Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor

Easy to use..just tweak till it responds the way you want it to.

I dont notice any tone change and I'm anal about things.

Boss...tough stuff

Never needed it.

I use a Marshall jcm900 and a Boogie DC-5 and I need more gain for the newer stuff on the radio when using the Marshall. I have a TS-9 808 modded and use it with the Marshall's gain channel. Kinda 2 gain stages and an EMG SPC mid boost in the guitar. When the TS9 and the Marshalls gain channel are on it hisssses like a snake. The NS-2 took that out and I was happy as hell. It does what its supposed to. I dont know how it works this well but it does. I run my TS9 and a Boss chorus in the loop of the NS-2 and all front end hiss,noise and hum are gone. The rest of my pedals go thru the NS-2's output. I lightly strummed the guitar while it was hanging in the hanger and it rang out without cutting out like a gate would. Its was a smooth fade out.

This one is very easy to use. It can be difficult to control the amount of noise with different effects turned on/off if you use the send recieve circuit (+ it will color you tone!). So, I don't. For me it is therefore very easy to use, because I don't use the decay and treshold - they're always set to min.

Before I got the NS2 I hated (really!) BOSS stompboxes - especially the overdrive and distortion boxes. This one is the only BOSS pedal I find usefull. I have tried ALOT of noisegates, and this one is without question the best by far. What I like about is, that it doesn't cut the sound of... You will be able to fade out each tone naturally. I don't know how they made this possible - BUT IT WORKS.
I do not agree with people who say that this pedal doesn't change your tone - it does! But I have found a solution that works for me.

1) Never use the send/recieve circuit with other effects - especially distortion/overdrive.
2) Plug your guitarcable DIRECTLY into the NS2input and let the rest of your effect be connected after the NS2. Do not use the Send/recieve circuit! You won't be able to contol the sound very well and the NS2 will color your tone!! Set the delay and treshold to minimum (or very close to min)
3) If you use a Wah pedal (wich always generates alot of noise)connect it to the send/recieve circuit.

Following these 3 rules you have VERY good ears if you can hear the NS2 in the effects chain, and the NS2 works very well - keeping even extremely distorted sound under control.

I have played blues and rock for 12 years. I play a Fender Strat Plus ==> NS2 (send/recieve circuit connected to Cry baby wah) ==> Ibanez TS9 ==> Marshall Shredmaster ==> ProCo RAT ==> BOSS EQ7 ==> Fender Blues Deluxe 40 W tubeamp.

I have never met anyone who used the NS2 like this - but it works for me. I use the TS9 for a subtle overdriven sound and to boost the Shredmaster. When I turn the TS9 and the Shredmaster on at the same time it will produce a little noise (NOTHING compared to the noise you will get without the NS2)because the NS2 isn't the last effect in the chain (and because the send/recieve circuit isn't used for anything else but the wah). Even with the wah, TS9 and the Shredmaster turned on at the same time, the NS2 controls the noise fabiously.

I give this effect 9 and not 10, because (as I said) if you listen very carefully it does affect your tone a little. Anyway: The best noise elimination unit I have ever tried...

I agree with everyone else - Boss pedals won't break!

Much better than those crappy noisegates - they have never worked for me. This one does - an extremely good pedal. I would buy one right away if i lost this one.

very easy to use, but I highly suggest reading the manual, or else you might be left with more noise than you began with.

doesn't affect the quality as far as I can tell

It seems very, very sturdy. I wouldn't use a backup. Why? Because I can't afford a backup.

Haven't dealt with them.

awesome, I use a fender double fat strat, modified with a seymour duncan invader humbucker and a gibson 57 hum. The invader is a rather noisy pickup and I also use a line 6 spider 212. That also made a decent amount of noise, especially when miced up. But I got this and all the noise is gone.

Very simple controls. One nob switches between the two modes: mute, which leaves noise supression all the time and uses the switch to mute the output, and reduction which allows the switch to turn on and off noise supression. The other two nobs control threshold which determine the volume at which the gate opens up and the other controls decay, which is the rate at which the noise gate "closes".

