Trantec 5.5 handheld query

[S&L]

I have worked with occassional single wirelss mics and in ear systems before ut this is the first time that I will soucring gear for a client.

the room: small ish low ceiling hotel function room, 200 cap

the use: comedians and 4 tops style artists - high quality weekend.

the spec: 'get me four wireless hand held mics for the boys to sing'

 

so I am looking around at what is available locally to hire in. the cost goes to the promoter but I know he isn't going to be keen to spend a fortune.

one of my dry hire contacts has offered me 4 no. trantec 5.5 units. looking them up and assuming he is offering the dynamic hand held version then they are hypercardioid which fits with what I asked for.

before I sign up for these, does anyone have any experience with them?

what sort of quality can I expect from them? - e.g. do they sound or behave like a wired mic I may be familiar with?

anything else I should watch out for or be aware of?

I had asked for them all to be complete with license so I am assuming that's not an issue.

[BradRWills]

Budget microphone system. quality is OK for the money, probably not dissimilar to an SM58, but fairly cheap feeling units.

 

are they ch38 units? Whilst ch70 will do 4 mics, that frequency band is busy and often you find channels not available - which would leave you a mic down on the day.

 

It sounds as if you're working with a low budget, but I'd be tempted to push the budget for mics, purely for peace of mind - you'll easily find 4 frequencies in the channel 38 range, but there's a good chance you'll lose Mics in ch70 - which presumable is undesirable?

 

If they're channel 38 - all good, they're not going to wow you, but presumably they're 1/4 of the price of 4 x Sennheisers etc?

[timsabre]

Budget microphone system. quality is OK for the money, probably not dissimilar to an SM58, but fairly cheap feeling units.

 

The Trantec s5.5 isn't a budget system - it's in the same sort of range as the Senn EW systems and I know some pro audio companies that use them. You might be thinking of the Trantec S4 range which is a low budget system?

[BradRWills]

I swear that title said Trantec s4.5 when I answered it!!

 

I take it back! S5.5 is similar in price to Sennheiser EW range, although I'd personally go for a Sennheiser everytme, purely because I've come to know and trust them. The s4000 and s4 Trantec mics I used a few times were worse than horrid to be honest...

[timsabre]

The s4000 and s4 Trantec mics I used a few times were worse than horrid to be honest...

 

You can't compare the S4 and S5 mics, they are in completely different price brackets. The S5 mics are definitely "pro" kit and comparable to the Sennheisers. The S4 ones are a good budget mic, we use them at church, there are much worse cheap wireless systems.

[cedd]

I'd personally take Trantec S5 over the similar priced Sennheiser systems. Personal preference I know, but the easily replaceable aerials on the beltpacks, single AA operation for up to 10 hours (how DO they do that?) and compact size of the beltpack really have me sold (yes, I know we're talking hand helds here).

 

I particularly like the robustness of the hand held. Nothing at all to be fiddled with and until you know how it's done, they confuse a lot of "talent" who are trying to open them up to fiddle with switches. My only gripe is that the lock function doesn't lock out the mute switch - which is the only switch a user can get at without opening the things up. A bit of LX tape soon fixes that though.

 

A sales rep once gave me a long talk about how the body design and slightly unexpected method of opening the case meant handling noise was greatly reduced. I don't know if it's the real cause, but it does appear to work!

 

Gain before feedback is very good. We use one at Church on the lectern. It gets picked up and used for hand held work, but likewise is also used for the most timid of people doing readings a yard away from it. It copes very well across both types of use.

 

 

 

[S&L]

thanks guys and particular cedd for the confirmation re gain before feedback. senn mid range was what I was hoping for. have submitted price to promoter in the last few minutes. will try and post a post show note (mid Jan) when I have used - assuming that the promoter ok's them.

[S&L]

just to put this topic to bed with a post show note - used 2 hand helds in the end s5.5.

good sound reproduction - used by solo vocalists, lead singers, comedians and the host/promoter

in terms of sound quality, they were great for vocals, nice pick up pattern tight but enough to allow singers natural variance in distance.

in terms of handling noise they were pretty poor - I could live with it but I get less handling noise from a £30 wired mic. In fairness, I switched on and went with what we had - no time to read manual since they worked ok.

the receivers stayed with my position which was only 15m from the stage - reception was flawless all weekend.

having the receivers next to my mixing position was a god send - including sound checks these were 13 hour days from first checks to close. the receiver reported mute switch position (on hand held) and battery life - very useful

I can live with the microscopically tiny switches on the base of the hand helds but the host promoter using them hated them - said he didn't want to use them again as the switches were too fiddly and impossible to see in low light - he had a point.

