Help with Boss NS2

BloodRose

Professional Scapegoat
Ive been wanting a noise suppressor but havent had the $$. I found a NS2 in a pawn shop for $39 and picked it up. No manual or anything tho. What are some good settings?? Also, there are 4 jacks, what is the common way to run them? Thanks
 
Re: Help with Boss NS2

As far as settings go, you'll have to experiment on your own with your rig. Use the threshold knob to set noise level you want squashed. The decay knob determines how quickly it activates.

I put my effects in the loop of the NS2. The only exception is delay. If you use delay, I would run this in the output of the NS2, between the ns2 and the amp.
 
Re: Help with Boss NS2

I don't put my effects in the loop, in fact the NS-2 is the second thing in my chain and the reason is I use single coil pickups. A lot of times my hum is coming from neon lights, televisions, etc through my pickups. My noise happens before any gain is applied (as opposed to gain hiss and noise) so I want to destroy the noise before I start tweaking the tone. It works fine for me in this setup and I get a lot less tone loss because it's not having to destroy noise from anywhere but the pickups. (the only thing before it is a tuner)
 
Re: Help with Boss NS2

The "send/return" jacks of the NS-2 are a cool feature. It is not necessary to use them, but if you have an exceptionally noisy pedal, you can connect it to these jacks to make it more like true bypass. For most guitarists, the knob settings and the placement of the noise suppressor are a matter of trial-and-error. Some recommendations for placement would be immediately after the biggest noise culprit and before delay or reverb.
 
Re: Help with Boss NS2

I don't put my effects in the loop, in fact the NS-2 is the second thing in my chain and the reason is I use single coil pickups. A lot of times my hum is coming from neon lights, televisions, etc through my pickups. My noise happens before any gain is applied (as opposed to gain hiss and noise) so I want to destroy the noise before I start tweaking the tone. It works fine for me in this setup and I get a lot less tone loss because it's not having to destroy noise from anywhere but the pickups. (the only thing before it is a tuner)

+1 on that, I haven't looked at it in awhile but I have the threshold on mine set to around 10-11 oclock and the decay is at the minimum setting (at least I think)

I just use it for single coils though, other wise it's bypassed in my rack system.
 
Re: Help with Boss NS2

My signal chain goes like this:

guitar --> PW tuner --> Vox wah --> NS-2 --> amp

I make sure to put the NS-2 as the last thing in my chain in front of the amp because that way, it takes away noise that any other effects I decide to use create, especially the wah. It allows you to eliminate feedback too, and get a nice hard brick-wall gating effect. I don't know if you're into that but I play mostly metal and heavier music so that's what I like. Most of the time, you just use the Input and Output jacks, because the Send and Return are for the pedal's own FX loop. You can plug noisy pedals into that, but I don't think it's necessary.

Some guys like to use the NS-2 in their amp's effects loop. While this literally takes away ALL noise that the preamp is making, I find that it seems to add a lot of treble and makes the tone way too bright, harsh, and piercing. Also it doesn't get rid of any feedback or give you hard gating, unless you're really good at muting the strings with your hands. So overall I would recommending putting it in front as the last thing between your guitar and the amp.

If you're looking to get a nice hard start-stop signal chop-off, you'll want to start with the Decay knob at 0, and then start with the Threshold at half, increasing it to get the desired gating effect. If you don't want the gate to kick in right away, then move the Decay knob up. In my experience I never have to worry about notes getting cut off in solos or anything like that even with the decay at 0.

Because I use a high-gain head, I set my threshold around 3 or 4 o'clock, but I've found that the setting can vary between individual NS-2s, so just experiment until you like what you hear. Good luck.
 
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Re: Help with Boss NS2

Mine goes:

wah>chorus>NS-2 , and I have a EQ in the amps effects loop. I found the NS-2 to be more useful for me infront rather than in the loop. Basically experiment, I would put delays after it (so it doesnt chop off your delay) and put stuff like chorus before it. I don't really have any pedals to take advantage of the "loop" on the NS-2, but its a great feature that many people swear by. Also, as a final recomendation, set your NS-2 settings while your amp is on the volume you will be playing at when using it! Don't set it with your amp on 2 when you'll be using it i na band setting where the amp will be on 7.

I have my threshold set to about 10 o clock with decay at 0.
 
Re: Help with Boss NS2

Thanks all! I actually figured it out for the most part by trial. The only thing that isnt clear is the delay. I cant seem to notice much diff. The other knob I figured I have to dial it up until the noise is gone.
The tips on placement will be very helpful too!!
 
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