Questions about the Boss NS-1x Noise Suppressor.....

[Gutch220]

With regards to the SEND and the OUTPUT, are these two outputs parallel with the same signal? Or is one processed differently than the other (Boss says you can use it as the final pedal in a chain without using the fx-loop), so I had this question of whether or not the outputs are the exact same signal or slightly different since the output also has some suppression as well.
Or, would the OUTPUT be a completely dry/unprocessed signal?
Or, would using the loop automatically change the OUTPUT to a dry signal, but NOT using the loop turns the OUTPUT into a suppressed signal?

The Boss manual says both the OUTPUT and the SEND have noise suppression, but the SEND is enhanced in some way but I don't know what this means.


(EDIT, I also know how to properly use the 4-cable method of using the Pedal SEND into the front of the AMP, then Amp FX-send into pedal RETURN, then Pedal OUTPUT into Amp FX-return, so I'm mainly concerned with the inner-workings of the pedal itself.)

 

[Gutch220]

I guess nobody owns this pedal.

 

[Leonard Neemoil]

Not me, sorry. The only noise suppressors I use are my hands.

 

[fitz]

I guess nobody owns this pedal.

I have an older NS-2 on my O50H board, and I've only used it with the 4CM.
I think I recall from a noise gate thread that @anitoli got one of those new NS-1x thingamabobs?

 

[guitarbilly74]

I don't know if I fully understand your question but I'll give it a shot anyway

The loop is a side chain for the supression. The detection is at the input. If you're not using the loop, the signal is detected at the input and the suppression is applied to the output.

If you're using the loop, signal is detected at the input and the suppression is applied to the loop then mixed in to the output via a an internal parallel mixer.

But the mixing is for the suppression only not for the entire signal. There is no "dry" output. Again, it's side chaining.

 

[MonstersOfTheMidway]

I've owned the NS-2 for a very long time, and I've used (but don't own) the NS-1x a couple of times. I'd say both pedals seem to be a little more effective when using the built-in loop (send/return) than when running the signal through "input" and "output".

I noticed that Boss website and owner's manuals state that both pedals get better results if you run the signal through the send/return, which gives me the impression that the signal is processed in different way than if you were to run signal through "input" and "output". Do I have any concrete/scientific/technical evidence to support this opinion? No. I've looked at Boss' website for more info, but there isn't much there.

When I used the NS-2, I run it between the guitar and amp instrument input. My from guitar goes into NS-2 input. Then, I run a patch cable between the send and return connections. Finally, I run the cable from the output to the amp's instrument input. Doing it this way, I find threshold and decay controls are more effective (lower settings) and the tone is very good with lots of sustain. Also, I don't always have the NS-2 turned on; I'm mainly using it when I use high gain tones.

 

[PelliX]

Heavens, Roland/BOSS need to work on their manuals. This is starting to look a bit Chinenglish...

https://static.roland.com/assets/media/pdf/NS-2_M_eng02_W.pdf

The idea is basically that if you use the detection of the guitar's output without any other gear in between, the gate has the most accurate picture of when to open and close. That said, depending on your rig, you might start cutting tails off reverbs/delays and so on. The gate operates for both the 'loop' as well as the 'main section', so you can also tame your noisy OD pedals downstream from it (though watch for ground loops, hehe). The other thing that might apply (and I can't figure that out without a schematic or documentation) is that the Send output might actually be geared towards line level instead of instrument level impedence - it could make sense, but I have no clue whether they implemented it that way.

Is one output louder than the other in practice?