MXR M195 Noise Clamp Noise Reduction Guitar Effects Pedal 

Comments about MXR M195 Noise Clamp Noise Reduction Guitar Effects Pedal:

It is astounding how few reviewers are using the product correctly. It is quite effective when used with your pedals in the clamp's loop. It will kill some sustain, but not so much tone. Still, that is why there is a switch on it. If you are doing something like uncompressed clean solos, you will have to switch it off. It will cut out the ends of notes if you don't have a significant amount of compression on your signal. Noisy signals like drive and fuzz have a lot of natural compression and work well with the clamp. It is important to understand that is does not kill any hiss/feedback/noise while you are playing. It has a threshold-based approach to limiting noise. If the total signal is above the threshold, it will not do anything. It is meant to kill hiss/hum while you are not playing. I don't know why people are saying it kills feedback. I don't see how it could. The only devices that actually kill feedback are based on notch filters that seek out the exact frequencies of the feedback and mute it. Even with one of those, it just saves you from blowing a speaker. You will always have to eliminated feedback in the conventional way, keeping the output speaker away from the input source.

So, I don't know how this pedal compares to other noise reducers. I'm just reviewing this as a public service to set the record straight as far as how well it works.

http://www.jimdunlop.com/files/manuals/M195_man_WebSite.pdf

Comments about MXR M195 Noise Clamp Noise Reduction Guitar Effects Pedal:

The first one I recieved didn't work.
I returned it and the second one worked for twenty minutes. I'm done with this piece of junk!

Comments about MXR M195 Noise Clamp Noise Reduction Guitar Effects Pedal:

I was trying to choose between this and a regular noise suppressor. It's hard to get answers to just what this does. What this does is it only cuts out your noise when you are not playing but I still got the hiss and buzz when playing. I ended up with an ISP that works well.

Comments about MXR M195 Noise Clamp Noise Reduction Guitar Effects Pedal:

I used to use a Smart Gate, and it just didn't cut it. While the Smart Gate will kinda fade out your noise, the Noise Clamp immediately cuts your signal as soon as you stop playing. However, it's very responsive to your playing. It will not cut you out--only the noise.

I have this running in the 'X' configuration exactly how you would run the Boss gate. Rather than explain I'll give you my chain: wah-tuner-Noise Clamp INPUT-Noise Clamp SEND-compressor & preamp fx-AMP INPUT. FX Send-EQ-Noise Clamp RETURN-Noise Clamp OUT-mod fx-time based FX-loop return. This allow you to filter out ALL noise.

The above config is well-documented online. I play through a 5150 III and wanted to control the noise of my amp channels as I don't use a distortion pedal. I don't play metal either; just hard rock.

I almost bought a 2nd Smart Gate but Noise Clamp solves it all.

The only thing I hear is ME. When I'm not playing you hear nothing.

Comments about MXR M195 Noise Clamp Noise Reduction Guitar Effects Pedal:

Received this today to tame a Wylde Wah and modded TS-9 on my JVM OD channel. Popped in a duracell and switched it to loop bypass to get the tone sucking wah out of my signal unless I need it. Screwed it all together, plugged it in and tried to fire it up. No LED, no nothing. Unscrewed the backplate and tried another Duracell, repeat. No nothing. Tried my onespot. Nothing. Called MF to return and found out that the broken pedal they got to me 3 days after I ordered it has to go all the way back to them, be received and then they'll send me another one in 5 days or so. Useful. All my other MF purchases have been issue-free but I'm not really pleased with this little turn of events.

Comments about MXR M195 Noise Clamp Noise Reduction Guitar Effects Pedal:

I should have done a bit more research before I bought this, or even just read the implication in the product description. This pedal is NOT a noise gate. Some reviewers think that it is, but it is not. It wiill do absolutely nothing for the noise coming from your amp, such as hum or hiss. It will only reduce/eliminate FEEDBACK coming from your PEDALS.

The upside is that it doesn't color the tone of the amp, which a noise gate will do. So if you have a quiet amp, but get screechy feedback every time you turn your OD pedal on and you don't want to color your tone with a noise gate, you could instead consider this to just quiet your pedal.
Was plastic, but still seemed tough. No door for the battery.
All pedals are ridiculously expensive.

