intime-nick

yeah, our (relatively small) Yamaha PA is more than capable of putting the entire band though it - e-drum kit, bass 'n' all

slightly off topic but in relation to some previous comments : we manage very well with 2x Yamaha DXR12 tops and a DXS12 sub at all our gigs (big and small pubs). The entire band (e-kit, bass, 2x guitars and 3x vocals) all go through the PA with very minimal backline (1x 20w Friedman valve guitar amp and the other using his Boss combo on 0.5w setting with acoustic shield, both miked). I run no backline and IEMs with bass sound processing done by the XR18 and we have no issues running that setup nowhere near flat out to get a great sound (if i don't say so myself). I'm very much past using a bass backline for this band - we sound better for a quiet backline and setup time is no different to normal (less if you factor in the amount of gear we have to lug around). The drummer is on IEMs and a P&D haptic drum throne and the two guitarists have their own Yamaha monitors. it's taken 2 years of gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) persuasion to get to this stage - when i joined it was the same PA running vocals and bass drum only with the usual acoustic kit, 4x12's, 50 or 100w heads, i used a BF super twin with a 1500w power amp etc etc etc - sounded like any other pub band i.e. waaaay too loud for the locations played - we still have plenty of volume, it's just now through the PA and sounds so much better for it

i started out with this exact system - i found it to be pretty good for the money but you're right, the bundled in-ears are pretty naff

I pan our two guitarists hard L&R as they set up on stage relative to me, vocals are also panned but not as drastically (three vocals - me, and the two guitarists) but enough to separate them in my IEM mix. My bass and vocals are centre panned and the e-drums are stereo in so i leave them as they are as they move nicely L-R as he plays across the kit (using an Xr18 and a stereo feed to my EW300G3 btw)

sorry for the delay in replying to this yes, I used an LD Systems MEI 100 IEM Tx/Rx before i got my Sennheiser EW300G3 (LD was this : https://www.ld-systems.com/en/series/mei-100-g2-series/4239/mei-100-g2?c=2625) I bought it as an entry-level system into IEMs and had no real complaints for the money at all - RF performance seemed OK (albeit i was the only one in the band at the time with IEMs), sound seemed adequate (no massive loss at either end of the spectrum) - I was using SE215s at the time so read into that what you will but as a stepping stone onto the slippery slope of IEMs, it was great. You get a rack mount kit with it which is nice (i have all my gear racked in the PA mixer rack and no amp/pedals/anything as it all goes through the XR18 and it's internal processing) Compared to the EW300G3 it's a classic case of you get what you pay for - EW sounds better - lower noise floor, better overall sound quality, better build quality (although i'd still prefer a removable antenna on the Rx) - just better all round. I will say i paid around £550 for my EW300G3 - i believe they are a lot more than that nowadays (and the newer G4 system more so) To summarise, the LD system was great as it showed the potential for what IEM systems can do (for me) in a band environment and the Sennhesier system is a step up from there - i can't see me replacing the EW300 for a very long time - it's a proper bit of kit. If you're not sure about getting into wireless IEMs, i'd always say go with something better than the low-end stuff (the newer LD stuff looks really good) and take it from there - the most important thing is well-spec'd CIEMs and (if you have the aux outs) a stereo setup from a digital mixer - that's when you get into the really great stuff !

First bass was a sunburst finish Jedson short scale bought from a junk shop for a tenner back in 1984ish - I only bought it because it had a Motörhead sticker on it. Terrible thing looking back now, the strings were wrapped around the wrong tuning posts and I decided to spray it with some random car paint rattle cans I bought from Halfords - it looked even worse than before but it was my first First amp setup was the amp module from a loud hailer, powered by a 12v car battery (carried in a rectangular bucket) into an old hi-fi speaker I rescued from a skip - rose-tinted spectacles aside, I don’t think you’ll ever hear a bass distortion quite like it again, ever 😁 i then moved onto my first proper bass, a Yamaha RBX800 in the late 80’s (and the RBX5 shown in the background I converted to fretless with a screwdriver and wood filler - ahem) and rather stupidly can’t remember what happened to either of them

