EBS_freak

If you think the bass lines are great (some of the best lines ever written in my pop imho), listen to the isolated vocals on youtube. It'll blow your socks off when you hear exactly what is going on...

GLXD is 4 ms minimum, 7.3 ms maximum ULXD/QLXD is 2.9ms Just for completeness, analogue latency is way sub 1ms... (e.g. as good as 0ms)

Hola - I'd echo mike257 status above. A lot of the stuff covers off what I would say at a high level. Digital - In short, 2.4Ghz works but can suffer from drop outs when a room full of mobile phones looking for open wifi spots enters the room (e.g. so what works at soundcheck may cause you grief when the audience piles in) 5Ghz is better - what it gives up in range (assuming like for like transmission power compared to 2.4Ghz) it gains in there being more intermodulation free (e.g. interference free). Unlike 2.4Ghz, there aren't many 5Ghz systems around, certainly not from the more reputable manufacturers. Digital on channel 38 is best... but not common place unless you are investing in higher priced systems. For Shure, you are looking at the QLXD and ULXD as the cheapest (but not cheap) systems. Take a deep breath and click on this link - https://www.thomann.de/gb/shure_qlxd24_beta58_k51.htm (shared mic license = cost associated for license ) and this link - https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/wireless-handheld-microphones/shure-qlxd24-beta-58a-s50-823-832-and-863-865-mhz-handheld (free for use license) for an idea... and then think about adding another 6 or 7 hundred on top for ULX-D. I should point out, this is touring grade spec equipment - and hence are robust against mobile phones and wifi routers! Digital introduces latency as it has an analogue to digital conversion for the transmission and then digital back to analogue* (assuming that you haven't got something like a Dante enabled desk that keeps things in the digital domain) before going into the preamps in your desk. Depending upon the system, this latency should be kept as low as possible, especially if using in ears. Remember that latency is cumulative... so if you have a chain of digital devices, they will all add latency into the chain (for example a digital mic, into a digital vocal processor, into a digital desk will introduce 3 cumulative stages of latency). The latency could be the difference between a delay being not being able to be detected to completely unusable because it will sound like a delay has been put onto your vocal. As an idea, cumulative latency for a signal chain should aim to be under 8ms. I would say a mic with a latency of 3ms or under is good. Analogue - tends to be cheaper... but also cheaper analogue tends to be terrible due to the companders that have been mentioned above. Some systems have very transparent companders, others are terrible - leading to fuzzies, a lack of lows and most noticeable, harsh highs. Unless you can afford a decent analogue system, I would say stay away... however, if you can stretch to a decent analogue system, they are probably the best way to go. As mike above mentioned, the Sennheiser EW100, EW300 and EW500 are worth investigating. A G2, G3 or G4 will all do a great job (particularly G3+). For small venues, I'd stay away from condenser capsules - so you are looking at 835, 935 and 845, 945 capsules. The 845 and 945 are most closely linked to the Beta 58 - personally, I think the Sennheiser x35 and x45 smash the 58s into oblivion. There is a reason they are one of the most commonly seen analogue radio mics in use. They simply sound great and the radio element of the system is arguably still amongst the best in the business. So what would I do? Well, I actually run both ULXDs and EW300/EW500s. My vocal mics are all Sennheiser analogue. Body pack systems are ULXD. If I had to choose the best mic system for the money, I would look at a EW100 with a 935 on channel 38. If all of this is too much, then a Sennheiser D1(ew D1-945-EU) or GLXD24/beta 58A will do you - just make sure that you have a wired mic as back up (which you should always have anyway) and don't be too disappointed if you have to revert to wired due to interference issues. For a lot of people, they will never have any issues. If you are in a band that plays next to office blocks with lots of wifi, or conference centres/hotels, don't be surprised and expect the worse. It should be noted however, the single most reason why bands have a nightmare problem with wireless is that they aren't co-ordinated in what they buy. For example, the guitarist buys a random radio system, then the other guitarist, then the bass player gets something completely different... and these systems won't magically play nicely with one another. If you want to something to work out the box for the whole band, settle on one digital system (be it Line 6, Shure, Sennheiser) or whatever and then simply select individual channels - and the chances are things will just work. If you want to run lots of different brands of digital systems, you will run into problems, unless you have the problems to select discrete frequencies as opposed to presets that can't be fine tuned. Similar, if you go analogue, if you stick with one brand and model, you should be able to use a set of frequencies that are designed to work together. On the higher end stuff, you can fine tune all these systems (even of different types and brands) to be intermodulation free (e.g. channels free of interfering with one other) - and this can be quite a complex task and is generally worked out by software. Theses systems typically start at an entry point of the like of analogue EW300 and EW500 and ULX, (analogue) ULXD and QLXD (upwards to Axient) - and their prices reflect that versatility and capability. So to sum up, if your band wants to go wireless, get your heads together and subscribe to a common brand and model... this may also influence your choice if other elements in the band are already wireless. If there is already other wireless in the band, especially systems that have preset frequencies, there's no guarantees of them all playing together nicely! Hope this helps (if it hasn't totally confused you!)

Indeed.

Speaking of which, nobody has posted a pic of the back yet. How do you get to the back where all the power, fx loops etc are? I presume there's a hatch?

