Audio-Technica System 10 Wireless Guitar Stompbox
By Chris Loeffler |
Cut the cord for your live performances!
By Chris Loeffler
The instrument cable has always been an anchor to guitar players, literally tethering them to their amp or pedal board and prohibiting the sort of onstage antics that take a live performance from great to amazing. While wireless systems have been available to players for some time, most bring along issues like poor sound quality, difficult setup and/or spotty performance. Recognizing this challenge, Audio-Technica has taken the award-winning System 10 wireless system they originally designed for desktop formats and placed it in a stomp box enclosure with enough tweaks to delight any player.
Built for Players, Not Techs
For those unfamiliar, Audio-Technica’s System 10 wireless system distinguishes itself by operating in the 2.4 GHz band to completely avoid TV interference and transmits in glorious 24-bit/48 kHz for pristine audio quality. By placing this technology’s receiver into a sturdy metal stompbox enclosure and adding a myriad of enhancements to address the needs of guitarists, Audio-Technica has created a wireless experience perfectly tailored to the guitar and bass crowd.
The receiver stompbox runs on a standard 9-12v power supply, features two operating modes, and can sync with up to eight transmitters- meaning up to eight guitars can be in your lineup and dropped into your signal chain in the time it takes to throw the strap over your head. Syncing a transmitter is as simple as turning the transmitter on, selecting a channel number and pushing the synch button on the receiver. Within a couple of seconds the system will have matched the units and you’re good to go. A helpful battery-level indicator for the transmitter is displayed on the receiver pedal, meaning you’ll always have a visual reference of battery level on your pedal board to avoid dying on stage mid song. Battery life is around 7 hours of continual use.
Pure Tone in the Airwaves
First and foremost, the System 10 Stompbox sounds fantastic. 24-bit/48 kHz is better than CD sound quality, guaranteeing nuance and precious harmonic content are faithfully retained through the wireless transmission process. The tone is natural and unaffected, and effects pedals respond to the signal the same way they would if the guitar was physically connected. Utilizing a clever bit of technology, the System 10 Stompbox auto-detects the two cleanest frequencies in the room and locks on to them. If the primary frequency experiences interference the unit automatically and seamlessly flips to the secondary frequency, ensuring your tone doesn’t suffer as the airwave traffic changes.
Master of Many Trades
The System 10 Stompbox features two primary operating modes, “A or B” and “A Mute”, that dictate how the footswitch handles the stereo outs. Using “A or B”, the stomp switch effectively works as an A/B channel switcher, allowing players to toggle between two different amps with a single step. The ability to sync multiple transmitters to the pedal means you can switch both guitars AND amps in seconds. Because the outputs are TRS balanced, this even opens up the opportunity to switch between an electric guitar into a tube amp and an acoustic guitar into a stereo preamp, something unheard of in a traditional AB box but incredibly important to bands with acoustic songs in their set.
The “A Mute” mode allows single-amp players to silently tune their guitars onstage by running channel B into their amp and channel A into a tuner. Stepping on the stomp switch activates or cuts signal to the guitar amp while channel A feeds a constant signal to the tuner. This functionality saves your amp a little extra stress and saves your audience’s ears by eliminating the ugly pop that can happen when tuners are activated in the signal chain. As a bonus, there’s a cool, undocumented alternative use for this mode; you can run channel B to a clean amp and channel A to a distorted amp to use the amps in parallel for true amp distortion with the added depth and clarity of the “always on” clean amp.
Limitations
While not really a limitation of the System 10, certain vintage fuzz boxes (you know... they type where even the type of battery matters) tend to perform slightly different when fed wirelessly rather than plugged in diretly to the guitar via cable.
Conclusion
If you've ever considered the benefits of going wireless, the Audio-Technica System 10 Stompbox is something you need to check out. The audio quality is superb, it is as easy to integrate into your setup as a new pedal, and the guitar-centric enhancements like amp splitting, silent tuning, and ability to synch multiple instruments to a single stomp open you up to even more rig possibilities without ever having to crack a manual open.
Resources
Audio-Technica System 10 Stompbox at Musician's Friend (MSRP $614.95, Street $349.95)
Audio-Technica System 10 Stompbox Product Page
Audio-Technica System 10 Stompbox Manual
Chris Loeffler is a multi-instrumentalist and the Content Strategist of Harmony Central. In addition to his ten years experience as an online guitar merchandiser, marketing strategist, and community director he has worked as an international exporter, website consultant and brand manager. When he’s not working he can be found playing music, geeking out on guitar pedals and amps, and brewing tasty beer.
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