Members wesg Posted October 31, 2015 Members Share Posted October 31, 2015 For a bar band in a small town. We can't afford top of the line, but we also can't afford junk. We're currently looking at an AKG WMS420 system, the singer likes how AKG microphones sound in general. Try-before-buy is not really an option.Any alternates we should look at? I've proposed the Line6 XD-V35 stuff as worth investigating. We've rented a big-dollar AKG wireless system in the past and really liked it. How does a compander affect GBF? I suspect negatively, but how much? Is it safe to assume the AKG (UHF) system uses one? The singer currently uses a 58 for most bar gigs because we have enough, and he has two "workstations" on stage so I insist on matched mics for mixing sanity. He prefers his Sennheiser e945 but only has one. The fact that the AKG has a rackmount kit available is a plus for us.The Line6 stuff looks great on paper, but I've never heard any of it. Anybody know which of those products have a tighter pattern? Our stage volume is moderately high (but not stupid high), we have a lot of crap on stage, and we're still using wedges. Thoughts? Any must-avoid systems? Any criteria I have failed to evaluate? Thanks,Wes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted October 31, 2015 Author Members Share Posted October 31, 2015 New requirement added -- singer wants to be able to walk 200' from the receiver without issues. I'm thinking this might suggest AKG DMS800 (digital) instead of 420 UHF system. Wes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dboomer Posted October 31, 2015 Members Share Posted October 31, 2015 New requirement added -- singer wants to be able to walk 200' from the receiver without issues. is he wearing IEM's? If not it won't matter what the mic is. At 200 feet he will be at least 20ms behind the beat. Totally usable in my book. I'd try to talk him out of that. Yes, the compander will negatively affect again before feedback. Interestingly the few milliseconds of latency from digital will likely improve it. I think he will be shocked at how much sonic difference they is between his current wireless and any of the Line 6 units. Especially when you scream at it because it will scream back at you in your monitors instead of compressing. If if you want distance there are some trade offs. The farther away you can be the more likely it will find some interference. So using remote antennas would be a good idea. That way you don't have to get to far from the antennas and it doesn't really matter how far away the receiver is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted November 1, 2015 Members Share Posted November 1, 2015 Hey Wes - I might have some good stuff used if you are interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted November 1, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 1, 2015 Don - great point about the lack of IEMs being an issue for this application. We will definitely have that talk. I remember doing drill on huge parade squares, where the bass drum might be more than 200 feet away from the folks marching past the dias. It always looked like they were out of step! Does the XD-V35 have BNC antenna jacks on it, or do we have to go up to the XD-V55? I'm assuming the latter as the Line6 docs don't seem to say anything about about the 35. Hey, will any 2.4GHz antenna terminated for RG-58 (50 ohm impedance) work with the XD-V55? I have some really big ones at work Andy - definitely interested in quality used, hit me with a PM if you think you have something I should consider and I will run it up the flagpole. Caveat: anything that transmits RF needs an Industry Canada sticker to cross the border without excessive pain. The RF spectrum allocation and power requirements are somewhat different here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dboomer Posted November 1, 2015 Members Share Posted November 1, 2015 Yeah, just drag out 200' of mic cables and have him try. or put him in headphones and use 20ms of digital delay on them. He'll probably crash and burn in a minute. V30/35's do not allow for external antennas. The "magic" in Line 6 wireless lies in the receivers, so I'd recommend going with a V70 or V75 receiver and skip the 30/35/55. I havent tried "every" antenna, but I expect just about any 2.4g antenna would work. If you have to add adapters to get it to the proper termination expect a 1dB loss per adaptor. No problem with Line 6 gear in Canada. It has a Canada sticker and is legal to use without a license anywhere in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BillESC Posted November 2, 2015 Members Share Posted November 2, 2015 I'd suggest taking a look at Audio Technica's new System 10 Pro digital offering. Feature rich and less costly than you'd think. http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wls_systems/aba22caa86183f78/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Tomm Williams Posted November 3, 2015 Members Share Posted November 3, 2015 In regards to feedback rejection, the Line6 stuff is really quite good......almost odd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted November 6, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 6, 2015 Well, we've managed to find a Line6 XD-V75 system and two mic clips we can rent for tomorrow's show. Living outside of a major metropolis can be a real pain in the try-before-you-buy department. I can't wait to see how it sounds, and goes. I've been trying to get the singer to interact with the audience a bit more, if he plays his cards right, we could have a lot of fun. Wes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted November 6, 2015 Members Share Posted November 6, 2015 Our sound guy showed up with a couple of Line 6 wirelesses that he said he found cheap on Ebay or someplace that he said he picked up for general-purpose use and decided to give them a try by having our singers use them for the night and he was raving afterward about how surprised he was at how good they were. For whatever that's worth. I've got an A/T digital wireless (one of the older System 10s) that I use for speeches, but it works great. They go for around $300 now. http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATW-1102-Wireless-Handheld-Microphone/dp/B009YT5ZZS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446826745&sr=8-1&keywords=audio+technica+system+10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dboomer Posted November 6, 2015 Members Share Posted November 6, 2015 Make your life easy. Switch the Line6 units to run in RF1 mode. They default to RF2 mode out of the box and you MUST be in control of your RF environment to use this mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted November 7, 2015 Author Members Share Posted November 7, 2015 Report: Played the gig with the Line 6 rental last night. Had not read Don's post - will take that advice on subsequent gigs. The XD-V75 worked *perfectly* all night long, once we got the microphone and the Line 6 guitar rig on different channels. We set the receiver up on top of the Leslie, about 10 feet from the singer's position, and selected the SM 58 mic model. (Backup mic was a wired 58). We didn't test any long-distance stuff, this particular stage is a bit tricky to get off of in the dark, but the singer has two "workstations" that he moves between. From my POV, there was no audible difference between this mic and a wired mic. The *only* thing I didn't like about it was the need for a non-standard clip. But I get that. And it's only an issue if we ever have a wireless failure and need to change over quickly. We discussed the possibility of a mid-song failure, and decided that if one happens that I would rotate my boom 90 degrees, which put would put my mic in reach of his rightmost workstation. Wes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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