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Tell me about your experiences with the Boss NS-2 "Noise Suppressor". The YouTube videos don't really explain how it works, and they don't have any in the local shops. It'some kind of adaptive gate, yeah?

I apologise if i'm stating the obvious but I believe it's a noise gate and it removes noise (hiss) from your sound. I used to have one and it did the job but in my bid to remove all Boss pedals from my chain I got an MXR Smart Gate instead which I think is better. I think Timhulio was selling one of these in the classifieds a while back if you're after a noise gate.

it has two different modes, mute and reduction. i used the 'mute' mode, set at quite a low threshold, and it would cut in once you'd stopped playing and prevent squealing from distortion pedals etc. it would completely mute the signal when engaged. the reduction mode i think (but can't really remember) constantly scans your signal for hiss and stuff.

i found it sucked tone a bit too much, and decided i could live with a bit of feedback now and again in exchange for a bit more treble in my signal.

A noise gate doesn't remove noise, it just cuts the volume when the input signal is low enough that it wouldn't be hidden. When you play the signal level of your guitar is loud enough that it masks the noise.

It's sort of like being out a gig and the people next to you are talking at standard conversation level. When the band are playing they may as well be mouthing the words, you won't be able to hear a thing of what they say. Between songs, if there's enough of a gap for your ears to adjust you'll hear them quite clearly. A noise gate recognises when the input signal (the overall sound at your gig or your guitar, so including the talking or hiss) drops below a certain level (set by a 'threshold'), and then it reduces it or mutes it completely. So it's the equivalent of turning down the volume control on your ears when the band stop so you can't hear the people talking. When the band start playing the signal is back above the threshold and the volume on your ears reverts to normal.

There are more complex methods of noise reduction, such as ones where you can remove specific frequencies. With those it's possible to remove hiss even with an active audio signal but that's a whole different barrel of monkeys.

I think I found the NS2 sucks tone too which is why I got the MXR Smart Gate. The MXR does suck tone but only when you use the high trigger mode, with that off I find no tone suck whatsoever. Anyway using high trigger mode is rubbish if you use a delay pedal is it cuts the trails of your delay off, in the other modes you can adjust the trigger so that it doesn't and still reduce noise.

johnnyseven wrote:I apologise if i'm stating the obvious but I believe it's a noise gate and it removes noise (hiss) from your sound. I used to have one and it did the job but in my bid to remove all Boss pedals from my chain I got an MXR Smart Gate instead which I think is better. I think Timhulio was selling one of these in the classifieds a while back if you're after a noise gate.

Bid to remove all Boss pedals? Ok so serouslly.. wtf? Boss is one of the most reliable companies there is, why would you 'remove them'

I've always found that the buffers that they put in their pedals affect the tone of the other pedals in my chain. This was a particular problem with other distortion pedals, the Boss pedals seemed to remove all tone from them - i'm not talking a little bit of tone here that only I would notice but making them sound totally different. It's not due to me having anything against Boss, I just wanted the majority of my pedals to sound the way they should - as the Boss pedals seemed to be the ones causing the problem they were the ones to go.

EHX's recent "Hum Debugger" is a little more advanced, as our very own Will shows us here:

[youtube][/youtube]

I used to use a Rocktron Hush, was amazing but took up a lot of pedal board space. However in the end I decided I could live with a bit of noise though, as it tells me when I have too much distortion

Thanks for the input, guys. I'll see if anyone at FSB has an idea how it actually works, but best bet is probably to find somewhere that has it in stock - not easy.

johnnyseven wrote:I've always found that the buffers that they put in their pedals affect the tone of the other pedals in my chain. This was a particular problem with other distortion pedals, the Boss pedals seemed to remove all tone from them - i'm not talking a little bit of tone here that only I would notice but making them sound totally different. It's not due to me having anything against Boss, I just wanted the majority of my pedals to sound the way they should - as the Boss pedals seemed to be the ones causing the problem they were the ones to go.

Man I really dig that reply.... I guess Im to damn use to the 'scene' kids coming in talkin bout their 500 dollar delays and their 300 buck 'harmonic overdrives'. They hate (or pretend) boss just because people can afford them .. (sorry if anyone here is one of these guys/gals buuut) They have no reasons as to why to dislike boss, they are just lame F*$&$*% ducks and it'll be a fun day when I see their gear in the local pawn shop with 50 dollar tags on them

I enjoy my pedal set up (ive got several boss pedals that I gig with and love em) but I can see where your coming from and understand your reasoning on it