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.

One knob. Dial it until you like it. Piece of cake.

Believe it or not this thing actually adds noise to your signal.

Go try it. Take it in & out of the chain. Put it on your power supply or power it with a battery. It will add noise while off and hush up when on. Did ISP do this on purpose so you think the pedal is working good? This noise gets to be a very big problem at stage volume with higher gain.

I tested this sucker in and out of the pedal board (furman SPB-8C)and with three diffferent guitars (LP studio, ESP -MH-1000, Epi gold top) and with two different tube amps.

Other than the almost unusable noise it adds, it does color your signal a bit and reduce the clarity of the highs. Sort of like turning the treble knob down on your car stereo. But it is minor.

No problem 2 years.

Read above notes on noise. It does open up nice and fast though.

one button...so easy a retarded caveman could use it.

OK, I am into a lot of very heavy music with a lot of heavy distortion. My 6505+ has the gain on 7-8 and this monster can produce some of the worst squeeling I have ever heard. It was almost impossible to put this thing past 3 and not have the feedback rip your face off. So I got this little beauty and plugged it in after my tuner and then straight into the head. I don't use any pedals at all, just the searing tone of my guitar (Schecter with the Duncan Invader) so I cant comment on how well this thing does in a daisy chain, but I think it would do just fine. The only thing about this pedal is that it is a NOISE SUPPRESSOR not a GATE. I have found that putting it in front of the amp is really where it should be. Not through the effects loop.
The drawback to this is it really only fixes the sound from my guitar, but there is still some hiss from the amp. My solution to that was to put an NS2 through the effects loop and it works great. No hiss. No hum. No feedback. No tone loss. Just the tone I have paid over $3,000 to get.

It looks sturdy enough ,but I wouldn't advise you chuck it at a wall or anything.

The customer service was pretty good. The guy responded to my e-mails within a day and they shipped me a new pedal back fairly quick.(I thought the pedal was broken, until I put it through the front).

This pedal does the job. Through the front it is better than the NS2 no real tone loss or cut offs, just be prepared to mess with the knob for a while. With the stuff I play (Emmure, Acacia Strain, August Burns Red) i need a ton of gain and pretty much shear brutality, but I also need it to be clear. The Decimator allows me to have that.
I just wish it worked better in the FX loop so I didn't have to get the NS2, but with the two I have PERFECT sustain, tone and noise reduction.

Simple to use, one knob.
Just turn it up until the noise just starts to go away. If you go any higher then it will take away sustain.
You will have to readjust this knob when your guitar signal changes because you increased the volume on the guitar or stomped on another overdrive pedal, etc.

It is the best noise suppressor I have tried.
But I have one beef...it is not true bypass so it sucks some tone!
It makes my signal sound a bit "spongey", "squishy" by taking away some of my punch and clarity.
Most people may not notice this but I am obsessed with my tone as I love the sound of my guitar plugged directly into my Marshall but as soon as I introduce non-bypass pedals my tone suffers.

Solid as a rock!

I did send them an email to tell them their ad is false advertising as it says "will not affect guitar tone" but infact it does suck some tone.
Of course I got no response

Here is their website:
http://www.isptechnologies.com/decimatorpedal.htm
Here are some third party reviews:
http://www.highlystrung.co.uk/acatalog/info_918.html

I have a wiring problem at my house which causes a lot of hum, especially when I use any type of gain, distortion, overdrive so this pedal works great for this without chopping off the trails of my notes prematurely.

But like I said earlier it does suck some tone and removes some of the punchiness which I love from my Marshall 1959 Super Lead amp tube amp.
Maybe it would be less noticeable with a newer amp that does not have as high of an input impedance or with a transistor type amp.

I play rock n roll, rock, southern rock, acid rock, alternative, metal, blues, swing, jazz, country, classical

I wish they would make it true bypass so that it would not mess with my signal when not engaged and better yet improve the internal electronics so it would not mess with my signal when engaged.

Very easy to use. One knob to turn, The only thing you might have trouble with is if you use it in you're effects loop to adjust the send and return.

I have tried 2 of the pedals. I have a B-52 At-100 and when I put it in the effects loop there is considerable volume drop, and when I adjust the send up high enough for no volume drop the thing distorts really bad. I am still trying to figure that one out.

Have not got this thing to work yet. I would hope it is reliable if you can get it to work.

Every body says that they are the greatest, But when I emailed them about my troubles they did not give any answers to the problems I was having they just wanted to sell me their $400 dollar Rack version. I dont think so!!