A pair of 12.2s would be nice. Plenty of opportunity to make use of some of those Helix stereo effects! I would take a single 735 over the 12.2 as a one box solution though (although I do admit the 12.2 visually look better)

More often than not this is the case.

Theres plenty of capable plastic boxes out there... a lot that are better than poorly specced wooden boxes. Trouble is, a lot of people view and experience of monitors are budget, budget! Even when it comes to IEMs - the whole "I've tried IEMs and they are rubbish" - usually means they have plugged in the earphones that they got with their phone (but they sound really good!) into some cobbled together mcgyver setup.

Most are rubbish because it's the first bit of the PA that people choose to save money on thinking that the cabs aren't as important as FoH. To produce a great sound, like front of house, they need good quality drivers and horns - and these come at a cost. Manufacturers realise there is a market for cheap speakers to use for monitors... and hence, they produce them - and people half expect monitors to be kinda rubbish but good enough to get through the gig. As for adjusting on the gig - they shouldn't be adjusted on the gig... and no sound guy would thank you for doing so. You run the risk of boosting overall volume or troublesome volumes that can cause the setup to start running into feedback. Good monitor? Yeah, one which is as good as something that you would use for front of house. There's no getting around it! (or go IEM)

If anybody wants to chat IEMs with me, I'll be here - http://www.custom-inearmonitors.co.uk/events/visit-us-at-the-uk-bass-guitar-show-manchester-2020.html (or maybe not! - it's postponed!)

get the project box search on the go... and take the opportunity to switch to AA so you can use some decent capacity eneloops (and lets face it, AAs are easier to source in an emergency!)

that looks like a rehousing project in the making!

@Gottastopbuyinggear - looking nice. Good to see some Nextion screens coming into play.

Oh - and the snare tends to be a big issue too - and the cymbal shields won’t do a lot for that... hence my reluctance to spend.

I’ve never been anywhere to assess how useful these actually are. Whilst they logically seem that they should work to some extent, I have a niggling nag about them. Ive even got this saved in my “something to explore” folder -

@Steve1967 - depending upon your situation, I know of a few theatre teams that travel with their own monitor setup with the view of getting quicker and more consistent IEM mixes. The ones in question use a Mackie DL32R or a Midas Core with DL32 and an analogue split as described in section 5 above. With the latter, you can then look at ultranet and Behringers P16s or at least look after your own mix off the phone. Usefully you know that the settings are going to be pretty much ballpark every gig if you carry your own monitor world. Any digital desk will do I guess - but if you can utilise a split, you can sort your own IEMs pretty quickly using that method. I'm guessing you already have read that... otherwise, it's pretty much a setup from scratch every time. Photos of settings rarely work as gains/mics/outboard are typically different.

Hi Phil - something like a cheapish Behringer FBQ800 as opposed to the a different set of IEMs could sort you. Comparable price to a set of budget IEMs but will give you that extra tone shaping you require but without losing the bass response you already have. Of course, you could also use the EQ to roll back the bass for the Sennheisers if the bass isn't as important to you and the mids are more where you want them to be natively.

Mudpup nails it. Before you even think about buying one for mobile use, consider the weight of them. They aren't an insignificant thing to be lugging around. And no, there is no light weight equivalent. It's the mass of them that makes them effective. When you say "bleeding into other microphones", which microphones? You may be able to improve the situation by better microphone technique and different microphones. If you can give me some information, I may be able to give you some pointers.

This is my issue with all these sealed battery units. Additionally, you forget to charge or have a late minute gig - you can drop into any corner shop and pick up some AAs.

So in the next instalment of my live video journey (OK, I know they aren't gigs but I'm upping my vid skills right now so my next band ones are better). Here's me filming a friend's promo material. I'm quite happy considering it was filmed in the confines of a front room in Smethwick with a couple of mics! Again, all totally live, no fix in post BS. So, the new grey card is working well but funnily enough, these vids just didn't seem to work well in colour (so kinda negating the whole reason for having the grey card), so I dropped them into a lovely shade of err... monochrome blueness. I'm kind of glad that I suggested that she change over the mic to the Super 55 - it turns out it fits the vibe nicely, especially with the jazz box instead of the acoustic.

That's some meaty boots on display there! Strong hat game too!

Paul McCartney. I even was looking at Wal, a Ricky and a Hofner as my first bass... although they were obviously beyond my means as a youngster. (Although when I did have the opportunity to buy a new Wal I didn't as they just didn't appeal in the same way... wish I'd bought one though, I think the quotation I got back from Electric Wood was about a grand). Anyway, Macca is a great person to learn from - especially if you follow through the albums. I progressed like he did I guess... from Love Me Do... through to things like Penny Lane. I bought the big white book that has got the whole Beatles catalogue (from the original albums at least), fully scored and learned pretty much all my basics from that. As for bass players now, I don't really have any heros as such... I just like what I like, picking and choosing bits from different players to build my own style I guess.

Hi Dave - the bass is a through neck GB Spitfire made by Bernie Goodfellow in Brighton.

Some good technique on display (sweeping on a bass always brings a cheeky smile to my face) there... but man, you need to get with that metronome.

But who was the better juggler? Jaco or Laurence?