Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor Pedal Reviews

Works as advertised, takes the noise out. Doesn't seem to affect anything else. I would recommend it.

Works as advertised. Quiets the entire board.
Definitely recommend this pedal.

Surprise Surprise!!! This pedal will reduce noise from your guitar signal!

Do yourself a favor when buying this. Get 2 more patch cables (12+ inch suggested) and use the 4 cable method. Absolute genius design. Use it this way to reduce pickup humm as well as noise from pedals (boost/od/dist/fuzz/etc).

Signal will go:
Guitar -> NS-2 INPUT -> SEND -> Pedal INPUT ->

While it doesn't completely silence your rig it does a great deal, especially with my single coils. If you are using high gain I would just splurge on the ISP Decimator.

I have "dirty power " in my house. I've had an electrician replace outlets, purchased good power strips and could not quite the buzz in my guitars. This pedal has solved the problem.

You might be reading this after doing all the right things; good cables, isolated power supply, elimination of ground loops, etc., and yeah, that's exactly where you should start this journey in my opinion. Get rid of the cruft that's causing the bulk of your noise by building a quality system.

However, once you start down that path, you're committed to it, and at some point you'll be looking for a solution to suppress the gain hiss that you'll be left with. This will do exactly that. It's simple, inexpensive, and works perfectly. Once the noise goes away, you'll realize just how much it was annoying you. Seriously, it's just night and day; I absolutely could not be without this pedal.

I keep it always on at the end of my effects loop. It cleans up the noise pretty good. A must have pedal for me.

After doing some research on my Mesa 5:50 Express amp I changed my pedal board to a single chain into the guitar input of the amp. I put all OD, Fuzz and Distortion before the NS-2 and the H2O chorus/echo after. I am happy. Thanks Boss and Sweetwater and Mike Wright at Sweetwater..

Based on the reviews, I was unclear if this pedal was a noise gate or a noise filter. Well, it's a noise gate, so it performs much like any other gate you might use anywhere is a signal or recording chain. However, I found that the gate is very compliant and non-intrusive. It allows for nice long decay tails if you want them, and it doesn't close the gate tightly. It's best described as more like a multiband soft gate. While I was disappointed when I learned it was a gate, I found that it's perfectly tuned for noise suppression on stage and really does the job well. I was pleasantly surprised. As for signal chain, I had to place it before my BF-2 Flanger or the decay tail gate would get sloppy when the flanger was on. Other than that, it's done a great job taming the noise on my Yamaha BB1000s bass and GK Amp rig.

Thank you so much to Sweetwater, and Staff.

I never have to worry about the quality of shipping, and length of time for delivery.

As far as the noise gate.., SO HAPPY

Just got this, and tested it out... it does exactly what it promises to do. 60Hz buzz from my Strat in positions 1, 3, 5... entirely tamed. Thanks, BOSS and Sweetwater!

Great and easy to work with

Bought this as a gift for my friend who plays guitar in a noise/hardcore band - they often say it's their most useful pedal!

This Boss NS-2 Noise Supressor is pretty amazing, by any standard! While typical "Noise Gate" pedals or pedals with a built-in noise reduction feature do somewhat adequately address the issue (you work out a compromise setting of noise reduction vs. tone reduction), the NS-2 is considerably closer to "no compromise". I view it as a "must" when using Hi-Gain pedals (esp. units like the Diezel VH4; which, besides now being noise-tamed, offer increased tonal range and adjustability); but it's so transparent, I can leave it on for clean tones with little penalty!
While I did find the "threshold" control to be not very "progressive" (little effect until almost "dimed") while running a basic in/out series configuration on my pedal board (it may respond differently when working with an amp "effects loop"), it turned out not to matter due to the aforementioned "tone retention" properties.

I HIGHLY recommend!!

This is a very well performing pedal. When put into the pedal board, in the proper location, it performs a beautiful job cancelling almost all of the overdrive and distortion pedal background noise. Perfect.
Ed M.