Comments about MXR M195 Noise Clamp Noise Reduction Guitar Effects Pedal:

Great pedal, did exactly what i needed it to do...which is illiminate feedback when i engage the compressor.
Great pedal,does what it's supposed to with minimal impact on tone...however it does kill some sustain as you would expect a noise reduction effect to, but it's not a deal breaker for me. i flipped the internal switch to activate the loop with the foot switch and ran all of my distortion (T C Electronic NovaDrive and a Zvex Mastatron) as well as an MXR DynaComp into the front end of my amp (90's Ampeg VT-502 half stack using a Music Man Albert Lee HH). So I can add whatever combination of distortion /comp and activate it with the M195. watch the demo video and you can hear how well it illiminates feedback. SUPERB! must also mention that the knob didn't seem to make a big difference in the sustain or. noise reduction.
it's an MXR, man
Quite a bargain, as i think MXR pedals tend to be

Comments about MXR M195 Noise Clamp Noise Reduction Guitar Effects Pedal:

This was my first noise gate ever... I got it needing something to clean up my EQ/compressor/distortion from an embarrassing amount of feedback. I'll start by saying it was the cheapest one on the market which was the main selling point. And since it was MXR, I thought 'why not'?

It's good. If you're not playing, it keeps things quiet. Personally, I love playing clean tones but I use a heavy distortion (think Weezer), so finding a noise gate that works is kind of a nightmare if you got a small budget... That being said, if you're going to record, spend the $$$. I don't. I like open jams and despise hissing late at night when I practice in my room, so this is functional for me. Side note, it's cheap and kills sustain so I jack up the sustain on my compressor which gives me enough of the good stuff. You need volume to get your tone through or else it can't tell the difference between a good clean and background static.
It's a noise gate. Simple knob to dial in accordingly to how much you want to level off... it's not gonna send a rocket to the moon, but it'll keep from annoying your friends.
The build is solid and it works well. It's comparatively cheap compared to everything else, so it's a get what you pay for thing. But if you buy it for the right reason it'll be a great addition to your chain.
If you buy it to record, you prolly wont like this thing a whole lot... I'd consider rack unit ca$h if that's your angle. If you play live, it'll take care of business for you. Nobody likes getting drunk and listening to 50+ watts of hiss... be nice to your fans. Clamp the hiss, k?

Comments about MXR M195 Noise Clamp Noise Reduction Guitar Effects Pedal:

if your looking to inprove reordings this a pretty cheap method of doing. but if our looking to inporove your live sound and use it for years'n years i'd go with a smart gate pedal or better. this thing defently does its job but im not impresed with its lifespan. i play pretty gainy music so this was nice way to clean up the sound without lossing too much gain it does HOWEVER mess with your high-end a bit its not super noticable but is to be considered.
theres not much to it but its "gate pedal" so it doesnt need much. it has the standard potromiter (dial) and "stomp which"(dont know true name) , and l.e.d. gate light (shows when its gating and not gating) its also batery accessible but screw driver is needed to get to it so its rather incovient. and ive only been able to power it with a recomended 9v adapter. (which is strange becuase its the only thing ive ever owned that cant be powered by whatever i can fit in the adapter port; so i had to buy a $15 adapter... anoying but i guess its safer that way)
baught it used; the person before me claims they had it a "year'n half" i had it 4 months beofre it shorted out. so its not built to last (if last less the 5 years its not to "built to last" to me, that is...) it did eat up batteries pretty quick when it did work though.
since its basically a lesser version of the smart gate i'd say its worth saving near 50%

Comments about MXR M195 Noise Clamp Noise Reduction Guitar Effects Pedal:

I sort of bought this pedal on a whim. I got and tried and was really impressed. It works - and works well. You have to experiment with the settings and configuration - it does work straight in the effects chain but works much better as they recommed (go figure).
It's MXR. I have 5 of their pedals and their all built like tanks. Assuming it's a well built tank.
You could go cheaper but why? These pedals are great bang for the buck.