Wireless system for the bass

[sirmuppet]

So I used to use a wireless system a few years back, not that long ago really. It was a Smooth Hound system that I used. Never had any issues with it. Alas I ended up going back to a cable due to being a band that meant movement was restricted. Now I'm looking to get another system. I've emailed and kept an eye on Smooth Hound but nothing. I need a system that's relaible, won't cut out and that I can easily buy a second transmitter for. The last one seems to be an issue for some systems. 

 

My guitarist uses a Line 6 of some sort. It's a bug style that plugs direct into the jack and also charges when it's popped into the base station. So I wouldn't want anything the would cause issue with that. 

 

Any suggestions?

[Obrienp]

I’ve been using the Boss WL-20 for about 4 years. I’ve not had a problem with it, even with three of us using different systems simultaneously and a cheap wireless IEM system. The range is pretty impressive too and the charge seems to last 5-6 hours in constant use. It even seems to be OK with some active basses (but not the Ibanez SRH500). Boss do a version with a pedal board receiver called the WL-50 as well. They are not cheap though.

[Lozz196]

I recently bought a SubZero kit from Gear4Music. Same theory as the WL20, one (black) bug in the instrument, the other (white) bug in the amp. Good touch that, different colours, easy to sort on dark stages. Plus it works on 5.8GHz rather than the more regular 2.4 which can be affected by lights/Wi-Fi etc. 

 

Used it at two gigs on the same charge - apparently you can get 4hrs from it. Never noticed any latency issues. At £70 I’d recommend it.

[tauzero]

I've got three - the Line 6 G50, Smooth hound, and a cheapie bug type which is a 2.4GHz one branded Muslady. The Line 6 is pretty rugged, except that dropping the transmitter onto a hard floor broke the battery cover. The Smooth Hound has been good though I do find the reversed polarity of the power supply a bit annoying. The Muslady has been fine - I bought it for rehearsals as I got fed up of treading on leads and I use minimal equipment in rehearsals, and finished up gigging it a few times. Can't tell any difference between them tonally.

[fleabag]

After owning the Xvive set, and them refusing to charge up after a poxy 2 years, and of course they're sealed so the batteries cant be replaced ( clever eh ? ) , i  decided to go for quality and bought the Line 6 Relay G75 kit.

 

Outstanding.  That's if you can find one.  They seem to be in short supply right now.

 

https://www.andertons.co.uk/line-6-wireless-guitar-offer

Edited December 7, 2022 by fleabag

[sirmuppet]

4 hours ago, fleabag said:

After owning the Xvive set, and them refusing to charge up after a poxy 2 years, and of course they're sealed so the batteries cant be replaced ( clever eh ? ) , i  decided to go for quality and bought the Line 6 Relay G75 kit.

 

Outstanding.  That's if you can find one.  They seem to be in short supply right now.

 

https://www.andertons.co.uk/line-6-wireless-guitar-offer

Just had a look at that. Looks good but according to Bax music they're discontinued. So might have to wait and see. 

[fleabag]

6 minutes ago, sirmuppet said:

Just had a look at that. Looks good but according to Bax music they're discontinued. So might have to wait and see. 

 

Yes, some of the shops i was looking at also were also out of stock. They were everywhere when i bought mine a couple of years ago for £150.

 

Seems that the G90 is out now, maybe as a replacement, but i wouldnt pay that price  https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/line-6-relay-g90-rack-mountable-wireless-guitar-system

[Paul S]

I've used the Boss WL-50 for nearly 4 years.  It's behaved perfectly, not a single glitch.

[Matt P]

I started with a Line6 G30, never had any issues with it, leant it out to a friend for some Christmas shows and they pestered me to sell it, at the same time a G50 popped up in the classifieds at a great price so i sold the G30 and bought the G50

 

I haven't had any issues with the G50 either, i used it at church quite a lot and they are using the Line6 wireless Mics (5 of them) and there were no issues (just find a free channel and off you go).

 

I briefly borrowed a smooth Hound system and just couldn't get on with it, I really don't like the bug style transmitters and the fix using a coupler and a cable didn't work for me either.

 

Line 6 do sell the transmitter separately, but they seem to be out of stock. A cheaper option might be to buy another secondhand set and put the spare receiver in the cupboard as a spare (or sell it to someone that has 2 different pedalboards and wants another receiver.)

 

Matt

[sirmuppet]

3 minutes ago, Matt P said:

I started with a Line6 G30, never had any issues with it, leant it out to a friend for some Christmas shows and they pestered me to sell it, at the same time a G50 popped up in the classifieds at a great price so i sold the G30 and bought the G50

 

I haven't had any issues with the G50 either, i used it at church quite a lot and they are using the Line6 wireless Mics (5 of them) and there were no issues (just find a free channel and off you go).

 

I briefly borrowed a smooth Hound system and just couldn't get on with it, I really don't like the bug style transmitters and the fix using a coupler and a cable didn't work for me either.

 

Line 6 do sell the transmitter separately, but they seem to be out of stock. A cheaper option might be to buy another secondhand set and put the spare receiver in the cupboard as a spare (or sell it to someone that has 2 different pedalboards and wants another receiver.)

 

Matt

That's actually not a bad shout. I'm going to hang off until the after Christmas sales and see if there's any bargains. Seems the majority suggest Line 6 without any issues. Do you need to manually select the frequency or does it search and find the best free ones?

