i think its descent..but expensive as well... i would rate it like this  sound quality 7.5/10
                                                                                          reliability       9/10
                                                                                          fx                5/10
                                                                                          price             7/10

if you need to stick to crate dont go less than a gt-3500h especially for high gain stuff...only used by the way...but in stock in some european stores....i'm a happy owner

well thx..now the noise gate works!! when i have time i will fine tune it to my amp needs...thx again for helping a noobie...
it may be off-topic but whats your opinion about my amp?  i matched it with an epiphone so cal 4x12 cabinet with eminence and the amp seems to have a lot more to give with a better cab...

and how the ns-2 will operate without connecting anything to its input??

hi there! i have a problem with my new amp head...crate gt-3500h shockwave..it says to have an fx-loop...well i see a line in/out that it was supposed to work as an fx-loop...as i read to manual these jacks have double duties...line in bypasses the preamp stage of the head and the line out is for post eq...both combined should work as an fx-loop i guess...but i dont see that...when i plug my boss ns-2 i can only hear a clean sound (the amp bypassed its preamp stage)...i wonder if the problem remains and with rack effect units...any ideas to make things happen? thx!