Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor

Fairly simple if you're just going in and out, if you're using the loop it's slightly more complicated. But still as easy as it could be.

I'm using a Cort G290>TU-2>Whammy>Wah>NS-2>OD-20>Zoom PD-01>CH-1>PH-3>BF-3>DD-6 into a Marshall MG100DFX. This thing gets rid of pretty much all the noise, even when using heavily distorted modes on the OD-20, as well as modulation noise. I notice no real loss of sustain, although when I use the loop i lose a bit of sustain, but my rig isn't noisy enough to warrant using it.

I've had it for nearly a year now, and although there have been one or two paint chips it's fine.

N/A

I play alternative rock, a bit of jazz, a bit of metal and this removes 90% of the noise, the other 10% I can live with. I find that mine worked best BEFORE my OD-20 and other effects. So before giving this a bad review try it EVERYWHERE in your setup, and if that fails try the loop function. If that doesn't solve your problems, reduce the gain on your 3 Metal Zone pedals. ;)

For my style of music (Metal) I had an easy time setting it up. Very easy to use in my oppinion, Im no rocket scientist. Got the hum out of my triple rec and 5150 II in nothin flat.

Im currently using this with my ESP mh 400nt plugged directly in and then from the pedal to either of the amps. (Triple Rectifer or 5150 II). Not noisy at all anymore, now that I have this little ns-2. I didnt losse any gain or sustain at all. People that say that about this pedal need to spend a little more time tweeking the 2 knobs. Distortion is not affected at all.

I havent taken it on stage yet, but all boss pedals are as rugged as they get. Mine was bought used from a touring musician and it looks very clean and works great still.

Never dealt with boss directly so Im not the guy to talk to about this subject.

I play mostly metal, metalcore, hardcore, and my sound. This pedal is a perfect match for my situation. Maybe not for the Eric Clapton fan who doesnt have much tube gain hum in his setup. I have been playing for ten years and have been kicking myself for 2 days since I bought this for not buying it years before. I dont use many effects but I got a thing for high gain tube amps and active EMG's and this is a must for that setup. If it were lost or stolen, give that dude props that stole it from me because hes got taste, no for real though, he does. No, I would buy another one ASAP. I love the simplicitly of it and ease of use. I also like its effectiveness alot to. I havent found anything to dislike about it yet, but bear with me I have only had it 2 days. My favorite feature about it is that it is capable of powering other pedals by boss. I think it can power 5 more at the same time. It helps me in my music by taking that hum/hiss out of my setup. Nothing is more annoying than hearing that noise when you are trying to discuss/write a song or structure. Get one quick...

Ease of use depends on what your setup is. If you just have this pedal between your guitar and amp, then just reduce the decay all the way to the left (minimum) and put the selector to reduction instead of mute. Then start turning the threshold knob clockwise. Around 12:00 position, all your noise must have disappeared. Over the 12:00, you could lose a bit of sustain in your guitar. This is when you need to use the decay knob. If you feel you are losing sustain, just start increasing the decay...

however, if you have more noisy effects, and you want to make the best possible use of this pedal, this is my setup.
I had a noisy 1.7 AMPS power adapter. I plugged it into the "IN" of the NS2 and made a chain of 5 plugs and plugged it into the "OUT" of the NS2. The NS2 is now being used to power 4 other noisy pedals. I think it eliminates noise in the power to the 4 other pedals. Although I could not find any mention if the NS2 reduced noise while powering other pedals, I think it was helpful though.
Then I put the noisy pedals in the effects loop of the NS2.
I dont know if there is any pedal out there that gives so much versatility. My only gripe is that each time I turn on the power to the entire setup, the NS2 has to be kicked on manually.

What the NS2 does needs to be understood before jumping to conclusions. This just reduces noise when you are not playing. When you are playing it assumes that the noise cannot be heard. The moment you stop playing, based on the threshold you have set, and the decay time, it kicks in! That is why I mentioned, if you find yourself setting the threshold beyond 12:00 position, and you see that you are losing some sustain, then start messing with the decay. Also, if you find that your distortion setup is the noisy one and your clean sound is, well, clean, then you might suffer a lot of sustain when you are playing clean. So, you got to play with the settings a while before you find the right match for both your distortion and clean sounds. This can be quite a challenge. I've had it for almost 2 years and i still mess with it sometimes. Not to mention the problem you will have if you are using more than 1 guitar especially with varying levels of output in their pickups!
I have been told by a pro-gear seller that the only way to acheive studio level noise reduction is to remove it professionally after recording and studio quality setup. So, the NS2 is a quick and dirty solution for all you bedroom players and small time garage band guitarists. Dont get me wrong, other distortion pedals also have the same reviews.

So far works well. I guess it can be gigged without a backup.

Did not deal with them yet.

I play mostly Metal. Any metal, you name it. Death, Doom, progressive, 80's. This pedal suits me just fine and eliminates most of my noise. but I do use quality ( noise-free and less expensive ) guitars and amps so I dont suffer much.