[paulears]

What was the promoter doing touching them? Seriously, the entire point is to prevent operation by the user. I appreciate sometimes we work channel open and leave the mutes to stop noise but that's not really how they were intended to be used. More and more are now hiding/removing/disabling user operation while Sennheiser now have a horrible red button.

[S&L]

What was the promoter doing touching them? Seriously, the entire point is to prevent operation by the user. I appreciate sometimes we work channel open and leave the mutes to stop noise but that's not really how they were intended to be used. More and more are now hiding/removing/disabling user operation while Sennheiser now have a horrible red button.

 

had this been one of my usual rock and pop shows in a theatre, with a 90 minute or 45 minute conventional performance I would agree but having time to reflect I'm coming around to the promoters point of view and the red button, far from being horrible, may be just the ticket.

to explain, we had 2 handhelds, one intended for solo artists and front vocalists, the other intended for use by the promoter who was, as I said earlier, also host and DJ - think old style butlins link man. the show ran with an evening entertainment on the friday and daytime and evening entertainment on the saturday and sunday. the timetable will give you a feel for use:

I'm at the desk out front, the host and artists enter via green room to one side of stage.

11am sound checks for solo performers (3 of)

12pm doors open

host then links between the solo performers, with banter, music, trivia and quizzes - each performer does a succession of 20/30 minute slots, informally with the host occasionally adlib-ing either comedy or general conversation, between adlibs and 'spots' the mics sit idly in the green room. I can mute the performance mic but because of the nature I can't mute the host mic - some adlibs are done without the host leaving the green room - very much that old style butlins feel - the morning is very informal and I'm not always at the desk when the performers are off stage.

doors close 3-3.30pm

4pm - 7.30 sound checks for 'name bands'

7.45pm doors open

host proceeds as above with music and banter

8-9pm first band using handheld if desired - but in the evening I can control this and have the mic set out on stage for them and collected on finish. host uses his mic as the band come to a finish to request encore, banter and DJ

9-9.30 host dj'ing

9.30 til 10.30pm second band/comic as above.

10.30 til 11pm host dj'ing

11 til 12pm third band as above

midnight til 12.30 host plays out and banters til doors close - repeat following day.

so you can see the host is on and off all night almost at random - the guy is promoter, dj and host - sprightly and likeable but of the same age as the acts (ie had their hay day in the 60s) and I do think a mute at his end would have been extremely helpful - since the mute doesn't stop the battery drain, what else is it there for but to close the mic?

[sam.spoons]

The mute, as you say, does not stop battery drain where switching the mic off would do so but with the mic off there is a chance of the receiver picking up static and a loud burst of white noise through the PA as a consequence (I have had this happen). Much safer to mute the mic either at the desk (not possible in your situation) or on the transmitter (fiddly but, realistically your best option). I have a Sennheiser EW100 handheld which has a reasonably usable slide switch for mute. It also has an end cap with an aperture allowing access to the mics buttons, I set it to allow access to only the mute switch and secure it with LX tape. That way the talent can mute his mic but not switch it off or change anything else.

[S&L]

The mute, as you say, does not stop battery drain where switching the mic off would do so but with the mic off there is a chance of the receiver picking up static and a loud burst of white noise through the PA as a consequence (I have had this happen). Much safer to mute the mic either at the desk (not possible in your situation) or on the transmitter (fiddly but, realistically your best option). I have a Sennheiser EW100 handheld which has a reasonably usable slide switch for mute. It also has an end cap with an aperture allowing access to the mics buttons, I set it to allow access to only the mute switch and secure it with LX tape. That way the talent can mute his mic but not switch it off or change anything else.

 

Sam do you have only one or more - I get the impression the promoter may book us again and if you dry hire it would be handy to have price (and spec) of one or two. (private message whenever you have a moment.

[sam.spoons]

I only have the one, the handset is old and has slightly dodgy battery contacts (and it's the very old 9V jobbie) so I wouldn't use it for anything mission critical (OTOH the receiver is a mint G2 version). I'll ask around though and PM if I come up with anything useful.