Noise Gate: Differences between the AMP1 Silver, Mercury and Iridium Editions
All three AMP1 versions have an integrated NOISE GATE - an intelligent suppressor of unwanted background noise. Compared to external noise gates, the signal in the AMP1 is evaluated at several points in the circuit at the same time in order to react as sensitively as possible. In this way, the NOISE GATE automatically and intelligently adapts to the channels and their gain settings so that as little signal as possible is lost.
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The NOISE GATE switch gives you three options:
SOFT
SOFT - for all classic guitar sounds. The signal is attacked as little as possible, and only the background noise disappears when you are not playing.
DeleteMETAL
METAL - ultra-fast and hard gate response with extreme damping. Best suited for metal riffing at high gain.
DeleteMETAL setting: special features for Mercury and Iridium Editions
If the NOISE GATE is set to METAL, there are differences in the operation and functionality of the NOISE GATE on the AMP1 Mercury Edition and AMP1 Iridium Edition compared to the AMP1 Silver Edition:
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CLEAN Channel: based on the assumption that in the CLEAN Channel a fast, hard-acting NOISE GATE is rather counterproductive*, the AMP1 Mercury Edition and AMP1 Iridium Edition automatically switch the gate to SOFT as soon as the CLEAN channel is activated.
- REVERB: with the AMP1 Iridium Edition, this principle is also applied when the REVERB is activated: as soon as the REVERB is activated, the NOISE GATE - regardless of which channel is activated - switches from METAL to SOFT. On the one hand, this prevents the reverb tail from being cut off by the gate. On the other hand, we assume that the reverb is primarily used for solo sounds, where a fast acting gate would prevent standing tones from fading away.
* Background info: The CLEAN Channel of the AMP1 Mercury Edition is ideally suited as a pedal platform. Therefore, depending on the pedal used, the desire for a hard NOISE GATE in the CLEAN channel is also obvious.
However, the NOISE GATE of the AMP1 is designed in such a way that as little as possible of the signal arriving at the input is lost, as this is usually the pure, clean guitar signal. In this way, the gate can very effectively suppress background noise that is caused in the AMP1 itself without affecting the actual guitar signal.
For this purpose, the NOISE GATE evaluates the signal at several points in the circuit to determine which noises are produced in the AMP1 itself and which are already present at the input of the amp. Background noise that occurs in front of AMP1 (including background noise caused by pedals in front of the amp) cannot be identified as background noise by the gate, and is therefore not suppressed.