Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

[some_dude]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

Speaking of Noise-gates, does anyone know what model Dime uses? His sounds wonderful.

Rocktron Silencer

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

Update!

I bought it from a store for $80. Yeah, I know, overpriced... but to me it's worth it.

Ok... the HUSH Super C rocked, but this thing was dialed in flawlessly QUICK!

I love the Boss NS-2... I really do. It took 2 minutes approximately to get this thing working as good if not better than the HUSH (I'm not joking either). It's extremely transparent. I went to my high gain channel of my amp, cranked the threshold and it killed the hum without killing sustain or tone. To check I have a footswitchable FX Loop (which I simply installed the NS-2 using the In and Out with the FX Loop of my amp). No difference whatsoever. I messed with the delay for about a minute to get it working right. I love how this pedal doesn't need power to run (I realized otherwise I'd have to run another cable to my pedalboard which could be messy).

All in all, transparent as hell on both clean and distorted and my notes sound clearer and stronger than ever. This thing was worth every cent R.I.P. my old P.O.S. HUSH Super C Rackmountable monster... something much smaller, built much better just tonally kicked your ass

[StratTom]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

Hey Chris thanks for the update. Glad to hear you like your NS-2. I was thinking of getting one myself, I just had my doubts. I think I'm gonna check this thing out now. Thanks!

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

To be honest, after extensive use (lots of tweaking on my amp to see how the pedal would handle it)... it's a great pedal, but not perfect.

I kinda wish the threshold knob went further than it did. It's completely transparent all the way to 10 though. On solid volume levels, it squelched 99% of the hum (with it turned off, it was unbelievably loud). That goes without saying that with the master volume all the way up and the others cranked that it is beyond noisy. The pedal cannot touch that, but I never crank everything anyways... I get great tone without it having to be blown wide open, unlike many other amps.

So for the volume levels I set it at, it works almost flawlessly. It was a little bit of a letdown to hear it come through with more insane settings, but if I'm never gonna get to that point, I shouldn't have a problem. My amp suffers from A LOT of noise with the gain cranked, so if mine is pretty much good to go with this pedal, most people should be happy with it

Sorry it wasn't as short and positive as previously stated, but I feel this is pretty accurate. The very fact that it's built like a rock, fully transparent and for most settings very effective makes it stand above my HUSH Super C unit.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

Trust me noisegates are a pain.......we make one, I do not use it, not that it is not good, quite the contrary.....I'll just never use one.
I rather my mute button on the combinator I use, I just hate noisegates, they annoy the hell out of me, have done so since the 80's.

[Mr Wolf]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

Well..... "hate".. maybe too much. Let's just say that I'd not buy it again. Too much tone degradation.

As I said, it's just the fact that I prefer to investigate where that hum/hiss comes from than just putting adding another efx. 95% of the time, it's caused by bad guitar shielding, cheap and/or damaged cables, ground loop, and so on.

Many years ago, I sold my complete pedalboard because of this, the whole assembly/wiring killed my tone and I was tired of hiss/hum... but I was using cheap 1$ patchcables (the colored ones!), same DC source (ground loop) and cheap guitar cables.

Now I'm using Planet Waves guitar cables (guitar>amp and efx loop) and Fender heavy-duty patch cables (I know, there's better ones!). Using 2 different power sources (2 adapters) on my pedalboard and have carefully shielded/wired all my guitars. No hum!! Finally! So now I'm GASing for more pedals

HTH!

Yea i understand you there. I dont think my rigs to bad for hiss/hum. I use horizon patch leads (only one required between the tuner and NS-2) Then some mediocre leads going from there to the amp, guitar,GE-7 in the loop etc. I tend to use a 5150, and its a really high gain amp and i turn down the gain as low as possible, but stil so i can still get some chunk out of my thrashy palm mutes Even then theres noise, hiss and feedback problems How can you tell if a guitar is well shielded? Ive done some rewiring on my guitar and the cavity is coated with a dark grey sort of colour. Is that the shielding?

[Thames]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

I use horizon patch leads (only one required between the tuner and NS-2) Then some mediocre leads going from there to the amp, guitar,GE-7 in the loop etc. I tend to use a 5150, and its a really high gain amp and i turn down the gain as low as possible, but stil so i can still get some chunk out of my thrashy palm mutes Even then theres noise, hiss and feedback problems How can you tell if a guitar is well shielded? Ive done some rewiring on my guitar and the cavity is coated with a dark grey sort of colour. Is that the shielding?

