jmerrigan8

Hey all,

First time poster here, and I'm hoping I came to the right place. I recently got a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor, with hopes of getting rid of some buzz from my amp. I messed around with it last night, and was somewhat successful. Here is the chain I ended with:

guitar (dean evo series w/ 2 dimarzio ej custom pickups) - ernie ball volume pedal - NS2 input - NS2 send - amp input (Bogner Alchemist 1x12 combo) - amp effects send - NS2 return - NS2 out - Line 6 DL4 - Boss GE-7 EQ pedal - amp effects return

*NOTE* The Alchemist has a parallel effects loop. With this setup I had the mix knob turned to 100%

With the NS-2 engaged, most of the hum was eliminated, but I was having problems with my EQ pedal. When I engaged the EQ, the NS2 worked effectively, but as soon as I started playing there was some high, piercing feedback that really dirtied up the tone. When I disengaged the NS2, there was very loud, high, piercing, constant feedback which disappeared when I turned off the EQ.

Any suggestions? If anything is unclear, let me know.

Thanks!

Bill

I don't think the EQ is supposed to go in the effects loop of your amp. Where there aren't any rules to where to put effects, in general, EQ should go to the input of your amp as they often don't work well or at all in the effects loop.

You should use your effects loop in your amp for modulation/delay effects and pretty much everything else should go in front.

__________________
Griffin Effects

darkhorse

Truthfully, I am not a fan of Boss, few of them are true bypass wired and their buffer circuits leave a lot to be desired.

An EQ is the most versatile of pedals and can go in numerous positions for differing effects and uses. Before gains or OD tweaks the initial tone of your guitar, after dirt adjusts the balance and overall tonal voice of your sound, as in adding the typical "smile" or "frown" EQ curve. There should be no reason you cannot put it in the amp loop on an average instrument level loop, should be just fine. If you were running a chain of an overdrive or higher gain into amp-in I would say EQ end of chain, for your use I think the amp loop is the right deal (see below).

For my "opinion" I would not be using Boss but that is just me, I prefer the ISP unit or possibly the hush but my board is laid out following buffer/bypass rules that I have really no noise floor. I do not see why you would need a noise reduction pedal myself as you are not really running a chain.

Your signal is being screwed up via the NS loop. I do not see why you need a noise reduction pedal. With your chain if it was me I would run:
Guitar>>> EQ into amp-in (for a clean boost line drive), from the amp loop send>>> Line 6 DL4, Volume pedal>>>loop return

If you just have to use the Boss noise reduction pedal, options I suggest are DO NOT use its loop at all, place it before the DL4 or after before the volume pedal. makes little sense if you think about it to be dampening noise before the signal actually builds noise which is after preamping or high gain pedals. I think you will like the EQ upfront because it will serve as a clean boost overdrive into the amp in, just do not overdo the boost db.

Volume pedal options are numerous, you could put it before the delay or even up front but not sure what that is really helping anything. Gilmour is fond of having volume pedals into his delays to control the repeat level but he runs a very complex rig. Here last in loop chain it controls the over all volume of your tone and you can pull back a little on the high gain or feedback to lower the noise floor if needed, also mutes your entire system if you pedal down.


Hope that helps.

darkhorse

Seems like this board gets no traffic or return feeds.

To the above, not all pedals need noise reduction. Usually high gain creates a lot of hiss or bad feedback. Having the NS in the loop last in chain usually works the best as it can quiet down a noisy amp as well. I've been thinking about adding one myself if I could ever decide which one. I sort of like the ISP Decimator and the Rocktron new style boutique pedal that has a gate and a hush in the same pedal.

darkhorse

Depends on the pedal really. Some can handle the loop with no problem. In the loop it acts like a vol boost effect and to smooth out the overall tone. You have to decide before or after the other pedals as it can effect the tone of any modulation.
The question in front of the amp is before or after any OD or dirt pedals and the issue of the EQ itself acting like an OD effect on the amp input. Usually amp in use is after the basic drives or gains to curve the tone into something more suiting. Most do a total cut of the very high and very low and peak or frown the main freq range sliders. I have not used one for a long time the last time I did I pink noised my cabinets and leveled out the response curve via a frequency analyzer. Amazing sometimes what a flat response system can do, in those days I was combining a guitar synth with my pedal board guitar tones through a rackmount stereo 4x12 system.