Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor

You have to read the manual to use this pedal and experiment. I gave it a 8 because so many people use this pedal incorrectly and give it a lower rating. The ISP decimator is easier to use with only one knob. For every one who gave the ns-2 low rating please read the manual and place noisy pedals in the send and return loop of the ns-2, it works better that way. IF you have a noisy amp the ISP Decimator would be a better choice.

If used correctly for your application than you can cut most of your noise out especailly with single coil pickups. I noticed a very slight tone loss with the effect on. This could also be due to the extra cable length using the send and return. I own the ISP Decimator and the isp is more transparent but both Noise Supp. have their own strengths. The NS-2 works great on noisy pedals When placed in the Ns-2 loop(send/return) and has a more natural gate than the ISP. The ISP did not work as well for noisy pedals but worked much better on noise coming from the amps distortion. The Ns-2 did not work as well with the noisy distortion coming from my mesa boogie.

Used on stage for 6 years with a problem. Boss rules!

This pedal can work wonders if you have noisy pedals and place them in a loop. The pedal also works great for noisy single coil pickups. I also own the ISP Decimator and the isp works better with noisy amps and Humbuckers. The ISP is also more transparent but the Boss Sound is totally acceptable. Try both pedals out to see which works better for you.

Easy to use, only 3 knobs. Manual is fine.

It removes noise ok but also results in a significant loss of volume and tone, particularly higher frequencies. More annoying is the hoorible volume swells when you start to play. A slow incremental volume increase - totally unacceptable.

Sturdy enough pedal, will last for ages as you will never use it because is sounds rubbish.

unknown

A terrible useless pedal. Volume swells make this pedal unusable. I dont know how this thing could of passed quality control. Obviouslt BOSS couldnt give a toss any more about quality.

Easy to use, 3 knobs. You need to spend a little time with the threshold control but easy to work out.

Poor. The pedal will suck your tone (particularly higher frequencies) and reduce your volume by 10-30%. The volume bleeds in and out constantly making it useless for fast palm muting, staccato notes - playing with the threshold/decay controls does little to alleviate problem. When used with a distortion pedal on high gain caused a horrific screeking noise when NS-2 turned off. This pedal will remove hum fine but has unacceptable consequences! I wasted my money here bigtime. AVOID.

No issues with reliablilty. Sturdy enough.

unknown

Removes noise but removes tone - volume - quality as well! Volume swells will drive you nuts. Just because it's BOSS doesnt mean it's a good pedal.

Very easy to use. The only issue is placement. Where should you put it in your rig? I plug it in directly after the guitar, and this has it's disadvantages tonally, however; if you put an overdrive pedal before this it works well, but the levels on your overdrive need to be set to match your normal guitar level or you will have to adjust the threshold to compensate for the added gain.

I run this into a A/B Channel select into a Overdrive A, or bypass B(dirty channel) with a Boss chorus and a Nobel digital delay in the FX loop. The reverb in the amp covers up the decay of this pedal(no matter what you do there will be a split second of noise after you stop playing) with the reverb on, it's totally unnoticeable. Might not be perfect in a studio setting but close enough to make a difference.
Even my wife said it cleaned up the sound to make me go from "garage" sounding to "pro" sound.


Many people talk of the "tone sucking" that this pedal does. This is partially due to a "noise cancelling" circuit as well as the gate circuit. It takes out 60 cycle hum before the gate so you don't have to have the threshold as high. There is a slight noticeable drop in gain, mostly on the treble side. I plan on buying a boss GE-7 which should more than make up for the volume drop.

Also, there is an FX loop built in this pedal, works like an AB box. When used it filters before and after the FX loop so you have zero noise in your chain. Of course this does not work for any delay effects, unless you're looking for a gated reverb tone.

Overall, it's freakin great being able to use a high gain setting on a coil-tapped humbucker without any hum. Just remember put it BEFORE your distortion or you lose all dynamics. If you put it after, only loud notes will come through. Besides, in an fx-loop you usually have the master volume or channel volume BEFORE the loop so if you change volume you will have to adjust your threshold. Too loud and you won't be able to gate anything. So just put it before your amp.