N.A

one knob...
the clue is where to put that thing in the signal chain and to dial in the less amount of noisegate you need.

like tony below i use this pedal as the first one in the signal chain to eliminate the single coil hum (which seems to be a very logical way to use that unit) and the results are really great. i rediscovered positions 1,3 and five of my stratocaster again...;-)
concerning the noise of the pedals following this unit-there is nearly none, cause all of that single coil hum which gets amplified through the next stages has been eliminated.
in fact before i got that pedal there were lots of situations in the studio or during gigs when i didn??t dare to switch to the single coil sounds but also didn??t want to put humbuckers or some other noiseless-shit in my vintage instruments. this pedal here is the solution.
yeah, it colours the tone, but to a very minimal extend. the sound is slightly more compressed and a little more compact, which sometimes makes my guitar sound even better (sometimes not). if you use it the way that i do you don??t have to tweak in a big amount of noisereduction and the pedal doesn??t cut the end of your notes at all.
keep in mind it??s a noisegate and it has limitations but this thing here works totally fine and can save one??s life...

very well buit.
anybody knows if it has true bypass? just for being curious.
by the way-true bypass really is a complete hype anyway. in fact lots of pedals which don??t have t.b. sound much better bypassed. john mayer blogged something interesting and true about that,google "john mayer equipment" .

i am playing nearly everything from rock to jazz.
studio work and gigs, i??m professional musician and play since 21 years.
i got this pedal today and spent the whole day with it, combining it with lots of other new and favourite gear.
i will use it live and in the studio, mainly with my ??71 strat, ??69 tele and ??68 jazzmaster, thd univalve, mesa boogie nomad and fender deluxe-highly underrated amp by the way.
i use lots of boutique pedals from t-rex, hao, z vex, sobbat, okko, jaques and others.
this pedal is a keeper and will help me in many situations. makes me want to tour again with singlecoil guitars...

Quite easy to use. One threshold knob you turn clockwise until the background noise disappears. Hope you don't have to turn it past noon because it will start seriously killing your sustain.

I did found this unit to be fairly transparent. I use it in my 'B' chain with all my OD/Distortion pedals. My 'A' chain of pedals is my clean sound into my channel switching amp, so that keeps the Decimator out of the clean side. My compatriot further down is right about it killing your clean dynanics and soft passages, so if you can isolate it with your dirt boxs you're better off. Sometimes I'll run A T. Jauernig Double DGTM with both sides running, or one side with say my MI Audio Crunchbox(nice box but gainy and noisy when stacked), and it quiets that mayhem about half way up. I set the highest acceptable level of noise suppression in the Decimator (around half) and adjust the gain on the distortion boxs up to where it barely stays quiet. Run it after all your noisy boxs.

Haven't had it long enough to truthfully tell you. Solidly constructed, and reports say it's built well. Cool shiny chrome enclosure, but get out your polishing cloth, smudge marks really show up

Again, no experience with them, and hope I never have to.

I don't know what a jazz guy would do with this pedal, unless those Roland JC 120 amps have gotten a lot noisier. For guys with high gain distortion pedals, noisy single coil pick ups (run it first in that case)or even a nosiy pre amp section of your amp (run it in the effects loop) this pedal delivers the goods. It's not magic, though. If you have to turn it up past halfway, I would lower the gain on the pedals until no longer noisy and you'll still be smokin', otherwise it will mess with your sustain and dynamics. 11 o'clock even better. I recomend it if you're looking for a good quality noise suppressor in a pedal.

Just for some balance here I wanted to share my opinion that I believe that the success that you might have with this pedal is completely style and application dependant. For high gain metal it would probably be great. If you play with a light touch in the vein of jazz, blues or any style with low gain, specifically single note stufff, that I implore you to try the Isp before you buy it!! It was extremely disappointing to me and is completely useless for my intentions. Money down the drain. This is an excellent noise gate however I guess I should have expected that any noise gate has very defined limitations. I was hoping that this product would eliminate the ridiculous noise of my Tonebone Hot British. Turning up the threshold to the point where noise is eliminated is great until you try to play light single note phrases ala jazz/blues/fusion. As soon as you play a note, the huge hum / buzz kicks in with the note making it very distracting and unnatural sounding. In addition, the note will be unable to sustain in an organic way. I could go on but here's the deal: TRY IT FIRST!! This product does what it's mean't to do very well. I however failed to do due dilligence and learned the hard way that the trade off's of using a noise gate are unacceptable to my overall needs. Good Luck.

