Azor The Noise

Azor The Noise is a compact noise gate pedal from Azor. A noise gate listens to your signal and mutes it once it falls below a set level, which is what makes it useful for taming the hum and hiss that come with high gain rigs, daisy chains, and vintage pickups. RockBoard's PedalPedia says the pedal "can reduce the noise form input signal and keep the quality of your original signal"¹.

The circuit is analog, and Azor emphasizes that the gating is meant to happen without eating into your core tone. That matters, because not every noise reduction tool works that way. Some noise suppressors filter out hiss by filtering out some of the high frequencies, so the overall tone is actually altered, as Kit Rae notes in his analysis of David Gilmour's Big Muff-era rig². A gate like The Noise aims to leave the signal alone when it is playing, and go quiet only when you are not.

An analog noise gate that keeps your tone

A noise gate is a simple idea: signal above a threshold passes, signal below it gets cut. The classic Boss NF-1 worked exactly this way, described by TONEHOME as "just a simple noise gate that cuts off the signal once the level falls below the threshold set"³. The Noise sits in that same tradition, and Azor frames its job as reducing noise from the input signal while keeping the quality of the original signal, so the tone is not reduced in the process¹.

Where you place a gate shapes how well it works. Boss's guide to noise gate and suppressor pedals notes that one of the most common applications is in the effects loop of a high-gain amplifier, where the gate eliminates unwanted amp noise while still reacting naturally to your tone, sustain, and pick attack⁴. That placement lets the gate clean up the preamp hiss rather than only the noise from your guitar.

Not all gates treat your signal identically. The KMA Machines PYLON, for example, uses an integrated audio transformer, which MusicRadar reported was included "to be extra kind to your signal"⁵. The Noise takes a simpler path: an analog circuit, true bypass, and the promise that your original signal quality survives the trip through it¹.

Hard and Soft modes

The Noise has two working modes, Hard and Soft, selected to match how aggressively you want the gate to act¹.

In practice, this two mode layout is a common one among compact gates, and the descriptions other makers give help explain the difference. Donner describes its Noise Killer's Hard mode as "faster, harder noise reduction" and Soft as "softer, smoother noise reduction"⁶⁷. Carl Martin's Noise Terminator switches between two threshold settings, Soft for less noisy equipment and Hard when more radical gating is needed⁸. The shared idea: Soft closes the gate gently so decay sounds natural, Hard clamps down quickly for noisy, high gain setups.

If you are comparing compact gates, several neighbors in this class take the same approach:

• Donner Noise Killer: Hard and Soft modes, 26mA draw, true bypass⁶
• Mooer Noise Killer: 2 modes, Hard/Soft, true bypass⁹

Power and current draw

The Noise runs on 9V DC from a center negative supply and draws 26mA¹. That is a modest draw. For comparison, the Donner Noise Killer draws the same 26mA⁶, while the Darkglass Noise Gate draws around 60mA¹⁰ and Old Blood Noise Endeavors' Excess V2 needs 125mA¹¹. On a typical isolated pedalboard supply, The Noise places very little demand.

Bypass and build

RockBoard's PedalPedia describes The Noise as having true bypass, so with the pedal off your signal passes through without the circuit in the path¹. That is the standard arrangement among compact gates in this class, including the Mooer Noise Killer⁹ and Donner Noise Killer⁹¹², though not universal: Guitar World's review of the Tallon Electric The Noise lists it as buffered bypass¹². The casing is full metal, which RockBoard's PedalPedia describes as making the pedal "very small and exquisite"¹, so it fits easily on a crowded board.

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