Noise gate/suppression when running OD in front of the amp?

[LeadBurnsRed]

Im new here, and would like to start off by saying hello to you all and that its great being here...

With that being said, here I go.

My rig is as follows...

Dual rectifier (3 channel), RJM RG-16 router/switcher, delay, reverb, chorus, flange and phase ran thru the RG-16 routed thru the effects loop of the amp and handled by a Voodoo Labs Ground Control Pro. Ran thru a Mesa Rectifier cabinet.

Guitar to Boss tuner to wah, input to amp.

I recently acquired a Keeley modded SD-1 overdrive pedal. I placed after the wah of course. Anyways, I havent dialed in a lot of gain per se on the pedal, however I am getting a decent amount of feedback. I know there are many types of suppression and gates out there...which ones are worth my while? Ive heard the Boss NS-2 is cool, and to run the OD in the effects loop of the pedal and then into the amp. Ive also heard the ISP Decimator is a nice pedal.

Im wondering, who runs an OD in front of their amps, and what suppression or gates are you using? Obviously I want to retain tone and I dont want to cut back on sustain and natural/controlled feedback.

Thanks.

 

[R_ADKINS80]

I run a modded Ibanez TS9 and a Boss NS-2 as follows:

guitar > NS-2 > OD > amp.

NS-2 set to Reduction on the far right knob. 1st knob max, 2nd knob Min.
OD set to gain at 9:00, Tone at 1:00, and level MAXED. I run this way as pretty much a clean boost with a little extra grit. The gain on my 2nd and 3rd channels are at 1:30 max and eq to taste. This gets me a pretty crushing tone. The trick I found to the NS-2 is to put it first in the chain. If I run the OD before the NS-2 or even in the loop it seems to really suck the tone out, but not when gating just the guitar.

I should also add that I am a rythm player and for lead work you may need to back off on that first knob to avoid chopping any notes off, but even on some of the little lead fills I do that my NS-2 works fine set to my normal settings and I don't lose any sustain for my purposes.