, but it's just a weird fizzing sound. Set it higher to eliminate the fizz and then your sustain is effected.
Also, when you find a setting that works well when running your distortion, it may not work well when using your overdrive.
It also kills all modulation effects. I tried placing it before, after and in between and it totally wipes out all phase, chorus and flange.

Boss housing. Solid and strong, but I only had it for a week before I returned it, so I can't say.

Un-usable. Period. I don't have experience with other noise gates/suppressors, so I can't say if it's the nature of the beast. If you set it for your highest gain effect, and then if you want to play clean, you not only have to turn off your distortion, but also the decimator, or it will choke off your sound. But when you do that, the amp hum is there and is more noticeable now, since it wasn't there before. So if you start out with the amp hum, switch off the distortion to play clean, it's not so noticeable. My advice: try to eliminate your hum with good cables and clean power sources. Also, you will never be completely silent. It's just the way it is. Do the best you can and live with it. Don't waste a week with this thing like I did.

Just one control. There's nothing easier...

I use it to silence my Laney VH100R which is know to be very noisy. It realy works. In addiction with a noise gate is perfect. But you can use only the Decimator.

It's made of steel. If a nuclear holocaust happens it will survive...

I think I'll never need suport...

I play heavy, rock, pop and instrumental rock. I play for more than 14 years. Now I use a Jackson Kelly, an Ibanez RG320FM (both w/ Seymour Duncan pickups), VH100R + TT412A, G-Major, RP-12, Crybaby and CS-3.

I've tried a Behringer NR100 before... waste of money... ISP Decimator does what it promisses.

If it were stolen or lost, I would buy it again.

One control, input and output Boss pedal styled battery compartment and power supply input

This is the best noise gate I have ever used. No tone loss with this pedal. Good gate effect. Sounds and works effectively in front of amp or in amps fx loop.

This pedal is heavy and if you dropped it, you would probably break what ever you dropped it on, not the pedal.
I have gigged it and toured it and its been very reliable no problems.

Never needed them so no opinion.

Great pedal, effective fx. Much better than the Boss NS2. Its a shame it does not have a effects loop like the NS2 though and for that reason I am only going to give it a 9.

Come on, one knob...

I recently decided to part ways with multieffects units for my live setup, since I don't use amp models or any fancy effects. I found myself using a PODxt live just for the noisegate and the tube OD, so i went for individual stomps. I went in a friend's store to place an order for the ZW OD, an MXR 10band and the SmartGate or the decimator. The guy never heard of the decimator before, but said he'd bring in a smartgate that would take some tome to arrive. A few days later he called me saying someone brought in a batch of used pedals in great condition, including the decimator, so i took it home for a test. Long story short, i plugged it in, turned the knob to desired position, finetuned, and no noise, guess i won't need to try that smartgate.

I'm using this at the end of my recently simplified chain: Gibson Les Paul custom Ebony or ESP 2000 custom shop Eclipse (emg 81b 85n) into a dunlop dimebag crybaby from hell, Zakk Wylde OD, and the ISP, going into a marshall mode4 with an mxr 10band eq in the loop. It manages to tame the massive amounts of hiss and noise from the amp, as well as feedback coming from the messy EQ settings i like to use. It even eliminates the grounding noise the lespaul makes when used with a cable instead of a wireless.

Only gripe, as some said, is the fact that for clean sounds or slightly overdriven amp channels without the ZW OD, the pedal decimates sustain, so there needs to be some tapdancing when changing sounds. Doesn't matter much, since i don't use clean sounds that often, but even so, there can always be a logical, efficient stomping sequence to follow to ensure seemlsess switching.

Sound coloration? Maybe a slight decrease in volume if not properly finetuned, but that can be achieved by tweaking the 10band EQ in the loop.

Note: I used this in the loop...bad idea...it did take away feedback but it created a wide wall of white noise. Front of the amp works perfect, no need to stick it to the back of the amp

Haven't had it for long, but it's on 90% of the time during a set so i guess it's sitting safe

I don't know them, they don't know me

I've been playing for 13 years, and i'm the single guitarist in a band that sounds like a bastard child of a machine head/pantera/BLS orgy (which in my ears, is good!) So obviously i use a LOT of gain with particular equalisation, that gives off a lot of noise and feedback that this pedal can tame. Much better noise reduction than the PODxtLive. I wonder how it would tackle that impulse purchase of a Free Speech talk box (if i can find where i stashed it)

If it were stolen, i'd get another one (after castrating the thief). Does what it's supposed to do in my situation. Might not satisfy the tone-freak playing a 50year old single coil relic through a vintage boutique fender chimemaster but hey...some like their wine rare and properly room tempered...others are just satisfied if their pint of beer is ice cold and easily refilled.

The ISP Decimator consists of only one knob and is as easy to use as a noise reduction unit can get. It accepts a 9V battery or adaptor and is fairly straightforward to adjust to a desirable level playing around for awhile.

I play a Schecter Classic with alnico humbucker pickups through a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier with a 16 Ohms THD hotplate attenuator and Genz-Benz G-Flex 2x12 cab. I run 2 Boss RV-3 units and a Boss CE-5 Chorus through the effects loop. In addition, I run a Boss Chromatic Tuner pedal followed by the ISP decimator, Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer, and Morley Bad Horsie Wah directly into the amp.

Basically, I use the Decimator pedal to "reduce" the noise coming out of a fairly high gain "vintage" Channel 2 setting and a monster gain "modern" setting on the 3rd channel. With my amp settings it is impossible to use the decimator to cut all the noise and still have good sustain and dynamics on any of the channels (I run the decimator at -40dB at the most; usually it is further to the left and only hit -40dB in a club where my amp can really crank).

