NPD: Rowin Noise Gate

[Canard]

I picked up this pedal, a Rowin Noise Gate, new in box, on CL for $13.50. Weird price, yes, but there it is.

It seems to be one of several Chinese-made noise gate pedals that are similar/identical except for different paint jobs and badging. Are the guts the same? Who knows?

Some review sites give the pedal an editor's choice/gold-star award for best simple, basic noise gate pedal for the money. And in as much as purchaser reviews can be trusted (like ... not), these are generally positive, too.

My first impressions without plugging it in and trying it out are not entirely positive. Both the foot switch and the toggle switch feel rough and junky, catching slightly with use. The pot is a cheap plastic shafted thing. I do not think this pedal would stand up well to any kind of repeated professional use.

If I were going to buy a cheap noise gate pedal new, retail, I would probably choose a Behringer - more flexible controls and better warranty - same basic retail price range. If I were going to buy a good noise gate pedal, I would probably save up for one of the high-end models with multi-band filters.

But hey ... $13.50 as a crime of opportunity ... what could go wrong? What could go wrong?

 

[Canard]

Well .. done and dusted ... the pedal works well ... well .... well enough.

I got together some of my noisiest gear (old pedals and cheap long cables) and stuck it all in the effect loop before this pedal and plugged in a cheap Chinese-made electric beater guitar with HG (hum generator) pickups, and the pedal mostly works. It reduces noticeable noise a lot but does not eliminate it, of course, or rather it does not eliminate it without eliminating signal, too. It can eliminate all signal and noise if the threshold knob is turned to the extreme right - nice if you don't have a standby switch on your amp.

There are two presets on the toggle switch, hard and soft. Soft offers a longer tail.

If you play a legato style with notes of long value, allowed to decay slowly and naturally, the pedal does not work really well. When it cuts things off, the sudden near silence is a bit jarring.

If you play a staccato style with a lot of rests, there is the same problem. The cut is quite abrupt.

The hard and soft toggle controls the degree of abruptness, and the threshold knob gives finer graduations at a cost - a longer duration before cut off gives more noise.

The pedal works best with rock/blues/metal raunch and faster staccato playing/shredding/power-chording - quite effective here as its positive effects are definitely there but its negative effects are less/hardly noticeable.

Ironically, it does not work as well with clean playing where it would be most beneficial. The negative effects at the point of noise reduction are too intrusive.

You can, however, change how you play to match what the pedal does, not leaving a lot of space in the music, and if you are willing to do this the pedal is quite effective. If feels weird, though.

I don't know if all noise gate pedals have these issues or not but I suspect that perhaps they do to greater or lesser degrees depending upon cost and sophistication.

Overall the Rowin is not a bad pedal at its $30+ street price. And it is a pretty good pedal at $13.50.

And it would probably better again if I didn't put garbage in the effects loop and use a garbage guitar.