What’s the Best Wireless Guitar System for Me? |
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These days, playing the guitar or bass without having to fight a mess of cables is easier than ever. New wireless guitar systems seem to pop up every day and they’re only getting cheaper. But if you’re looking for a good wireless system, what do you need to be aware of? We’ve put together this handy Buyer’s Guide to help answer your most frequently asked questions and help you find what you need. If you can’t find the answer to your question here, feel free to contact us! 1. What is a Wireless Guitar System?A wireless guitar system completely removes the jack lead that connects your electric, bass, or electro-acoustic guitar to your amplifier. Instead, a transmitting device is connected to the jack output of your guitar and this sends the sound from your guitar as a signal, which is then picked up by a receiver (another little device or unit) that’s connected either to your amplifier or a PA system. These systems can be really, really small and simply plug straight into your guitar, or a little cable connects your guitar to a beltpack or bodypack transmitter. At the guitar end, these wireless systems usually run on a set of standard AA batteries or an internal battery that can be recharged. Standard wireless guitar systems can also be used with any other similar stringed instruments, including a bass or a ukulele, as long they’re fitted with a normal 6.3mm jack output.
2. What’s Are the Advantages of Using a Wireless Guitar System?Using a wireless guitar system gives you masses of freedom to move. For example, you can suddenly use every inch of the stage during gigs, or even hop offstage and join the audience. Also, you save yourself from feeling limited by short cables, tripping over them, getting tangled up in them, and that mess of cables that needs to be un-knotted every time you set up and break down will be gone forever.
3. What Does True Diversity Mean?Wireless systems with True Diversity use two internal receivers. So, the receiver that’s picking up the strongest signal is always the one that’s active and sending the signal to the amplifier. This reassures you of a more consistent sound. Whether or not you need that reassurance depends on the situation you’re playing in and how confident you need to feel about the sound. If you want a clean, noise-free performance from your wireless system, then a system with True Diversity is definitely recommended. But if you just want more movement around the living room or maybe your rehearsal space, then you’ll get everything you need out of a single-receiver system without True Diversity.
4. Will I Have Problems with Signal Delay (Latency) if I Use a Wireless System?Latency is the time-lag between the moment you hit the strings and the moment the sound comes out of your amplifier. Technically speaking, you always get latency, even when you use jack cables, but the time-lag is so small that you don’t even notice it. The latency can get really big when using digital transmitters and receivers, since the system needs time to convert the analogue signal from your guitar into a digital signal, and then converted back again at the amplifier – this is referred to as A/D-D/A conversion. If really accurate timing is essential for you (and your band) and you’re thinking about going for a digital system, then check the specifications for the latency. Any latency under ten milliseconds isn’t likely to be noticeable.
5. Do I Need to Get a VHF, UHF, or 2.4 GHZ Wireless System? And What Frequency Do I Need?Any wireless transmission system uses a specific frequency band. For live music, the UHF-band (Ultra High Frequency) is usually used, while the 2.4GHz band is used for digital wireless transmitters. The 2.4GHz band can be used worldwide without needing a license, but it does share the ‘airwaves’ with WiFi and Bluetooth signals (the waves generated by microwaves even sit around the same frequency). In theory, this is likely to lead to signal interference, but in practice, it’s really not that bad. For more on this, see Question 6. Draadloze gitaarsystemen: 2.4 GHz
6. Can More than One Musician Play Wirelessly at the Same Time?Say the whole band wants to play using a wireless system, then it makes sense to pick a system that has multiple channels so that each transmitter sends its signal over a separate channel. A channel is a small slice of the total frequency band that the system uses. Some systems come with the option to switch between 8, 12, or even 16 channels. Cheaper systems usually come with just one channel. In this case, make sure that the other musicians you’re sharing the stage with are using a different channel, otherwise your signals are going to interfere with one another. Also, take note of all of the other wireless systems that might be used on stage – so, any wireless microphones or wireless in-ear monitoring systems, etc. For more information about the legal use of certain frequency bands, see our Wireless Microphone Buyer’s Guide. Wireless Guitar Systems with Adjustable Frequencies
7. What Else Do I Need to Check?For more information about using any wireless system, see our Wireless Microphone Buyer’s Guide.
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