OK - one knob that you turn until you get the threshold level correct. You'd have to be retarded (or deaf) to not be able to figure it out. Doesn't get any easier!

There's no coloration that I can detect. Some reviewers claim that they can detect an iota of coloration, but then some folks claim that they can hear the difference between an Eveready and a Duracell powering their effects! Seriously, this pedal is completely transparent. I run this pedal as the first pedal in the signal chain rather than the last. I'm using it to kill the hum and interferance from single coils Strats and P90s BEFORE it gets amplified by other devices. This is in complete opposition to the way 99% of people are using it. My setup:
Guitar - Nady wireless - ISP Decimator - Boss tuner - MCFX compressor - Vox wah - MXR Phase 90 - Boss Flanger - Boss DD3 delay - Marshall TSL 100 & quad box.
Running the pedal this way cuts pretty much all the noise that the pickups themselves generate, and at a very conservative threshold setting (between 9 & 10 o'clock). If I run the pedal as suggested in the instructions at the end of the effects chain, it has to deal with the noice from the pickups that has also been further processed with compression/flanging/phasing etc etc..... Hence in that position the threshold needs to be set higher and higher and the results aren't as good for me.

Exceptionaly well made pedal, very heavy duty construction and internally it looks excellent. Never had a problem with it, this one is a keeper!

Never had to deal with them direct. Bought it online from Bmusic.com.au, located in Adelaide, South Australia. Those guys are the best, let me tell you. Excellent service - I had the Decimator in my hands less than 24 hours after placing the order! From Adelaide to Melbourne! And their after sales service is hands down the best in Australia. So my rating is for those guys. Thanks Shane!

Been playing for all of my adult life (plus most of my teenage years), that's the scary total of about a quarter of a century. This pedal has allowed me to use true single coils once again, without the attendant noise problems! I don't know what I'd do without this little chromed masterpiece. I play a wide range of stuff, from SRV through to EVH and even YJM (why do the greats all have three initials?).

Very easy to use initially. Turn the threshold knob until you are satisfied with the reduction. BE CAREFUL not to go crazy on turning the knob too high or it will kill all of your attack and sustain! It's not like the Boss NS-2 where you cant play anything without all the knobs on full, this thing will cover all extremes!

The only hard part is getting the setting right, as too much will destroy attack and sustain and too little will leave noise, so finding the happy medium for your set up can take a while to begin with.

I'm going to be comparing this mainly to the Boss NS-2 as I used to use that. First up I'll start with the positives. This pedal is capable of eliminating pretty much ALL of the noise, alot more noise than the NS-2, this thing makes everything deadily quiet! I'm using a pedal to boost my guitar's input signal to drive the amp harder and that pedal makes a hell of alot of noise, but not anymore! The Boss NS-2 barely coped with this and there was still quite abit of background hiss and hum.

As far as not altering the tone, it pretty much does exactly what it claims to. If you set the threshold correctly it will not suck away any tone! I have very good ears so I can tell if there is an audible tone loss! I noticed the boss NS-2 sucking away a little tone but the Decimator doesn't alter the sound in any noticable way.

Just to give you an idea of how successful this thing is at eliminating noise I'll tell you the setup I have tried it with so far:

Gibson flying V (EMG active pickups) ---> TU-2 (boss tuner) ---> CH-1 (boss chorus) ---> MT-2 (boss metal zone, for boosting the input guitar signal) ---> ISP Decimator ---> Marshall TSL601 (on the lead channel with gain on 9).

Ok, now for the downsides, because there are downsides! If your using a setup where you use alot of high gain distortion AND a clean sound then there is going to be a problem. You see when you turn the threshold knob up to the right setting you eliminate all the noise, BUT when you switch to the clean channel of the amp it totally kills all of your sustain! if you let a note ring, it wont ring for any more than a few seconds! So that means when im playing live and want to change from a distortion to a clean im going to have to disengage the boost pedal, turn off the ISP decimator and switch channels all at the same time! besides any other effects like reverb! Just an extra thing im going to have to tap dance with now! So this thing can only be usefully set up for one particular amount of gain, it cant kill the noise on your high gain channel whithout killing alot of the signal and sustain when you switch to the clean channel! The Boss NS-2 was quite good at compromising on this.

One other thing, you have to be careful when playing palm muted chords etc, if you dampen the strings too much it kills the sound straight away without letting it ring on, but if you loosen the dampening on the palm mutes then your fine, so you may end up adjusting your playing technique slightly to compromise with this pedal.

