advice on 2 rangemasters in series / noise issues

[bobster]

i guys,
i just built another rangemaster as a spare for my 1st one . [ both have germ mullard OC44 ]
this time i used metal film resistors to supposedly reduce hiss but it doesn't sound noticeably quieter than my other one with carb comps.

both pedals are usable on their own and as long as you dont crank the amp the hiss is bearable...

however , today i hooked dem both up in series and it was insane in a really good way....
but yes , the hiss is now through the roof

do you guys have any advice for solutions for this as i'd like to use both pedals together for the patented nuclear blistering sound!

any noise gates or similar you can recommend that won't tone suck or give weird note decays?

thanks - bob

[petemoore]

  Probably what youre hearing is the transistors noise. Hiss, happens in RM's, maybe different transistor of same or different type will reduce noise, I tried lots and just picked the lowest noise/best sounding ones, worked with that.
  With two of them seriesed youre multiplying the gain of the signal many times, noise gets gained up right along with...I imagine you put the one with the fancy resistors first in line once, because noise is then multiplied by the second RM, if the lowest noise one is placed first may = less noise.
  LP Filtering will...LP filter, gets rid of hiss and some highs too, you may find applying some carefully chosen values of LP caps useful...try .001uf at the input of the first one, that may trim hiss and leave most of the highs through, but anywhere from signal path to ground or even on a B/C of transistor.

[hairyandy]

Try the Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor.  There's always a give-and-take with any type of noise gate and you have to find that compromise between low noise and signal degradation.  That being said, the Boss NS-2 is the best one out there at the moment and lots of pros use them in rack systems to quiet some of the noisier vintage effects.

Andy

[petemoore]

  A misbiased transistor can sound quite nice and fuzzy, especially if it's right on the edge, can work alot like what it is... a gate. Quite specifically picky about what input signals it responds to in gating fashion, and may crackle a bit [intermittently gate] if your'e playing softer sustaining notes that turn the gate on and off during the notes..
  I've had particular 'happy accident' Fuzzes or Octaves like this, with 'natural noise gate' built in, nothing gets through until a bit of 'push' of signal [preferrably a very little] 'turns it on'.
  I didn't mention noise gates because I try to reduce noise in some other way like bypassing the circuit when noise > signal...or use a fuzzer with low enough noise.

[Pushtone]

I would imagine that two RM in series would be very noisy.

I know what you mean about the sound.
I love to drive my RM and Brian May TB with another booster.

You might try driving you RM with an AMZ mini-booster,
it's super quiet and dosen't add noise to the already noisy RM
and it gets you that super over driven TB sound.

Think of it as salt and pepper instead of pepper and pepper.

[bobster]

good calls guys , thanks -

i might try the little caps  on input  .001 and also have a silicon booster which is quiet so will try that in front of RM.

with both of them on the go its such a cool sound verging on the hilarious and manic !
cheers - b