$5.00
BUZZKILL
BUZZKILL is designed primarily for guitar players and incorporates the “BUZZ KILL” mains hum reduction feature from our “amp in a box” modules, and a simplified version of the PORTASONUS gate, fine-tuned for use as an instrument noise gate.
Please note that mains hum reduction is mostly useful for guitar players who use single coil pickups.
BUZZKILL has two totally independent channels for processing stereo or dual mono inputs. When either input is used on its own, it will be routed to both outputs. Please note however that the gate is driven by the average incoming signal of both inputs.
When used with guitar, we recommend BUZZKILL is first in your signal chain so that the cleanest audio is presented to any high gain effects modules further down the line.
The BUZZ switch enables a series of mains hum filters when set to 50Hz or 60Hz. The middle position is off / no mains hum filtering.
REDUCTION sets the amount the filtered frequencies are attenuated by, from 0dB to -24dB. At minimum setting, no gain reduction is applied.
For best results, with REDUCTION set to minimum and the KILL switch off, turn on the BUZZ switch for the mains frequency appropriate to your region (e.g. 60Hz in the US) then gradually increase the REDUCTION knob until the mains hum frequencies are no longer intrusive. You can then use the gate to “clean-up” any lower level noise in your signal path.
The KILL switch enables a noise gate when set to ON.
When the gate is open, the LED below the switch will be lit blue. When closed, the LED is red.
THRESHOLD sets the input level that will open the gate from extremely quiet (-96dB) to the maximum level of 5.0V (0dB). If no levels are clipping, nothing should get through the gate when THRESHOLD is set to maximum.
RELEASE sets the time taken for the gate to close from 25ms to 2500ms once the signal has fallen below the THRESHOLD level.
REDUCTION sets the amount of attenuation applied by the gate. At maximum setting, this is “total silence”, i.e. -96dB. At minimum setting no attenuation is applied. This control can be used to bring background noise down to an acceptable level without totally silencing your instrument signal.
We hope that BUZZKILL helps prevent “buzz kill” due to noise when recording and playing live!