Noise Gate; Never used a pedal, always on software but haven't been using one for a long time
1-Yeah but focusing on the noise first would make things easier either you buy it or not. We are talking home right not stage? like, at home changing sitting position can help. I heard dim lights and some light sources can affect sound, sitting too close to the screen or computer definitly affects it.
After these simple solutions are tested, then a noisegate works more comfortable if you still feel the need of it.
2- Probably but you'll still have to try controlling that. Like; if you setup the noisegate to be too sensitive then those slides might bleed, in extreme settings you'll have to keep banging the strings which isn't good too.
3-ISP decimator as I heard is the king of those pedals, but recently Todd mentioned he sold an MXR after he got his Hotone. We all know he likes insane distortion
thats why you should definitly ask his advice and maybe give some sound examples for detailed info on how you might use it.
4-I also like strong distortion, pushing both my overdrive and distortion near limits and don't use a noisegate. In a situation like a solo over backing track, small amonths of noise isn't such a big deal. In studio this applys again as we edit the silent parts of pretty much everything so for me stage useage is probably why I would need one.
Compressor
1- Depends on setting, on some settings it can make the guitar sound very percussive. Strat guys making funky chord stuff really likes using compressors for such usage.
2- Can't give much advice on brand/model. Though I do know the boss one is prefered for that taking away the attack add sustain thing, but also I keep seeing used ones very often. A friend of mine who gigs regularly likes his MXR, can't remember the model but probably the expensive one.
3-Long ago I used compressors for distortion boosting. Setting attack long and release short; help impact on begining of solos. Since strong distortion is so compressed by nature, it helped giving the notes some musical attack.
To be honest thinking as both guitar and studio logic, I never saw compressors as sustain machines even though some are marketed that way. Sometimes its there to sit in the bands sound better and sometimes as mentioned percussive bu its always about enhancing musicality in a not so tone shaping way but to control stuff you fingers can't.
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