I’ve got some UE6s and a set of LUGS quads - I’ve been favouring my LUGS at practice recently (for no other reason than I like to rotate them so I get used to the differences in case I need to swap mid-gig in case of failure - however unlikely) i would have absolutely zero hesitation in going for either again - Robert has invested a lot of money in new 3D scanners and printers since I had mine done and would appear to be well on top of the IEM game - I will eventually get my LUGS reshelled by him with a full acrylic shell (I have acrylic and thermosoft tips on mine) Both are great - now I’ve had more time with them- there are slight differences - the UE6 is warmer in the highs and the LUGS quads possibly more detailed but I don’t think you can go wrong with either option to be honest

Re. latency - my experience is with IEMs - I notice it, a lot Setup at the time was Smoothound into Helix LT into XR18 mixer into Sennheiser EW300 G3 IEM Tx - very noticeable . Swapped back to my Line 6 XD-V75 wireless and it disappeared. Nothing wrong with the Smoothound setup if you play into a conventional backline (I have none - direct to PA) - as an experiment, swapping to the lower latency setting on the Smoothound yielded a much less stable connection and was practically unusable in gig settings. As with all these things, everyone has different experiences and susceptibilities to latency. And no, I don’t have a lot of time on my hands 😉

Protection Racket for semi-rigid soft case everytime - you'll get good service from Dean and Mandy at Pro Racket if there is ever a problem. Having said that, i'd never carry my basses to a gig in anything other than a Hiscox hard case but they don't have shoulder straps which may be a downside for some people - soft cases on gigs are not my bag....(ahem, sorry)

I've used a few systems over the years from an old Audio Technica system through to my current Line 6 XD-V75. Also have a smoothound system but found the latency too high when used with a digital mixer and IEMs (no issue with the Line 6). Also had a G30 system and, whilst i agree that the battery door design leaves an awful lot to be desired, a simple velcro strap around the case fixed the problem for me and i gigged that for quite a while. I like the XD-V75 as it has channel scan and is rack-mountable along with all my other gear which makes for a very easy setup. No issue with interference even though the rack contains my IEM Tx and a wireless router for the mixer all in close proximity (not recommended but works fine in our situation). I have also been using a NUX B-3 wireless setup for my mic as well - i was pretty skeptical at first but no issues with interference, latency or sound quality - it's a great bit of kit

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I used to use this system before I got my Sennheiser EW300G3 - can't really fault it at the price and did the job (the EW300 is a step up in build quality, sound and flexibility of course but it should be for the money) I preferred this one to the more expensive MEI1000 as i felt the receiver was better built (the more expensive receiver was a poor copy of the EW300 Rx and as such, didn't feel sturdy enough on the battery access flap) The new LD Systems IEM Tx/Rx products look nice though - they were mentioned by Russ a few pages back I think : https://www.ld-systems.com/en/in-ear-monitoring/u508-iem-hp-in-ear-monitoring-system-with-earphones/?force_sid=spp6bjp8e5qicbrjs53l6r1gmudg3bkd9ui7p9lfuhfacg7r9d5ctp8h2ubq9uok0mfv53pdutgvgkgivj4shnrp0llcdai4bqoev40

Karl bought my Barefaced Super Twin - top fella to deal with and a credit to the BC community Thank you

i found these tips very good when I used ZS10s for both fit and isolation (and cheaper than the Comply tips) : https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071NZJ7QR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 once you've figured out which size you need, you can order them just in that size

our two guitarist don't use IEMs either so i just add some bass to their floor monitors to get a good balanced on-stage sound for them - it helps having decent(ish) floor monitors - either Yamaha DBR15s or DXR12's depending on the area we have to set up in

i should qualify that i'm running mono to FOH and stereo to my IEMs - the ability to pan guitars and vocals (in the case of our band with two guitars and three vocals) is a major bonus of a stereo IEM setup and i also use a small amount of reverb on my IEMs for a more natural sound. The advantage of the sansamp stereo guitar effect on the XR18 is that i can run two totally different sounds on each side of the effect and only use one FX insert slot on the mixer

