Antenna Distribution for Line6 2.4GHz Radio Mics

[richardash1981]

One of the church bands I do sound for think they want to spend money upgrading. They haven't been clear about budget (I'm trying to find out), but one of the gaps is that they rely on my rack of S3500 beltpack radio mics to make up the channel count they need (four minimum), because they only have two of their own, which are Line6 XD-V55 systems. These are still kept in their original cardboard boxes, so a bit of a pain to get out and set up at side of stage. Another thing they want to "fix" is how long it takes to set everything up.So I though the obvious thing to price quickly was getting two more channels of the same, and rack mounting the lot so that there is just one mains lead and four audio leads.

However the only antenna distro I can find is the 8-way XD-AD8, at over £400 (considerably more than a mic kit), and the rack mount looks pricy as well. In the end I make two systems to rack with the existing two as costing £1200 (quickly on Gear4Music), which seems a lot. I can see a better price with some effort, but not a radically better one, looking at Thomann etc.

 

On the other hand two Sennheiser EW100 systems would seem to come to the same price without antenna distribution, so not any more affordable.

I can't figure out Trantec's current range properly (4.10 if you want to use an ADU?), but seems plasticy by comparison.

So a couple of questions:

1. Do four Line6 receivers need an antenna distribution unit? Would we get away with the supplied antennas with the receiver rack at side of stage?
2. Suggestions for alternative solutions, given they have two of the Line6 already (and have had for a few years now).

[cedd]

You’d get away with half the number of antennas if you bought the V-75’s instead as they have antenna loop out’s built in. So 4 antennas (rather than 8) on the back of the rack, 2 to each V75 then out of each one to a V-55 each.

Would probably be cheaper than buying 2 55’s plus adu. Think the V-75’s come with a rack kit provided, so you could rack them at the bottom then use some super heavy duty Velcro to sit the 55’s on top of the V-75’s.

Not perfect, but maybe an affordable middle ground.

[richardash1981]

Thank you, that does come out a lot cheaper!£1200 down to £800 even if you buy the expensive rack kit for the V55s, less if double sided velcro or a spare rack shelf sorts them out. Plus could go in a 2U rack rather than 3U, which is easier in and out of cars. Have to think about power supply, but 9V 2A should not be a big deal to supply (and the ADU uses a daisy chain cable not individual leads, so I feel no worries about doing the same!).I see others have already confirmed on older threads that a mixture of V55 and V75 is fine to do (they share the same channels), so provided the Guitarists don't break the show with their wireless toys we should be in business.

 

The multi-guitarist and bassist turned up at the last show (for the first time) with several "bug" wireless instrument links. I wrote the label down as "vooume", which Google doesn't know about. Searching for for "guitar wireless bug" however finds ammoon links in a font that reads upside down ...

As these support up to 6 sets in the 2.4GHz band (and between them they have at least four links!) it looks like Line 6 radio mics may be a bad idea. For unrelated reasons, we didn't use the two V55 systems on that gig, all the channels were on VHF.

Based on appearance, these ones. Not that the website says much more of use.

[cedd]

Yeah certainly don’t mix 2.4GHz systems. It won’t end well. I’d venture that the Line6’s would probably be the ones to survive - they’re pretty robust.

The Line6 guitar systems have the same channel arrangement, they just only have access to the first 6, but they’re the same as 1-6 on the 12 channel mic systems. Clearly doesn’t help with your spurious ones but if you can persuade your guitarists to shift to Line6 you’re good.

 

Yeah certainly don’t mix 2.4GHz systems. It won’t end well. I’d venture that the Line6’s would probably be the ones to survive - they’re pretty robust.

The Line6 guitar systems have the same channel arrangement, they just only have access to the first 6, but they’re the same as 1-6 on the 12 channel mic systems. Clearly doesn’t help with your spurious ones but if you can persuade your guitarists to shift to Line6 you’re good.

[richardash1981]

Yeah certainly don't mix 2.4GHz systems. It won't end well. I'd venture that the Line6's would probably be the ones to survive - they're pretty robust.

The Line6 guitar systems have the same channel arrangement, they just only have access to the first 6, but they're the same as 1-6 on the 12 channel mic systems. Clearly doesn't help with your spurious ones but if you can persuade your guitarists to shift to Line6 you're good.

 

I had the feeling this would be the case, with the Line6s transmitting on two or four carriers at once spaced on the band (I assume the sort of guitar link you buy for £35 on Amazon doesn't do that ...). I suspect this will also be the major obstacle to shifting them onto Line6 guitar systems - with 4 instruments in play, the price step up is substantial (which is no doubt why the Amazon ones were bought). Because they belong to the guitarist, I knew nothing about them until they turned up at the first gig after Christmas!

 

I will try the existing V55 when setting up for the next gig (8th March), but it seems like I need to think more about 4 channels in UHF spectrum to stay out of the way.

Edited February 28, 2020 by richardash1981