[Matt P]

i'm not sure about the G10 but all the others (as  far as i'm aware ) it is selectable, the G30 has 6 channels and the others have more (possibly 12)

 

one thing to note, If you are planning to mount on a pedalboard and use a different power supply then they need an isolated supply and quite a bit of current (the G30 ran happily on a 240mA connection (doubled current cable on a Harley benton power plant junior), the G50 needed more so i'm using a 500mA connection now (Fame DC Junior)

 

Matt

Edited December 9, 2022 by Matt P
added the power info

[Obrienp]

The Boss WL-20 and 50 automatically seek the best of 14 channels. I have never had a clash happen with the WL-20. The WL-50 receiver will power other pedals as well when you are using the power adapter (it can also run on batteries). They claim the rechargeable batteries in the dongles will last 12 hours. I have certainly got over 6 hours continuous use out of my WL-20 (I’ve never tried to go longer without recharging). Worth considering IMO, if you can’t source the Line 6.

Edited December 9, 2022 by Obrienp

[Paul S]

Actually I do have one issue with the transmitter for my WL-50 - I have a bass with a recessed output jack and it won't fit in tightly enough to engage, the shoulders hit the dish of the recessed bit.  That's just one bass in an embarrassingly long line of basses  And, frankly, the fault of the bass, not the transmitter.  

[sirmuppet]

1 hour ago, Paul S said:

Actually I do have one issue with the transmitter for my WL-50 - I have a bass with a recessed output jack and it won't fit in tightly enough to engage, the shoulders hit the dish of the recessed bit.  That's just one bass in an embarrassingly long line of basses  And, frankly, the fault of the bass, not the transmitter.  

 

TBH if I were using a bug type I'd probably do what I did when I owned a Smooth Hound and use a patch cable with a female to female adaptor and strap mount the bug. 

[andybassdoyle]

Do any of you find the tone is impacted vs cable, or that other noise is introduced…?

cheers

abd

[EBS_freak]

48 minutes ago, andybassdoyle said:

Do any of you find the tone is impacted vs cable, or that other noise is introduced…?

cheers

abd

You will notice less loss of top end when comparing digital wireless to longer cable runs - a few systems have a cable tone simulation for this very reason (just lops a bit of the top end off).

 

Analogue wireless... bit of a lottery. Good companders will mean less perceived signal loss... but certainly you will get a loss in top and bottom end due to the compander.

Edited January 17, 2023 by EBS_freak

[Chienmortbb]

3 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

You will notice less loss of top end when comparing digital wireless to longer cable runs - a few systems have a cable tone simulation for this very reason (just lops a bit of the top end off).

 

Analogue wireless... bit of a lottery. Good companders will mean less perceived signal loss... but certainly you will get a loss in top and bottom end due to the compander.

Of course the delay AKA latency is negligible with analogue systems.

[EBS_freak]

Latency doesn’t impact tone - it doesn’t relate to the question I was answering.

[Chienmortbb]

1 hour ago, EBS_freak said:

Latency doesn’t impact tone - it doesn’t relate to the question I was answering.

Of course, you are correct. I was merely pointing out one of the benefits of an analogue system. There is an argument that A-D/D-A conversions degrade the sound and while that might be true in the strictest sense, I doubt it is audible.

[EBS_freak]

24-bit 48 kHz digital systems means that you are running above CD quality (16 bit 44.1 kHz). It's pretty safe to assume that, especially in a gigging situation, you'd be hard pushed to hear any subtle nuances in the A<>D conversions. Given the fact that the delivery medium is likely to be digital, or through a digital desk, you are going to be converting to 24-bit 48kHz at some point... even if you are lucky to have a 96kHz desk, if you are using wireless, you've already downsampled to 48kHz at some point in your bass chain (although having said that, a few 96kHz systems are beginning to crop up).

 

There's quite an interesting (it's not) debate to be had about 48kHz vs 96kHz, - streaming from handling of transients, anti-aliasing etc etc... In reality, I suspect the reality of what most people can hear, it's a moot point. The big win for me, is the reduced latency - so less latency in plugins, less latency in IEMs... but at a CPU cost and reduced buffer size. Anyway, risk of thread derailment.

[rushbo]

I've been using the Sennheiser XSW-D Pedalboard Set for quite some time - probably 50+ gigs and many hours of rehearsal. It's been faultless. I used a SmoothHound for a while which was great, but I liked the idea of combining the pedalboard receiver with a tuner to save space. It's not the cheapest set-up, but spare transmitters are available in the UK and the build quality is excellent. 

[Newfoundfreedom]

I've been using the Harley Benton Airborne pro for about 2 years now for every gig and practice and it's worked flawlessly. Can't go wrong at the price. Also has the additional benefit of a built in tuner to save space on the pedal board. It actually works better than the tuner on my zoom B3. 

 

https://www.thomann.de/intl/harley_benton_airborne_pro_5.8ghz_instrument.htm?i11l=en_GB%3ABG.GBP%3AEUR

Edited January 18, 2023 by Newfoundfreedom

[sirmuppet]

I ended up getting a used Smooth Hound on Ebay for £40. Sounds excellent. I changed amp the same time I got it so can't say if there was a tonal difference but it sounds like a good bass so I can't complain. 

[Al Krow]

I was very content with my Smoothhound @sirmuppet and I've no doubt you'll get what you need from yours, too. I traded up to a Boss WL-20 a couple of years back and loving the compact form factor. Allows to me take a little wander into the audience with a pretty good range.

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by Al Krow

[Chienmortbb]

On 17/01/2023 at 14:44, andybassdoyle said:

Do any of you find the tone is impacted vs cable, or that other noise is introduced…?

cheers

abd

In most cases the radio system, if well-designed, will stop the high-end roll off from cables. This is why many have a cable compensation function, a Low Pass Filter. However, not all cables are created equal and the roll off from cables vary with length and quality. So fixed compensation may not be ideal. To argue against myself, for most people playing bass, the cable will have little effect on their tone. Then the reliability of either a cable or wireless system becomes the most important thing.