The IEM (in ear monitors) Bible thread

[markbunney]

5 hours ago, police squad said:

cool, thanks for that, I have tried my guitar one (on the IEMs) but it dropped out on a really big gig (during soundcheck) so I went back to a lead but the lekato was perfect on the guitar (weird) also on 5.8. I have used the guitar one very succesfully on quite a few gigs last year ( no drop out or anything)

At our gig last week we had 2 x lekato XLR on 5.8 and I was using lekato guitar wireless on 5.8 and everything seemed ok.

 

i tried to soundcheck with my Boss WL-20 which I prefer to use, but it kept cutting out so switched to the Lekato guitar wireless. 
 

I am finding more and more that the Boss WL-20 doesn’t work properly at gigs anymore.

[JapanAxe]

1 hour ago, markbunney said:

At our gig last week we had 2 x lekato XLR on 5.8 and I was using lekato guitar wireless on 5.8 and everything seemed ok.

 

i tried to soundcheck with my Boss WL-20 which I prefer to use, but it kept cutting out so switched to the Lekato guitar wireless. 
 

I am finding more and more that the Boss WL-20 doesn’t work properly at gigs anymore.

That’s slightly worrying! I recently bought a WL-20 and have been using it live with no problems. I plug the two parts together last thing when setting up so that they can find a clear channel to work on.

[markbunney]

9 hours ago, JapanAxe said:

That’s slightly worrying! I recently bought a WL-20 and have been using it live with no problems. I plug the two parts together last thing when setting up so that they can find a clear channel to work on.

Its really annoying, as it only seems to work properly at 50% of gigs. I pair it last after the other items are set up, but often just get a weird pulsating noise from my bass.

 

I prefer using the Boss units rather than the Lekato ones as they don't move around as much

[Muzz]

If it helps, I'm probably 30 gigs/rehearsals in with the Lekato 5.8/P2 setup, and it's never twitched yet. The P2 batteries last a long time, too...

[police squad]

2 hours ago, Muzz said:

If it helps, I'm probably 30 gigs/rehearsals in with the Lekato 5.8/P2 setup, and it's never twitched yet. The P2 batteries last a long time, too...

they do last a long time but sometimes get dislodged too. I might try your Lekato setup for my IEM

[Al Krow]

3 hours ago, markbunney said:

Its really annoying, as it only seems to work properly at 50% of gigs. I pair it last after the other items are set up, but often just get a weird pulsating noise from my bass.

 

I prefer using the Boss units rather than the Lekato ones as they don't move around as much

 

Similar experience for me. The Boss is a first rate bit of kit in terms of lack of any distortion/clean sound but the drop outs live were becoming unsustainable and I similarly switched to a 5.8 GHz set up on bass. I went for the Nux which are more expensive than the budget Lekato, as the latter was distorting a little with my active basses. Been very happy with the Nux since in terms of both range and lack of drop outs. But this is using the Nux as a wireless purely for bass rather than IEMs so not sure if relevant to this particular discussion - apologies if it's not.

[dave_bass5]

I feel silly asking this, but can’t get my head around the channel frequencies in the 2.4ghz band. 
I assumed they would be standard, but after a brief look at a chart on line, and the Xvive U4 manual which lists the frequencies it’s using, I’m confused. 

What I’m trying to figure out is if i use channel 8, should i in theory be out of the way of my singers 6 channel Xvive u4 and guitarists 4 channel Xvive guitar bug, or is it not that simple? 
Obviously I’m aware that other things with be using 2.4, but the above are all i can control. 

[jimmyb625]

21 minutes ago, dave_bass5 said:

I feel silly asking this, but can’t get my head around the channel frequencies in the 2.4ghz band. 
I assumed they would be standard, but after a brief look at a chart on line, and the Xvive U4 manual which lists the frequencies it’s using, I’m confused. 

What I’m trying to figure out is if i use channel 8, should i in theory be out of the way of my singers 6 channel Xvive u4 and guitarists 4 channel Xvive guitar bug, or is it not that simple? 
Obviously I’m aware that other things with be using 2.4, but the above are all i can control. 

 

I can't say for absolute certain, as I don't own any Xvive kit, but certainly with LD and Sennheiser gear, if you're using their pre-defined channels, you should be good to go.

