ISP DECIMATOR/BOSS NS-2/MXR SMART GATE

[snapascrew]

Which one do you use? (do you use one i did not suggest) why do you like yours?...

 

[Silverwulf]

BOSS NS-2 as the last thing in my chain going into the amp. Keeps it dead silent, doesn't color the tone, doesn't kill sustain.

 

[Newysurfer]

BOSS NS-2 as the last thing in my chain going into the amp. Keeps it dead silent, doesn't color the tone, doesn't kill sustain.

I'm glad it's working for you cause there's 1000's of people (including myself) reporting that the NS-2 is a shocker of a tone sucker plus isn't much good at eating noise either.

Both the MXR Smart Gate and the Decimator are by far the best IMHO. If you have a really noisy rig I'd go the ISP. My rig is fairly quiet anyway and the Smart Gate I use kills it silent, and is a little cheaper than the ISP. Both good pedals though.

 

[BigMesa]

I use a ISP Decimator with my Dual Rect and it makes it like it isn't even on when I'm not playing. The only thing I don't like is that it does kill sustain a bit but that's to be expected when you have it up above 30.

 

[Silverwulf]

I'm glad it's working for you cause there's 1000's of people (including myself) reporting that the NS-2 is a shocker of a tone sucker plus isn't much good at eating noise either.

Yeah, I guess that's why you'll find the NS-2 in more pro rigs than virtually any other noise suppressor. Those **** professionals. What do they know, playing their large stadium gigs? If it didn't work well, they wouldn't be using them.

 

[mightywarlock]

i have both an NS2 and Decimator.

i have always noticed the NS2 altering the tone.

i just got a Decimator and i was amazed and how much less it affected the tone.

I tried them both on my Recto, Stiletto, and a few Diezel amps. it was the same all around.

neither are perfect. The decimator does indeed affect the tone slightly, but Much MUCH less than the boss pedal.
have not tried the mxr.

 

[Griz]

.02.......................decimator..........................mogami...........................sshhhhhhhh!

 

[Newysurfer]

I'm glad it's working for you cause there's 1000's of people (including myself) reporting that the NS-2 is a shocker of a tone sucker plus isn't much good at eating noise either.

Yeah, I guess that's why you'll find the NS-2 in more pro rigs than virtually any other noise suppressor. Those **** professionals. What do they know, playing their large stadium gigs? If it didn't work well, they wouldn't be using them.

Silverwulf - Depends what you mean by a pro. Ive been a pro for 20yrs. I don't play stadiums but have played venues up to 2000 punters. But I've played with musos that have played stadiums and I can tell you that just because some guy is famous doesn't mean he knows what he's doin on all fronts. I've seen some guys do some very stupid things and use really crap gear because

1) they started playing when nearly all the pedals you could buy were made by Boss. So everyone had to use them, got used to em and some people being very conservative they never bothered to find better alternatives when they were released.

2) some big time pros are just too drugged out, or too lazy to care;

3) Most Boss pedals don't sound good on or off compared to the competition these days, but they are reliable & built like a brick. Some big name pros are very conservative and will sacrifice some tone for the reliability factor.

Have you done a survey of pros to see how many currently use an NS-2. I doubt it would be many

 

[Silverwulf]

To me, a "pro" is a guy who does this for a living or a substantial part of it. I pushed pros and stadiums above because there's guys above saying it's a tone sucker and doesn't reduce noise well. Regardless of how much gear knowledge the pros have, it's in their rigs being used on world tours at massive venues, and my point was it's obviously working well and doing it's job or it would have been ripped out of the signal chain a long time ago.

There's countless users that are "newer" bands with high gain amps that have used it. Bands like Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Trivium, Unearth, Machine Head, etc.

 

[R_ADKINS80]

I use my NS2 as the first pedal in my chain gating just the guitar. Zero tone suck that way to my ears. Only reason I use it first is because i play with a lot of preamp gain and no matter what guitar I use or how good the cables are I get alot of interference type noise. Using the NS2 as the first pedal kills all of that interference completely. It also doesn't cut off much if any sustain.

I do find that putting it last in the chain makes the rig dead silent but at the same time I don't ike the way it sounds and I can't get it to work like it's supposed to and it either supresses way to early or not soon enough.

My setings for my use are the first knob pegged, second knob off and I set it to reduction on the 3rd knob. and I only turn it off for clean tones for obvious reasons.

 

[danvortex]

Decimator souds better but it's not a noise gate, it is a noise supressor, it will not do as good as the ns2 to kill feed back and noise without cutting your signal's strenght, if you use a lot of gain ns2 is definitly the way to go
if you use less gain than decimator is the best choise

 

[stadidas]

The release of the gate of the NS-2 is pretty slow; try tracking high-gain leads and you'll find that out the hard way.
I haven't used the pedal version of the Decimator, but the ProRackG is about the best bit of kit I've ever bought.

 

[Silverwulf]

The release of the gate of the NS-2 is pretty slow; try tracking high-gain leads and you'll find that out the hard way.
I haven't used the pedal version of the Decimator, but the ProRackG is about the best bit of kit I've ever bought.

I've used the NS-2 on high gain leads constantly, never had an issue and that's on max suppression. To me, anyone who needs to spend $400 to get rid of noise has serious issues in their signal chain/rig to begin with... :wink: Not saying you do, just saying I'm sure you could similar effects for a lot less.

 

[EleventhHour2139]

The release of the gate of the NS-2 is pretty slow; try tracking high-gain leads and you'll find that out the hard way.
I haven't used the pedal version of the Decimator, but the ProRackG is about the best bit of kit I've ever bought.

I've used the NS-2 on high gain leads constantly, never had an issue and that's on max suppression. To me, anyone who needs to spend $400 to get rid of noise has serious issues in their signal chain/rig to begin with... :wink: Not saying you do, just saying I'm sure you could similar effects for a lot less.

Tracking along here, I became curious...have you had a chance to a/b a Decimator and an NS-2? I got to demo them (actually several NS-2's, to see if it was a "group issue" or an isolated incident) in the music store that's down the street from me, and I gotta say, the Decimator was MUCH better at controlling feedback and noise, etc. It wasn't as though it was a close match either. The Decimator, unless dialed to do otherwise, was as transparent as could be. The NS-2 was ok, until I actually needed it to fully remove the noise and interference. It took away quite a bit of high end as well as sustain. Didn't make me wonder why I hear people rave about it, and of course finding a used (read:cheap) Deci G-String is a pita

 

[Silverwulf]

Yep, owned both and got rid of the ISP. Just as good or better, exceptionally well built (can't ever imagine it failing), and the extra routing options available are nice.

 

[LithiumZero]

I've owned both and for the Decimator is far better than the Boss.

 

[CudBucket]

I had an NS-2. It worked great for me. I don't use a noise gate at the moment.

 

[turmoil]

ISP decimator always and forever.

 

[R_ADKINS80]

^^^^ like-wise with my NS2. It works so well for my purposes I have no need to try anything else.