First impression it was really good. after messing around with it for a while its even better! it does exactly what it says it does. ive noticed i personllay like it on reduction mode with light decay and strong threshold. I have an overdrive pedal with built in noise gate and this one outperforms it hands down. great pedal for heavy chugging or even ambient clean tones. perfect at the front of your pedalboard. extra points for the stormtooper like finish. GET ONE

2nd one own. A must, if using a compressor without a noise-gate,especially the old Boss compressors. Rack or Pedal board it makes no differences, it is equally at home. Added feature of supplying power to other units is always a plus! Do not see how one could go wrong with this addition to there rig, no matter how small or large it is.

The Boss NS-2 is a simple to use noise eliminator. It does exactly what it says it does. There are a few ways to connect it. Some methods produce better results. It's best to put your noisy pedals in the NS-2's built in loop. Leave quieter pedals/effects outside the loop. In case this helps, I have the following gear: Orange Crush 35 RT amp, Zoom G3Xn multi effects processor and an Xotic SP compressor. Here's how I have it hooked up. Guitar into Boss NS-2. Boss NS-2 output into amp (I like the overdrive sound of the amp so no need for a distortion pedal). In the Boss NS-2 loop, I have the Xotic SP compressor hooked up and always on. The G3Xn is connected to the amp's built in buffered effects loop. In the G3Xn I am running delay, phaser, flanger, pitch shifter, harmonizer, pedal volume, etc. I can turn the volume WAY up and this thing can keep noise in check. HIGHLY recommend it.

This pedal is amazing it eliminates virtually all noise coming from my effects chain. Distortion and overdrive in front and modulation in the fx loop. Noise gone without robbing tone! It is a very handy pedal. It even helped with static electricity coming from my Les Paul. Thanks to Nick Hammer and the Sweetwater staff for their great customer service.

I have an Epiphone Casino. Love the guitar. The buzz (hum) from the P-90 pickups was tolerable until i put on headphones with the amp. That was it. I bought a noise gate pedal and it worked well, but as a prior reviewer pointed out, a noise gate stops the buzz (hum) when you're not playing, but once you start playing it comes right back and you can still hear it (if you listen closely). That's not really a big deal, but when you set up the noise gate for normal playing and then hit the high E string lightly, it will either have a short delay or will be filtered out altogether. Not good.

However, the Boss NS-2 is not only a noise gate, it's also a noise suppressor. That's a big difference and you can hear it, or more precisely, you hear nothing and there are no artifacts like with the noise gate. As far as I can tell, the performance is perfect. Switching the pedal on and off while playing or pausing has no affect at all and the humming is completely gone. I should have bought this instead of the noise gate (as Sweetwater recommended in the first place). The Boss NS-2 is vastly superior to just a noise gate. If you have P-90s, get one right away. I guarantee you won't be disappointed and your friends with Humbuckers will be jealous!

I have had an annoying hiss from my pedalboard that I was trying to find. Sweetwater has great videos on pedal arrangements that really help. I had already ordered the Boss NS -2 so when I received it, I rearranged my pedals! Amazing difference in doing this. Then when I use the suppression, (no noise) I couldn't be happier! Well worth it!

The Boss NS has been a staple in my rig for years and I just recently started using it with the 4-cable setup. That really took this thing to the next level... if you run boxes in your fx loop, definitely consider running 4 cables with it! This ensures noise from not only pedals running into the front of the amp is suppressed, but also any noise in the fx loop. Highly recommended!

Every guitar player should have one of these!! Talk about quite...It completely eliminates unwanted noise! Thought I had a ground loop issue, bought a Hum-X which seemed to help but still had noise. Bought a Humdebugger, didn't seem to help. Finally, out of desperation, I bought this Boss NS-2. Plugged it in and the noise was gone!! Sometimes you have to go around the block to get next door, but now, I can play noise free. Just one thing you should know, this uses a 9v battery or an AC adapter and according to the manufacturer, it MUST be a Boss or Roland PSA adapter.I didn't order one when I purchased the NS-2 because I have an AC adapter at home but when I tried to use it, it made a terrible noise. Save yourself the disappointment and order the PSA adapter that's sold seperately. Sweetwater has the best customer service on the planet and thanks to Joe James, the correct adapter was ordered and shipped the same day I called! You can not to wrong with Sweetwater!! Thanks

I play bass. I bought the EHX Silencer a while back and it never really worked for me. Maybe I was doing it wrong. This worked. It was easy to dial in and I don't notice any tone loss. I am happy with it.