[jimmyb625]

I'll just add, I went looking around for some more info and found this thread:

 

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/xvive-u2-wireless-guitar-conflicts-with-xvive-u4-wireless-in-ear.1543859/

 

Might be worth checking out?

[dave_bass5]

27 minutes ago, jimmyb625 said:

I'll just add, I went looking around for some more info and found this thread:

 

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/xvive-u2-wireless-guitar-conflicts-with-xvive-u4-wireless-in-ear.1543859/

 

Might be worth checking out?

Those are the exact two units we use in the band at the moment and don’t have any issues. I’ll have to keep my head down if suddenly they start to have them 😎😂

[dave_bass5]

A quick pre gig (post soundcheck)review of the T.bone IEM D2.4

The bottom line is its great. No regrets so far. 

It arrived today and i took it to tonight’s gig. 

First impression was how small and heavy it is. Both plus point. It doesn't feel cheap at all. No idea why oi was surprised at the size, but i was expecting it to be a big larger. It feels very sturdy and solid. The display looks great and the easy of use is very good. I looked at the manual once so far, and that was just to see what a certain icon meant. 

Stereo spread is good, and the L/R balance control helps to keep things sitting where i need them. There doesn't seem to be any noise (i wouldn't hear it over the band anyway). S/N is quoted as >115db for the transmitter, >95 for the reciever.  Not fantastic but more than good enough for my use.

I posted earlier about the EQ, there are 4 types, but there is also 4 types of Eardrive as well. A lot of EQ options in the Reciever. I’ll probably keep these off as i have my Aux EQ anyway, but it’s nice to have those many options. All make a noticeable difference. 

So far we havent had any isseus with drop outs. We played 3 songs, and everyone is happy. One of my guitarists is trying out the Lektar i got off Amazon, with the aim to get oen for himself. He uses the Xvive U2 and he hasnt had an issue with using both yet.

Obviously this is in an empty hall, so the real test will come later this evening when the room fills up. 

 

The only negative so far is the crappy PSU’s that come with it. Very thin wires and big chunky 2 pin. It comes with two and I’ll probably get a 3 pin PSU off Amazon before the next gig. 

Edited January 12 by dave_bass5

[EBS_freak]

@dave_bass5 - Could you do a recording through the device into a DAW? The same thing direct, and one via the wireless? It would be good to hear the quality of the audio.

[police squad]

am following this

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, EBS_freak said:

@dave_bass5 - Could you do a recording through the device into a DAW? The same thing direct, and one via the wireless? It would be good to hear the quality of the audio.

No problem. I’ll sort it out tomorrow.

[dave_bass5]

Here are two recordings. This is just a demo off my MODX, not me playing. 

The DAW version was direct in to my UR22-C interface. The Wireless version was with the MODX going directly to the Transmitter, and the Receiver feeding the same interface. It's not an even playing field but you can get an idea of how close they sound. No EQ used. Both 24bit/48khz.

When I went to record this I had an issue where the Receiver wasn't picking up the signal, but after a re start it was fine. Something got keep an eye on though. 

 

   

 

Edited January 13 by dave_bass5

[EBS_freak]

Thanks for doing that - I will get my headphones out and give them a proper comparison at some point. I'm on a phone at the moment, so I don't think it would be a fair indication as a phone gives you no bass response anyway! On phone listen, they sound quite close.

[WalMan]

6 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Thanks for doing that - I will get my headphones out and give them a proper comparison at some point. I'm on a phone at the moment, so I don't think it would be a fair indication as a phone gives you no bass response anyway! On phone listen, they sound quite close.

Sounds good over the speakers in my studio. There's a couple of pops on the left hand copy on the second bit but otherwise my deaf ears can't hear much difference Can't work out how to download the audio to compare with ADPTR MetricAB  .

 

I would need to find  way to get stereo out of the XR16 which might only be possible on the headphone our=t without taking two of the Aux lines (making me unpopular  )

 

On a different tack I noticed the Behringer UL1000G2 whilst browsing and wondered whether that was worth a look?
https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=0404-AAA

[dave_bass5]

4 minutes ago, WalMan said:

Sounds good over the speakers in my studio. There's a couple of pops on the left hand copy on the second bit but otherwise my deaf ears can't hear much difference Can't work out how to download the audio to compare with ADPTR MetricAB  .

