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Best digital wireless- Line 6, Sony, AT, ???

#221
JGbassman said:
The system also comes with a usb charger you can hook up to the transmitter (like a phone charger port) and can hook up to a computer to charge it that way. Its a lot. Slower than the charging port, but the light on the transmitter will go from red to green when its charged.
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Both units (GLXD14/16) has the same features when it comes to this. A USB cable for charging trough the computer, and a included wall charger for faster charging trough the regular power outlet in your house. The dock charger though is "optional" and doesn't come with the GLXD16. It costs like $24 or so :D
 
#223
JGbassman said:
The funny thing is you really dont have to charge it very often at all. I havent charged the battery in two weeks and I still have an estimated battery life of around nine hours. This was after two shows. I have practice with two bands this week and as an experiment im going to run the battery down to nil to see how accurate the battery runtime display function is. I will report my findings sometime this week.
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JGbassman said:
Gigs are usually 9 til 1. Typical cover band stuff. We run three sets.
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Looking forward to your findings, but it already sounds pretty damn good.
 
#224
So my G50 lately I've been having fits with it. I bought it new during summer last year and used it for every rehearsal and gig through the rest of the year...loved it and never had an issue, no dropouts ever, flawless. I had left it on ch1 as it came out of the box, and never had to set the frequency 'lock' feature.
We took the holidays off for a month, and then restarted rehearsals back up mid January, and then I experienced nothing but drop outs ongoing it was driving me nuts. Absolutely nothing in our rehearsal room changed which is a concrete industrial building. I looked at the cable and it looked like one of wires at the 4-pin connector was breaking, so I bought a new sturdier cable from one of the ebay sellers. It still dropped out frequently. So I brought the unit home and kept playing with it set up in different spots around the house. I finally changed the channels trying 8-10 and it helped, but every once in a while I get a dropout. I took it back to rehearsal and have had to keep on ch10 for best results, and I have the frequency lock set. In an hour I can probably experience 4 dropouts, rather than a dropout every 15 seconds like it initially happened. Even so, it never had a dropout -ever- last year.

My concern is why did this start all of a sudden after a month vacation of not using that gear. No other gear in the band changed, no one got new phones. Right now I'm kind of afraid to take it to a future gig...but I guess all I can do is take my amp and wireless to try in a few different buildings and see if it acts up there before I get gigs logged back in the books. :atoz:
 
#225
Digital transmission combats the effects of RF noise on your signal, but it's not a magic cure-all. Wireless reception can be affected by all sorts of seemingly unrelated things.

I work with veterinary clinics in my day job, and one of our customers had a really bad experience a while back. They eventually had an RF consultant in, only to find out that a bad motor in a range hood at a Chinese restaurant was putting out massive RF hash, and swamping their WiFi signals. The scary part, was that the restaurant was in the same strip mall, but TWO units over.

A few things to consider in your situation:

Has the layout of your other gear changed at all, or your bandmates? Something as simple as moving components on a pedalboard could have introduced factors that are complicating the problem.

Batteries can go bad while your gear is lying idle, especially if you use rechargeables. Try a fresh set of alkalines.

It sounds like your troubleshooting has been focused on the transmitter so far. What about the receiver? Early Line 6 manuals were consistent with the company line that digital transmission is dropout-free, but lately, they've been more realistic. Make sure that you're following common WiFi recommendations:
- Separate systems from each other by at least 6-10 feet.
- Maintain line of sight between the transmitter and receiver.
- Keep the receiver up off the floor, and away from boundary surfaces like walls and ceilings.
- Keep it away from large metal structures like railings, conduit, water pipes, etc. as well.
- Try the "wiggle test" on the receiver. A loose, dirty or frayed connection (antenna, DC power or signal) could be causing dropouts independent of RF signal quality.

