Screeching noise gate

[lyonk55]

Hi folks,

I've a problem with my Boss NS-2: it has a habit of making a loud screeching sound, particularly with my 7 string. Basically, when the gate is in front of the amp it seems to work ok. And with no gate, I get the usual noise. But with the X-pattern to control amp noise, it makes loud screeches with I use my 7 string and/or OD pedals. Strangely enough, putting an OD in front of the gate actually seems to control it a bit more. Any ideas what could be wrong or if I'm doing something stupid?

Signal chain:

Guitar > NS-2 in > NS-2 send > amp in > FX loop send > NS-2 return > NS-2 out > interface (dummy plug in FX loop return and internal load in amp for silent recording with cab impulses)

[dave_mc]

Does it screech when you don't use the interface?

[lyonk55]

Just tried it out through two amps and a cab: with my engl screamer everything seems to work fine (just a little less saturation with the gate on). 7 string feeds back a little more than others with no gate, but nothing too bad. My mesa mk5:25 (using the engl speaker) though is actually worse. Feedback on the 7 with any kind of nice thick gain is unusable and rings out even with the gate. I also noticed a volume spike when I switch the gate on. Could it maybe be that the mesa just doesn't get along with this guitar/pickups and the gate just isn't helping?

[lyonk55]

Just had an idea that seems to be working and makes me think it's more the amp/guitar combo: cutting the 2200 hz slider on the mk v graphic eq reduces the feedback a lot. I'm thinking mk v + bright guitar + nailbombs = wailing uncontrollably. Make sense to anyone else or could I be missing something?

[Dave Sloven]

Is there any kind of level control on the loop itself?  Some loops don't seem to work that well with noise suppressors or need to be set up a certain way.

I've never used the NS-2 in an X-pattern or in the loop, only in the front end, so I can't really draw on my own experience in that respect.  I can say that the ISP Decimator G-String works fine in the loop of my Peavey 6534+ but I suspect Peaveys could be one of the less problematic ones, which is lucky as there are no controls to adjust the loop.

What I would try instead of the X-pattern would be to simply move the whole pedal into the effects loop of your amp.


Guitar > amp in > FX loop send > NS-2 in > NS-2 send > EQ pedals etc -> NS-2 return > NS-2 out > FX loop return

[lyonk55]

No, there's no controls on the mesa. I'll try it out again tomorrow just in the loop and just in front and see what works. Thanks for the advice guys!

[Dave Sloven]

One more thing: if you are currently using a 9V power supply try it with a fresh 9V battery instead.  At least that way you can check if it is the power supply that's causing the noise

[dave_mc]

^ Yeah.

And yeah I think the NS2 has a little bit of a volume boost when engaged. That might not be helping.

[lyonk55]

Right, after trying the suggestions I think it's just been too much treble/upper mids for the Mark V to take. No idea why it was behaving so weirdly for direct recording, but with a speaker it's acting more normal and I think the gate is actually fine. With my 7 string, switching to the MXR ZW OD instead of the Green Screamer helped and a big cut at 2200 Hz on the eq fixed it completely. Another guitar (with Miracle Man pickups instead of Nailbombs) didn't have the problem at all. Maybe I'll switch to a more low end focused pickup for the 7 sometime.