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Wireless system - Lekato, Boss or something else?


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8 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

 

 

Which seems to be the same as the Stagg and other cheap brands at a fraction of the price, still no internal battery though.

 

That was similar to my edit part - except the one in my edit, the receivers are rechargable battery. But the transmitter isn't. If there was a charger that had an IEC passthrough so it could be put on the plug, that would be ideal!

 

or I guess just something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CERRXIAN-Outlet-Socket-Splitter-Conversion-black/dp/B0BJVJXQ9Y/

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7 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

That was similar to my edit part - except the one in my edit, the receivers are rechargable battery. But the transmitter isn't. If there was a charger that had an IEC passthrough so it could be put on the plug, that would be ideal!

 

or I guess just something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/CERRXIAN-Outlet-Socket-Splitter-Conversion-black/dp/B0BJVJXQ9Y/

 

This one looks well priced, actually cheaper than the Lekato dongle I just bought.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000832394544.html

Edited by lemmywinks
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24 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

Ya I've been gigging for a few decades now, I know how XLR cables work! A long cable run is still a long cable run regardless of how many cables are involved, 40m made up of multiple leads still means you're coiling 40m of cables at the end of the day. Was hoping there would be a cheap wireless solution so will give the incoming Lekato a try.

 

I think the point being made is that most of the time the two devices will be less than 40m apart. However if you've only got a 40m leads you'll always be coiling up 40m of cables. If instead you have a selection of 10m and 5m leads you only need to use enough to get from A to B and the rest can stay coiled up in your lead bag, and you'll only need to coil 40m of cable when you actually need 40m of cable.

 

I makes sense to me.

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When i order XLR cables these days i get my name and length labelled on each one. I use Designacable.

It means i just take out the cable length i need for each venue.

Dave

Edited by dmccombe7
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55 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

I think the point being made is that most of the time the two devices will be less than 40m apart. However if you've only got a 40m leads you'll always be coiling up 40m of cables. If instead you have a selection of 10m and 5m leads you only need to use enough to get from A to B and the rest can stay coiled up in your lead bag, and you'll only need to coil 40m of cable when you actually need 40m of cable.

 

I makes sense to me.

 

 

We already have different lengths of cables, a whole big bag of 'em as we've been running our own PA in various forms for about 20 years now. I'm still not sure how the question "can I use a this wireless XLR dongle to replace a cable?" gets the answer "use a longer cable" or "use multiple cables" but there we go!

 

For future reference I'm wondering about wireless XLR transmitters/receivers, not looking for an instructional guide on how to plug things in. As previously mentioned we are willing to spend money for the sake of convenience and this is one area that can possibly make our lives a bit easier.

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The important question should be what are you going to do if your wireless connection fails mid-gig?

 

I can see the convenience of wireless in terms of reducing the number of cables carried and speed of setting up and breaking down. However IME consumer-grade wireless simply isn't robust/reliable enough for anything that can't be connected with an appropriate cable in seconds should it fail. I'm happy to use a wireless system for my bass - it makes sense as I want to move about on stage. However there is a jack lead kept coiled next to my Helix Floor ready should I need it. If you are using wireless for connecting the PA and/or lights, how much of a problem will it be if the wireless connection fails and how long will it take for you to replace it with a wired connection mid-gig if it proves to be unresolvable?

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4 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

The important question should be what are you going to do if your wireless connection fails mid-gig?

 

 

 

 

Same thing we'd do if a wired connection failed, swap it for one of the spare XLR cables we keep behind the sub. As it's not audio related our sound guy could do this without any disruption to the set and one side of the lights would still be working.

 

All the PA in terms of FoH is wired and will be staying that way, the only thing I'm looking at changing to wireless is my own personal IEM feed and the master/slave link on one of the light bars.

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7 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

 

 

Same thing we'd do if a wired connection failed, swap it for one of the spare XLR cables we keep behind the sub. As it's not audio related our sound guy could do this without any disruption to the set and one side of the lights would still be working.

 

All the PA in terms of FoH is wired and will be staying that way, the only thing I'm looking at changing to wireless is my own personal IEM feed and the master/slave link on one of the light bars.

I've lost track of your original question now but i like the idea of lights being wireless as back of drum area in our band becomes a spaghetti junction with cables for light bars each side of drummer on back wall and then side bars each side of stage and also a few other effects lights. You end up with just as many lighting cables as you do mic cables so i'm curious to see where you end up. 

Dave 

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25 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

The important question should be what are you going to do if your wireless connection fails mid-gig?

 

Having now started thinking about this, as the lights are the single biggest lead (not individually, made from others etc, but goes round the back behind the drummer - I won't have anything over  the front), so a wireless lights system woudl be good. Because we are just a pub band I have a couple of lights that flash in time to the music and not prepared to do a while light thing as I do the PA etc, so the answer 'what would happen if the wireless fails) is, well, one would just carry on as beofre, the other would go dark, but at the press of a button it could be independant too.

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43 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

Same thing we'd do if a wired connection failed, swap it for one of the spare XLR cables we keep behind the sub. As it's not audio related our sound guy could do this without any disruption to the set and one side of the lights would still be working.

 

All the PA in terms of FoH is wired and will be staying that way, the only thing I'm looking at changing to wireless is my own personal IEM feed and the master/slave link on one of the light bars.