Well its much heavier than as Boss pedal that's for sure! wether that means its stronger or not im not sure. But I feel it would easily last a life time of touring, so no problems here. I haven't had it for long so I can't say whether it will magically break down and stop working so I can't comment there. But I would definately take this on tour without a backup.

Never dealt with them

Overall this is a great pedal that eliminates all of your noise. HOWEVER if using alot of high gain distortion and then switching to a clean channel you CANNOT leave this pedal turned on, you have to switch it off or the cleans are practically un-playble. It makes things worse because I'm using a boost pedal so have to turn the threshold knob higher, but I tried it just with the amp's gain alone and it still killed the clean notes after a few seconds! So although this will absolutely kill virtually all unwanted noise with a boosted high gain channel it needs a different setting when changing gain levels! So its going to be very annoying having to keep turning this pedal on and off all the time!

If your in a death metal band and use stacks of gain and boost your amp but never use the clean channel then this pedal is for you! It will cut all the unwanted noise and wont affect your tone.

But if you play in a band that uses high gain distortion and lots of clean parts then this pedal will be frustrating. In this case an Boss NS-2 might be better, although there is a slight noticable reduction in tone/compression.

It would get a 9 if I didn't have to switch it off when changing to a clean sound.

Only one dial to turn. Very Simple.

I do alot of reading and comparing before buying music gear. I have a Rocktron Hush Pedal (dual controls) from the early 90's. I've heard great things about the ISP pedal and decided to see for myself. I brought my Rocktron Pedal with me and compared the two. The Decimator DID NOT alter the tone at all! The sustain is smooth. It does what it says. My amp is Quiet! The Rocktron makes the tone a little darker. I purchased the Decimator, and I am very pleased with it.

Nice heavy chrome casing, built like a tank. Should be reliable.

Haven't had to deal with them.

This is a great pedal. A must have for high gain amps. I play old school metal, hard rock, 80's hair bands. Been playing for over 15 years. My current gear: USA Jackson King V, Paul Stanley Ibanez Iceman, Dean Evo Premium> DSL Chorus~Vib> EQ pedal> Decimator> Engl Savage 120> Mesa Traditional Straight 4x12. I run a Peavey Valverb(reverb) unit through the effects loop of the Savage.

Just tune the knob and noise gone!!

it's transparent. it's not change my tone any more isp did it so good.

I let Decimator always on.

i don't know...

you got to check this pedal!

I also own HASH and NR-2 too
but I put them on my storeroom.......

Do you really need a manual? Only one knob to be tweak!! Dead simple.

I have tried the Decimator with Fender P-90 which is quite noisy as P-90 can be, along with Fulldrive 2 MOSFET go through Fender Twin Reverb. I added Decimator at the last place before the signal go to Amp. After turn on Decmimator...It's a jaw dropping moment, dead quiet. Very clean and Transparent. The Time Vector just did the trick, the CPU decides clevery to release short or long notes.

I don't think I will need any back up. The unit looks very solid.

haven't contacted them yet. Doesn't need to, I supposed.

I have been playing around 12 years. I have tried a Rocktron HUSH and Boss NS-2, neither can come close to the ISP. With this price, If I lost one of this, I will definitely get a new one. I can't be missed on pedal board, ever!!

Couldn't really be easier, you'd have to have a hollow for a head to be confused by it.

I run a 5150 combo with hi-gain tubes and run the tubes hard - the high gain causes alot of interference, in fact, enough interference to make me angry enough to get a decimator pedal.


I have to say, isp do do a very good job, i haven't really noticed any significant change in tone, my 5150 still sounds rude but now lacks the interference and cuts to silence upon muting - Does what it says on the tin :D

It's built like a tank, really, no kidding, i'd be happy to use it in hand to hand combat in between gigs, it really is just a chunk of metal.

Not had the displeasure yet, hopefully i will be able to avoid customer service entirely

I can see this pedal being invaluable for any guitarist who plays at volume, at hi gain or for owners of rowdy pedal boards.

I personally think it's great, i would particularly recommend this pedal to Metal heads who like to really crank those amps.

very easy, 1 dial, turn it to the level you need.

i found that this could sound bad if you rely on the battery. with 9v adaptor however, it's awesome.

people who say about killing sustain etc should either switch it off for solos or just drop the level a bit. i don't have any issues going from distorted to clean, unlike some reviews, but i guess the solution for those guys would be to drop the gain on the distortion so you can lower the level of the noise gate, thus meaning less gating on the clean.

no colouration, no treble cut like someone else said.

i had to send the 1st one back because it was creating its own noise (not good!)got the 2nd one, once i used the adapter, no problem

the company itself didn't get involved, i went through highly strung whose support was crazily good. send it back, we'll give you another one. simple.

i find that if you set it to take care of general hiss clean then it should be fine. if your pedal feedbacks, either learn to love the noise or turn the gate up. personally, i like the staccato effects you can get, it just does what i need it to.

it doesn't clean up noise when playing, but to be fair, why would it?

i'd recommend it over the boss noise gate, i've compared them both and this wins hands down. awesome unit.