First time for everything. Time to write a review. So I have been having a little issue with noise coming through my headset when I'm playing anything electric. The headset is the Sennheiser analog 2.4 Ghz wireless. I love the headset, as does my wife! It's the usual noise you get through the PA and your amp but with the headset on, it's blatantly in your face noisy. The NS-2 killed all of it. No delay issue, just no noise. And I have been an MXR fan for a long time. This is my first Boss pedal.

One more thing, Tomir is the best. Plus with all the gear i've bought, I'm sure it's helping put his kids through college! LOL!!

Works like it's supposed to-need I say more ?

If you are trying to record tele or strat, etc. and you are getting the (of course) humming sound that goes with these type instruments, and you don't want to hear the hum on recordings, then this is your answer.

It just works. You will not lose tone or sustain. However, you can also just move your amp or guitar around until you find that spot that there is no hum. Then stand there (or sit) and do not move. The Boss is a... answer to comfort and play ability.

No joke, nothing kills an inspirational moment like an annoying buzz, well this is the buzz kill (pun intended).
Especially in mid to high gain configurations, I even enjoy it clean with a single coil, Telecaster with true velvet and ES125 with P90, both sound good through this. The input/output & send/return may seem a little confusing at first but it is the way to go. I just moved into a new house and was all excited to record, but the electrical system in modern houses with all the fancy controls and such just make so much noise (both on the ground and RF) I was so bummed. I play through a Fender Deluxe reverb and a Marshall DSL40C, and after reading one of the reviews on this product from another Sweetwater customer (with the same Marshall amp and problem I was experiencing), I purchased it immediately, and it fixed the problem. I used to hate using any kind of noise gate but this one it in a class by itself, it functions much better than any I have ever used.
I find it does not effect my super soft expressions like older gates with their door slamming on and off effect, and If you want to do shreddy back-picking super metal it will work there too.

Over the past few years, I have managed to build up a formidable creative workstation that includes no less than a dozen pedals - the hot signal noise was impossible to overcome; until I got my hands on the Boss NS-2 !

i had previously been using the ehx silencer at the end of my signal chain to try to quash the hiss, but it only worked until I played a note, and then the hiss would come back, even when I stopped making sound.

I swapped it out for the NS-2, and now THE NOISE IS GONE - PERFECT SILENCE REIGNS WHEN I'M NOT PLAYING ! And the signal when I'm playing has been cleaned up as well ! U absolutely love this pedal, for me it was the missing final piece of my rig that made it perfect, and I can now play for as long as I want and be completely relaxed with no draining or taxing noise that can be a real inspiration killer. Put this at the end of your signal chain, dial up the knobs, and enter sonic paradise.

(as a side note - the ehx silencer has been moved to the guitar part of my rig, and it does a perfect job. Two completely different applications: the silencer is a noise gate that's meant to go between a guitar and an amp, period - the Boss NS-2 is more of a signal processor that has an engineering capacity.)

I have a full pedal board going to a Marshall DSL 40 and a Peavey 30 Watt, that I switch between while playing. Lots of hum from both amps especially at high gain. This little box shuts the hum down.

The BOSS NS-2 does an outstanding job quieting the noise from both my drive pedals as well as the noisy pickups on my guitar! It quiets any unwanted noise without sucking out the tone I'm trying to achieve. Would highly recommend this pedal to anyone trying to get rid of unwanted noise issues!

I use two. One to tame some white noise from my outboard reverb unit into my amp. The other to tame some noise from my overdrive, boost and compression pedals. I also use this second one to run a loop with my modulation and delay pedals so they bypass the NS-2 as they are rather quite pedals already.

It does exactly what it supposed to do! If you"re not sure which noise suppressor to get get the Ns2!

This Boss Noise Supprosser is a must have, because it works! I'm just amazed at how well it reduced the feedback sound when your guitar is not being played. No static noise coming out of your AMP will make you think your volume is down or your amp is off! Crazy!! Get it and you won't be disappointed! Word of advice; read the instructions carefully and do your research online on the best way to set up this jewel in your chain. Once you do your homework you'll be in awe!

