Hey everyone, I'm Sam from Professional Music Technology and as part of our Gearing Up for Gigging series, today we're comparing some of the most popular guitar and bass wireless systems from the likes of Shure, Line 6, Boss and Sennheiser. Now there was a time when wireless guitar systems seemed to be reserved only really for the stadium rock elite as lower priced analog VHF systems had a nasty tendency to easily pick up interference. I think that's seen on the Air Force Base in Spinal Tap. And the more professional quality UHF radio systems were much more expensive and more complicated to set up and use.
But with recent advances in digital technology, high quality, easy to use wireless systems are now available to us wannabe stadium rockers at a much more affordable price. With the obvious advantage of going wireless being more freedom on stage, so no more tripping over cables or getting tangled up with your bandmates when you're performing. In this video we're looking at some of the best affordable guitar wireless systems to suit different budgets and needs.
So we're just going to quickly run through their key features and specs and then we've devised a couple of tests to give you an idea of how each of them might perform either at home, in a rehearsal studio or at a gig. So our first couple of systems come from Boss and that's the WL50 and the WL60. Now just like most of the systems that we're looking at today these are digital.
operating on the 2.4 GHz bandwidth meaning that you won't get any of the interference that was common on cheaper analog systems. Because of their wide dynamic range you won't lose any tone either and they've got super low latency of just 2.3 milliseconds virtually unnoticeable when you're playing and Boss say they offer a rock solid no dropout range of 65 feet or 20 meters but we will be putting that to the test in a little bit. Both of these are designed to be plug and play With the WL50 offering the most minimal setup, the receiver goes onto your pedalboard or sits on top of your amplifier and the compact transmitter plugs directly into your guitar's jack socket and it'll automatically sync up when you power up.
The transmitter's lithium-ion battery provides up to 12 hours of playing time and it's charged up by plugging it into the receiver when you're not using it. And if you did want an even simpler setup, Boss also make the WL20 which features the same transmitter but coupled with a similar looking compact receiver that plugs directly into your amp but this one does have a slightly shorter range so it's probably more suitable for wireless playing at home or in rehearsals as opposed to larger gigs The WL-60 on the other hand offers a little more versatility with a more conventional pro-looking belt pack style transmitter giving you 25 hours playing time on regular alkaline batteries and this one also features quick access buttons to select which channel you're using and there's also easy to read displays on both the transmitter and receiver So even though it is possible to run more than one of the basic wireless systems at the same time with the WL-60 it's a lot easier to select and see which channels you and your bandmates are each using with up to 14 channels available. Just like the WL-50 the WL-60 receiver fits snugly on your pedal board taking up about the same space as a single pedal.
They both feature a power supply input and an output for powering other pedals plus there's the option to emulate the tone that you get if you were using a guitar cable as some players can find the direct wireless tone to be a little too bright and crisp compared to when using the cable which naturally adds a capacitance to the signal next up we're looking at the Shure GLX-D16 which offers the most features of all the wireless systems that we've got here today just like the Boss WL60 this one features a body pack style transmitter the GLX-1D and this offers up to 16 hours of playing time it's rechargeable via USB it's got a removable battery pack and sure boast a little more length when compared to the Boss systems with a maximum range of up to 50 meters just in case you were planning on venturing out into the crowds at those festival gigs. Again this is a really simple system to set up and use although I will say it does feel quite a lot sturdier than the other wireless systems on our list today as both the receiver and the transmitter are made from metal so they're definitely gig ready. The receiver has been designed to fit on your pedal board just like the Boss systems but this time rather handily it also features an integrated tuner.
This offers the choice of either strobe or needle modes it's got a large bright LED display and it effectively means that you don't actually need to lose any space on your board you just replace your tuner pedal. The biggest advantage that the Shure has over our other wireless systems however is its intelligent frequency management technology Now I mentioned earlier that digital systems are much less prone to interference and dropout when compared to analog wireless systems but that doesn't mean they're completely immune to problems The clever thing about the Shure system though is that it continuously monitors for any possible interference and will automatically switch frequencies to avoid signal interruption so it should be the most reliable of all of these systems in terms of potential dropout. You won't know that it's doing this whilst you're playing but it could definitely save you the embarrassment of your guitar signal cutting in and out at an important gig. So it may be the most expensive guitar wireless system we're looking at today but it is probably the most professional grade system designed to be ultra reliable in any scenario and you can use up to eight GLX systems simultaneously easily enough for most bands Moving on, next up we're looking at Line 6 wireless systems which are all based around their Relay G10T Mark II transmitter Just like the Boss WL20 and 50 systems, the G10T is a really compact transmitter designed to plug straight into your guitar's jack socket and it's compatible with a wide range of products such as the Line 6 Spider amplifiers the new PodGo Wireless, their Relay guitar systems and the latest range of Yamaha THR amplifiers Again it operates on the 2.4 GHz bandwidth so you get 24-bit lossless digital performance.
