I recently purchased a Mexican Strat single coil guitar, a Fender Stage 100 head and a Kicks (offbrand) 212 cabinet. It really sounds quite nice with a lot of power and headroom and is fairly compact. It is quite noisey however. What is the cheapest thing to do to at least cut down the noise by half. Do I need a noise gate effect or what.

>> There are a few things to try that will minimise the hum, but getting rid of it entirely may not be cheap.

You don't say whether your noise problem his hiss from the amp, or buzz from the pickups. If you're not sure youself, try turning down the guitar volume - if the noise goes away, then pickup interference is the problem. If the noise (hiss or even hum) remains with the guitar volume down, then it is almost certainly an amp problem.

Amp hiss and hum problems can be minimised by setting the volume and treble no higher than they need to be, and by turning off overdrive when you're not using it. If the noise is coming from the preamp, and your amp has a series effects send/return loop then you could use a professional noise gate there to help. Bear in mind that even with a noise gate, that the noise is only muted when you're not playing - it comes back on when you start playing, but hopefully it's not too noticeable.

If the noise is hum or buzz from your pickups, you could use a noise gate stompbox to help, but best to try and minimise the problem first. Single coil pickups also pick up interference - it's just the way they work. I have Kinman pickups and find they really sound like single coils, have no hum, and don't need you to change to high impedance pots to keep the highs. Try to keep the guitar well away from electrical gear, such as the amp, computers, etc. Also, avoid light dimmers and flouro lights. You can minimise hum by facing the guitar in different directions as well; you should be able to find a position where the hum is least.

Lastly, there may be an earthing fault causing hum - if you have any reason to suspect an amp problem like this, I'd recommend you have your amp checked urgently.