Thanks gemather for taking the time to respond. I actually swapped it in store for a germanium 4 after another deluxe showed the same problems. I originally wanted the germanium but was momentarily swayed by the noise gate. Bad mistake The germanium has a far richer tone to my ears. And I bought a decimator g string II for noise control. The germanium 4 behaves very nicely in the decimators noisy loop and I have everything I really wanted from the start! Thanks again.