Wireless thoughts

[Axis39]

My biggest thing is its easier to recover from a cable failure during a show than a wireless failure.

Enjoy the wireless, they can be fun for walking out of the band circle and seeing how it really sounds. Try sitting in another room during rehearsal, it's a fun challenge.

Only if you don't bring cables with you... If the wireless fails, you just swap in a cable. Isn't that the same as if you had a cable failure?

Honestly, chances are, if I'm using a wireless, I'm bringing cables... in case batteries die, in case a transmitter dies, etc. If I'm using cables, I may not always have extras in the gig bag.


I also have to laugh at the comparison of sitting in another room while using a wireless... If it's far enough, do you have enough cable? LOL. Honestly, I cannot remember that scenario ever coming up for me. But, it is not an implausible scene.

My G30 does decently over short distances, under 100 feet maybe? I think it's range is further, and I've walked a good distance from stage before experiencing any drop outs. A lot further than the length of any cable I own, or want to use!

 

[SinSir]

I'm looking at cables to tell "Mrs. Clause" I want...thanks for the heads up on the PRS signatures. I was just about to create a post asking about them.

Sorry to jack your post... @Aahzz

Bwahaha (cue the post about you and me eating crayons!)



Anything that has Mogami or Van Damme (not Jean Claude) wire with Neutrik/Rean connectors, you can’t go far wrong with. I’m sure other have suggestions.

Not to continue the thread jack, but I've been extremely happy with Worlds Best Cables off Amazon. Check em out.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Yeah but you're getting old, so trips and falls can break stuff (hips, arms, etc.) You're welcome.

 

[11top]

If the audience can hear the diff, then go for it. Kinda think that in a mix it's lost, but recording? Yeah... I can see that.
Hell... whatever makes you happy and play, that's what matters.

It’s more than “if the audience can hear the diff”. I’m happier and play more inspired if I like what I hear.

 

[dmatthews]

It’s more than “if the audience can hear the diff”. I’m happier and play more inspired if I like what I hear.

That is truly what's important.

 

[goat-n-gitter]

I use two Line 6 G-30 wireless systems for the two signals from my piezo PRS Guitars. Two cables get tangled much easier than one. I also have a phobia about cables that started in the early nineties when I used to gig with an old Casio midi guitar (superstrat). Most of a particular song was played with a clean tone, but I stepped on an overdrive for the solo. Sometime during the song, my cables had dragged across the OD level knob and turned it all the way down. When I stomped the pedal to take my solo, silence! I bought my first wireless system shortly after that gig.

 

[László]

I used to go wireless, and while I loved the freedom to roam, I never had confidence that the tone was the same. I switched back to cables. And having used PRS Signature cables, I won’t compromise for anything less. They are more expensive, but well worth it. Very flexible and no tangles, plus they wind easily.

4 or 5 years ago, I bought a G10 wireless at Sweetwater GearFest (with Boogie as my enabler). I haven’t taken it out of the box. If you haven’t tried PRS Signature Cables, you owe it to yourselves to try one.

I use the PRS Signature cables, too. They're made by Van Damme, who did the re-cabling of Abbey Road studios.

They're very flexible, lay flat on the floor, and their capacitance is among the lowest in the world - about 22 pF per foot. That's why they sound so good - compare them to something like the very good Mogami or Canare whose capacitance is 45-50 pF per foot (lower is better).

This means you can use a cable twice as long as most cables with the same or less signal loss. That's very significant, given the low output of passive pickups, but even active pickups benefit from lower capacitance. So if you're using a 20 foot PRS Sig cable, you've got the equivalent of a 10' cable from most vendors.

What this means is lower high frequency loss, which translates to better definition. The only guitar cable with a slightly better spec is Sommer's 16 pF per foot LLX, which is more expensive and is stiffer, so it tangles more easily.

Since I said 'stiffer', someone will come along and make a penis joke (looking at you alantig ).

 

[László]

Anything that has Mogami or Van Damme (not Jean Claude) wire with Neutrik/Rean connectors, you can’t go far wrong with. I’m sure other have suggestions.

Mogami is less flexible and has twice the capacitance, so a cable of a given length will roll off the high frequencies more than a Van Damme cable of the same length.

Whether this is, or isn't, a bad thing depends on how much high frequency loss bothers you.

My +4 dBu signals in my studio are just fine with Mogami, because the output of pro level gear is much hotter, and the cables are balanced, so there's negligible high frequency loss. As a result, my studio has been cabled with Mogami since 1994.

But guitar signals are FAR lower level, and cable capacitance matters a lot more. Therefore my guitar > pedalboard . amp connections use the Van Damme/PRS cables.

 

[SinSir]

I use the PRS Signature cables, too. They're made by Van Damme, who did the re-cabling of Abbey Road studios.

They're very flexible, lay flat on the floor, and their capacitance is among the lowest in the world - about 22 pF per foot. That's why they sound so good - compare them to something like the very good Mogami or Canare whose capacitance is 45-50 pF per foot (lower is better).

This means you can use a cable twice as long as most cables with the same or less signal loss. That's very significant, given the low output of passive pickups, but even active pickups benefit from lower capacitance. So if you're using a 20 foot PRS Sig cable, you've got the equivalent of a 10' cable from most vendors.

What this means is lower high frequency loss, which translates to better definition. The only guitar cable with a slightly better spec is Sommer's 16 pF per foot LLX, which is more expensive and is stiffer, so it tangles more easily.

Since I said 'stiffer', someone will come along and make a penis joke (looking at you alantig ).

Always a wealth of info. I for one appreciate it.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Mogami is less flexible and has twice the capacitance, so a cable of a given length will roll off the high frequencies more than a Van Damme cable of the same length.

Whether this is, or isn't, a bad thing depends on how much high frequency loss bothers you.

My +4 dBu signals in my studio are just fine with Mogami, because the output of pro level gear is much hotter, and the cables are balanced, so there's negligible high frequency loss. As a result, my studio has been cabled with Mogami since 1994.

But guitar signals are FAR lower level, and cable capacitance matters a lot more. Therefore my guitar > pedalboard . amp connections use the Van Damme/PRS cables.

I knew there was a reason I use Van Damme cables. It was on your advice about two years ago!

Thanks Les

 

[László]

Always a wealth of info. I for one appreciate it.

Thanks! When I wondered why the 18' PRS cables had more accurate high frequencies than my 18' Mogami guitar cables, I did some homework. Once I got hold of the specs, it was pretty self-explanatory.

I use Sommer's top mic cable (EMC Quad Core Reference 4, comes with special high contact Neutrik connectors) now because it has much lower capacitance than the Mogami and Canare I used previously. Like guitars, microphones have a far lower output than mic preamps and other audio gear, so the trip from the mic to the preamp matters. I haven't seen Van Damme's mic cables anywhere. The Sommer are very expensive, but...I did a shootout with my previous cables, and man, they do sound that little bit better to me, and other engineers I've shared my test tracks with.