In your electric guitar effects pedals chain, if you have an amp
that is working properly, you have good cables, good tubes in your
amplifier (that are in decent working order), a serviceable guitar and
you are still experiencing hums and hisses then the device you need will
be some sort of noise gate. This relatively simple device is actually
rather simple as this short article will illustrate:
Firstly you will need to understand what the main differences are from the available popular noise gate products. When I was looking around for this information I managed to collate a fair bit about these products which I hope you will find useful should you wish to explore this method of reducing or eliminating unwanted noise:
The first thing I discovered was that a noise gate is effectively something that is set up and then left. Easy enough, even for me, but there are some other important factors to understand that are relevant such as how and why the hisses and hums are made in the first place.
Hisses and hums often come from poorly made or put together components on your guitar, such as badly soldered joints, poorly wound or badly shielded pickups, or just the fact that single coils are used. To make the whole set up quieter start with these points. Then make sure that there is an adequate grounding on all the electrical connections and that the solder joints are smooth and shiny. It is likely that one of these things will be affecting the sound.
The next point would be the electric guitar effects pedal chain itself which will bring together circuits built by numerous different manufacturers. Each effect will have its own traits, but the creators should have ensured that their pedal is as good as it can be in terms of circuitry and build quality. However, remember that using boosting devices or anything designed to increase volume in the effects chain will amplify any sound being made - good or bad. This is the reason any compressor pedal should be placed at the beginning of the chain as the pure nature of this effect amplifies any noise from any other sources (like your guitar). It stands to reason that if you minimise the sources in front then you are guaranteed to have less hiss and hum.
It is highly likely that your amplifier was not built to perfection. This is particularly the case if you use a tube amplifier as they tend to introduce hum and hiss into the mix from things like microphone noise or just general wear. Apparently, not many guitar players look at the connections from the amplifier to the speaker terminals in their cabinets and there can be a poor connection in the vast majority of cases commonly caused by the spade connector. Nowadays, those in the 'know' solder their speaker terminals to make sure they get a stable connection and thus reducing the hum and hiss of the amplifier.
All the connecting cables really matter. That means all the cables, not just the lead from the guitar. All should be as high a quality as you can possibly get. Much of the time if the cables are substandard it will also be tone that suffers along with the hum and hiss problems.
Reduction of hiss and hum using a noise gate begs the question of where the device should go in the electric guitar effects pedals chain. I suppose the obvious place is as the last link so it can deal with everything that has gone before, but has the sound degraded so badly by that point? There are arguments that it should be at the first link to deal with the prime 'noisemaker', the guitar. The truth is that the position of the noise gate in the chain depends on what equipment is being used and an understanding of all the issues outlined above, and like everything in music your own personal preference.
Firstly you will need to understand what the main differences are from the available popular noise gate products. When I was looking around for this information I managed to collate a fair bit about these products which I hope you will find useful should you wish to explore this method of reducing or eliminating unwanted noise:
The first thing I discovered was that a noise gate is effectively something that is set up and then left. Easy enough, even for me, but there are some other important factors to understand that are relevant such as how and why the hisses and hums are made in the first place.
Hisses and hums often come from poorly made or put together components on your guitar, such as badly soldered joints, poorly wound or badly shielded pickups, or just the fact that single coils are used. To make the whole set up quieter start with these points. Then make sure that there is an adequate grounding on all the electrical connections and that the solder joints are smooth and shiny. It is likely that one of these things will be affecting the sound.
The next point would be the electric guitar effects pedal chain itself which will bring together circuits built by numerous different manufacturers. Each effect will have its own traits, but the creators should have ensured that their pedal is as good as it can be in terms of circuitry and build quality. However, remember that using boosting devices or anything designed to increase volume in the effects chain will amplify any sound being made - good or bad. This is the reason any compressor pedal should be placed at the beginning of the chain as the pure nature of this effect amplifies any noise from any other sources (like your guitar). It stands to reason that if you minimise the sources in front then you are guaranteed to have less hiss and hum.
It is highly likely that your amplifier was not built to perfection. This is particularly the case if you use a tube amplifier as they tend to introduce hum and hiss into the mix from things like microphone noise or just general wear. Apparently, not many guitar players look at the connections from the amplifier to the speaker terminals in their cabinets and there can be a poor connection in the vast majority of cases commonly caused by the spade connector. Nowadays, those in the 'know' solder their speaker terminals to make sure they get a stable connection and thus reducing the hum and hiss of the amplifier.
All the connecting cables really matter. That means all the cables, not just the lead from the guitar. All should be as high a quality as you can possibly get. Much of the time if the cables are substandard it will also be tone that suffers along with the hum and hiss problems.
Reduction of hiss and hum using a noise gate begs the question of where the device should go in the electric guitar effects pedals chain. I suppose the obvious place is as the last link so it can deal with everything that has gone before, but has the sound degraded so badly by that point? There are arguments that it should be at the first link to deal with the prime 'noisemaker', the guitar. The truth is that the position of the noise gate in the chain depends on what equipment is being used and an understanding of all the issues outlined above, and like everything in music your own personal preference.
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