It's also possible that your G50 is sick. If you have a good relationship with a local retailer, they might be willing to lend or rent you a new unit for comparison. This is preferable to sending your radio back to Line 6 for two reasons:
- One is that intermittent faults are hard to diagnose. If their technician can't reproduce the problem in their shop within a reasonable amount of time, they're likely to return it NTF (no trouble found), and you'll be no further ahead.
- The other, is that turnaround on Line 6 service is notoriously slow. If it were my unit, I wouldn't send it away until I had exhausted all the other possibilities.
 
#226
steve_rolfeca said:
It sounds like your troubleshooting has been focused on the transmitter so far. What about the receiver? Early Line 6 manuals were consistent with the company line that digital transmission is dropout-free, but lately, they've been more realistic. Make sure that you're following common WiFi recommendations:
- Separate systems from each other by at least 6-10 feet.
- Maintain line of sight between the transmitter and receiver.
- Keep the receiver up off the floor, and away from boundary surfaces like walls and ceilings.
- Keep it away from large metal structures like railings, conduit, water pipes, etc. as well.
- Try the "wiggle test" on the receiver. A loose, dirty or frayed connection (antenna, DC power or signal) could be causing dropouts independent of RF signal quality.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help Steve. Yes I did look at the receiver, made sure no faulty connections, antennas, or joints were a problem. The power lights on the receiver never flicker. Only the "receive" LED drops out during the dropout, that's what pointed me to concentrate on the transmitter. Yes I did try separating the units further apart at my last rehearsal, and elevated it, that's where I finally came to the result of about 4 dropouts in an hour timeframe. But what sucks about that, is the G50 receiver is meant to be mounted on a pedalboard, and I sing alot, so I'm having to be right near my pedals.
Tried a dozen different new alkaline batteiries, never tried using rechargables with this yet, although I do have a brand new Energizer rechargable kit at home.
While no gear change happened in the band, I did move a 2-3ft forward because the drummer decided to move a symbal. I've always been up against a false sheetrock wall, but I tried the unit in various spots in the room as well as the original location, and as mentioned I had the dropouts happen at home where it didn't do it last year at either place.
I'm thinking something happened within the receiver. I bought it new in a new sealed box, but it was from some seller on ebay, don't know if he's a real retailer or what, or how old the unit was NOS. So I probably won't be sending it in to Line6. I'll proabably see if someone I know will let me borrow their transmitter for a practice.
 
#228
For me, it's Shure UR4 (is it digital?). But it's very expensive.
I don't know, but I prefer (good) cable. Maybe I'm fool/old fashioned. But for me it's better for the sound. Well, my stage act scenario doesnt need me to run across the stage anyway :D
 
#231
synaesthesia said:
I've gone the other way - preferring Switchcraft over Neutrik mostly because Neutrik was ridiculously priced in oz where I was ... But the truth is you will have failure in whatever brand you choose. I've had Neutrik locking, silent, and regular fail on me, and whatever brand they always fail 5 mins before the first tune at a gig. Made a batch of RA Switchcraft to Switchcraft 1/8 locking and they worked fine for loads of gigs till a large outdoor NYE gig, it was fine at sound check but for some reason failed just before downbeat of the first tune.
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The two main problems with the Switchcraft right angle connector are the amount of heat required to get a good connection to the housing (ground) of the connector and the inherent weakness of the point at which the collar connects to the main housing, leading to looseness requiring either replacement or repair, which is not easily done.

These two issues simply do not exist with the Neutrik connectors, and in my professional experience they are head and shoulders above my previous favorite Switchcraft connectors.

A quick search shows me Switchcraft right angle connectors starting at about $3 and Neutrik starting at about $4.
 
#232
Tiger789 said:
I have posted a Invalid Link Removed:

1) Up to 16 hours of battery life. The battery (SB902) can be recharged up to 10.000 times - equivalent 2.500 regular AA batteries
2) USB port for uploading firmware updates
3) Automatic frequency scanning and hopping, without signal interruption
4) Audio freq. response: 20 Hz - 20 kHz
5) Dynamic range: 120 dB A-weighted
6) 60 m working range (200 ft)
7) In group one (default) up to 4 receivers can be used simultaneously. 5 in group 2, and 8 receivers in group 3
8) Built-in tuner (GLXD16) with either needle- or strobe indicator
9) The battery can be charged either by using a wall charger, USB port or a car- or dock charger

GLXD16 Receiver:
...display brightness automatically with the help of the built-in light sensor instead...

