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Wireless = necessary, or silly indulgence?

#41
hufe said:
The way I see it, we only use cables because we need to link point A (instrument) to point B (amplifier) in order to get an amplified sound. If we have a reliable way of eliminating the cable (and, of course, have the $$$), why not do it? Remember when all telephones were corded?
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You mean when you never had a dropped or intermittent signal, and you didn't have to worry about batteries dying mid call? Sorry, just had to go there.
There are plenty of great, reliable wireless out there without a doubt.
Just playing devils advocate.
 
#43
For very small gigs where I can't move around much it doesn't matter, but for medium or large size gigs it's a night and day difference! I personally 'rawk' out a lot when I play, and chords have always been an issue for me. I either trip on them, my singer trips on them, or it just smacks against my leg constantly and bugs the crap out of me. Using a wireless setup fixes all these ailments, and it truly makes gigging much more enjoyable for me.
 
#44
I play a lot of small pubs. Bought a G50 after doing our own sound where FOH mixer was out of reach of my cable.

I tend to go out into the crowd (with the singer). Go to the bar to get drinks.. I've even went to the toilet while playing. Biggest difference is still not having to worry about the chord getting tangled to my guitarists pedalboard, a mic stand that is moved or just when my guitarist steps on my chord while I'm walking away.

Had no problem with the G50 so far.
 
#48
Buy 4 rechargeable batteries. Charge up both sets before your gig. 2 go in the wireless and the other 2 are stored just in case. I've been using the same 4 batteries for the last 3 years. And that's with practicing 1 day week (4 hours) and playing out about once or twice a month. Ive never run out of juice in 3 years. Best investment you'll ever make.
 
#51
jaywa said:
Not sure all wireless systems are set up this way but our Line 6's have an LED display on the base unit that tells you how much battery life is left. So as long as you check that every now and then you're good.
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Funny you mention this. My transmitter died mid gig last night. We had a guitarist sit in and he had a Line 6 rackmount wireless and he explained that battery meter to me. My unit is a pretty nice high end one and expensive at the time I bought it a few years back. So I can't justify just buying another for the battery meter function but it's a good investment for someone just getting into wireless units.
 
#52
DWBass said:
Funny you mention this. My transmitter died mid gig last night. We had a guitarist sit in and he had a Line 6 rackmount wireless and he explained that battery meter to me. My unit is a pretty nice high end one and expensive at the time I bought it a few years back. So I can't justify just buying another for the battery meter function but it's a good investment for someone just getting into wireless units.
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Yeah it just seems like a no-brainer that manufacturers would include something like that on all things wireless, but not so. In fact, our band also uses a wireless system for our IEMs but those are Shure units that don't have a battery life indicator of any kind and I really wish they did.
 
#53
DWBass said:
Funny you mention this. My transmitter died mid gig last night. We had a guitarist sit in and he had a Line 6 rackmount wireless and he explained that battery meter to me. My unit is a pretty nice high end one and expensive at the time I bought it a few years back. So I can't justify just buying another for the battery meter function but it's a good investment for someone just getting into wireless units.
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... thanks for posting this ... considering wireless now, and this wasn't even on my radar :)
 
#54
AndyLES said:
On that note...anyone have any experience with the Onboard research Intellitouch Freedom one? I love love LOVE the price ($100) but I'm worried it might be garbage.

Only one review I see on amazon...
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I have one. Sounds great, but it would drop out sometimes while testing at my practice room, therefore it never leaves the house. I use it for daily practice with rechargeable AAA batteries.

In all fairness, my home is full of all kinds of wireless devices. I suppose turning off my phone's wifi & bluetooth would help...

Still waiting for the first *quality* digital "guitar bug."
 
#57
I'll add one more thing to think about.
When plugging a bass directly into an amp, there are two connection points. One at the bass, one at the amp.
Adding a wireless doubles that, there are connection points at bass, transmitter, receiver, and amp.
So, although you are doing away with a length of the cable, and possible failure from movement, you are also adding more connection points, increasing the possibility of failure. Add to that power connection for the receiver, another possible failure point.
Once again, i'm not anti- wireless. Just bringing up some points to consider in the equation, and to take into consideration when looking at component qualities in the various available systems.
 
#59
Correct me if I'm wrong but I sing a lot of backup and thought that wireless was one way of eliminating any possible ground-loop electrocution issues between mic and instrument? Ever get zapped in the mouth by bad house wiring?

If so it's worth it to me before I start thinking about running FOH and not tripping over cables.
 
#60
jimc said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but I sing a lot of backup and thought that wireless was one way of eliminating any possible ground-loop electrocution issues between mic and instrument? Ever get zapped in the mouth by bad house wiring?

If so it's worth it to me before I start thinking about running FOH and not tripping over cables.
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Absolutely a benefit of going wireless is reducing your chances of shock hazards...


- georgestrings
 

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