Shure GLXD16 / 16+ Users Group

[police squad]

2 minutes ago, BassAdder60 said:

I used mine on its own in the floor so I could use the tuner as required 

 

Not so sure I would of used mine sat on top of my amp and definitely wouldn’t stick it down but if it must sit on top get those neat anti slip mats and sit that on top of the Ashdown head. You might find Velcro will pull the paint finish off the amp when you remove it 

that's a good point ref the velcro actually

I wonder if racking it would be better. (this is so I don't have to mess about plugging it in and setting it up, everytime I do a gig)

anyone racked the RM500 I wonder

[Bassman68]

41 minutes ago, police squad said:

that's a good point ref the velcro actually

I wonder if racking it would be better. (this is so I don't have to mess about plugging it in and setting it up, everytime I do a gig)

anyone racked the RM500 I wonder

As it’s designed as a floor unit to mount on a pedalboard etc, I see little point in trying to rackmount it? 

Would it not be better going for one of the rack-unit versions of the receiver?
The pedal function tuner alone is worthy of ‘Kill switch’ status if you need to quickly mute the bass?
Better to just leave on top of your Ashdown, or if you can rack the amp…Velcro the receiver on top of the flightcase to access the button?
 

To answer a previous question, one of the Cellists in my band uses the non +, non pedal version of this system and we’ve never clashed…

Possibly because she’s stayed on the 2.4g network or more likely because I tend to do a frequency sweep during soundcheck to make sure I’m not going to clash with anyone, this is with two other members of the band being wireless & we have 7 IEM systems in operation at any one time..

 

I love my GLXD16+ system, it’s never let me down & I tend to use it for all my gigs, switching between multiple basses (active & passive, depending on the night..

The battery life is most impressive, having enough juice for 2x1hr sets, 3 nights a week sometimes…

If not, I take it back to my hotel room & recharge it for the next few shows.

[police squad]

3 minutes ago, Bassman68 said:

As it’s designed as a floor unit to mount on a pedalboard etc, I see little point in trying to rackmount it? 

Would it not be better going for one of the rack-unit versions of the receiver?
The pedal function tuner alone is worthy of ‘Kill switch’ status if you need to quickly mute the bass?
Better to just leave on top of your Ashdown, or if you can rack the amp…Velcro the receiver on top of the flightcase to access the button?
 

To answer a previous question, one of the Cellists in my band uses the non +, non pedal version of this system and we’ve never clashed…

Possibly because she’s stayed on the 2.4g network or more likely because I tend to do a frequency sweep during soundcheck to make sure I’m not going to clash with anyone, this is with two other members of the band being wireless & we have 7 IEM systems in operation at any one time..

 

I love my GLXD16+ system, it’s never let me down & I tend to use it for all my gigs, switching between multiple basses (active & passive, depending on the night..

The battery life is most impressive, having enough juice for 2x1hr sets, 3 nights a week sometimes…

If not, I take it back to my hotel room & recharge it for the next few shows.

all fair points. The tuner and the kill switch is important to me as one of my bands changes tuning and I change basses too.

If I played more guitar I would mount it on my pedal board but I'm not atm

 

as you say, maybe rack the head and velcro it on top but that would mean setting up at each gig

[keeponehandloose]

On 20/03/2025 at 09:40, bungle73 said:

Hi all. Considering getting a 16+ as I've been using a boss wl-50 Previously but new band has another wl-50 user and along with new IEMs and singers wireless mics that all use 2.4ghz...only one of us gets a consistent pairing / no drop out. 

Q1. What is glxd16+ like for an active bass

Q2. Our lead guitarist has a glxd16+ and never has issues. Anyone have experience of two band members using these together and without drop outs? Wanting to get the 16+ for the 5.8ghz dual band optimisation but don't want to compromise the lead guitarists signal.  Thank you in advance. 

Just to be clear.. the unit doesn't use 2.4 & 5.8 at the same time.. 

2.4 is default but if it's congested the GLX will swap to 5.8.

You can set 5.8 to be default if wanted.

[BigRedX]

I really can't why anyone would want to use 2.4 when 5.8 is an option.

[Jack]

On 26/03/2025 at 11:25, BigRedX said:

I really can't why anyone would want to use 2.4 when 5.8 is an option.

Better range and less liable to fall out if the line of sight is blocked. 

[BigRedX]

14 hours ago, Jack said:

Better range and less liable to fall out if the line of sight is blocked. 

 

Is that really a problem in the sorts of places most of us play? I would have thought that the interference from all the WiFi devices in the 2.4 band would be far more problematic.