This unit is about as easy as it gets, one knob. The controll knob is very precise.

I play mostly Death Metal and Grindcore stuff. For my setup I run a N.J. series Beast tuned a step and a half down, through a wireless unit, into a Boss Metal Zone, Hendrix Wah, then the Decimator into a Mesa Triple Rect with a Mesa 4X12 recto cab. This pedal works great with my setup. It cut my noise with out any effects on to just barely above my standby noise. With the gain on my amp AND distortion pedal turn way up with the ISP unit set at the 11:30 to 12:00 area it is so quiet that I can hear the clock in my practice room ticking. No more screeching and squeeling and it lets you play with a monsterous tone when you bash out a chord. This thing is what I've been looking for. It lets me get a tone very close the Static-X roar and then silence deal they have going. My only gripe is that it may need to be tweaked a little if you do a guitar change. The thing is so simple to use that it not a big deal though.

This thing is built like a bar of lead, seems to be very tough. But it's still new so I guess I'll find out how reliable it is in the future.

I didn't deal with ISP directly but my tech guy said Buck was pleasant to deal with and got the pedal to him quickly.

I've been playing Metal for about 7 years and wish I had this pedal from the begining. If it went missing I would replace it as fast I as could get another one. It makes brutal metal even more vicious because it lets me play with a very pro/precise tone with great stops. It also lets you control how quickly the gate closes so it sounds more natural, not cut off to quickly, unless you want it that way. I hate when great tone is killed by a rig that sounds over produced. Gone are the days with screeching and poping before and after songs. This thing is worth every cent I paid!

It's a bit picky, but overall not too hard to set up.

I bought this pedal blind based on the claims that it is completely transparent and doesn't effect your attack or sustain. The problem I have with this unit is that while it does come very close to acheiving tansparency in those areas, after spending some time with it I've realized that your sound is slightly colored by the Decimator even after you've set it properly.

My primary issue with the performance of the Decimator is the effect it has on palm mutes: it takes away a little bit of the punch and on various amps will have them sounding slightly sounding mushy or rounded off. Sustain is probably where the ISP comes closest to living up to the claims, as it indeed allows the advertised "natural decay" with only the faintest loss in sustain, but the loss is noticeable.

In the last paragraph I said that the palm mute issue was my biggest gripe, but I should've said second biggest. Whether it's used in the chain or the effects loop, (as goes for everything mentioned above) the Decimator taints the sound of your axe with an ever so slight "tinny" sound to the highs and causes a slight drop in what sounds like the upper midrange. I'd also have to describe it as making your sound a little more sterile. I know that term gets kicked around a lot, usually in reference to EMGs and SS amps, and the ISP doesn't impart any of that onto your tone, but the effect it does have I can only describe as sterile. It's very, very slight and I'm not suprised that most people can't hear it, but after extensively A/B ing it on several diiferent amp/pedal/axe combinations, there is no question that it is there. A lot of people rated this pedal at 98-99% transparency, but I'd have to say it's more like 90%. Granted, in a live situation nobody in the crowd's going to shout out "Hey, that guy's gate is really sterilizing his tone!", and even band members probably won't notice it, but the effect is there.

As for it's actual suppression of sound, I'd also have to say it's a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, the Decimator does have the capability to tame even a dimed Metal Zone with only the minor tone coloration described above, and the claims that it makes your amp so quiet you'd swear it was off are to be believed, but there are a couple of drawbacks. First off, the way the threshold works is that it will kill all of your feedback below a certain point. If your feedback level builds up to the point where it exceeds the gate's threshold (a scenario which usually occurs when you have your hands off the strings for more than a few seconds) , the feedback immediately becomes audible at full volume with no reduction in sound from the Decimator. You know how feedback usually gradually builds in volume so you have time to kill your guitar volume? With the ISP you get a piercing squeal that comes out of nowhere if you get careless. It also really pisses off band and crowd members. Also, and I suppose this is more of a critique on the nature of gates in general rather than this unit in particular, the hum from your guitar which is "decimated" when you put this pedal in your chain and aren't playing comes right back into the mix when you resume playing and is not filtered out in any way. I can chalk that last one up to unreasonable expectations on my part and I wouldn't bust it just for that, but the other problems I mentioned make me unable to give this product a full recommendation.