Just got mine. Didn't have to enough patch cables to use loop function, so just ran inline. My gain pedals are a CS3 (which is due to get the Formal ultimate mod) into a Fulldrive mosfet 2. My time/mod fx go through fx loop on my Mesa Subway blues. Pedals powered by Voodoo Lab Digital. The pedals are not noisy. Confirmed by turning down guitar volume. All the noise was coming from my single coil guitar, a Strat '57 Reissue. The Boss NS2 works perfectly! Now rig is nearly silent. It doesn't not sound 'gatey' (if that's a word) Even without using the loop function, it does not cut off the repeats on delay or the reverb tail. This is the only pedal on my board that I've bought new. Total worth $... The Voodoo Lab stuff is worth every penny as well. As a lifelong audiophile, beefy linear PS make a big difference, and account for most of the cost of high end audio gear.

If you play single coils, especially vintage style, get this pedal!!

If you have a small practice space with lots of electronics, you WILL have hum. This pedal stops it immediately to allow you to make beautiful music...or keep practicing those mind numbing scales!

I saw this pedal in a youtube video that was demoing guitar speakers in a metal application. I googled it and found the Don Carr Sweetwater video, and then bought it.

It works great. I looped my wah and Metal Zone pedal into it, and is smoothly tames all the hiss from both pedals. I can rock the wah back and forth with no signal being played, and none of that harsh hiss makes it to the amp/speaker. The light on the left tells you when it's working. I've used digital gates before that you could tell were opening and shutting and they drove me nuts.

Worth the money for high gain into my tube amp.

Running double OD created a buzz, and I don"t mean people talking! Put the NS-2 last in line, set the perimeters, and, bingo! Buzz gone!

Really great!
No noise at all! Im using in loop with a noisy pedal (distortion) and now everything is perfect!

It stopped my static , its what i needed, very happy not getting the static

Seems to be another great product from Boss. I just hooked up the noise suppressor and it's doing everything I hoped it would! Got rid of a lot of background hum and other distracting noises that didn't really need to be there. I highly recommend this pedal. Thanks Sweetwater.

It does what it says, my RC-3 loop station makes noise when it's power cord is plugged in and this gets rid of that noise.

What can I say about this pedal. I had been using the less expensive version but wanted to upgrade to the original. This pedal is more transparent than the B********** version. Also it responds quicker to light pick attacks. A definite must if you use single coil pickups. Plus you get the quality that boss pedals are known for. A great tool for keeping your whole pedal chain quiet. I highly recommend it!

i got this pedal in the hopes that it would curb some of the 60 cycle hum. some, this little dude killed all of it. i used both straight through, ie input-output-to amp. and input-send to fx-return-output-to amp.(aka x pattern) worked killer both ways. i did this with all pedals on. chorus, compressor, and overdrive all at maximum input gain. total distorted hissy mess with NS-2 off. turned on, adjusted threshold and decay to taste, no noise at all with hands off strings. all in all, 100% noise reduction. if you play out, you need this. if you play in front of a PC for practice, you need this. if you crank your amp and hear any hissing at all, you need this. this fades out like natural note decay. trade in all the pop cans or old gear in the closet and buy this. and what is better than being a bass player that can tame a "rock gods" guitar rig with one pedal. well other than flat wounds give you smooth skin, and the ladies lika da smooth skin.

This Boss NS-2 pedal has totally eliminated any feedback sound from my guitar. Before that, I had a slight, but noticeable hum going on but now - no more!

Great working, easy to use

This is pretty awesome! It cuts out all the little noises I get through my guitars and amp. It works better than what I expected; for sure!

Works great. Doesn't suck tone.

Hi, my name is Flash Moeckel from Oakley, California. I work as a product specialist for Guitar Center and this is the BOSS NS-2 Noise Suppressor. Those crafty engineers at Boss has done it AGAIN! This is the classic stompbox, because I took a picture of it into my iPad and PC.
From company: BOSS
Model: NS-2 Noise Suppressor
Category: Noise gate (dynamics)

hooked it up to knock out effects and amp noise works great.