I dunno about Horizon cables.
In my amp, I use a (Mullard) 12AX7A/7025 in V1 to tame down noise, and it works! Im planning to put exclusively 7025s in the preamp for lower noise. Of course, when using high-gain amps, noise/hum can be a problem.

Whats your guitar(s) ? No I dont think the grey paint is conductive. You can test it with a DMM. Shielding and wiring *inside* the guitar is often the problem, and people always look elsewhere.

I'm not saying that you can kill *all* the hum with propre wiring, shielding, cables and other stuff, but you can greatly reduce that hum. Also not an expert with high-gain amps. I'm just sharing my experience so far with hum/hiss.

[Jono_L]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

Whilst were on the topic of noisegates, has anybody tried the MXR unit? I have yet to see one in my country, so I can't try it myself, but afaik, its an old Scholz rack unit design squeezed into a pedal, and I've heard that its even better than the BOSS unit?

[Mr Wolf]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

I dunno about Horizon cables.
In my amp, I use a (Mullard) 12AX7A/7025 in V1 to tame down noise, and it works! Im planning to put exclusively 7025s in the preamp for lower noise. Of course, when using high-gain amps, noise/hum can be a problem.

Whats your guitar(s) ? No I dont think the grey paint is conductive. You can test it with a DMM. Shielding and wiring *inside* the guitar is often the problem, and people always look elsewhere.

I'm not saying that you can kill *all* the hum with propre wiring, shielding, cables and other stuff, but you can greatly reduce that hum. Also not an expert with high-gain amps. I'm just sharing my experience so far with hum/hiss.

Thanks alot. Ill check things out. Im using a 'new' kramer Imperial (an explorer copy) (off www.musicyo.com) and im not too sure about the wires, ill ask my friend who knows his stuff what he thinks.

Off subject, after rewiring the kramer i found it has an epiphone pickup selector and i guess pots aswell. The switch is pretty unreliable so ill have to replace that

Jono: I have not used the MXR gate. If it really is better than the NS-2 then it must be good (judging from the fact i think the NS-2 is very good)

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

Whilst were on the topic of noisegates, has anybody tried the MXR unit? I have yet to see one in my country, so I can't try it myself, but afaik, its an old Rockman rack unit design squeezed into a pedal, and I've heard that its even better than the BOSS unit?

I looked at the unit before, but it's not transparent. It seems to shift focus towards the lower frequencies a bit. Is it terribly noticeable? Not really. However, I won't settle on something that changes your tone even a little bit.

The Boss NS-2 works quite well at eliminating hum. I don't think it works quite as well as the HUSH Super C I used, but it eliminates most of the hum (to the point where I'm satisfied with the product). Most importantly, all the sustain and dynamics are there with the pedal in full effect. I don't have to worry about my cleans getting cut off when fingerpicking or when doing a long bend... it all stays intact. Beautiful

[some_dude]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

I'm not saying that you can kill *all* the hum with propre wiring, shielding, cables and other stuff, but you can greatly reduce that hum. Also not an expert with high-gain amps. I'm just sharing my experience so far with hum/hiss.

I run a high gain amp (Dual Rectifier) and so far the only problems I've had regarding hum have been from cabling or the guitar.

I have one cable that when plugged in makes a huge amount of racket. I currently use that one for rope.

My S/S/H Strat makes noise when any of the pickups are engaged, but is otherwise silent when the pickups are killed (it has a kill switch on it).

Otherwise, it's dead silent as far as hum goes, even with all the stompboxes plugged in.

Hiss is another story. It's not loud, but you can definatly hear it. I think hiss will always be present with high gain, it's just the nature of the beast.

[NoMoreMKIV]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

I noticed that the NS-2 appears to cause a very slight increase in signal level when it is turned on. Not sure why.

The thing I don't like about it is that under many circumstances, if the gate is strong enough to get rid of your hum, it will also be strong enough to chop off your sustain.

For that reason, I am in agreement with others who suggest minimization of hum by using good quality power supplies for pedals (this makes a huge difference) and shielding guitars.

That said, I was asking a local tech about what he recommended for dealing with the unavoidable hum of single coils - and his response was that he had the best noise gate in the world: the volume knob on his guitar. When he's not playing music, the volume knob is turned down.

That's an inexpensive solution.

[some_dude]

Re: Anybody tried the Boss NS-2?

I noticed that the NS-2 appears to cause a very slight increase in signal level when it is turned on. Not sure why.

Most (if not all) Boss pedals have a FET buffer in them. It restores the lost highs and mids lost due to running longer cables.