I've got a bunch of stomp boxes and there's a fair bit of noise I've been unable to clean up. I've changed patches, AC adapters and isolated the source but there's still lots of noise.

I've been shopping for a NS-2 on some popular online auction system and simply have it in my mind that this is the best product for the job.

This is entirely an assumption on my part and I'd appreciate some feedback on what works best while maintaining the signals intended characteristics.
I'm looking at roughly $55 US for a used one on-line but that figure represents little more than what they're going for.

What works well for you and what should I stay away from?
(I'm not strictly looking for a floor unit)

OK - this is a long shot, but I had a lot of noise on my gigging pedal set up many years ago. I messed with it and messed with it, changing cables, etc. Sometimes it was worse than others. Anyway, after suffering thru this for months, maybe even a year, I discovered the problem - the nut on one of the 1/4" input or output jacks of one pedal was not tight. I tightened it up and the noise was gone. Oh, what a relief it was...silence... It must have been causing a ground loop.

The Boss NS-2 is a decent pedal as is the NS-1. I rarely use mine, even with a single coils but sometimes it is a quick solution for recording. I find the NS-2 works best when it is first in the signal chain after the guitar. That way delay repats don't get cut off etc.
Noise just seems to be a fact of life if you have plenty of gain. A quick pinky on the volume knob can be good too...

Just looking at your setup again, you may want to upgrade your connecting cables, sometimes the cheapies can add to the noise situation.
Also, check your power supply noise by using batteries as an alternative. (I have seen the Boss PSM-? pedals being a noise problem source as well)

Go down the line and find the individual noise sources by starting with having one pedal in line, add another etc.

Remember, you may just have ordinary gain structure hiss ...

One thing that I've noticed about this amp is how clean it is just sitting there waiting. There's little gain hiss but I do know there are issues with input jacks and I haven't bothered to tighten them not thinking there would be any great consequensis.

I have new metal head patches & yes these colored cheepiods are worth what they cost.
Other issues are: CE-5 has a hum that I can't get rid of. Like a poor ground. The phaser can be heard cycling in the background with the Strat. It's only there when you aren't so I hoped to simply clean up the calm with the NS-2 and not replace too many boxes.

Suggesting I find all sources is the most logical responce and I'll spend some time staging senarios that isolates all of the potential causes.

? How will a noise gate of any sort filter stray crud from the signal path when it's the first item in the chain leaving the guitar?

Is this the same if I send it through a loop, as in first shoe in the string?

thanx

I had a quick look and my Boss Noise suppressor is actually a Boss NF-1. I don't think that it is "better" than a NS-2 (NF-2?) but pretty much the same.
Basically the Noise suppressor kicks in when the signal is at a low level, thus eliminating any his or hum below a certain set level.

Usually, noise problems are either EQ, Compresser, Overdrive, Fuzz & Distortion type pedals (ie: gain inducing).

If the Chorus and phaser are very noisy then they may be faulty and require servicing or cleaner power supply. It is not uncommon to hear low level LFO cycling noise in the background when Chorus/Phaser pedals are engaged. Additionally, with long chains of pedals you may induce noise through impedance mismatch, which can be multiplied by gain type pedals being inline ahead of Phasers etc.

have you tried leaving tem all out of the signal chain? that's what I did and it worked wonders!

Like others, I would suggest isolating each pedal to see when the noise is introduced. Generally, it's better to find out what is introducing the noise before you add another device into the chain (even if it's supposed to suppress the noise). As was mentioned, I would unplug everything and then, one by one, add each pedal back into the chain until the noise appears -- then check the offending pedal for loose connections etc.

Upgrading the patch cables can really help as well.

Power supplies can often be the problem as well.

I've never been a fan of noise suppressors because they can kill the decay of a note (like a brick wall) in their quest to suppress noise.

I just went through the noise hunt problem, isolating each component in the chain, when I reconfigured my pedal board. I found out it was one seemingly fine patch cable.

Problem solved for about $5 for new, good cable.

Does the noise interfere with your playing? If the noise is only obnoxious when you stop playing, put a passive volume pedal at the end of the chain (last before the amp) and when you stop playing, back off the volume pedal. Everything in front of the volume pedal goes away. If you have echo or reverb, they need to be after the volume pedal.

I used to use a Dunlop HighGain passive volume pedal for this purpose

I would try using batteries with the pedal that seems to introduce the noise, even if it's all of them! Power supply units can cause all kinds of humming and hissing in your rig.

Tea.

yeah, what Tea' said! Ground loops from multiple connections to ground can and will induce all manner of irritating noise.

I got great, and I mean GREAT results from a Boss NS-50 half-rack-space unit. If I remember right, it had stereo I/O. One great feature that I made good use of when acting as a sort of tech/gear-advisor for a friend years ago was its sidechain insert jack, or whatever they called it; in a nutshell, any signal put into this one dead-end input-jack would dictate the envelope of the opening and closing of the downward expansion gate. (The regular ins-and-outs are still used for your signal-chain.) I fed it a very robust signal from the headphone-output of the ADA programable Tube preamp he was using (remember when those were the rage?) and it tracked perfectly, no matter which of his programs he used- clean, overdriven, distorted- and even worked well following volume-knob changes on the guitar. Absolutely NO cutting off of notes as they decayed! And, the ultimate test: he had a professed dislike of any and all noise suppressors and 'gates, and refused to try any more. I had already put it in his rack and had it operating when, after wailing-away by himself for a while, he made a comment about how everything was running so quietly lately that he was "glad he didn't let me ruin his tone with one of those damn noise-gates"!

I hit the bypass button and Niagra Falls was with us. You should have seen his face as I explained...

"Noise Supressor?" "You're SOAKING in it!"

Needless to say, he gladly used it on subsequent gigs with that rig.

The MXR Smart Gate has been recommended to me.

Well there's an issue with the AC adapter and the CE-5 because the battery keeps it clean. I just hate the battery inconvenience.
The phaser will be moved if not removed.
I'll try using the loop and build it up and see where things start to get unreasonable and take it from there.

As I mentioned earlier, there's no additional gain but for what little the compressor & EQ are possibly contributing but I'm not working them like that.

As for the degree to which it interferes with things.. it does sift through quite noticeably when clean and using the CE-5 or DD-5 and if it's there I can do little else but find and get rid of it.
The Comp & EQ just magnify what's already there.

I'll have a go at it this weekend and see where the worst of it is coming from.

Thanx so much for all of the tips and in confirming some of what I'd assumed ignorantly.