My own setup in our classic rock covers band (own PA) : bass - line6 XD-V75 wireless - XLR out of wireless to input of XR18 mixer - signal split into two channels in the mixer - both channels go through the stereo sansamp effects processor built into the XR18 - one channel to FOH, one channel to my IEMs (Sennheiser EW300G3 and UE6 Pro or LUGS Quads) - run in stereo. Both channels are eq'd and processed differently to get what i need from the PA and the IEMs (for example, i run the speaker sim on my IEM channel and not the FOH) it's taken a bit of faffing around to get the sounds how i want them but now it rarely changes from gig to gig and i get the same, repeatable sound from both PA and IEMs. The two guitarists run small amps on stage and i feed some bass back through the monitors for them and the drummer uses a nice e-kit, IEMs and a Porter & Davies haptic drum throne. In all my years of gigging, we now how the simplest, best sounding setup i've ever played in i should add, i used to use a Helix LT in front of the mixer but can get the same core sound directly from the mixer (LT up for sale if anyone is interested 😉 ) so i don't even bother with that anymore the only downside to all this is that i now am set up in less time than it takes for one guitarist to plug in his cab and mic it up and find myself becoming the roadie or setting up all the PA !

ha, he sounds like like a total nightmare - a dangerous combination of over-inflated ego, arrogance and stupidity. i truly hope he goes deaf before he considers his career is over - what an utter job-knocky

as someone who went through a similar number of steps : 215s - UE900s - ZS10 - LUGS quads - UE6, it's been an interesting journey. I would concur with everything Russ has said - the ZS10s are remarkable for the money as a live IEM but, as with all universals, experimentation with different tip materials & shapes to get the best fit/seal is vital. The only cautionary thing i would say about them is that they have quite a large casing for a universal IEM and may not fit small ears. I like my LUGS (2x low,1x mid, 1x high - all BA) and my UE6s - both very capable custom IEMs. I tend to favour the UE6s mainly because they are a better fit than my LUGS - nothing to do with the quality of the LUGS at all, more the fact that it highlights the need for accurate ear impressions (i.e. don't use Boots for ear impressions as they are expensive and poor quality). I will be getting my LUGS reshelled using the digital scan data from my UE6 impressions at some point. Like most things, knowing what i know now, i would have skipped straight from my original SE215s (bought as an initial foray into using IEMs with the band) and gone straight to a custom quad or similar but hindsight is a wonderful thing !

I've ditched all backline now - i still have all my cabs, amps, effects etc etc but they never get used anymore. Bass to wireless to digital mixer to FOH - job done. My IEMs take care of monitoring and, like Russ has mentioned above, I have two completely different sounds for IEM and FOH (I should add we always use our own PA) and use the compressor (single or multi-band depending on which mix), para EQ and the sansamp plugin on my channel from the XR18 - it all sounds great to me and is really consistent. I've spent the past two years convincing the band to ditch the 4x12s and the acoustic kit and replace with smaller cabs, amps and a really nice e-kit - all through the PA - the band now sounds so much better out front and the monitoring is now able to do its job - i would find it a right pain going back to a loud backline in a band now - most sound rubbish in the pubs we play at.

I've got a pair of UE900s that i no longer use if you're interested ?

I have a bit of a soft spot for the LD IEM systems - I started with an MEI 100 system and, apart from the obvious differences in spec and construction compared to my current Sennheiser EW300G3 system, it did a rather good job for the money. The new LD IEM Tx/Rx look very nice - I’d certainly be considering them as a backup / second rig or a main setup if i didn’t have the EW300

Mix Station Pro - it's worth the few quid you pay for the pro version (the iOS version is also out soon if not already). As for old ipads not running the s/ware - as Russ has said, it's not the ipad that's the problem (the X-Air software runs on my ancient ipad 2 smoothly and on an atom powered mini-laptop which has less power than my watch) - it's the external router (or rather, lack of) that's the issue. Buy a bog standard dual band router, run it on 5GHz only (if your tablet/phone supports it) and away you go. I'm not sure I could handle going back to an analogue desk anymore irrespective of objections from band members - i like my personal stereo IEM feed too much ! (it helps that i also do the sound for our band so it's an easier 'discussion')

Seriously, get an external router, run it on 5GHz only and hide the SSID (plus a wired option as a backup). I would trust the security and reliability of the in-built WiFi on the XR18 as much as I trust car dealers to tell the truth (it’s been that sort of a week so far !!!)