New review! Also my thoughts on where wireless guitar systems are heading in the future

Posted on December 16th, 2011

We have reviewed a new UHF system which is on the cheaper end of the scale; £92 – the UHF Guitar Bug 864-05mhz. I reviewed this system because, with everyone being short on cash, is it possible to buy a cheaper system and still get ok gig performance? Some guitar wireless systems are very expensive – £200 is a lot of money to spend if you’re not a really serious player too. And even if you are it’s a lot.

As I’ve said before, I think within the next 5 years wireless guitar systems should start to be standard within most systems.
The devices are getting smaller all the time and should be able to fit internally I believe, both in the amplifier and the actual guitar. The guitar playing community has been slow to embrace wireless guitar systems really. I think this is because when they first came out there were loads of problems. They were very unreliable, the quality of sound was terrible and the receivers and transmitters were massive… Unfortunately this initial justified dislike of wireless guitar systems has continued, and guitarists who experienced the poor systems of years ago still have some irrational distrust of modern wireless guitar systems, even though in the modern systems the sound quality is actually better than using a cable. Hopefully this is starting to change though.

Further in the future (maybe 10 years) I see guitars getting much more computerised. I don’t think we will have effects pedals like we have today. Rather we will use a digital device like an iPad, our phones or maybe our laptops to setup the sound of our guitar. This will all be done wirelessly of course and we will download “effects” for our guitars. We will obviously still need a pedal unit but it won’t contain all the electronics it does today. So wireless guitar systems will go from just taking the place of the lead, to being a kind of software that manages the sound of the guitar.

This is all speculation but the technological advances seem to be much slower with guitar playing compared to other areas of our life and it’s time for a leap forward for guitarists and musicians. This is simply because it will make our playing much easier, and probably cheaper. Imagine being able to download a full pedal board, or tweak and test your guitar tone to get the perfect sound. Wireless guitar systems have put the foundations down to do this and hopefully we will see something like it in the future.

 

Posted in New reviews, New technology | 1 Comment

New Wireless Guitar Review & US Prices Listed

Posted on December 7th, 2011

Hey everyone I’ve added a new review; the Audio Technica system which fits into the price range between the Line6 G30 and G50. It’s a UHF system with good range and great, unique features and it’s a good alternative to the Line6 systems so check it out!

Also you may have noticed that I’ve added prices to all our reviews in US dollars too. At the moment it’s just with Amazon but ill build up a real price comparison in the future so you can be sure you’re getting the best deal. I aim to have at least 3 different places you can buy from so you can get an accurate overview of the price. Some UK shoppers may notice that some wireless guitar systems are much cheaper in the US, for example theBrace DWG is $79 which is about £50 so you may be better off buying from America and getting it shipped over because the best deal I could find was £169! This is probably a mistake though so buy quick!

Posted in Buying, New reviews | 1 Comment

New review – Sennheiser EW 172 G3; how does it compare to the line6 g90?

Posted on November 27th, 2011

Now I know I said I was going to review the Audio Technica and the AKG wireless guitar systems, but because I had a few requests, i’ve decided to do the Sennheiser EW 172 G3 first. So click on the link to check it out; it’s a real top system: perhaps the best system. In this post ill try to answer the question over which one is better; the Sennheiser or the Line6 G90. This is because I consider them both to be the best systems money can buy. Which is the best wireless guitar system?

What is the best wireless guitar system?

The Line6 G90 has a massive dynamic range of 120dB and while I cant find an official figure for the dynamic range of the Sennheiser, it’s usually no less than 90dB. While this sounds like a massive gap the reality is that it’s very hard to tell the difference with a guitar and bass. In fact I can’t tell the difference. Some people may be able to but I can’t. Both systems will sound as good as / better than a lead. But because in theory the G90 should sound better, and people other than me *may* be able to tell the difference, im going to say the G90 just clinches it in the sound quality department.

In terms of reliability they are neck and neck. The G90 because it’s digital has a very low chance of interference and the Sennheiser EW 172 G3 just has so many channels available and an auto-find feature which finds the best (interference free) one. Im 99% sure that the entire time you use both systems, you wont have reliability issues.

In terms of features both systems have the obvious features you would expect from the best systems. But because the Sennheiser G3 has a dynamic equalizer and inbuilt tuner you’ve got to say it’s better than the G90 in the features department. But if you don’t need a tuner or EQ than does really matter to you?

So which is best overall? Really there is not much in it. You will be happy with either. But if you want extra sound quality (such as if you’re going to be recording using the wireless system) then i’d go for the G90. But if you want to be able to tweak your guitar wireless system sound to the max, or don’t have a tuner, then the Sennheiser EW 172 G3 is better. One last consideration is that UHF (used by the G3) is a tried and tested technology and digital (used by the G90) has not been around that long. So what im saying is that while in the situations i’ve seen it in the G90 has performed amazingly, it’s possible that in some situations it *could* be less reliable if something unexpected happens. That could be an irrelevant concern however. They are both great systems and there isn’t really one overall “best wireless guitar system”. Perhaps just get the system closest to your budget :) Please see our Reviews for more comparisons.

Posted in Buying, Differences, New reviews | 1 Comment

Guitar Wireless System FAQ

Posted on November 20th, 2011

There are a few smaller questions I want to answer on guitar wireless systems but don’t really think they’re important enough to deserve their own post. So here i’ll answer a few of the smaller questions, some basic, some more advanced and some already covered by other posts. If you have any questions you want answering, please get in touch at contact@wirelessguitarsystem.co.uk and i’ll update this FAQ with your question.