The most important thing everyone should keep in mind is "Garbage in, garbage out". So, if you are plugging shitty squier strats with single coils into high gain cheap noisy pedals, then no amount of noise supressors will help you. First take a look at your setup. Then remember the greatest guitarist of all time ( in my opinion ) Joe Satriani's words "The real tone is in your fingers" what he means is, the way you play makes a world of difference. Again, that means, the way you mute the strings, your palm mutes, the way your fingers mutes when you are going down the fretboard, your skill at picking, everything matters! So, dont blame the setup or the amp or guitar, if you are not good enough. Again, I have learnt this lesson the hard way but every beginner and every pro for that matter has walked that road too. So, be patient and practise hard and you can play like your hero!!

Overall, this is a good pedal for its features and price. Go for it. you will appreciate it for a long long time. Rock on, and dont forget to, Rock HARD !!

Its very easy to use, simple operation and helped by a clear instruction booklet.

In my opinion, its not half as good as the reviews say it is.

I bought this in a hurry, I needed a noise supressor in about 48 hours and didn't spend too much time looking at the rather hard to get and more expensive competition (MXR, Rocktron, ISP). Tip, spend more and look harder, don't be fooled by the big name. I run this infront of an all valve Marshall set-up and it takes the "punch" straight out of my set-up which is probably the most annoying thing about this pedal. Now, I know what you're thinking "What do you expect for the money?" but really, I expected a little better than that. It does suck tone.

Next, the noise supression itself. It is very decent. But there is much room for improvement. It doesn't completely cancel out that excess noise. Instead, it'll cut about 60-70%. Again I expected better considering the company.

Now, don't get me wrong, it does do what its supposed to and it does a fair job of it BUT it has faults as stated.
It does get rid of noise.
The mute control works quite well.
In all honesty, it does what it says on the tin. The only downside being, it doesn't really do it all that well.


I give it 5, its not that great but at the same time not awful. The tone sucking for me is a major issue.

I've gigged a few times with it and its still here in once piece.

However, I did have to tighten the mute/reduction switch and input jack on purchase as they were quite loose straight out of the box. Fine since.


Because of that, 8.

You can see my main opinion in the sound section.
My major beef with the pedal is that it will suck your tone. I could live with the fact that it won't fully get rid of noise but the other issue really gets to me.

If it were stolen or lost? I'd buy something that will really get the job done. I'd not buy it again, not worth the price tag.

Its hard to judge this pedal first hand, you can't really try it out till you've bought it without pulling your own set-up into the music shop. As far as I'm concerned, considering the hype and brand reputation it leaves a disapointing feeling.

Extreamly easy to use.

Im running a Gibson melody maker with a Jason Lollar P90 pickup into NS-2 into a analogman DS-1pro Dist into a Blues JR. Fantastic !Very quiet and works like a charm.

Tough!

Never needed it.

I play Rock,old metal,jazz,blues and bluegrass.Ive been playing 25 years.If it were lost or stolen I definately would buy another.I only wish I got one much earlier. Really improves sound in high gain situations.Excellent I never new silence was so nice !

It doesn't affect tone since it's a noise gate but it's very easy to turn the two knobs on it and quell your noise if you make sure you hook it up properly in your chain (I'll write more on this below).

The manual for it is very user friendly and well written like all Boss manuals. I highly recommend going to the Boss website and downloading yourself a copy of their effects guidebook too. Very well thought out.

The way that it works the best for me and probably others as well is to do the following IMPORTANT: guitar into input of gate then output of gate into head or pre amp then all pedals go in the loop of the gate ('send' from gate to input of first pedal in chain then from last pedal in chain into 'return' on gate). That's what makes it so great is that it gets rid of noise at two points! Very well thought out! I've never seen a gate with that feature.

My setup-Wah, clean boost, dist. pedal, guitar rack with pre amp, efx, and power amp.

It's not noisy at all it's a friggin' noise gate lol

As far as sound quality goes this is the best noise gate I've ever owned and I've owned a few.

I can absolutely depend on it and I would proudly gig with it anytime without the benefit of a backup. Boss pedals never let anyone down. The distortions they make sound like crap to me but I've always loved their other pedals.

never needed any kind of customer support from boss other than downloading a couple of manuals and on their website you fill in some stuff and they get back to you very fast with what you need.

I play classic rock, prog rock, metal. This is a perfect match. If it can get rid of my noise it can get rid of anyone's noise. Hell Yngwie uses it and we all know he has a ton of gain.

I've been playing the guitar for 15 years and I own all kinds of pedals and rack gear.

If it were stolen or lost I'd pray that the bastard would get hit by a hummer while running away from me then I'd order another one.

It's perfect for me in every way hell it even acts as a power source for other boss pedals with the right stuff. I have a very noisy pre amp and i'm boosting it even further so it was the only thing that solved both my pre amp noise and pedal noise. Get it now!! Any questions? email me.

Threshhold, Decay, and Mode adjustments. Pretty easy to use. Manuals are downloadable at www.bossus.com. Very easy to set up and get going. It has inputs/outputs for running in front of the amp or through an effects loop. I give it a 9 because it's not a no brainer, but would you expect it to be?