Boss does it again....Does exactly what is meant to do, a MUST have for your pedal board. Hooked up correctly its flawless..I should have gone after this pedal way before..And it's a Boss, it can take it.

This pedal not only kills all the unwanted noise from my pedals, pick-ups etc., it even kills all the sound from my guitar when I'm playing. Can't hear anything. Now my wife can watch TV in peace.
Thanks Boss. Now I can sell all my equipment and go back to Air Guitar.

The Boss NS-2 is the best noise suppressor I have tried. It's not overpriced, works great, solidly built, and great for long signal chains since it has a built in buffer. All around classic pedal, works for all styles of music, great with single coil guitars. Sweetwaters service is first class! Great company to do business with.

I do a lot of recording in a home studio. I have a pedal Pedal Train Pro board with 4 different distorion/fuzz/overdrive pedals and a Flanger and Phaser, all of which produce unwanted noise in addition to noise generated by the guitar pickups, single coil or humbuckers. This pedal allows me to run the distortion peds and the phase/flange through the loop while keeping my time based pedals (reverb and delay) out of the loop so that the gate does not impede the reverb/delay. This pedal does a great job. My only regret is that I did not buy this years ago. As for the pedal coloring the sound? I hear no difference whatsoever. Loss of tone is not so much a pedal problem but having a long signal chain. If you hear the tone change try using the tone control on your ax, on your amp, or on your pedal board. Thats why we have them. It's not rockket science.

This pedal is great! I love it especially because I play a stratocaster which are genrally noisy. It gets rid of all of the noise that is produced by my other pedals. Over all I love this thing!

I found the Boss NS-2 to be exactly was I was looking for. I would get noise from my distortion pedal so I purchased a NS-2 & found it was simple to hook up & eliminated the noise from the pedal, instantly. I highly recommend the Boss NS-2 to anyone who has unwanted noise from any of their pedals.

It works like a champ! It is nice to not have that constant hiss when not playing and while you play it does a great job of eliminating unwanted noise.

Have a guitar with P-90 pickups that was so noisy as to be unusable when using any amount of gain on the amp. This pedal took away all of the noise with no noticeable change in tone or sustain.

Great pedal. Buffer really improved the sound quality. Will cut off signal when playing really soft so you have to turn it off for those parts. Like it though.

The NS-2 does exactly what I need it to do, and is simple to use. Typical tank-like build quality from Boss.

Best pedal I have used for suppressing but not killing the feedback from using high gain.

Don't need to look any further for a suppressor pedal. This does the job you need it to do.

that's what you'll be saying. i will recommend putting your distortions,fuzzes,etc. in the loop as per the manual.it DOES make a difference, then put your delay after this in your chain and your delays won't get gated out.great pedal,i gave her a 4.5 mainly because of cosmetics(i know) I DON'T LIKE THE WHITE FINISH! haha,minor but i had to find SOMETHING to complain about. makes all your other pedals sound classy,get one

The Boss NS-2 effectively cancelled the hum I was getting from my Strat single coils without affecting the sustain. Very easy to use.

Works great

I bought this pedal hoping it was going to be 0 noise.. however it still let some noise pass the filter.. and I don't even play metal. But it really helps. I use strats so without it will be a real pain.. I was planning on buying the Tc Electronics originall, but there were no special financing at the time.
Overall is good but not wow.
Greg Okeefe amazing as always

I play out at several venues, some of which have trash electricity due to heavy lighting, multiple neon signs etc. The hum and hiss is terrible.
Was terrible until I put this on my pedal board. Now I can use my single coils again.
It's a good pedal that let's you dial up how much you want removed without squashing the tone.

