Compressors and noise gates.

Hey Dharma, have you tried to simply replace the tube? I think last time I told you go check technician but if you get a new tube for it, you might be lucky. It uses 12AX7. EHX sells on for less than $10. Hope this helps!

 

Absolutely, Jazz.

No other supressor anywhere close to the price will do what the NS-2 will. This is because of the Boss unit's remote sensing - this makes 'all the difference in the world' for two distinct but related reasons, both having to do with tracking and threshold-sensing:

First, the threshold-sensing doesn't have to 'look through the noise' to detect whether you mean to be sounding a note; the BASS plugs right into the NS-2, and the noisy-stuff goes in the send/return loop, so the detector circuitry is only seeing pure-as-the-driven-snow BASS - it knows bass from noise!

Secondly - and this makes a huge difference in practical, real-world usage of the thing - you can change the sound in the loop WITHOUT the need to re-adjust the expander threshold! The other kind of gates or expanders (non-remote-sensing) require you to compensate the threshold level every time you change the gain of anything before them, if you want them to perform accurately or somewhat-consistently!

I should mention that it's not a 'gate', technically; it's an expander - a smooth, natural-sounding expander. Notes fade naturally; you'll never hear it stutter on the end of a sustaining note, OR pop on an attack transient.

Now when you use the NS-2 along with a compressor, and you put the compressor in the loop, You have a double-advantage, because as long as the gate's decay time is equal-to or quicker-than the compressor's release time - which is easy, because the NS offers a nice, fast decay - then you won't get any noticable noise surge ('breathing') when you suddenly, cleanly cut-off a note - even with quite-radical amounts of compression! Yea, even if you follow the compressor with a distortion! On my setup, my highest-gain distortion tone (a hard-slammin' CS-3 into an Bass Xciter into an ODB-3) is literally completely un-usable without the NS-2, and spectacular with; if I turn-off the NS-2 at stage volume, I get immediate, continuous, uncontrollable pickup-squeel - along with a contant rush of noise that's nearly as loud as the squeeling, when ever I stop playing (remember that in this case the compressor stops 'compressing', and opens-up to full, maximum gain; when I'm playing, the compressor is exhibiting gain reduction). With the unit engaged, there is literally NO squeel, and essentially NO detectable noise if I play clean, muting-wise.

Sorry for all the exclamation-points, but... this thing REALLY works!

Seeya -

Joe