Running it at the end of my pedal chain in front of a Fender Super Reverb, playing with a US Fender strat w/texas special pickups. Anyone who plays with single coils knows that you get some hum when you put and overdrive pedal in the loop. This little box is one of my best investments, it squashes the buzz before it comes in to play. The decay feature works perfect for my application. It slowly fades out the sound very natually and before the buzz comes though. I couldn't have asked for better. I'd have to say it works equal to or better than the gate on my rack mount Alesis 3630. There is a slight boost when it's engaged but nothing to whine about. It doesn't affect my tone a bit. I'm not sure if it's 'studio worthy' but for live, it works great.

Bought it used, hasn't broken yet.

Haven't had to deal with them directly, but the website has all the info I need. Easy to surf and find the manuals download page that I was looking for.

I couldn't do without it. If you got buzz, it's a must have item.

Well, never seen anything easier to use! Just plug your guitar, put your effect chain and/or overdrive/distortion/preamp into the loop and run into the amp. Set Decay to 0 and tune the Threshold according to the noise level and that's it!
IT WORKS!!! The manual? You don't need it!

I use it with an Electroharmonix LPB-2BE tube preamp pedal into the loop and with my Strat Plus (Seymour Duncan loaded!) and I run into a Line6 Flextone II XL (set as a Marshall JCM 800): TONS OF TONE! The NS-2 adds a litte compression but it doesn't affect your tone at all. I can get from that stuff the sound I LOVE!!! And ALL the noise and hiss from pickups and preamp gain are cutted off...
NOISY??? IT QUIETS THE BEAST!

Yes, I cannot do without it now that I have it! I use it at home, in the studio and when I play live....at home I put it between the guitar and a Line6 GuitarPort and it does its job as well.

I bought the pedal used from a friend, no manual.
I asked Customer Support for the manual and some schemas and I had everything in a few minutes...so...
And it's a Boss pedal...you don't need more Customer Support or repairings!

I play Deep Purple and Whitesnake covers and some other hard rock stuff, plus I play my heavy stuff at home...the NS-2 is here everytime for everything and it matches my needings!
I needed something to allow me turn up the gain on the preamp without getting too much noise and preserving my sound : now I have it.

Follow the instructions and you're golden. Finding the right settings for theshold and decay may take a few minutes to get but that's about it. I was done setting it up in less than 5 minutes

I play a LP classic with BB2 and BB3 into a morley volume pedal>zakk wylde wah>digitech whammy>yngwie malmsteen overdrive>digitech delay> 1987x marshall halfstack. This unit completely eliminates the noise I was getting. The malmsteen overdrive is way too noisy but gives really good tone. Once the ns2 was in place I was in tonal heaven. It does add some compression, but that's a good thing for me.

never gig without a back up, but boss pedals are tanks.

This is a great pedal for any type of music. I was a bit weary of buying a noise suppressor since I've had nothing but bad expieriences with them, this is an exception though. My overdrive is really noisy but I love the tone I get, this ns2 fixes everything. It even fixes the crazy feedback (bad feedback) I get from my wah. Truly, this pedal is a god send.

Easy easy easy....plug guitar in the Input, and the amp from the Output. The Threshold and Decay settings need some fiddling around with, but anybody can quickly learn the relation between the two controls and get the desired effect within a few minutes.

I must admit, however, the Send and Return jacks were a little confusing at first. I couldn't quite figure out how to use the loop properly until I played around with it considerably. In addition, there were a few times when I mistakenly plugged the guitar into the Return jack and wondered why there was no sound. I think it would have made more sense if the jacks were reversed (the Send jack on the right side of the pedal and Return on the left), as this would have faciliated easier pedalboard wiring, but it's not a huge issue.

I play an Epiphone LP Standard Plus through a Marshall VS100RH, with Boss effects in the fx loop and a Crybaby in the front end.

It's the best noise-reduction unit I've played, bar none. I haven't used a single guitar/effect that this pedal didn't shut the hell up. It can clamp down hard to keep out noise, but it opens up naturally, so it never feels like it's choking your guitar. Admittedly, on extremely high threshold settings, you'll sacrifice some sustain, but playing with the Decay control will allow you to retain most of it.

Sometimes, I use an overdrive in combination with my Marshall's drive channel. This is a noisy technique, since I set the amp and pedal to half gain in order to blend the two for a different distortion character. However, if you throw the overdrive in the loop of the NS-2, there won't be any excess noise from the pedal. Since the NS-2 is busy keeping out the noise from my guitar at the same time, the amp (running on half drive) is almost devoid of excess noise itself. It's perfect!!!

I do have one gripe, however: when switched to Mute mode, the threshold seems a bit less responsive. This might just be me, but I think it feels a lot looser on Mute mode....it will seem to clamp down hard, and then open up at the tinyest movement. But this is not an issue for me, since I never use this feature.

Indestructable. I will probably die before this thing does.

Never dealt with them.

This is one of the most important parts of my rig. If it was stolen, I'd have to stop jamming until I got another one. It's truly that vital.

It tightens up my playing, makes my overdrive chunkier, and keeps everything in check. If I don't want feedback and noise, I won't get it. If I want a bit of noise, it'll let it through. It does EXACTLY what you want it to do, and that's rare for any pedal.