 

In that case Googling "Wireless DMX" brings ups a number of results specifically aimed at DMX systems. I don't know enough about DMX to know exactly what you'll need, but if it's working in the WiFi spectrum I'd go for 5.8G rather than 2.4G as at the moment it's less congested and seems more robust. You're probably looking at £200 per connection.

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3 hours ago, lemmywinks said:

I think that's more than what we need tbh, did find this:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005059970845.html?

 

Which seems to be the same as the Stagg and other cheap brands at a fraction of the price, still no internal battery though.

 

Assuming that it uses a 9-12V power supply, what about using a powerbank with a USB-C output with adaptable voltage and a voltage-setting dongle to give 9V or 12V? 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295636499200 - looks like this is preset to 12V, as were the ones I got. To change voltage, you have to unsolder the link on the 12V pads and move it to another.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314997325531 is an example of a power bank with variable voltage output. Could be velcroed to the light bar (for example).

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7 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

Assuming that it uses a 9-12V power supply, what about using a powerbank with a USB-C output with adaptable voltage and a voltage-setting dongle to give 9V or 12V? 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295636499200 - looks like this is preset to 12V, as were the ones I got. To change voltage, you have to unsolder the link on the 12V pads and move it to another.

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314997325531 is an example of a power bank with variable voltage output. Could be velcroed to the light bar (for example).

 

I think most of the generic ones use 5v (or at least did last time I looked into it years ago) so just a cheap power bank would be ok I think. I did consider an IEC splitter and a compact USB charger like Woodinblack linked to above.

 

First port of call is to check if the 5.8ghz Lekato one I have on the way (arriving Monday) works, our keys player is dropping the lights off at mine this evening so all things going to plan I should hopefully know soon. That's a much more elegant solution really - two dongles and a single charge cable.

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On 17/06/2024 at 12:36, franzbassist said:

I bought the boss WL-20L last week and used it at a gig on Saturday night. It sounded great, and no cables was surprisingly liberating!

 

 

I like the Boss WL-20 even though it’s in 2.4ghz I just like the style and design of it over the floppy / hinged style units however having anything sticking out of the bass isn’t ideal compared to a jack connection hence why I’ve gone back to the Shure GLXD16+

Edited by BassAdder60
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I recently got myself a Lekato WS-70 UHF wireless kit after getting the bug (if you'll pardon the pun) at the NW bass bash in May.  Used them at a few rehearsals and a couple of gigs and it's been great so far.  Loved being able to do the walk out front and check the levels.  Last outing I got a quick lesson in the perils of venturing out into the crowd - some guy wanted to put his arm around my shoulder and in his uncoordinated state he managed with bullseye accuracy hit my A tuner (yes, the A) and knock it out of tune.  In a further showing of surprising accuracy, it was almost exactly a semitone out, so was able to finish the song by moving up a fret on the A string until the end.  Live and learn!

 

But on a technical level, no complaints - I got no dropouts, no interference, battery is more than long lasting enough to handle a full gig (probably could chance two before absolutely needing to charge).  I did suspect there was a bit of a negative effect on note sustain, but now I'm not so sure.

 

image.thumb.png.39d17588232b65d31996391e604c141f.png

Edited by neepheid
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13 minutes ago, neepheid said:

I recently got myself a Lekato WS-70 UHF wireless kit after getting the bug (if you'll pardon the pun) at the NW bass bash in May.  Used them at a few rehearsals and a couple of gigs and it's been great so far.  Loved being able to do the walk out front and check the levels.  Last outing I got a quick lesson in the perils of venturing out into the crowd - some guy wanted to put his arm around my shoulder and in his uncoordinated state he managed with bullseye accuracy hit my A tuner (yes, the A) and knock it out of tune.  In a further showing of surprising accuracy, it was almost exactly a semitone out, so was able to finish the song by moving up a fret on the A string until the end.  Live and learn!

 

But on a technical level, no complaints - I got no dropouts, no interference, battery is more than long lasting enough to handle a full gig (probably could chance two before absolutely needing to charge).  I did suspect there was a bit of a negative effect on note sustain, but now I'm not so sure.

 

image.thumb.png.39d17588232b65d31996391e604c141f.png

 

 

Thanks for the info, did you try this with an active bass?

 

 

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29 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

 

 

Thanks for the info, did you try this with an active bass?

 

 

 

No, sorry, I don't own any active basses right now.  I might be buying a Sire Z7 when they become available at the end of July...

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36 minutes ago, neepheid said:

I recently got myself a Lekato WS-70 UHF wireless kit after getting the bug (if you'll pardon the pun) at the NW bass bash in May.  Used them at a few rehearsals and a couple of gigs and it's been great so far.  Loved being able to do the walk out front and check the levels.

 

That's what one of the guitarists has as a second wireless for use with his acoustic (plugged the receiver straight into the PA). My one reservation is that UHF might get RF interference. I used the WS-70s at a gig for the first time on Saturday (I had used them at an open mic before that) with no issues.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well I’ve decided to return the Boss WL20 ( nothing wrong with it ) but I couldn’t get on with the dongle style 

 

So I’ve exchanged it for a new Shure GLXD16+ and ordered a second cable with RH Jack from designacable ! 
 

I definitely shouldn’t of sold my Shure last year but hey we do these things don’t we guys 😂

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