Wireless mics?

[schmee]

So... what are you using for a wireless mic? They are so damn expensive. I suppose a Shure is a workhorse, but there are some comments
about them running on the wifi frequencies.. how the heck is that going to be good? Although most reviews are good.... Like the GLX-D24 at $529

 

[Ron R]

So... what are you using for a wireless mic? They are so damn expensive. I suppose a Shure is a workhorse, but there are some comments
about them running on the wifi frequencies.. how the heck is that going to be good? Although most reviews are good.... Like the GLX-D24 at $529

I'm already running wireless guitar and wireless IEMs. Unless I magically fall into a pile of money and decide to go with a killer wireless headset mic, I see no reason to further muddy the wireless waters. Truthfully, the only reason I run wireless guitar is that it's one less cable to worry about tripping over (or pulling out). Inteereseted to see what kind of responses you get though.

 

[schmee]

I'm already running wireless guitar and wireless IEMs. Unless I magically fall into a pile of money and decide to go with a killer wireless headset mic, I see no reason to further muddy the wireless waters. Truthfully, the only reason I run wireless guitar is that it's one less cable to worry about tripping over (or pulling out). Inteereseted to see what kind of responses you get though.

It's for my singer. My gut says stay away from the wifi freq's. She's looking at the GLX-D24 which is WiFi. My guitar wireless is UHF and perfect for 10+ years now. The FCC sold the former 600hz wireless freqs to the cell companies. But still sell mics in the under 600hz range, even Shure does. I'm thinking it's better to stay there than the WiFi freqs....

 

[runstendt]

The 2.4 GHz wifi bandwidth is divided into 11 channels. If you are running less than 11 wireless systems you should be fine. We're currently running 3 (2 guitars and the lead singer) and have not had any problems with interference or signal dropouts, with one exception. We also use a wireless board, and putting the router for the board too close to the wireless receivers can cause an issue, but asides from that they've worked great. We've used them in all sorts of venues with no problems.

 

[FendrGuitPlayr]

A friend of mine is satisfied with his Shure. This one:

Shure BLX2/PG58 Wireless Handheld Microphone Transmitter - H9 Band

BLX Series Wireless Handheld Transmitter with Integrated PG58 Microphone Capsule, 10dB Gain Attenuation, and Status Indicator LED - H9 Band (512-542MHz)

www.sweetwater.com

 

[schmee]

A friend of mine is satisfied with his Shure. This one:

Shure BLX2/PG58 Wireless Handheld Microphone Transmitter - H9 Band

BLX Series Wireless Handheld Transmitter with Integrated PG58 Microphone Capsule, 10dB Gain Attenuation, and Status Indicator LED - H9 Band (512-542MHz)

www.sweetwater.com

That's the one I have recommended she get. I'm old school. There are like 5 versions of it for $300-$500 though. WTF? Almost all great reviews. Good reviews on the 2.4Ghz but there are some bad with drop outs and interference. As one said "the whole world is on the wifi frequencies, why would you want your mic there?"

 

[nickmsmith]

I use a shure PG58. It has been really great for me. One of the best investments in sound, for me. Reliable and sounds good.

Before that, I used cheaper wireless. It’s just not something you want to cheap out on, when you need reliability. And it’s not really all that expensive.

 

[Telekarster]

I've never used em. I just never trusted the tech I guess. An interesting thing happened to my buddies band at a gig, about 10 months ago. We went to go see em perform and for the first 1/2 of the set, we could hardly hear the singer. I went up to the sound man and said something and he shrugs and says "Man, I don't know what's going on. Look at my Ipad man, the slider is all the way up!" Anyway, long story short, for some reason that venue's wireless XYZ, the bands wireless sound system, and their wireless mics had some sort of conflict of interest! LOL!!! They had to make an emergency switcharoo to corded mics, and the show went on.

 

[schmee]

I've never used em. I just never trusted the tech I guess. An interesting thing happened to my buddies band at a gig, about 10 months ago. We went to go see em perform and for the first 1/2 of the set, we could hardly hear the singer. I went up to the sound man and said something and he shrugs and says "Man, I don't know what's going on. Look at my Ipad man, the slider is all the way up!" Anyway, long story short, for some reason that venue's wireless XYZ, the bands wireless sound system, and their wireless mics had some sort of conflict of interest! LOL!!! They had to make an emergency switcharoo to corded mics, and the show went on.

I hear you. Her expensive Sennheiser quit and is the now banned frequencies so cant be fixed. Too many choices on that mic, it has the little screen you scroll through etc. UGH!
Your buddie's mic may have had the sensitivity turned down on the mic.?
One thing I like about the PG58 I recommended, is the mic just has an off/on button! You dont need 20 choices on your mic! More to fail too!

 

[Telekarster]

Your buddie's mic may have had the sensitivity turned down on the mic.?

Yeah man, I don't know but they'd not had that problem with other venues until that night and of course, they had never played a gig there before so they were trying to make a good impression.... LOL!!! Didn't look to good when they had to take an early break and scramble to get the mics set up with wire. I think it was all of the vocal mics that were having that issue though. The lead mic was gone, and the others were cutting in and out... that sort of thing. Fortunately the owner of the place was understanding so booked em again a month later, with wire this time

 

[beyer160]

The key with any wireless mic system is that you have to do a scan for the best available open frequencies every time you go somewhere new.

I've done gigs where I coordinated more than 100 channels of RF. It's a hassle, but you can do it. Shure is pretty much the gold standard for live production mics, Sennheiser ain't too shabby either. Even the entry level Shure stuff I've used is reliable, it just doesn't sound as good as the higher tier models and offers less options.

 

[schmee]

The key with any wireless mic system is that you have to do a scan for the best available open frequencies every time you go somewhere new.

I've done gigs where I coordinated more than 100 channels of RF. It's a hassle, but you can do it. Shure is pretty much the gold standard for live production mics, Sennheiser ain't too shabby either. Even the entry level Shure stuff I've used is reliable, it just doesn't sound as good as the higher tier models and offers less options.

One thing I like about my UHF guitar wireless is it has NEVER failed, never lost signal, never gone out of range. Also I have NEVER changed channels. This is now nearing 15 years of use. It's just effing amazing....

 

[RCinMempho]

Watching this one closely. As a lifetime SM58 user I have always been reluctant to have to "learn" to work another mic, but it might be worth it for wireless.

 

[Kandinskyesque]

I've been trying out my friend's Xvive U3C on my Neuman kms105 mic it seems to be working at home and provides phantom power as well to the Neuman.
It's not that great on battery life but so also are their wireless guitar units, long enough for a gig/rehearsal however I don't notice any degradation on the quality of the mic wired versus through the wireless.

I'm seriously considering getting the U3C because I love the sound from my Neumann. I haven't tried it on my LDC (AT4030) yet since it came back from getting serviced.

I'd rather use a mic I like then add a wireless unit as opposed to getting a mic that's wireless only.