I certainly agree with the Decimator's claims for tonal transparency; at low to moderate settings the tone is no different with the pedal on or off. The decimator simply cleans up the signal and gets rid of a lot of the hum in addition to helping my amp not feedback if I am standing really close to it and the volume and gain are at a near-threshold where some feedback is possible.

I tried running the pedal through my effects loop which is recommended by a lot of people and written information but it was a wash; my effects loop is set close to 10% wet/dry mix so the tone of my amp is maintained and this means that I really have to crank up some of the settings on my effects pedals to get a desired effect level. In turn, this meant having to really crank the decimator in the loop to get a noticeable effect but it worked out fine because it functions so well in the direct line to my amp from my guitar.

Ultimately, I am giving it a 9 because there is always some room for improvement in noise reduction / gate systems. I used to play through a Johnson Millenium which allowed user-made patch presets and when I went from a distorion to a clean my noise reduction settings would change with the patch. This setup allowed for an easy on/off for noise redcution which only hurts clean sounds by cutting sustain and dynamics. Also, my patches with less gain needed less noise reduction than the full-out distortion ones and this made for a great deal of flexibiity and convenience.

Some users find the ISP unuseable with both their high gain and clean channels and are forced to switch it off every time they change which means a lot more dancing around on pedals and footswitches. I decided on a compromise wherein I still have some noise but never have to mess with the pedal once the show starts and never suffer note cutoff or stale palm-muting. I have used a Boss-NS2 before the ISP and I feel that the Boss-NS2 messes with the tone and does not allow for as much sustain/dynamic feel as the Decimator does. Spend the extra money and get the ISP if you are looking at the Boss.

It appears to have fairly solid construction; I have had no problems with it so far.

I have had no issues and have not contacted customer support.

Sound quality paragraphs pretty much sum up the reason I give it a 9.

I read all of the reviews here but decided to give it a shot because the ElectroHarmonix HumDebugger made it sound like my guitar amp was inside a 50 gallon drum.

Okay, it has one knob but it is very tricky getting it set right. I've been using right after my guitar and the idea is to turn the knob clockwise until the noise goes away. The problem is if you set it with your guitar volume dimed, when you back it off to maybe 5 the notes can get chopped off. And if you set the control with your guitar volume set to 5, some of the noise will come back when you turn your guitar volume up all of the way.

Since I usually use my guitar volume control a lot this does complicate things. I could use a volume pedal after the ISP Decimator and just leave my guitar volume set to 10. But for now I've been setting the control for no noise at maybe 6, and then when I turn it up I do get some of the noise back, but usually the rest of the band is louder, too, which would cover it up.

In any case, this is still a big improvement over the "old school" noise reduction units which were just a noise gate.

Other than the problem with the notes being chopped off when turning down the guitar volume control mentioned above, the pedal is fairly transparent- although it does have a subtle effect on the sound and response. If the alternative is to leave my guitars with P-90's at home, I am fairly happy with the results.

No idea. The pedal *is* built like a tank- it feels like it weighs 2 pounds but I did not put it on a scale.

Once again, no idea.

As mentioned earlier I had first gotten the ElectroHarmonix HumDeBugger, which was easier to set and completely eliminated the hum regardless of the volume settings of my guitar. But it added what sounded like a short 5 millisecond delay like you might get with a flanger- like playing inside an 55 gallon oil drum. If you were going into other effects it actually sounded kinda slick (like a very short doubler) but it just wouldn't give me natural tones so I exchanged it for the ISP pedal, which is very close to what I've been looking for, but not quite there.

I do audio editing on my computer and by taking a noiseprint I can remove hum or noise very transparently. It basically analyzes a short sample of the noise and removes it from the audio signal. So why not have a pedal that does roughly the same? Push one button in to sample the noise you want to eliminate and then set the other controls for the amount of noise reduction.

A pedal like this would probably be at least $300 but I think it would be worth it. But for now the ISP Decimator will have to do...

Its very simple and it does not cut your tone at all like the other Noise Gates.Turn the Threshold to where the noise disappears and Ureka you have a pro sound with no cutoff of tone and balls on clean or ultra gain.I cranked the Marshall JCM 900 and silent as can be.

Marshall JCM 900 Marshall Jcm 800,Marshall TSL 2000 100 watt.Lots of effects.Works like a charm.

Absolutely dependable.

never had to call them.

Been playing 17 years.I play Hard Rock music.I use Guitars that have Ballsy pickups.I use Duncans mostly.Quiets it up and still has the balls.

One knob. Turn it up to engage gage, down to reduce it. Not too tough.

No noisy at all. Unfortunately the kicker is you set it past 9 o'clock and it starts to cut off notes. You start to lose sustain and the dynamics of the notes you play. 11 o'clock forget it...worthless. I compared it to the Smartgate and Boss noisegate and it is better than those, but even when it is engaged the least bit, it does affect the tone.

No problem, but I don't even use it when gigging.

Never called them.

I play rock, classic rock, alternative and even modern country in a band that gigs 4 times a month. Don't use the pedal cause it does affect the sound. Not dramatically if used properly, but enough for me to not use it. Best bet to cut down hum is to make sure you have very good cables and a good power supply like the Dunlop Brick. Just bought one a month ago and was amazed how much quieter my set up is not. Less feedback too. Been playing 15 years through Marshall and Les Paul/Strat. Overall, it's a good product for what it is, but I'm so anal about my sound, I won't put anything in my chain that affects tone and doesn't have true bypass as well.