MusicRadar Verdict
An open and shut case for cleaning up your sound.
Pros
- +
Unobtrusive. Doesn't seem detrimental to tone. Ideal for high-gain sounds.
Cons
- -
Takes a while to get the settings just right.
MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.
The Pigtronix Gate Keeper is a noise gate designed to keep all unwanted noise from your rig: it basically shuts down the signal when you stop playing and opens up again as soon as you hit a note.
"If you have a hissy or hummy rig, this can unobtrusively keep the noise at bay"
Just two knobs control the action - the threshold knob controls how much signal is needed to open the gate, while the release knob determines how long it takes the gate to close after it's fallen below the level set by the threshold, albeit with a limited range.
A mute LED shows when the signal has fallen below either threshold. The pedal certainly works fast and efficiently and doesn't seem detrimental to tone, but you have to be careful to get your knob positions just right, especially so if you're playing sustained notes and don't want them truncated.
For certain types of music, perhaps high-gain metal riffing and chords, it can certainly keep your sound tight and controlled.
If you have a hissy or hummy rig, this can unobtrusively keep the noise at bay.
“We were arguing a lot and we were miserable”: How Green Day exceeded expectations with their most ambitious song
"There’s plenty for us guitarists to learn – and ‘less is more’ is the overriding lesson": how to play like George Harrison on The Beatles' Abbey Road
“They didn’t like Prince’s bikini underwear”: Prince’s support sets for the The Rolling Stones in 1981 are remembered as disastrous, but guitarist Dez Dickerson says that the the crowd reaction wasn’t as bad as people think
