Noise reduction underneath the signal

  • Hi, JimmyK,

    Have you used the Noise Gate?

  • Hellu gals n´pals

    I said it before and I say it again : The noice gate is NOT a magic Dolby™ kind of filter that sort out unwanted sound lika noice and hum.

    It is a GATE, that when not playing your instrument, is CLOSED if threshold is set properly.

    When playing your instrument the gate is OPEN and all unwanted sound will pass through, together with the sound of your instrument.

    To reduce hum, noice and buzz, use quality cables, humbuckers, clean out electric gadgets like WiFi, transformers, dimmers,

    roof fans, fridges, light tubes, VGA screens, AC´s, Tesla chargers, neighbors power plant .... You get the picture 8o

    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

  • Hi, JimmyK,

    Have you used the Noise Gate?

    Of course, not talking about noise gate here :)


    Lol ? if everytime I want to play some notes I must ask the whole neighborhood to shut down every electric device, I don't think they will like the idea!

    Now seriously, it's a pretty common problem many people have mentioned. I am sure that if there is a way to steal an amp's soul and keep it trapped inside a toaster, there must be a way to cut the hum from the signal (I am saying it again, the hum and buzz underneath the signal when playing or at the end of sustaining notes, NOT when the playing stops).

  • Ha ! They would love it, because then they can hear you play loud and clear

    without disturbing noice from their power tools and annoying radios ^^

    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

    Edited once, last by Hoki Toki (November 23, 2020 at 3:55 PM).

  • Of course, not talking about noise gate here :)


    Lol ? if everytime I want to play some notes I must ask the whole neighborhood to shut down every electric device, I don't think they will like the idea!

    Now seriously, it's a pretty common problem many people have mentioned. I am sure that if there is a way to steal an amp's soul and keep it trapped inside a toaster, there must be a way to cut the hum from the signal (I am saying it again, the hum and buzz underneath the signal when playing or at the end of sustaining notes, NOT when the playing stops).

    Use guitar with hum canceling coil (dummy coil). https://www.ilitchelectronics.com/ for example.

  • Thank you both for your help.

    But, I have checked things up and I don't have excessive noise problems. I have properly shielded guitars, good pickups etc.

    I have done my research on the subject and believe I have normal noise levels, like if I was using a real amp. When things are totally clean I have no noise at all. When I am using a tone with little breakup, I have a little hiss behind the notes, more audible at the ending of sustaining notes. And of course as I increase gain, noise increases too.

    It would be awesome if Kemper guys could provide us with a magic filter that reduces hum behind the notes, especially on broken up tones. In high gain the noise isn't audible when playing, but on cleanish broken up tones it's annoying sometimes. Since we are not playing with a real amp, it would be nice to get rid of all the problems of real amps, and guys at Kemper have already given us many 'magic' solutions :)

  • The noice gate is NOT a magic Dolby™ kind of filter that sort out unwanted sound lika noice and hum.

    The input gate does filter out noise and hum, but only for the guitar signal.

    When playing your instrument the gate is OPEN and all unwanted sound will pass through, together with the sound of your instrument.

    The input noise gate in fact functions all the time, learning and acting on those "unwanted sounds" such as hiss and hum.

    Jimmy, if you've only tried the Stomp gate, the gate in the Input Section may well be the answer to your problem.

  • The input gate does filter out noise and hum, but only for the guitar signal.

    Yeah ... The INPUT "Noice Gate" works like that in a mysterious way, I was refering to the "old school" Noice Gates

    witch in fact is a Gate that when closed, no sound passes trough and when open, all sounds passes trough ....

    Like the ones in stomp box section .......

    The Input "Noice Gate" would be called "Noice filter" or "Noice Suppressor", because thats what it does :/

    Sorry for the confusion , mostly from my part :rolleyes:


    Cheers !

    The adjective for metal is metallic. But not so for iron ... which is ironic.

  • The input gate does filter out noise and hum, but only for the guitar signal.

    The input noise gate in fact functions all the time, learning and acting on those "unwanted sounds" such as hiss and hum.

    Jimmy, if you've only tried the Stomp gate, the gate in the Input Section may well be the answer to your problem.

    Thanks Monkey Man, you always try to help.

    But imho the input noise gate is terrible. It destroys the transient of the guitar (where all the "tone" exists in my opinion), it creates a cocked wah effect and it still doesn't reduce hum at the end of sustaining notes. It just works as a normal but bad noise gate. The stomp one is better but still, my problem is behind the playing and not when I stop playing. I would appreciate a feature that eliminates hum behing the notes, and as far as I've seen on other topics many people would also benefit from this. I don't expect of things being dead quiet on high gain, but at least I would enjoy slightly broken up or overdriven tones with no hum at all.

  • I'm not sure that what you're asking for is possible. Seems to me it would take some serious number crunching behind the scenes.

    Aren't there plugins that do this kind of thing? Maybe you could fix your recordings after the fact.

    Yes, maybe. Honestly I don't know, I just made my request :) I had one plugin like this once but it eliminated all the treble along with the hum.

  • But imho the input noise gate is terrible.