My setup is as follows Schecter C-1 Elite with SD pickups, ESP MH-300 with EMGs, Washburn WG-587V -> NS-2 with an Original Crybaby and a Digitech Synth Wah in it's loop -> Looper A/B Splitter -> Channel A Peavey Ultra Plus (Distorted Tones) -> Channel B Boss TR-2 -> Boss BF-3 -> Boss-DD5 -> Ibanez PH-7 -> Boss CE-5 -> EBTech Hum Eliminator -> Peavey Deltabass (Clean Tones)

Does what it should, very well, but it does create a slight problem for me. When the gate is activate it creates just a slight hum in the signal. It's barely noticeable and I actually didn't notice it for the first month of owning this pedal, but it's annoying just the same.

The Hum cancellation circuit does exactly what it should, though I have logistical problems with the the jacks because they're on the wrong sides to make my setup work without a ton of crossed cables.

The pedal powering feature is nice too, but it is definitely a bit noisy, so be prepared.

Completely reliable, I've never had a single problem with it for over 6 months

I've never dealt with them

I play a mixture of styles, mostly modern rock/nu metal style music with a bit of effects-heavy rock ala incubus as well. This does wonders for my playing as it stops alot of the feedback issues I was having with my high-gain distortion as well allows me to play more staccato lines with wonderful clarity because of the high-threshold and short-decay times I can dial in.

I'd definitely buy another one if it was stolen or lost. This is a primary piece of equipment in my setup that I couldn't do without.

If you're having high-gain hum problems unrelated to effects this is a good solution for that. I'm not sure I'd recommend it if you were just having ground loop hum from effects because the EBTech hum eliminator I have does wonders for that and costs less.

Very easy to figure out. But if you need it, the included documentation is easy to understand and explains how to set up the pedal for best results. Basically you plug your guitar into the input jack, connect your pedals through the send/return loop, connect the output jack to your amp, turn everything on, and roll the threshold knob up until the noise is suppressed.

I'm currently playing a '52 re-issue Telecaster, into a Marshall BluesBreaker II -> DOD or Boss Chorus -> Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp. I also play a American Deluxe Stratocaster with Texas Special pickups installed. While I love the sound of the hot and dirty single coil and tele pickups, I get seriously irritated by the hum and hiss inherent in those configurations. This pedal effectively removes the noise between songs and during stops in the music, without affecting the overall tone.

This is my first new Boss pedal. My old Boss pedals and the Boss reputation for quality and reliability lead me to believe that I don't need to worry that this pedal will fail.

Have never dealt with Boss/Roland for support so I can't rate this.

I play mostly Fender Tele's and Strat's in a band that plays classic rock and blues standards. I bought this pedal because I was frustrated with the non-musical unwanted noise my gear produces. This pedal has exceeded my expectations and I do recommend it to anyone deling with noise issues. I also purchased the PSA adapter and power cable and am using the NS-2 to power my other pedals, freeing me from battery dependency! My total cost was about $120 USD.
It was expensive, but if it were lost or stolen, I would replace it without hesitation.

Pretty easy to use, three knobs, Threshold, Decay, Mode. Took a minor amount of tweaking to get rid of all the noise from my Jazzmaster. This pedal has an added bonus of being able to power other pedals, however I have only had this pedal for a few weeks and I'm already considering a separate power unit because I don't like the daisy chain that you have to use to power the other pedals. They're good if you only have pedals with the AC jack in the back, but several of my pedals don't.

This pedal sounds great. It gets rid of all the noise from my Jazzmaster (which hums like crazy, especially with distortion on). I also like the Mute function. This allows me to shut down all my pedals for between songs, or when I need to change guitars. Great at getting rid of all my unwanted noise. I have a few vintage pedals that can also be noisy at times, but this things eliminates it all.

I bought this one used, and it's almost 20 years old, and has only a few scratches to show for it. Boss makes their pedals to last, and I'm sure this one will. Definately would use it without a back-up.

Never had to deal with Boss, I doubt I ever will.

