I bought the NUX B-8 wireless a few months ago on a whim. A buddy has the dongle style for playing guitar and he loves it. However, I am vain enough to pay more for something that wasn't a dongle style. I wanted a cable. At the same time, I didn't want to pay $500+ for one (Shure, etc). So I was picky.
Walked into GC one day and saw the NUX B-8 on sale. Normally $249, they had it marked to $199. New in box, I figured I'd take it and give it a try, I had 45 days to make up my mind, right? The sales guy did the old, hey, buy the warranty for $20, but I wouldn't, so he did some calculating and gave it to me, with warranty, for $199 + tax (he marked the kit to $179, the sneaky kid). Don't care, he gets a pat on the back for selling the warranty.
I tried it out at home and it had all sorts of radio noise. I traced it to the small patch cable running from the receiver to my compressor pedal. At home, practicing, it was pretty nifty. I could go upstairs, onto the deck, outside, and still hear the bass amp in the basement. So far so good. I took it to rehearsal and for the most part, it was fine.
However, it did drop signal a few times. Twice, to be exact. Not *too big a deal, at first. It would drop for about 1-3 seconds, and then come back and everything was fine. The next week at rehearsal, it did it again, but twice in one song and I didn't love that. At that point, I was still within return and planned on taking it back.
Did some more reading and the signal drop was a common complaint for purchasers of this kit. There were recommendations to adjust the input from the bass. I was playing my L1K with the MFD pickups, so yeah, the hottest bass I own. The NUX pedal does also allow the input level to be reduced, so I knocked that down a bit, while keeping the volume on the bass at full. Back to rehearsal and then some gigs, and I am happy to report that it has been great. No signal drops. Freedom to roam, no tip-toeing around cables. It's great.
The good about the NUX B-8?
- The aforementioned freedom. I am pretty active on stage, but always tethered by a cable, no matter how big/small the stage is, or how long/short the cable is. Not having to worry about it is pretty cool, really like it.
- The build of the pedal and receiver. Stout, hearty, thoughtful. The transmitter you wear on your strap or pocket, it has contact points and a magnet on it that allow for it to charge when attached to the pedal on the board! You can also use a USB-C cable to charge as needed. Hold the power button to turn on and connect, tap it to mute your guitar.
- The "value-add" features of the pedal:
- the aforementioned charging capability of the pedal/transmitter combo
- built in tuner with multiple viewing options
- built in boost, up to 12dB
- tap or long-press pedal switch to choose tuner or boost, either can be assigned to either
- can add custom wallpaper to pedal, as well as boot-up animation (have not done that)
- pedal has XLR to act as DI
- Detachable 1/4" cable from transmitter. Screws in for security
The not as good about the NUX B-8?
- The random signal drops. But, as mentioned, once I adjusted for it, it has not failed for me since
- The detachable cable is way too long. One YouTuber made a shorter version. I have a soldering iron, just need to learn how to do the same
- The battery pack clip is tough to get on a thick strap. Makes it more secure, but it's sort of a pain
Not having used any other wireless before, I have nothing to compare it to, but knowing what I know now with the NUX B-8, I feel pretty good about what I have.
Put on the board before I rotated it. I removed my Korg tuner to make space.
Long wire around the back, pedal rotated 90° on the board.