The transmitter offers up to seven hours playing time charged by plugging into a compatible Line 6 product and its automatic setup means it's really simple to use. Now although the audio quality will always be the same you will get a different performance in terms of range depending on what receiver unit you use the transmitter with. For example the G10 receiver is a simple lightweight unit designed for home and studio use.
with a range of around about 50 feet whilst the more advanced G10S offers a further range of around 130 feet or 40 meters and features a much sturdier gig ready metal housing, charge and signal strength displays and a channel select switch so it's very comparable to something like the Boss WL60. For today's comparison test however to demonstrate how well the transmitter works with other Line 6 products we're going to be using the G10T Mk2 with the Podgo Wireless MultiFX. and you can find out more about the Podgo in a separate video that I'll leave linked up So the final wireless system in our comparison is a bit of a wild card as it's the only system that we're looking at today that's not digital and that's the Sennheiser XS2 Wireless Now this is a UHF system meaning that it transmits its signal over analog radio waves which admittedly is seen as a little antiquated nowadays as to do this it does have to compress the signal resulting in a slight colouring of your guitar tone But they do also offer a couple of advantages over digital systems On paper an analog wireless system should technically have less latency between the transmitter and the receiver although admittedly as I mentioned earlier any latency in the digital systems is virtually unnoticeable when playing But the biggest advantage is flexibility as an analog system gives you a lot more options in terms of transmission frequencies especially important in large professional productions with lots of radio mics and wireless systems are going to be running at the same time. Do bear in mind though that whilst digital systems are completely free to use there are only a limited number of UHF bands that don't require a license to broadcast on so do check the regulations before buying a UHF system and using certain frequencies Looking at the system itself though the Sennheiser XS2 features a body-packed transmitter powered by AA batteries whilst the receiver features a rack mountable design it's fully tunable over a wide range of UHF frequencies there's a large intuitive display screen and it's a true diversity receiver with two detachable antennas and this means that if the signal is a little weak on one receiver it will switch to the stronger signal to help avoid any interference and drop out.
So that was some of the most popular guitar wireless systems that we stock for under £500. Next up we're going to see how well they perform in a few different scenarios. As I've mentioned before, the latency on all of these systems is pretty much non-existent, so I'm not going to be doing any actual playing.
Instead, we're going to be listening for differences in tone and any interference or dropout. So to keep things fair, I'm going to be using a pre-recorded loop on a loop pedal, which will be connected to each transmitter, and then each receiver will be connected to the Line 6 Podgo wireless, which is where I'll be recording the audio from. And obviously for the Line 6 G10T transmitter we'll be using the Pod's built-in receiver For our first little test we're going to keep things nice and simple and emulate what it might be like to use a wireless system either at home or in rehearsals. There's only a couple of meters distance between the transmitter and receiver and hopefully there's nothing in the room to cause any interference so we're going to be listening to how each system sounds compared to when using a standard 10-foot guitar cable so throughout these tests do make sure to let us know what you think in the comments So for our next test we're going to be simulating what it might be like to use a wireless system to move around a medium to large size venue. I've brought the Podgo wireless and all of our other systems out here onto the shop floor at PMT Portsmouth which much like a venue is full of things that might cause interference such as drum kits, amplifiers, there's lots of metal work etc and we're going to be taking our looper for a little wander with each system listening for any dropout and interference.
I'm going to be starting the loop for each transmitter right next to its receiver. but then i'm going to be walking downstairs into the middle of the shop floor from there i'm going to be moving to the back of the shop which is much further than you're ever likely to go at a venue and from there to push each transmitter to its limit i'm going to try and walk out into our entrance foyer and then maybe even make it outside but i do completely expect to lose the signal from each of the transmitters because of the thick concrete walls in this building so let's see how they perform So for our final test I've got all of the gear set up outside on the industrial estate where we're based here at PMT Portsmouth and this time we're going for sheer distance. So I'm going to be taking each transmitter and just walking in a straight line up the road to see how far I can get before they start to break up and then eventually lose signal completely.
Now obviously this is a little bit of an unrealistic test as you're probably never really going to do this at a real gig. we just thought it'd be a bit of fun so after you have watched all of these tests do make sure to let us know which one you think is the overall winner in the comments below So thanks for watching, that was some of the best guitar wireless systems that we stock here at Professional Music Technology and I do hope that's helped you decide which one's right for you. For more information on any of these systems visit PMTonline.co.uk do let us know which one you pick in the comments. As usual follow us on all of our socials that's PMT House of Rock.
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