The Boss NS2 is pretty popular and inexpensive. I saw a lot of those when I was recording metal bands. The Hush (Rocktron) pedals were pretty simple and decent, although I didn't like how "soft" the decay was on the reduction. It was good for less staccato-heavy stuff. Really depends on what kinda band your guy is in.
As usual, I'll recommend the Zoom MS50g pedal. It has a few gate models to choose from, and I like the ZNR one as it has controls for threshold, reduction/attenuation, and decay/release which makes it kinda versatile and full featured. It can also double (or triple) as a tuner and an extra effect (or two or four) while only taking up one spot on your board.