 

I've owned both 2.4 and 5.8 wireless systems and the 5.8 has been far more reliable. The only reason I'd have for line of sight to be blocked would be if our singer stood in between me and the receiver and I would hope that a single human body wouldn't be a problem. I've used the 5.8 system on some fairly large stages where having a wireless system allowed me to move about more than if I'd been using a cable and again no problems. I think if I was going to be playing places where the 5.8 range might be a limitation I'd hopefully be in a situation where I could buy into a proper professional wireless system. 

 

At least the 5.8 hasn't changed channels randomly causing the sound to cut out mid-way through a gig

Edited Monday at 07:04 by BigRedX

[Jack]

The first iphone with 5GHz wifi was released in 2012, there's plenty of interference up there as well these days.

 

Your 2.4 and 5.8 systems, were they the same apart from the wifi bands or was one just objectively better than the other? I for one have never had a single dropout with either of my Shure GLXD systems, they continue to perform literally without fault despite being 2.4GHz only. Whether it's wireless guitar systems or networking using digital mixers there's a groupthink on this board that 5.8 is great and 2.4 is bad. It's just not the case. EDIT - any more. The main reason to invent more modern wifi was greater speed, something entirely irrelevant for either application that bassists care about.

Edited Monday at 12:01 by Jack

[BigRedX]

I had the Sony 2.4 system which, IIRC, when it came out was very highly regarded. Unfortunately after two instances where the connection dropped in the middle of a gig and I had to resort to using a cable I couldn't trust it any more. On both occasions the disconnection, as I discovered later, occurred due to the transmitter changing channels for no apparent reason. The only contributing factor I could think of was that at these gigs the FoH sound was being mixed wirelessly from a tablet. Not a definitely reason but too much of a co-incidence for me to consider using the system when the mix was being done this way. After a handful of gigs with similar mix situations where I decided not to risk it, I stopped taking the wireless system to gigs and when I rebuilt my rig it was removed completely. I've been using a 5.8 system for a year now without any issues.

 

I was also under the impression that 5.8 system supported a lot more simultaneous devices over 2.4 before you run into bandwidth and connectivity problems hence the improved reliability, rather than a paucity of phone users with 5.8 devices in the audience.

[Jack]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

I had the Sony 2.4 system which, IIRC, when it came out was very highly regarded. Unfortunately after two instances where the connection dropped in the middle of a gig and I had to resort to using a cable I couldn't trust it any more. On both occasions the disconnection, as I discovered later, occurred due to the transmitter changing channels for no apparent reason. The only contributing factor I could think of was that at these gigs the FoH sound was being mixed wirelessly from a tablet. Not a definitely reason but too much of a co-incidence for me to consider using the system when the mix was being done this way. After a handful of gigs with similar mix situations where I decided not to risk it, I stopped taking the wireless system to gigs and when I rebuilt my rig it was removed completely. I've been using a 5.8 system for a year now without any issues.

I mix our gigs with a tablet. A tablet that uses 5.8.

 

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

I was also under the impression that 5.8 system supported a lot more simultaneous devices over 2.4 before you run into bandwidth and connectivity problems hence the improved reliability, rather than a paucity of phone users with 5.8 devices in the audience.

There's some truth to that. There are more non-overlapping channels in the space, meaning that it should be easier to carve out 'your' space in the range. However, support for simultaneous devices is again one of those things that's great for wifi generally but of no use to us in this application. A wireless guitar kit might have two transmitters at the very most. I think the record for my mixer was 4, one tablet/phone per band member on IEMs.

 

It's not that one doesn't have to think about this stuff, it's just that it's more complicated than "four legs good, two legs bad" that is spoken in these parts a lot. FWIW I have a few strategies that have always helped. Firstly, have a backup. When I play the kind of venue that's likely to be problematic from a wifi point of view I will always take my laptop. Hotel ballrooms, that kind of place. The laptop can be plugged into the router with an ethernet cable and I can mix a show either way. Fortunately, and not coincidentally, the kinds of places that have problematic wifi environments also tend to be the higher paying gigs. Continuity is more important and the justification for lugging backup stuff is easier. In the same way I always take a cable to use if my bass wireless fails. I have used this twice. Once was in a venue where my Line 6 G55 just would not work for some reason and once was when, 2 minutes before downbeat, I could not turn my wireless on. I used a cable and at the set break realised that the power cable had been knocked loose, if not entirely out. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, I use a nice router. My mixer rack has a Mikrotik hap ac2 that has about 5-10 times the broadcast power of a typical home router like you get for free from your ISP. If I have to enter a wifi arms race I will win. Scan with my phone, pick the least busy channel and set the router to that. Not that it matters, it's always 7 anyway. Once that has been turned on then the instrument wireless systems will work around that.