...if the receiver is turned off and if the transmitter is not detecting any signal from the receiver, then the transmitter will shut down automatically after one hour.

...with respect to battery capacity, including being able to calculate precisely the actual remaining battery life...

The 2 short built-in antennas is a very smart design. This way, the antennas on the GLXD16 are protected from being accidentally damaged, unlike certain other types of pedal receivers with 60 m range.

The built-in tuner is simply better to look at, both in strobe- and needle mode. And it behaves less hysterical when you are tuning each string individually...

Included in the box:

4) USB cable for charging from a USB port or wall battery charger
5) SBC USB MicroB Wall Battery Charger

Given the unique battery capacity and the fact that the battery can be recharged 10.000 times, plus automatic frequency scanning/hopping and the overall solid construction and features, you won’t find a better digital wireless system for guitar out there than the new Shure GLXD16/14. Period. Therefore, I can’t recommend it enough for those who won’t accept anything else than the very best.
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Excellent review, and by pure coincidence, I've already got one on the way.

I've been sold on getting one ever since reading about the long runtimes, rechargeable battery, non-protruding antennae, and built in tuner.

A couple of things I just learned from this review which are just icing on the cake are the feature regarding dimmability, automatic shutdown and tuner stability.

The only thing that kept me from ordering sooner was that I've already got some excellent units which have been working without any trouble, but the one thing that keeps getting me is batteries and I'm looking forward to selling off most of my other wireless units and probably buying another one of these.
 
#234
Forgot to mention, being able to look at the receiver and know how much time I have before the battery dies really sounds good too, although not quite as valuable as it would be now with the AA batteries I'm using.

I'm always looking at the last blinking red light and wondering when it's going to die and cause me to toss a couple new ones in, but with the 16 hour runtime and rechargeability it should never even become an issue, as the longest continuous gigs I've ever done have been 12 hours and I haven't had one of them in over 10 years now!
 
#235
The system is rock solid and you do get an honest 16 hours of run time. Ive been running mine for a while now and haven't had a single issue. I play every weekend, and now am in the habit of charging the battery after soundcheck up until gig time. So a few hours of charge time easily gets me through the weekend. I was going to buy a spare battery and keep it charging in the dock, but I haven't honestly found a need for a backup as of yet.
 
#236
I charged the battery before I started using it the first time, and I have played a little every day now for over a week - and I am still at the > 12 hour segment :D :D :eek:

This is a small update to my review:

Another benefit is that it's very easy to see which one of the 3 groups you're in, without having to press the group button. This is determined by the first digit as shown below:

Channel 11-14 = group 1
Channel 21-25 = group 2
Channel 31-38 = group 3
 
#237
I play at least three hours every weekend, with one hour sets. I dont start playing both Fridays and Saturdays until next month so I will have an honest six hours a weekend, where I will be charging every other week. Right now I plug it in once a month for a full charge, and top it a bit for a half hour prior to the show. I must say the rechargeable battery holds the charge very well over a months time. Im interested to see if this is the case after the battery has some more hours on it.
 
#238
The difficulty with long battery life, is that it makes tracking your charging schedule more complicated.

I was rotating my batteries off the charger every gig, which was pretty foolproof. Lately, I've been letting them go 2 gigs. Of course this week I lost track, and had my wireless go down midway through the first set.

Boy, was my face red...
 
#240
As an update to my G50 fits I was having: for the past month I relocated the reciever way up off the floor and ontop of the amp, so it's 5ft off the floor and it has functioned flawlessly this way, no droputs at all.
We still have not played out yet this year, so this is just in our rehersal room.
 

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