When I discovered I needed some noise suppression for my bass pedalboard I looked to Boss for their superior pedal quality and tone in bass or guitar.
On the NS-2 there is a fair amount of useful features. It took a slight learning curve to better understand how to work it well.
The effects loop on the NS-2 is a more efficient way to blend your effects and utilize the pedal"s noise suppression circuitry. The NS-2 can double as a mute switch and has a power thru jack to supply power to other pedals in your chain, but shouldn"t exceed a current draw of more than 200mA. If adding reverb effects to your effects chain it should be placed after the NS-2 output for proper time-based effect sound.
There is a threshold control along with a decay control that helps control your noise and the amount of time that passes before turning the threshold control back on after plucking a note. Decay control can be useful for fluidity and fine-tuning the time-based effects.
During operation it does it"s job well. The decay control allows me to set a more natural cutoff for my notes, and I no longer hear the constant hum put out by my noisier pedals.

Suppression good, but still allows too much noise.

I got this to reduce the noise my SansAmp based zero-stage-volume rig. See, I run a TS808 clone into the TriAc and as any amp, high gain means noise. Our sound guy at made it a point for me to know my rig was the culprit for the white noise in between songs :) Enter the NS2- dialed it in and I had to play to make sure my guitar was coming through the system! I did not detect loss of tone at all.

I had this for years in my home electronica studio in which I used a few distortion pedals on bass and lead synths. This thing worked amazingly well to kill %90 of the noise my pedals made when left on. Use it the way it was designed to be used, and it does work miracles. If you have a ground hum or a noisy amp though... Well, it's not an electrician. It isolates the ambient noise in the fx loop and phase cancels it like the Bose headphones do but fir your guitar. TV stations use this same tech to eliminate wind and crowd noise with a background mic instead if an FX loop in broadcast audio. Very effective. If noisy boxes is your problem, this is your solution.

I use this pedal all the time. No - it won't eliminate the noise from your signal. It will shut it down between songs when performing if your signal to noise ratio is at least somewhat sane. I use it as a downward expander so it doesn't just shut off like a gate. It has worked well for me for years - great for performing.

Only really works if the threshold is turned all the way up, whereas the Behringer is good at 10:00. Feel like I've wasted my money

I bought my Boss NS-2 used at a local music store. It didn't have the owners manual with it. I took it home and plugged it in and oh man, I didn't need an owners manual. It worked great just like it was set. Of course I did download a manual from the web sight so now I know how to correctly use it.
For the money it works great. I have played a G&L Legend, a Strat, a Gibson SG and two Les Pauls. This pedal really helps with the noise from my high gain EVH amplifier.

Pros:

The threshold settings on this pedal are actually very good, and the fact you can switch between mute and reduction is very nice. You can power it by a 9 volt battery or plug in directly to a 120V source.

Cons:

this is the reason I most regret buying this pedal. There is no control for the attack (or speed the noise gate opens up). It cuts all the attack at the beginning.

Buyer beware.

It works as it should but you get this strange sound when it fades out. I want to call it digital lingering.
It has a loop so you can send your guitar in the out to all the effects in front of your amp then have that chain return into the NS-2 then out of the Ma/2 to the front of your amp.
There is no pre amp noise you can remove with this so it's not that useful.
It should have been able to use the loop for your amps loop

If you don't want noise this helps but it will make your tone sound like its covered by mountains of blankets and takes out of the heaviness when playing metal. save your money and get an ISP!

I've got bad hum and buzz coming out of my amp and have it just about turned off and it's still bad. I've been trying to pin down the cause and thought NS-2 would help because I've had good luck and sound with Boss equipment but it's not powerful enough to silence the zoo I'm hearing. Does a nice job if I'm using humbuckers but if you're having a severe noise problem it's probably a ground problem. Let a tech check out your amp and pickups before you invest in a pedal that you may not need.

This is an interesting box. It's not quite a noise-gate, and it's not quite a noise-suppressor... it's somewhere in the middle.

This is not a tool for studio use! It's also not a tool to just remove minor hiss from a already almost noisless system. However, if you often play live shows and play with distortion (which is obviously going to create a lot of noise when you aren't playing), then I do recommend this box... it's just a hair better than a noise gate (which isn't saying much, but it still says a lot when you are already struggling with noise and noise gates are close to fixing it but don't sound quite right).

For the BEST results... do NOT plug this pedal between your guitar and amp... plug it into the FX loop!!!

When it comes to live noise and problems, sometimes a tool like this can go a looooong way (even if it only helps a little). Of course you can easily set this box to over-do-it, like anything.