    Unfortunate that you find it "terrible", Jimmy.

    For me it's been fantastic.

    It destroys the transient of the guitar (where all the "tone" exists in my opinion), it creates a cocked wah effect and it still doesn't reduce hum at the end of sustaining notes.

    At normal settings I hear neither transient destruction nor cocked-wah tones.

    Also, it does reduce hum as sustaining notes die out. That's what makes it so brilliant for me.

    It just works as a normal but bad noise gate.

    How can this be? It learns, targets and removes input noise to-taste and does so continuously, nothing like a normal gate.

    The stomp one is better but still, my problem is behind the playing and not when I stop playing. I would appreciate a feature that eliminates hum behing the notes, and as far as I've seen on other topics many people would also benefit from this.

    This is exactly what it does, Brother Jimmy, but it seems our experiences of it differ greatly.

    I don't expect of things being dead quiet on high gain, but at least I would enjoy slightly broken up or overdriven tones with no hum at all.

    These are realistic expectations IMHO, and for me at least the input noise gate fits the bill beautifully. I feel bad that for whatever reason it hasn't done the same for you, mate.

    Just in case you've been setting it too-high, I must ask:

    Have you tried cranking it slowly from zero just to the point at which the noise is reduced to a reasonable level (not necessarily silence) whilst holding the guitar, one hand in contact with the strings?

    A classic mistake would be to set it whilst the guitar is buzzing away with no contact with the strings. This of course is not a realistic playing scenario and in many cases the difference in noise is night-and-day. If the gate is set in this way it'd naturally be working way-too-hard and the sorts of artefacts you've been encountering would be expected IMHO.

    Thanks Monkey Man, you always try to help.

    My pleasure, brother. ;):thumbup:

  • The 'noise' you talk about is a side effect of compression and gain. More of either raises the noise floor.

    If the KPA is what it purports to be - which is to Profile a real amp faithfully, removing that goes against the whole idea.

    As for the input noise gate, it works wonderfully well - but you have to set it correctly. Otherwise it will choke off notes like any other gate.

  • Thanks again mate.

    I tried again (I thought maybe I missed something here) but no luck.

    It doesnt't do anything different than a normal noise gate except destroying the transient.

    At lower settings (until around 50%) it works like a typical noise gate, removes noise when not playing but the hum behind the notes remain.

    After 50% the transient starts dissapearing, and the sustain suffers, But still, the hum remains in the background.

    And I am talking about an almost clean tone with humbuckers (tried different guitars). It's subtle but it's audible.

    I can upload samples if you want.

    The 'noise' you talk about is a side effect of compression and gain. More of either raises the noise floor.

    If the KPA is what it purports to be - which is to Profile a real amp faithfully, removing that goes against the whole idea.

    As for the input noise gate, it works wonderfully well - but you have to set it correctly. Otherwise it will choke off notes like any other gate.

    Kemper is all about convenience and the whole idea is to keep the good things, not everything. Otherwise it would weight 20kgs and it would have tubes :)

    An optional "hum remover" would be a nice addition to such a convenient device.

  • It doesnt't do anything different than a normal noise gate except destroying the transient.


    At lower settings (until around 50%) it works like a typical noise gate, removes noise when not playing but the hum behind the notes remain.


    After 50% the transient starts dissapearing, and the sustain suffers, But still, the hum remains in the background.

    I'm dumbfounded, mate. None of this equates to my experience with it except for the higher-than-50% thing - the note suffers after that point, sure, but even then, we disagree on the background noise at this point 'cause you say the hum remains, which for me it does not.

    If I could explain why you're not getting the great performance out of it that so many of us here do, I would, but I can't, Jimmy. 'Tis got me stuffed bro'. :/

  • If your main issue is hum, you might have a ground loop.

    1. Are all your devices connected to the same wall socket, e.g. using a power strip?

    If not, do this first.

    2. If #1 doesn't help, what is connected to your Profiler? Obviously guitar, but is there also various outputs / inputs connected?

    If so, try to use the "Ground Lifts", one by one. Attention! Never engage ALL ground lifts at the same time!

  • If your main issue is hum, you might have a ground loop.

    1. Are all your devices connected to the same wall socket, e.g. using a power strip?

    If not, do this first.

    2. If #1 doesn't help, what is connected to your Profiler? Obviously guitar, but is there also various outputs / inputs connected?

    If so, try to use the "Ground Lifts", one by one. Attention! Never engage ALL ground lifts at the same time!

    Thanks mate. As I've stated before, I have not a big noise problem. I believe everything is pretty much normal. I just wish I could get rid of the normal hum behind the notes when a profile is not 100% clean. You now like a keyboard or something.

    I've tried all this stuff, cables, guitars, pickups, ground lifts, different slots, different places etc. I have even looked at vendors' videos to see when I use the same profile they use how much noise/hum they get and I get pretty much the same.

    Maybe I am just looking for a "better than real" thing, but I have a small suspicion thet Kemper is a bit more noisy than a real amp. I don't remember, but I think back in the day when I was gigging with real amps I didn't have hum at such low gain tones. Maybe I am wrong of course.