Is noise reduction necessary?

lowendpurveyor · #1 08-10-2010, 06:34 AM

I'm thinking of adding a Boss Noise Suppressor NS 2 to my pedalboard. Do you think it is necessary? What alternative pedals are there? What would you recommend?

khabalah · #2 08-10-2010, 06:51 AM

are you currently having trouble with unwanted noise??

cheapbasslovin · #3 08-10-2010, 07:08 AM

Find the source of noise in your chain. I was having noise problems and had to do some work to root it out but now it's much better and I don't have the sometimes annoying cutoff that I used to have when I was using a noise gate.

I shielded two of my basses, replaced a set of pickups on one, and moved my power supply for my English Muff'n away from my board. Since then the noise has been minimal and the only way to bring it out is with HEAVY distortion or compression.

I was using an Alesis Micro Gate, and have used the gate on my old Carvin head. They both worked alright, but I much prefer not having to use them.

bassman1185 · #4 08-10-2010, 07:55 AM

The NS-2 can do wonders, but it's not a fix-all solution. I like mine, but it wouldn't work in every situation.

lowendpurveyor · #5 08-10-2010, 08:03 AM

I'm not having problems with noise at the moment but am concerned that when I start touring on a larger scale that I might run into problems. At the moment I'm using 2 basses with active electronics and both are shielded so it seems I may not have problems with those particular basses. I just want to put together a pedal board so I can minimise any problems regardless of what basses or amplification I use. Thanks for the answers so far.

ajmee · #6 08-10-2010, 08:15 AM

Your need for an NS-2 (or something like that) could depend on your style, too. Are you closer to a straight-up fundamental, or does your style slant more towards a Chris Wolstenholme/Lemmy/Cliff Burton/etc. high-gain style?

For me, the noise reduction is not an always-on effect. It gets kicked on when distortion/OD/fuzz gets engaged for particular passages.

If I don't have any dirt engaged on the board, and I start hearing noise, I'll try to find the source of the noise via process of elimination. The NS-2 is only going to mask the problem in that case.

bongomania · #7 08-10-2010, 09:32 AM

Generally speaking, touring pros do not need or use noise suppressors in their onstage rig. There may be exceptions, like the guys who use ultra-high-gain distortion, in which case a noise gate is a good idea, because you can also use it to control feedback. But in all other cases, it's far better to eliminate (or repair) any gear that adds noise to your chain, rather than using a noise suppression pedal.