I would give this pedal a 10, but I don't like it very much as a power source. Having to use a daisy chain is very annoying for me since about half of my pedals have the AC jacks on the side, so it's very difficult to get everything set-up the way I want it, and get the power cords plugged it. If you have all Boss pedals, I guess this would be okay, but for me it's terrible, I'm considering investing a VoodooLab Pedal Power unit instead of this one. Otherwise, this thing is amazing, I would recommend this pedal to a stranger if they needed a noise gate.

pretty easy to hook up, when i firts got it i was running my metal zone through it so it took me a while to figure out you ahd to use the send and return. just look at the instrustions and fon't be dumb like me.

i am using a Godin Radiator guitar with a EMG pickup i got installed. my amp is a Peavey 5150. i almost always play with a lot of distortion so without the NS-2 its very noisy, it reduces a lot of noise but some hum is still expected at loud volumes. i can still get it to feedback if i want which is cool. crank the threshold as high as you need it (mine's all the way) and keep the decay low. the mute option is also nice.

this pedal is reliable, it is a BOSS so that is expected. i would use it at a gig but not without backup batteries or an adaptor. it sucks back the batts. i gave it a 7 only because it uses so much batteries.

i play punk rock, its all heavy and fast with heavy distortion, without this pedal i would have to always mute my strings when i'm not playing or else i would get massive feedback. its nicee.

Simple

Does what its supposed to do, cept i hate it how noise suppressors can kill some of the guitars ambience and sustain....this is the only one i have however. I play a PRS CE-22 -- 8 boss pedals and an ibanez tubescreamer ---Crate Blue Vooodoo halfstack. This definitely helps keep my effects clean and my amp quiet. I can hold my hands off the guitar with amp distortion on and the volume knob on the guitar all the way up and the only thing i'll hear is some hiss. makes me smile and warm all over

Boss. DUh.

never dealt

DOes the job and is completely necessary to any and every rig. OH and i forgot to mention that it powers all my pedals through the Boss Daisy chain. ITs a biT** to get them all lined up though with this stupid daisy chain...but hey for 30 bucks it works great for me.

Within a minute I got this puppy to sound good. It didn't come with a manual so the FX loop took some playing with, but I was able to figure it out. Very simple.

Sounds almost perfect. The only reason I'm giving this a 9 is because when it's engaged you can just barely notice a change in sound. But it's really not enough to say so.

You can't really get a bad sound out of this. Even with extreme settings. I have my threshold set at 3 o'clock and attack at 0. Even with quick attack it has decent sustain. I don't know how people can complain about that. well I maybe I do.....

A lot of people set it up wrong. So no wonder they don't get the sustain and sound quality they want.

Run your NS-2 first. Put your wah and distortions in the loop. Then go to your effects or amp. The reason for that is this... the line in on the pedal is used to tell the pedal when your playing. If you put your distortions that buzz even when your not playing in front of the NS-2 it will hear the buzz and think your playing and engage. when you put them in the loop it doesn't hear that yet it still applies the suppression to the signal. You run your effects after the NS-2. Take a delay pedal for example. The delay fades out. If the NS-2 is listening to the signal from the delay it will cut off the quieter repetitions, essentially killing your sustain.

Never had a BOSS pedal fail me...not even used ones

Easy to use. Cleans up your sound. Doesn't kill your tone. I wish I had gotten it sooner.

When I got it I thought i could just pull it out and hook it up. Well no, you have to read the instructions or else you'll end up with more noise than you started with. The threshhold and decay just take some tweaking. I have my threshhold at 10, decay at 0. It really depends on your setup.

I'm using a Fender American Standard Stratocaster with Seymour Duncan neck upgraded Little 59er, and Hot Rails in the bridge, running through a Marshall MG250DFX with an extension 1936 2x12. I also use a Dunlop Crybaby Wah, Boss flange, digital delay, and a Distortion pedal. One problem I have found is that the signal is not as suppressed as it should be. When playing at a low volume it will suppress it even if you do not want it to, based on the master volume setting. One strange thing is that it seems i lose suppression when i use an ac adapter, so I use a battery.

Boss pedals are all well built and dependable.

Nver had to use it.

It's a well built and reliable pedal, a couple of problems but definitely nothing major. You might want to try this out before you buy it if possible, because how well it works really depends on your setup.