 

I would need to find  way to get stereo out of the XR16 which might only be possible on the headphone our=t without taking two of the Aux lines (making me unpopular  )

 

On a different tack I noticed the Behringer UL1000G2 whilst browsing and wondered whether that was worth a look?
https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=0404-AAA

I wouldn't over think this. The way they were recorded was quite different. The headphone amp comes in to play for the second version, which meant i couldn't use the same levels (and couldn’t be bothered getting too anal about it). Let your ears be the judge. 

I can dropbox them if you really want them though. 

 

I must admit i only get the stereo Aux because i brought the XR18 lol. Now that im using the actual Aux outs and not the monitor out, i could share my stereo mix with one other, but im keeping quiet about that for now. 

[dave_bass5]

1 hour ago, EBS_freak said:

Thanks for doing that - I will get my headphones out and give them a proper comparison at some point. I'm on a phone at the moment, so I don't think it would be a fair indication as a phone gives you no bass response anyway! On phone listen, they sound quite close.

Thats the point, they are fairly close. When the band is playing they don’t even need to be that close, so much spill for the other instruments etc, but its good to know they are as good, if not better (because of the EQ options) than the P2 ive been using. Maybe i should have done P2 Vs D2.4. 

Edited January 13 by dave_bass5

[WalMan]

2 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

I wouldn't over think this. The way they were recorded was quite different. The headphone amp comes in to play for the second version, which meant i couldn't use the same levels (and couldn’t be bothered getting too anal about it). Let your ears be the judge. 

I can dropbox them if you really want them though. 

 

I must admit i only get the stereo Aux because i brought the XR18 lol. Now that im using the actual Aux outs and not the monitor out, i could share my stereo mix with one other, but im keeping quiet about that for now. 

I just wondered whether I could see anything on AB. Doesn’t really matter 🙂

 

I was looking at XR18 as I think the sound guy may still have the remote mixers that link on CATT5

[EBS_freak]

Had a proper listen. That's not too shabby that - stereo, digital... and not as expensive as the top performing analogue stereo counterparts. As long as the RF is stable, I don't reckon you've done too bad there. And don't forget, theres also the stereo headphone amp built into it, so theres your wired bail out in an emergency option without impacting your wiring at the desk.

Edited January 18 by EBS_freak

[dave_bass5]

27 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Had a proper listen. That's not too shabby that - stereo, digital... and not as expensive as the top performing analogue stereo counterparts. As long as the RF is stable, I don't reckon you've done too bad there. And don't forget, theres also the stereo headphone amp, so theres your wired bail out in an emergency option without impacting your wiring at the desk.

Cheers. Yeah, i can still use my P2 from the Transmitter if i do get connection issues. Hopefully I’ll never need to. 
I tend to have a good general mix, nothing louder than anything else, so with this new system i can effectively have this mix going to 3 other IEMs if the need comes up. 

 

Assuming i can use both Headphone outs at the same time, and I’ve now freed up the monitor out on the XR18 which can also take a feed from my Aux busses. I’m going to work on convincing the drummer to use my P2 at some point. 
 

[WalMan]

Are the headphone outs on XR16 and XR18 just the main outputs or can you route an aux for stereo personal IEM mix not affecting FOH? I can’t work it out from the manual 🤷‍♂️🤪

[JPJ]

47 minutes ago, WalMan said:

Are the headphone outs on XR16 and XR18 just the main outputs or can you route an aux for stereo personal IEM mix not affecting FOH? I can’t work it out from the manual 🤷‍♂️🤪

You have 6 aux buses routed out of the box to the six aux out xlrs. The standard headphone out is either your left right main outs or a solo’d channel. You can route one of your six aux busses to the headphone out but you then disable that bus aux out. Hope this helps?

[dave_bass5]

42 minutes ago, JPJ said:

You have 6 aux buses routed out of the box to the six aux out xlrs. The standard headphone out is either your left right main outs or a solo’d channel. You can route one of your six aux busses to the headphone out but you then disable that bus aux out. Hope this helps?

You can even route a pair to the headphone/monitor, although they do have to be as a pair of 1/2, 3/4, 5/6. 
 

Are you sure the Aux outs get disabled when using them through the headphones on the XR18? I haven’t tried it but i don’t like it if they do.