Boss NS-2 pissing me off

[CommonCourtesy]

I use an NS-2 in rehearsals to cut out my overdrive pedal hum, the threshold knob is up all the day, but whenever I click it on the volume drops so much I can't hear much. I've rolled it off so its reduced the hum a bit but its not really effective.

Could it be something else other than the threshold? Inadequate power supply perhaps? I run it using an A/C adaptor and daisy chain my overdrive pedal. Some practice rooms its fine others it drops the volume.

[Dmoney]

I'm pretty sure the NS-2 has no fancy circuitry to separate out noise from playing and dynamically reduce it. The threshold control has nothing to do with 'how much' hum is being 'reduced'. The pedal is a gate. It mutes it's output completely according the level at the input. The threshold knob just sets that trigger level.

If you're guitar has a weak output and you have the threshold all the way up, it could be constantly trying to mute you and that might sounds like your signal into the amp is lower. That's my guess. I've owned an NS-2 for a very very long time and it's never given me a problem. I usually ran it from 9v Batteries though. Poor quality DC adapters just add tonnes of noise. I do find it has an impact on the tone if you leave it on all the time. Not huge though and not like turning the amp down.

I can't remember what used to happen as the batteries were dying. The LED goes dimmer as I recall. I can't remember in what ways the circuit behaves when that happens. In the practice rooms where it behaves weirdly I suggest try a battery. Also, check your OD doesn't have a volume drop. Isolate one pedal that you think might be causing the issue. I have a Danelectro grilled cheese and an MXR Blue Box that both reduce the level of my signal when I kick them in.

Are you using the same guitar when this happens? or different guitars?

[bucketshred]

Could be the daisy chaining?

Paddy

[CommonCourtesy]

Same guitar Dmoney, some rooms its fine just have to turn the amp up a bit more and others like last night there's so much of a volume drop I can't hear anything.

I might have to get a power supply and see if that will fix it, never been a fan of daisy chaining but they're easier to carry and I'm only powering 2 pedals.

It could be the overdrive is rinsing all the power as its more mA draw than the NS-2 can power?

[Dmoney]

The current draw of the pedals could potentially be an issue, but it doesn't matter if one pedal needs more current than another, one won't really take power away from the other. The issue that will come is if the total current draw of both pedals added together is more than the adapter is rated to supply. so if one pedal draws 500mA and one draws 750mA but the adapter only supplies 1A (1000mA) then the adapter cant supply the demanded power. That would cause the adapter to overheat and ultimately fail and probably do other bad things that would effect both pedals.

do you run your OD before the NS-2 or in the NS-2's loop?

[CommonCourtesy]

I'm using one of those standard 9v A/C adaptors that came with a Zoom FX 505 MKII pedal lol. Total supply is 300ma I think.

Been looking at the Diago Micropower 9v for about £25 which isn't too bad. Might upgrade my patch cables as well, cr@ppy £1.99 guitar shop cables!!

My OD is before the NS-2 as I want the suppressor to cut out the hum when its kicked on.

[bucketshred]

The current draw of the pedals could potentially be an issue, but it doesn't matter if one pedal needs more current than another, one won't really take power away from the other. The issue that will come is if the total current draw of both pedals added together is more than the adapter is rated to supply. so if one pedal draws 500mA and one draws 750mA but the adapter only supplies 1A (1000mA) then the adapter cant supply the demanded power. That would cause the adapter to overheat and ultimately fail and probably do other bad things that would effect both pedals.

do you run your OD before the NS-2 or in the NS-2's loop?

Yeah this is pretty much what I meant. What power supply are you using? It is ALWAYS worth getting a decent power supply (T-Rex Fuel Tank JR has never let me down!)

Paddy

[CommonCourtesy]

For practices I use that to power the NS-2 and daisy chain to power the OD pedal. It doesn't even have a brand name such is how cheap it is!

For gigs and stuff I use a T-Rex Fuel Tank Junior which is taped down in my board so I would prefer to leave it in there, sometimes my board has to travel around as its left around other members' houses  before gigs and such.

Don't think I can justify buying another multi-power supply hence why the Diago micropower might be a good option.

[witeter]

I use the Diago micropower to power my board, which includes a Boss NS2 with my Maxon OD808 running within the NS2's loop-have no issues whatsoever.

[CommonCourtesy]

Yeah just put in an order for one along with some Planet Waves patch cables.

Hopefully this will do the trick in getting rid of the hum when I kick on the OD pedal. And still give me even volume levels.

[CommonCourtesy]

Also, could it be I'm not hooking up my pedals correctly?

Currently I go from the guitar into my OD pedal, into the NS-2, then into the front of the amp. Some amps I use in rehearsal studios don't have an FX loop so I can't do the whole X formation thing.

Is there another method of hooking it all up via the NS-2's loop?

Got a feeling I haven't been doing it properly.

[Dmoney]

I used to use my NS-2 in a similar way, but I never used an OD pedal before it (or anywhere else). I probably only had a couple of pedals after it and ran them on batteries to keep hum out. The one thing I can think of that might be an issue with the way you have it, is if you boost the signal of your guitar going INTO the NS-2 then when you step on the OD pedal the Threshold you've set the NS-2 at will have a different relationship to the input signal. If my thinking is correct, all that might happen is the gate will take longer to close and cut the signal. Worst case scenario is the OD boosts the level enough to cause the gate to never close. Depends how it's all set.

you can run the OD in the loop of the NS-2. That is one suggested way to run OD pedals with the NS-2.

[CommonCourtesy]

Yeah I suspect it might be how I'm hooking it.

I'm gonna try GTR into input of the NS-2.

Then SEND into the OD, out of that into RETURN of NS-2. Then output into the amp. Think that's the way I'm meant to be doing it.

Need a long patch lead though to run from the OD to the return of the NS-2 as it goes all the way around. Only ordered 6 inch ones today FFS

[juansolo]

Several things here...

PSU as has been mentioned. These tend to be the cause of most pedal hum issues.

If the OD on it's own is creating hum, then it's either in need of looking at (possibly a leaky cap, dodgy joint/wiring), or it's time for a new one that doesn't hum.

If you want a damned effective noise gate, I've yet to find much better/simpler than a straight Decimator.

[CommonCourtesy]

Yeah my Diago Micropower station arrived today, all well and good....but I didn't realise the daisy chains were sold separately, so I'm gonna have to put in another order for that.

I ran the OD pedal through my 6505+ just like I would in a practice room, in the loop of the NS-2 and it didn't have any noise when kicked on. I was using the Diago power supply by the way, and new Planet Waves patch cables.

I have the Decimator II G string for my amp head to cut out the pre-amp noise, but that's velcro'd into my board and it gets left round houses for gigs and stuff in advance.