Not recommended for blues players. There is not enough dynamics to really get your tone out of a class-a amp with this. Plus the mild tone suckage would just ruin good blues tone.
But for rock or metal this hits the spot.

Boss pedals are solid. I've never seen one fail as long as it was taken care of. No need for a backup
Remember they are CALLED stomp boxes doesn't mean you have to stomp like you're in a UFC match

Use one of these. If you've got money, buy a ISP decimator. If you're on a budget, this will way more than make due. You may need slight adjustment on your setup to get the sound you want(ie the GE-7 i mentioned) but this thing works very well alone.

If you play metal or other nondynamic music style go ahead and buy it.

If you depend on dynamics in your playing, ranging from silent to loud, don't bother.

There's something about not being able to hit those really silent notes. This pedal makes the electric guitar seem like less of a real instrument.

Im going for the Suhr, silent coil system

Crapped out on me after one week of playing.

Whenever i hit a note/chord it starts making loud hiss and fusses.

Good idea, shitty product

After reading the comments here, I bought the NS-2 to kil the buzz on my single coils on my Epiphone Casino. I plugged it in at the end of my pedal chain, plugged into my little Ampeg Jet, and there was my buzz. hit the pedal, cranked the threshhold until the buzz went away. Wow! Ease of use points go down because I can't figure out if the decay knob actually does anything.

Wow. Silence where there was once a severe buzz. Does it affect the tone? probably, but not very noticeable to me. Does exactly what I bought it for. After visiting the Boss site and seeing the manual, I see that I should have run my effects through the loop. I'll try that to see if it makes a difference.

Big Boss pedal fan. I just bought it (ebay $51, plus another $10 for shipping). I assume it will last for a long time.

I went to the web site to download the manual. It was right there! my real support comes from these Harmony Central posts.

This does the job it claims.

This is the Boss NS-2 and I am not sure of how old it is but it was in good shape. I purchased it used from someone on ebay for $65.00. You can go to the Boss website or read down for the functions. I give it an 8 on ease of use. It definately it is not a plug-n-play set one knob pedal. I experiemented without quite a bit. Pedals in the loop, out of the loop, before the pedal, after the pedal, and of course knob turning.

This is a great pedal. The reason I purchased it was because I had buzz and hum coming from my single coil guitars and even my humbucker equipped guitar at most of the venues we played. I have some noisy effects that it would be just an added bonus if they were cured. I set it up as stated in the manual with everything but delays in the loop. My final setting is reduction mode, threshhold on about 2:00-3:00 and decay at all the way counter clockwise which is minimum. The decay is interesting at first my settings were to have the decay at closer to maximum because I did not want to lose sustain. But then through experiment and maybe I saw a "pro" with this on his board in a magazine I set the decay turned all the way counter clockwise. This is a great setting. What I notice is as the note fades the NS-2 led lights up and it starts to do its job as the note is still there. How awesome is that. A gate only works when the note stops, this actually starts noise reduction even while the note is decaying.

In addition I was getting some funky noises from my Danelectro Dan-Echo delay pedal and my cheap Fender pedal tuner. I moved those units to the front of my chain with the output going in to the the input of the NS-2. All noises are cured. My rig is now dead quiet between songs even when I am using the tuner which was making audible noise when the led's would light even in mute mode.

For everything this pedal has done for me, improve my tone because there is less noise, quieted noisy pedals, kill single coil buzz from lights and other noise sources, and quiet my rig during song breaks I have to give this a 10. It did more than I asked.

I have all tube amps and high end American made guitars this unit is worth every penny and I would have to get a new one right away if it failed. I hear no change in tone at all. In fact I hear improvement because the single coil buzz is gone and my notes ring clear.

This is my first Boss pedal. Seems very reliable. I have Electo Harmonix, MXR, EMMA, Ibanez, Crybaby, Danelectro and Fender pedals. I have had bad luck with the inexpensive pedals.

When I shop for a pedal I usually take note of what the pros have on their boards. This pedal seems to be there quite a bit and I see why. This should asks speak volumes for the reliability.

No dealings with Boss direct.

I gig about 2-3 times a month. I own plenty of gear 1/2 high end stuff and 1/2 normal joe stuff. This pedal is a winner. I would replace it right away if it failed.

