Do you use a noise suppressor or noise gate?!?!

[Fei Fong Wong]

Hi all,

I'm thinking of taking my NS-2 off of my board. I was foolishly running my fulltone fuzz after the ns2 and the buffer was making so much noise it was crazy.

I moved the fuzz to the 1st position and now if I use my fuzz,compressor and od together there is hardly any noise at all. The only pedal that seems to cause some buzzing is my pinnacle, but it seems manageable by using the volume knob.

Here is a pic of the board for reference:




I'm thinking of shelving the ns2 to save room and wanted to get your thoughts.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[uriah1]

Most of the suppressors I have tried clean up some..but, they all suck tone..in various freq.

but that is just me

immho

 

[Tele-phone man]

In principle, I'm against all noise suppressors. I think most noise issues can and should be corrected at their source as opposed to applying a band aid after the fact.

Eliminate noise from the guitar first. Shield well and use noise-free pickups. ANY noise coming from the guitar will be amplified by your pedals and amp. Any tiny hum or buzz becomes a gargantuan mess when run through a bunch of gain stages.
Use a pedal power source with isolated outputs, such as the VooDoo Labs PP2. This can make a HUGE difference.
Keep your wah away from power supplies. They will pick up hum from the transformer.
Play with the order of your pedals to find optimum performance (just like you are already doing).
Minimize the number of buffer amp stages before a high-gain pedal, such as your Pinnacle. Just a few buffer amps can DRAMATICALLY increase the amount of hiss that a high-gain pedal will produce.

 

[telefunken]

image removed
I use a NS-2 on my "Metal" board, not only does it NOT suck any tone , my overall tone is better with it on. Every time I mention this fact someone on this forum tells me I'm wrong.

 

[zoppotrump]

for i´m using only my guitar and amp ( sometimes a compressor pedal ) , i don´t need a noise gate

 

[TheSmokingMan]

I owned one until recently and its not missed. I'd rather have spent the money on quality cables.

 

[StormJH1]

The Noise Suppressor (particularly a good one like the Boss NS-2) should not do anything like "suck" your tone. If you use more than a couple of pedals, however, it will take away the noise caused by those effects. Electrical noise from poor shielding (or hissing noise from some amps) won't be addressed by a noise suppressor, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be used for the proper purpose. If people like me and telefunken are wrong on that, then so are something like 90% of the players on TGP and other forums. If noise doesn't bother you, then don't use it, but it does not hurt tone.

 

[Frodebro]

I have an NS-2 on my board with a Nova Drive in its loop. If it's sucking tone, it must be the tone that only dogs can hear.

 

[OlRedNeckHippy]

My BD-2 & CS-3 both cause "noise". like 'static' type noise. The higher I turn the 'sustain' on CS-3 the louder the noise. Can't hear it while playing though. If I click them off the noise stops.

Would a NS-2 after them be a worthwile investment?

chain: tuner > CS-3 > BD-2 > Dist+ > EQ > chorus....amp

 

[Frodebro]

My BD-2 & CS-3 both cause "noise". like 'static' type noise. The higher I turn the 'sustain' on CS-3 the louder the noise. Can't hear it while playing though. If I click them off the noise stops.

Would a NS-2 after them be a worthwile investment?

chain: tuner > CS-3 > BD-2 > Dist+ > EQ > chorus....amp

My Nova Drive can get a little bit noisy when the OD and distortion are stacked, and the NS-2 works very well at shutting things down when there is no guitar signal present.

The cool thing about the NS-2 is that it has a loop that you can put the noisy pedals in. So the guitar signal is what actually triggers the gate, not the noisy pedals (which can cause the gate to open prematurely).

 

[StormJH1]

My BD-2 & CS-3 both cause "noise". like 'static' type noise. The higher I turn the 'sustain' on CS-3 the louder the noise. Can't hear it while playing though. If I click them off the noise stops.

Would a NS-2 after them be a worthwile investment?

chain: tuner > CS-3 > BD-2 > Dist+ > EQ > chorus....amp

Yes. They are pretty widely available, which keeps the used market cost down. Through either GC Online or eBay, you should be able to find one for $50 or less.

As the post above explained, the effects loop works very well. I have used both the BD-2 and CS-3, and cancelled the noise that those pedals create with the NS-2.

Also, if you plan on "stacking" dirtboxes (like running a distortion pedal with a TS-9 or other overdrive), noise suppression becomes almost a necessity. There's really no limit to how much noise the NS-2 can suppress, though if your signal is super gainy, you might notice it starting to feedback once you start playing. If you're not playing, the noise is completely cut out.

 

[Spaceboy]

I play high gain music and rarely use a noise suppressor. I have an ISP Decimator in the gigbag when needed because some venues don't work with single coils too well. But usually I don't need it and while I get a little hum from the pickups into cranked gain on the amp, its not unmanageable or insanely loud. The more pedals you add, the more noise you introduce, the more top end gets siphoned off the guitars tone, and the more possible sources of failure on a gig. So for me, the less I can getaway with using, the better.

 

[OlRedNeckHippy]

Thanks for the responses guys.

My drummer used to be a guitar player, and he has an NS-2 he'll sell me for dirt cheep. Thats where I got my BD-2 and Ibanez SC10 chorus.

I need to study up on the "Loop" thing. I don't understand that at all, yet.

 

[Big_Bend]

I have an ISP Decimator on my board, which I highly recommend. Works great, no tone suck. I put it after all my boost/OD pedals, but before my delay. I do not want the Decimator to cut off any of the faint delay echos.


image removed


Always nice to have the Decimator there for when its needed. Again, highly recommended.

 

[OlRedNeckHippy]

Would you recommend this?:

tuner > CS-3 > BD-2 > Dist+ >NS-2 > EQ > chorus....amp

 

[Frodebro]

I need to study up on the "Loop" thing. I don't understand that at all, yet.

It's much more simple than it sounds, actually. The NS-2 has a standard input and output, just like any pedal. BUT, it also has "send" and "return" jacks.

Your current chain is as follows: tuner > CS-3 > BD-2 > Dist+ > EQ > chorus....amp

With the NS-2, the basic chain would be this: tuner > NS-2 > EQ > chorus....amp

Then, run out of the "send" on the NS-2 to create a second chain, which would be CS-3 > BD-2 > Dist+.... "return" of NS-2

 

[Matt_Cash]

Would he really need to loop the CS-3 into the NS-2? I thought only drive pedals used that loop.

 

[Larry F]

I don't use many pedals now, but when I did, the NS-2 was amazing. I wrongly predicted that it would suck tone and also have a funny envelope. It was virtually transparent to me at the time. Maybe I have more discriminating ears now, but I really thought it did a nice job.

 

[Fei Fong Wong]

Hey guys, OP here. I appreciate all of your input. I've decided to leave the suppressor on the board because I'm a "better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it" kind of guy. I notice zero tone suck from the pedal and because I can simply switch it off, I can use it as I see fit (I used to just leave it on).

I think if I get a bug, I may see about a true bypass solution. I've just been so happy about moving the fuzz in front of the ns2 that I can't believe it took me that long to figure it out!

 

[Jagg76]

My Nova Drive can get a little bit noisy when the OD and distortion are stacked, and the NS-2 works very well at shutting things down when there is no guitar signal present.

The cool thing about the NS-2 is that it has a loop that you can put the noisy pedals in. So the guitar signal is what actually triggers the gate, not the noisy pedals (which can cause the gate to open prematurely).

Yes my MXR Noise Clamp also has the loop. Very useful.