On the flip side, I will say that there is definitely no pedal out there that beats the Decimator at what it does, but this is still not nearly the magic box that it's made out to be.

Very, very nicely made unit, heavier than anything else it's size and a good number of larger boxes as well. The chrome on this thing is very nice and will make it stand out in your board. Switches on and off every time. Sturdier than any Boss pedal.

I give it a 6 with an extra point because I do believe this is the best thing going right now as far as noise gates are concerned, but it does demonstrate some areas in which noise reduction technology as a whole could use some development. Personally, I'm trading mine in while this is still a hot product.

It has one knob and you either have it on or off, how much more easy could it be?

I have a bogner uberschall, esp M-2, and I was using a mxr zakk wylde overdrive in the front end and an mxr 10eq in the back end. I had a boss ns-2 with me and I wanted to see which was better. To my surprise the decimator elimanated more noise than the NS-2. I wanted to try it against an mxr smart gate but I didn't have one avaliable. Also having the the decimator in my signal chanine didnt effect the signal at all.

I've had mine for 3 months and havne't had a problem with it yet.

I sent an e-mail requesting information about the decimator rackmount g and never got a response.

This is a great pedal, it will kill any noise in your signal without changing the tone.

Stupidly simple to use. Comes with a one page manual.

I bought this pedal based on the reviews posted below,and a few magazine reviews, most of which seem to be drooling over this pedal. The only review I read for this pedal that actually listed any cons was Guitar Player.

I used with a Carvin Legacy head and a Schecter C-1 with Seymour Duncan JB/'59 pickups. I get a very slight hiss from my effects chain, and with the gain on the lead channel past 7.5 I get some real nasty feedback. Above all, I wanted to try to eliminate the feedback.

I tried it both in the effects loop and between the guitar and my amps input. It actually seemed to work better between the guitar and amp, before my effects loop. Turning my guitars volume down, I turned the threshold knob clockwise until all noise disappeared. At this pint it was around 9 o'clock. When I turned the volume of my guitar back up and started playing, it wasn't enough, so the threshhold eventually made its way to 11 o'clock.

So here's where it gets ugly. Set at 11 o'clock, it seemed to take care of the problem, I had dead silence before I started to play again. However, at this setting, it was starting to take away from my sustain, and it didn't keep the noise out every time that I stopped playing again. I didn't dare turn the threshold up further as it was already starting to cut off notes.

Now I move on to the clean channel having taken care of the noisier of the two, and this thing is absolutely killing my clean sound. If i pick anything somewhat lightly, it struggles to get through or doesn't sound at all. Sure, I coulld just shut the pedal off when I play clean, but I use a few effects and I just don't want the hassle of switching to the clean channel on my fotswitch, then shutting of the decimator, then messing with whatever effects I might use. It's too much tap dancing.

I only kept it for a week. It looks pretty tough though.

I can't say, I didn't deal with them.

The decimator is OK at best in my opinion. It's a little better than most noise supressors, but theres stil plenty of room for improvement. It either does too much or does too little. It's not a terrible pedal, I think what you get out of it all depends on your playing style. The things I hated about it, such as it killing my very softly played clean parts and cutting my really sustained notes too short, probably wouldn't matter to some guy playing mosh metal riffs through a 5150 or a Krank or something. It all depends on what you're going to use it for I suppose.

I will give it this much, it doesn't degrade your tone a bit.

Writing this review to dispel the few occasional myths about this pedal. It is very easy to use, and could be used to gate some LOUD noise. I give it a 9 to be fair because in all honesty, it is not hard to not get the best possible sound out of this pedal.

This noisegate is AMAZING. I had the boss NS-2 and it did not do what I wanted it to do, although it is a good gate. This pedal took about 5 minutes to tweek, and completely stops all amp/effects noise and as long as you have your hand over the strings, it will stop feedback, which the NS-2 would not do. I use an ESP mx-3 usa into a VHT 100Cl with about 6 effects total. Run this in your effects loop behind everything (unless you have delays, reverbs, etc.) and turn up to the volume level you play at. Turn the knob until it slightly reduces your volume. Then, turn it back a hair to get your normal volume back sans noise, and bang, you done. This amp is a must for high gain applications. really cleans up your sound. People complain that it clips your sustain. All you have to do is very slightly decrease the effect and it will allow you to keep your sustain and still reduc the noise. They really did a good job with this one, i wouldnt be surprised if Boss's next noise supressor incorporates this type of technology.

