Noise gate pedal for countering single coil hum?

[El Raro]

Had a look around the forums and Youtube but couldn't find a suitable answer.

Recently picked up a Fender Jazz...my first passive, single coil bass. I love the tone and feel of this thing...bar the single coil hum. I like to play with the bridge pup solo'd so, naturally, it can get pretty annoying having the hum linger around especially once I start cranking some dirty effects.

I've been looking at noise gates but I'm a bit on the fence about them. Firstly, is there a big risk of tone suck happening with the gate engaged? Also, how effective are noise gate pedals for hum control in the first place? If not a noise gate, is there anything else I should consider for countering the hum?

[JimmyM]

Noise gates don't get rid of noise, they just turn off your signal when you're not playing. Some do it more elegantly than others, though. I have a Rocktron Hush pedal that is absolutely kickass for that kind of purpose. Used to use a Boss but it always made noise for a little bit after I was done playing or it cut off abruptly, no in between. But the Rocktron is great and works pretty invisibly if you set it right.

[willbassyeah]

I heard Dan is good at doing shielding. But he is no longer making bass.

[lowfreq33]

The EHX hum debugger does a good job of getting rid of 60 cycle hum, but it does affect the tone to some degree. It's essentially a series of notch filters at 60 Hz, 120 Hz, 240, etc.

[LSMFT6]

ISP Decimator, problem solved.

[El Raro]

Thanks for the input, guys.

So if a noise gate pedal is not what I'm after, what exactly do the Rocktron Hush, EHX Hum Debugger and ISP Decimators call under? What's the term for these pedals so I know what to look for when I go hunting for one?

[JimmyM]

I don't know that the Decimator and Hush aren't just noise gates. I still hear the hum when I use my Hush pedal. It's just that the signal is louder, and it cuts the signal off when not playing more elegantly than most noise gates. But if it cut the hum, like the Debugger, it would also change the sound, and I don't get that from the Hush.

[Scottkarch]

I just picked up a Hum Debugger. I have a few basses with single coil pickups.. and our practice room is full of fluorescent lights. It works fantastic. I can't hear the difference in tone with it engaged, but it sure seems to work well. I'm pretty sure it is much more than a notch filter. It uses an AC/AC 7v adapter. So, it runs on 7v but it takes in AC. I'm guessing it does that to know when the cycles happen on the power line and subtracts, maybe a notch filter, but driven by the sine wave of the AC power.

I'm not sure how it works, but it works great. Like the videos on youtube. There are a few of them.