Don't mess with line conditioners, hum eliminators, gates or other hocus pocus to cure single coil buzz. This is the answer.

this pedal has a noise reduction circuit AND a noise gate too (which aren't the same thing) . I have never bought a lot of pedals,but this pedal is one of the very best I have bought

this pedal is great. My setup consists of a Boss GE-7 which goes into an Ibanez Tube King (which is great,because that pedal ALSO has a noise reduction + gate circuitry) ;the Tube King,in conjuction with the NS-2, is really effective,however the NS-2 will work great even by itself.
So I patch the pedals into the effects loop of the NS-2,with the Treshold set at about 3 o'clock,and the Decay at minimum; this goes to an old ,awesome Selmer head which is always running flat out with a powerbrake.
WOW! I get the same sound that Malmsteen has in his REH video opening,the part where he's playing 'opening solo' with the golden strat.
If I switch the NS2 off,all hell breaks loose,the noise is almost unbearable. The NS2 is brilliant,highly recommended

really an essential pedal ,if you use a setup similar to mine or if you have noisy preamps,etc

You have to be analytical about where your noise is coming from, and throw the manual in the trash. If hum is from high gain, the hum is originally coming from the guitar, not the overdrive effect or amp. Gate the guitar. The only thing I imagine the loop feature is good for is effects with self noise or an amp which hums with nothing plugged into it (But you could simply gate after those instead). I tried this with an overdrive in the loop, assuming it would not work well, and it sure didn't--unusable sound.

I bought the NS-2 today to test out as I can return it within 48 hours. I may keep it, or decide to try a different model noise gate. I like to alternate between warm clean and very high gain. I only got this for high gain. I use humbuckers and tube amps.

The noise reduction itself is really good. I have it between a Les Paul (mini-humbuckers) and Boss MT-2 (maximum gain). Loud hum normally. Set the NS-2 threshold just over the hum, and the silence between played parts is enough to give you an uneasy feeling. The gate timing works rather well, about as un-noticeable as you could hope for. Reduces some noise (and a little tone) even when the gate is open.

The high gain sounds fairly uncolored, but it seems the NS-2 soaks a bit of overall signal and results in very slightly lower gain. Considering the reduction in noise though, the overall results when using high gain are immeasurably better.

If used between guitar and amp for clean tones, you lose some character. It doesn't sound "bad," just slightly worse. I don't have a noise problem with clean, so I'd prefer it off, but in a song with both clean and dirty it sounds ok enough to leave on for simplicity.

I'd rate the clean sound quality about 7, but 10 for use with high gain, which causes the only noise I really worry about. Other hiss/hum isn't worrysome in my gear.

Boss is usually very reliable.

After trying this I don't want to be without some type of noise gate. I don't know if this is the best one. I know I don't want something with just a filter/supressor and no gate, as I'm sure it would rob way too much tone in relation to the noise it would remove.

Remember to put the unit right after the noise source, before that noise is amplified by gain.

I've had this now for a couple of weeks. It will take a little time to set up properly if you've never used a noise gate/suppressor before. I found I had to manipulate the volume knob on my guitar as well as the master volume and gain on my distortion pedal to achieve the desired effect. Once I did, I was very happy.

I've read other reviews from users who said they noticed a change in their sound once the NS-2 was activated. I can honestly and happily say I noticed no such change in my guitar's sound. I sound tested it by activating and bypassing the NS-2 while playing. All it did was clean up the noise. Nice.

I've been a Boss customer for years and their products have always been solid. I don't anticipate any problems. I'll rate it based on my other Boss pedals have had for years.

Never had to deal with customer support for reasons listed above.

I play mostly heavy rock and metal. I've been playing almost thirty years. The main culprit in my signal chain is a Krank Maximus Distortus distortion pedal. I also have a Seymour Duncan Pick Up Booster, Boss SD-1, MXR Phase 90, Boss DD3 and BBE Sonic Maximizer all fed into a Marshall JCM900 Dual Reverb half stack.

If my NS-2 were ever lost or stolen, I would replace it with a new one immediately. What I love about it is how it eliminates all the hiss and noise from my rig and yet it still preserves the tonal integrity of my sound. It does what I need it to do and there is nothing about it that I'm not happy with. I can't believe I went this long without one.