Built a lot like boss pedals, might even be more solid, definitely would gig without a backup, its almost always on anyway, so its not like it'll get much wear and tear.

I love this thing, it really helped clean up all the noise from my effects chain and makes practice a lot more coherent without all the feedback I used to get (we practice in a small room). This pedal is one of the most useful I have, that and the Boss Enhancer. If you think you've tried every noise gat there is, think again, this pedal will help you if you think you need a damn good gate.

One knob, works easily. I got no manual w/ mine, the store lost it, along with the box I think, but not a problem.

I agree with the post below that it could offer a little more fine control. I have a rack expander that works wonders because of the extra parameters and control. I know this isn't fair to compare rack units to a pedal, but it's worth pointing out. Perhaps the simplicity is the selling point here.

Very easy, nonetheless.

Does the trick in most situations without problems. I use it as a multi-purpose personal studio tool, moving it around in signal chains where ever it may be useful. I have a bunch of odds and ends, it works well with hissy stuff, cleans it up for recording.

But it doesn't work miracles. It can clean up in between playing no problem, but only does so much once the "gate" is open. Sometimes it's just too much or not enough. For what it is though, this isn't a complaint, just a fact.

To its credit, it responds nicely and quickly and doesn't heavily suck away the uneffected tone.

Even though it's probably the best NR pedal out there right now, I give an 8 with room for improvement. Good product fidelity, not practically perfect though.

It's hardcore heavy duty.

no need.

I do a lot of different recording with different instruments, and I like that it's small and portable and and easy to move and set up pretty much instantly.

As far as I know it's the best out there. For as much as I wish it could clean up everything perfectly, obviously it can't do magic, but it is very handy. A rack expander and adjustable gate is better, but more hassle. With this it's easy and fast, and I use mine pretty much every time I'm recording on the go, so I'll let that speak for itself.

Can't say how it does in a live senario, I've never had an extreme stage hiss issue so I don't use this when playing shows.

It's fine and good for what it does, but given that they impressively crammed into pedal form, it's great. Could be better, hypothetically, but for what's on the market, it's as good as it gets, far as I know.

I wish it were more adjustable, but like I said the selling point is probably its utter simplicity, for players looking to toss a pedal into their rig to cut the hiss and be done with it. And it does indeed set up fast because it's so simple.

One knob. period.

Fender Stat + BK single coil = very noisy

It gets rid of the noise very well, but the knob is very sensitive. Turning a bit can keep it noisy, while turn it too far can cut your sound and sustain. It is really hard to find the ideal spot. I wish they would narrow the range so that finer adjustments can be made.

Reliable? Yes!

Email, but no reply. I haven't tried any other way of communicating, but honestly most people now use E-mail anyway.

In the end its an effective pedal. This product does not need a thorough review. It does what its meant to do, nothing more, nothing less.

Although it is ridiculously simple to use with just one knob, it can be tough to find the right setting that will suit your needs, especially if you play high gain metal and the like. The single Threshold knob has a very wide range for any application you could imagine but I found it's also pretty sensitive.

I run an Ibanez SZ520QM with EMG 81b/60n into a Randall RG100SC 100 watt 2x12 combo (the original model, not the G2 series). I've tried the Decimator both in front of the amp and in the effects loop. If you use it in front, you will be disappointed if you like your rig to be really quiet because it doesn't silence as much hiss as the Boss NS-2 does. Plus it doesn't have a very pronounced gating effect. With the Threshold set too low, you don't get as much noise reduction, and with it set too high you can kill your sustain and if you turn it up even more, you won't get any sound from your guitar.

In the FX loop of the amp is where this pedal is supposed to excel. Playing with the Threshold control I don't think I really found a setting I liked. HOWEVER, it could cut out ALL the noise, so my really hissy Randall amp was COMPLETELY SILENT and I could've sworn it was off, no joke. The problem was that in the loop it did nothing to prevent feedback... there was no noise but I almost couldn't avoid hearing screeching feedback that I couldn't silence. I tried it at band volumes at a practice and the same problem was present: infinite feedback that wouldn't stop until I found a decent place to stand. I guess it did what it was supposed to do, but I still wasn't satisfied.

I think it's a solid pedal, built like a tank. Never had any problems with its functionality.

I never had to deal with ISP so I can't comment.

