[hwknight]

hi, I usually play speed metal. as for sound i run my strat through a overdrive patch, Eq is Base 3 Mid -10 Treb 2. also lotsa tone,gain ,chorus and compression. this gives me a really cool razor sharp lead sound. problem is loud clicks from my picking. tried picking really soft but its still loud. any advice to quite the pick attack, while still keeping the sounds character? thanks alot

[allthumbs]

Have you tried something like running through a sound gate

[hwknight]

hm. if by sound gate u mean like noise reduction and dirty gate or gate. i run through nr on full. if i use dirty gate or gate it messes up my legatto,gets cut off. although they do help a bit with the pick attack.

[Tekker]

As an experiment, try turning the compressor off completely and see if that helps any.

Also, try to pick exactly perpendicular to the strings. If you are picking at an angle to the strings you will get a quick scrapping sound as the pick slides down the strings.

-tkr

[Stratrat]

I didn't catch the part about the compressor in the original post. You definitely may want to try turning that down - many compressors create a "pop" from your pick attack as they "clamp down" on the note. It's a very characteristic sound for country "chicken pickin", but might not be so desirable if you're trying to do smooth, liquidy rock leads.

[hwknight]

thanks, its the compression. i turned it off and i only hear a slight click. but damn! legatto lines are harder and i lost alota sustain. thanks though. is there anything i can do with the eq to help with the clicks? and can u recommend a multi effects unit that has a compression with minimal pick attack?

[Tekker]

What kind of compressor do you have and what are the settings? You should be able to tweak the compressor to reduce the picking noise.

-tkr

[hwknight]

i use a zoom G2.1u multi effects( pretty much a budget unit) and comp settings were- sense - 10 (full). attack - fast. level - 50. do u think i can kill off some pick noise if i add more midrange and less volume? eqs are now at Base4 Mid4 Treb4. i also have lo mid, presence and harmonics. aren't using them though. im thinking of upgrading to a boss GT8, can u control compression with the pedal on that unit?

[Tekker]

It doesn't look like they give you a whole lot of control over the compressor. But you can experiment with the settings and see if it changes anything.

First, try changing the attack from fast to slow.
Then try decreasing the sensitivity (sense).
Then experiment with the level.

-tkr