What is the best wireless guitar system?

The best and most expensive wireless guitar system is probably the G90; check out the review. The reason the system is the best is for a whole host of reasons; the build quality, the extra features, the sound, the reliability. It’s for professional musicians or people who take guitar playing very seriously. I recently found out that the Senheiser EW172 G3 is a great system too, possibly as good as the G90. Ill hopefully be reviewing it soon.

What is the cheapest wireless guitar system?

The cheapest system I know of is the Vgw1 Vhf costing just over £33. It’s so cheap because it uses the slightly older VHF frequency which still is compatible with everything, but is just not classified as a new technology. Take a look at the review if you want to know more. It’s still on a frequency that works after the UK Digital Switchover.

Can I use my effects pedals with a wireless guitar system?

Yes it’s easy to do this, just think of the output of the wireless guitar system receiver as the end of your guitar cable and setup as usual! For more information please see the article I wrote on it here.

How does a wireless guitar system work?

The basics of how a guitar wireless system works are not too complicated. You can read exactly how they work in this article.

How does a digital wireless guitar system work?

Again i’ve done an article on this which you can read here. They work in a similar way to a standard VHF or UHF system but with a few differences and are, generally speaking, of a higher quality in terms of sound quality and reliability.

What are the differences between the channels on my wireless guitar system?

The channels are basically the frequency at which the system is operating. For simplicity let’s for simplicity say that a new system operates at a (fictional) type A frequency, and type A frequency operates in the range of 5-10mhz. You select channel 1 which is operating at 5mhz and then you select channel 2 which is operating at 6mhz. The only difference between the channels will be whether one channel is picking up more interference than the other; channel 1 will not intrinsically be any different to channel 2. It’s just down to whether, by chance, a device nearby is also set to 6mhz in which case channel 1 would be better because of the interference free 5mhz it operates at.

Is it ok to use a bass guitar in a wireless guitar system?

A bass guitar will work with any wireless guitar system, the question however is how good the sound quality will be for a certain system. Systems on the cheaper end of the scale will not be set up properly for use with a bass, and although will technically work, some of the low end sounds a bass makes will be missing from the sound spectrum and therefore it won’t sound as good. It’s possible that a system can only process 70% of the sounds a bass guitar makes and 30% of the sound not being there obviously means the quality wont be as good. Try and look for a high dynamic range as this will cover 99% of all noises a guitar can make. As a general rule, if you’re going to use a bass guitar, buy a digital system such as the £169 Brace as they have high dynamic ranges.

Are wireless guitar systems unreliable and always cutting out?

Wireless guitar systems 7 or so years ago used to be quite unreliable in terms of quality and performance. However since then there have been massive advances in technology and these concerns are not as relevant. Especially with the release of digital systems these sort of problems are very rare. Would some of the top bands in the world really use wireless systems if they consistently had these problems? You don’t have to pay ridiculous amounts for these systems any more too.

Can I use wireless guitar systems all around the world? Or will my system not work in certain countries?

I’m afraid I don’t have a clear answer for this one, great FAQ right? It’s hard to say because it could depend from country to country, line6 do however claim on their website that their relay range will work across the entire world, and because other digital systems work at the same frequency, I believe they will too. For UHF systems you should be fine too in Europe and North America (and probably Australia too) because the systems on sale in those countries work at a similar frequency. VHF systems I’m afraid I’m not sure about, so don’t want to give you an answer and possibly mislead you. So to be safe, if you know you’re going to be playing in another country you should check with someone at the venue, and ask if a certain range is supported.

If you have any specific questions you want answering on your guitar wireless system, please go to our contact page and send me an email.

Posted in Buying, Performance | Tagged as: , | 1 Comment

Wireless Guitar Systems & Pedals Setup

Posted on November 16th, 2011

Can you use pedals with guitar wireless systems?

Just a short article for you about using wireless guitar systems & effects pedals. It’s all quite simple making them work together but for those of you who are not sure how, this article is for you.

A wireless guitar system is even more useful if you also use lots of effects pedals; even with a simple setup like the Boss DS1 Distortion, Chromatic Tuner and DD7 Digital Delay; you don’t need to worry about accidentally pulling the cable out of the pedals and having to put them all back together like some sort of wire based jigsaw puzzle! You may wonder if the situation is any different connecting your wireless guitar system to your effects pedal as it would be connecting a normal lead to your effects pedals. Luckily it’s not too different but there are a few extra things you should consider.

Firstly, seating your wireless guitar system receiver in your pedal board, such as the 1SKB-PS-8 has the advantage of being able to use your pedal boards power system. This means you don’t waste lots of money on batteries, and secondly it keeps your setup nice and neat, organised and professional. Now the first stage in the setup should be being safe and making sure everything is turned off; if it isn’t and you plug in an effects cable or wireless system cable into your amplifier, this could cause damage, or at least wear. Next plug the wireless transmitter into your guitar and place the receiver on your belt / guitar strap as you normally would. then plug the receiver into your first/ only effects pedal using the input jack, then connect your chain of pedals as normal with the last one going into your amplifier. Now you can turn everything on; start with the wireless guitar system, then the effects pedals and then the amplifier. Lastly you shouldn’t assume that all of your levels are the same from before, for example, the gain levels and volume may need tweaking because of the difference between a wireless guitar system and a guitar cable. So remember to test your setup fully before each gig because the physical make up of the stage could also change the way your wireless guitar system & pedals sound.

So that’s the basic setup, the same as a normal setup but with a few more performance checks.

Wireless Guitar System articles

Posted in Basics, How to | Tagged as: , , , | 2 Comments

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