Spark-Sound cuts out due to noise gate
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I am unable to play soft as I get little or no sound out and when I pick hard the sound fizzles out well before my strings stop vibrating. In fact I can hear the guitar singing well after the amp cut out. This is especially the case with higher gain setups.
This is a big enough issue that my Spark amp, which I love, great piece of kit, is only used for technique practice: fretting, scales, etc.. If I want to work on learning songs I use something else as it is unnerving to play something from David Gilmour or SRV’s Riviera Paradise, etc., and have the sound fizz out durning the quiet parts.
I had contacted PG about this but I don’t think they understood what I was referring to and it was difficult for me to record what was happening. Which makes me think this might just be me.
After some messing around I found that the culprit is the noise gate. The only way, it seems, to correct this, while still having the NG in the chain, is to turn down both the Threshold and Decay to zero.
I guess my question is, does anyone else have this issue? Do you have a better workaround? Does anyone from Positive Grid monitor these forums? I’d really love to get this solved and have a usable noise gate.
Thanks,
Dean -
@deanhespinosa
I did the following when researching/developing my practice Presets for my Spark 40:- Set the Spark 40 Output Volume to 25% and NEVER touch it. All adjustments are performed within the selected Preset.
- Turn the guitar volume to 8-10 and adjust the Preset Amp Volume and Gain for comfortable playing volume.
- Adjust the other pedal volumes/levels for the basic tone. May need to readjust the Preset Amp levels as needed.
- Adjust the Preset Noise Gate for both noise reduction and sustain.
- Toggle Off and On the other Preset Pedals to see if they are causing or contributing to noise or early cutoff. This was a real issue in a number of non-Positive Grid developed Presets on ToneCloud!
- If I can’t adjust it, I either turn it off and forget about it. Or try a different Preset.
- See if I can get close enough using/adjusting a Preset Compressor.
Once I established a few specific practice Presets, I seldom open the Spark App anymore, and haven’t messed with ToneCloud Presets in ages. There are so many variables in the initial setup of the Guitar and Recording signal chains of ToneCloud contributors, that I seldom found a usable “out of the box” Preset that worked for me.
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@dan-lawrence Thanks for the response. That is about how I work through the issue, sometimes. I agree with ToneCloud. The other issue is we are limited to the genre folders for our presets. I would like to have a folder just for mine, or, maybe song folders. Or whatever.
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@deanhespinosa
Made that same folder enhancement request under the “What’s The Big Idea” Forum Topic about 1 1/2 years ago. -
@deanhespinosa
SPARK MINI here..
I have the same issue too and like to know if a Firmware - update could solve this.
The crackle and other and other disturbing noises increase without NG.
I thought it might be the pickups or the insulation of the electronics and used my guitar with Hummbucker Pickups, which normally does not produce noise on other amplifiers, and the result is the same.Sadly.
I hope the Developers are aware of it.
Greetings from Germany
Chris
