Fortin Zuul Plus Noise Gate

Well....as tou can probably guess from looking at all the online videos of this product, if you are looking for a gate with which to produce choppy/staccato djent/metal - this will do you proud.

But....if (like me) you are looking for something that handles amp/mediumm gain noise, maintains natural decay/tails and can respond to rolling down volume pots on the guitar as you clean up or swell, this is probably not what you are looking for.

Yes, the overall threshold is adjustable and you have fine tuning of the attack and release, the Zuul Plus does not suck your tone and responds very (too?) quickly. All good so far.....

But, using both single coils and humbcukers into a vintage 70's Marshall 50w head and Friedman Twin Sister (both running at around 8 on Vol/Gain knobs respectively with Fullton Ranger into the input) I was unable to find a setting that (a) allowed me to capture the initial pick attack unaltered (without the gate opening/reacting to the slightest pressure on the strings and producing a bizarre and intensely itrritating artefact that attracted filthy looks from the rest of the band) or (b) notes to decay naturally without an obvious "slammed in the face" closure - even with reverb and delay post the pedal to try to mask this.

Also, being a gate, when open it lets everything through - maybe not a problem on metal/high gain styles - but that "everything" includes all the hiss and mess from a kranked amp.

I believe that there are other pedal format gates out there that are a bit more flexible (TC Sentry) and allow "partial opening" for more natural feel/sound but for me, I''m sticking with my trusty Rocktron Hush - it allows the instrument to breathe and a more natural sounding/feeling flowing playing style withjout annoying artefacts or the feeling that you are fighting your rig.