I've been playing guitar for maybe 5 or 6 years, and the whole time I've played mostly Metal. I thought the Decimator was an outstanding pedal that did exactly what it was supposed to do, that is it was meant to silence the noise coming from an amp. But I expected a more noise gate-like effect and I didn't get it.

The bottom line is, if you're looking for a noise suppressor that will let you do stop-start type things and take away a lot of your noise, go for the Boss NS-2. If you want to make your amp dead silent but don't care about a nice signal chop-off that a gate has to offer, get the ISP.

I decided the Boss NS-2 just suits me a lot better for what I like. It's all in what you like.

As everybody has said this is probably the simplest format you could imagine, one knob to alter the threshold.

However, although this does the job in hand i did find that i was only moving within about 5% of the available range and i do think that the system, although simplistic could provide more control. Maybe over a smaller range of frequencies.

I play an RG550ltd with EMG 81 and 85, a JEM 7V, a Jackson SL-2 with 81 and 81 and an ESP m-II custom, again with EMGs through a mk I Peavey 5150 Signature series and a Mesa Recto slanted 4x12, and i have my decimator as the sole pedal in my effects loop.

I play technical thrash/speed metal using the 5150's high gain channel. Although i got a great tone when playing any time between was dominated by unbearable hiss and uncontrollable feedback, and not just at gig volume.

The decimator, ahem, decimated the hiss in seconds without noticably killing sustain or taking away from top end. Although at first i did feel that certain notes were getting clipped but a bit of tweaking and this was barely audible, and was definitely a worthwhile trade off with the loss of the hiss.

I've had no problems at all, it's been dropped, kicked, fallen from all sorts of places and it still works a treat, it may look like a boss pedal but it's made of sterner stuff.

N/A

Taking into account the cost, the reliability, and the trade-off between cleaning up the signal and loss of sound quality i would be hard pushed to think of something i'd rather use.

It's infinitely better than the Boss NS series, and i'd say personally, i prefer it to MXR's M135 Smart Gate pedal, which is very good as well.

You may be able to get a better end result from far more expensive and complicated rack units (although experience of Behringer and Digitech units, the 2101 was a particular disappointment). But I am yet to do so and am more than happy with the Decimator and would not be looking any further for my noise reduction in the future.

If mine got lost or stolen i'd buy another straight away.

One knob. Retard proof.

I use this after all my high gain or noisy pedals. PRS Custom 22 into EVH Phase 90->Keeley Comp.->Keeley TS9->Keeley DS-1 SEM->Decimator into Hiwatt Custom 100.

Best noise reduction I've ever tried, period. The lowest and highest threshold settings are "out of range" of normal guitar playing so you'll be setting this near 12 o'clock. For this reason, I wish ISP had dedicated a narrower threshold range to the sweep so you could have more control on the edge of the threshold.

When your amp is cranked and you have all your high gain pedals active, step on the Decimator and it's like the amp is on standby. Any old noise gate can do that, but this pedal really shines in opening & closing the gate. There's no chatter, just a smooth ramp. The tops of your notes don't get clipped. The sustain is reduced somewhat, but at that point, the noise is equal to or greater than your signal anyway.

As far as transparancy is concerned, I hear a little extra thickness in the low-mids when active. This might be compression, but it's fairly subtle.

I've owned it for 6 months and it's been fine. However, if you use a battery, beware when the battery starts to sag as this will produce unwanted "bad connection" sounds. I use a Pedal Power 2 so there's no issue.

N/A

Been playing for 20 years and I like hard rock and metal, and I think this pedal was made for high-gain players. It's the best pedal I've added in a long time. I will never be without one again.

If you're like me, the sound of your amp humming & buzzing at high volume makes you want to punch a baby, the Decimator will keep you in good standing with infants all over the world.

Turn your rig on turn this on, turn the knob until the ocean disappears . . . Done! No manual needed.

I use Randall RH100 Solid State amps and my house is very old and poorly grounded. The distortion channel in these amps is noisy by itself in my house, a Decimator in the effects loop and POOF, no noise. I use a Boss Metal Zone in front of the Randalls clean channel. The Metal Zone is a noisy beast and when coupled with lousy grounding, the nasty hum and noise is horrific. Put the Decimator at the end of the chain, turn the knob . . . silence, until you bash a chord and it almost scares you because it comes out of nowhere.

This thing is heavier than any Boss pedal I have ever came across. It looks to be built like a good truck.

No support has been needed, I hope it stays that way :)

I play loud hard rock and metal and punk and thrash. I have been playing 18 years or so. This is by far the best thing I have ever bought for electric guitars.