Boss ds 2

[TelePaul]

Hey guys I've been picking up some nice boss pedals on e bay over the past year; the standard ones, not the Japanese gear. I'm liking the sound and just got a DS 2. Problem is, when i run it through the front of the amp (as you do) when the pedal is disabled i get a huge cut in my unprocessed sound...Like i said, I've alot of these pedals, so i can only assume the problem will get worse if I run them in a chain.... I'll buy a noise suppressor when i get the cash, becaus eim also getting some nasty feedback; maxed out distortion is impossible but im assuming thats because im using a highway one telecaster (single coils). So do you think a noise suppressor will prevent the cut in the unprocessed sound? Or did I buy a dodgy pedal? Cheers.

 

[Joepie]

I haven't had this problem with my ds-2..... or I just haven't noticed it, but it's definately not a bad as you describe. Maybe it's your pedal?

 

[Tadpui]

A noise suppressor will not help you here, it does the opposite of what you want. You're thinking of a compressor, which will make quiet signals louder and loud signals quieter, balancing and evening out a widely dynamic signal.

What setting do you have the "level" knob turned to on the DS2? If its past 12 o'clock, then the pedal is boosting your input signal and you will notice a drop in signal when you disengage the pedal. 12 o'clock should be "netural" on a Boss pedal as far as I know, and should make no volume difference whether the pedal is on or off.

If the volume difference is huge, then it may be a problem with the pedal.

As far as feedback problems, maybe try an EQ pedal to attenuate those resonant frequencies of your room.

 

[Valley Arts Kid]

Tadpui nailed it.

 

[TelePaul]

Okay....

Okay i get what you're saying about the 'level' knob....Ill be sure and keep it at 12 or to the left of 12. And, no I don't mean a compressor; i have both rack mounted and pedal compressors. The noise suppressor, a Boss NS 2 is essentially a notch filter with a threshold and a decay...basically you use that as an fx send and return (it has two inputs and 2 outputs). I'll try it with a Les Paul, maybe the humbuckers will take out alot of that hum. And i will try your EQ suggestion (I've a boss ge 7) but ive a feeling that this will compromise the tone alot. Also ive the same problem with a morley wah when i run my marshall in the overdrive channel; when the wah is fully closed you get feedback unless you 'earth' the guitar....so i do think i may have high ouput pick ups...

 

[Tadpui]

Actually the NS2 is a noise gate. The threshold sets how sensitive the gate is, and the decay sets how long the gate stays open after the signal drops back below the threshold. It won't actively remove hum or other noise from the signal, it just closes the gate entirely when your signal gets quiet enough. Put your noisier pedals in the NS2's loop. I keep my CS3 and BF2 in the loop and the NS2 keeps them quiet between songs.

Since you have more than 1 compressor, try putting one after the DS2 and see if you can find a balance between the compression threshold and the makeup gain that'll give you an even signal between the times that the DS2 is engaged and when its disengaged.

And on the EQ, hopefully it won't take a huge adjustment on any one frequency to at least deter feedback...maybe 3dB or so. Hopefully you can find the offending frequency and attenuate it enough to squash the feedback and not suck a vital frequency out of your tone.

 

[TelePaul]

....

Hmmm...i don't want to sound like an idiot.....but on the Boss website it says ''The NS-2 effectively eliminates noise and hum of the input signal
while preserving the original sound’s tonality. The natural attack
and envelope are unaffected thanks to BOSS’s unique noise detection
circuit that precisely separates the guitar sound and the noise components.'' Obviously they wanna sell as many units as possible....but i have no reaosn to doubt their gear. Can i ask what your rig looks like? Im running my Tele through a CS 3 -> DS2-> SD1 -> Morley Wah-> AC2 -> GE7
-> PH3 -> Marshal AVT 50 w/ CH1 and DD3 through send and return. A proposed NS 2 (though you seem quite against it) would deal with all but the time modulation.

 

[Tadpui]

I think that their point with their product description is that only the sound of your guitar is going to open the gate and not the sound of any noise on the line.

I've used the NS2 for close to 10 years now and I can tell ya with absolute certainty that it won't cleanse your signal of noise, it'll just make the noise go away when you're not playing. And when you are playing, most noise isn't noticeable over the sound of your instrument anyways.

Personally, I love the NS2 and couldn't live without it. I'd recommend it to anybody.

My guitar rig is Gibson LP Classic->Boss NS2->Traynor YCV80, with a Boss CS3 and BF2 in the FX loop of the NS2.

I generally play in my computer room, within a few feet of a CRT monitor and a light dimmer so I get lots of 60-cycle hum in my room. If I make enough noise on my guitar to open the NS2, I can still hear the 60-cycle hum very clearly. When I stop playing, all noise fades away. Its the same idea as any noise gate.

But there are noise reduction units available that supposedly do what you're saying and actively eliminate noise from the input signal. I think that Hush is a brand that has units that do that.

[edit]
oops, looks like Hush is an equivalent pedal to the NS2 made by Rocktron. I coulda sworn that there were rackmount units called Hush that were more than noise gates.

 

[TelePaul]

Thats cool

Thanks for that, I might look into a bit more; might opt for a deluxw tele and treat this one to some noiseless pickups. I wonder if the problem is compounded by the boss PSA and daiy chain...particularly if its paralel to mt leads which it probably is. Thanks for all your help.