Al Krow

I think the LED meter you are referring to is actually showing how much charge there is still in the power case? How drained the battery is instead shown up by the colour of the light on the LED indicator on the transmitter and receiver units. @Twigman: per the manual: a fully charged Nux power case can recharge the wireless system 2-3 times, which actually is a very useful feature (but just need to remember to engage the charge button, haha!) The manual also states that when fully charged the transmitter / receiver should work for around 4 hours - which I assume applies to a relatively new unit. I'm just checking what my 2-3 year old units can still manage on a full charge when paired (and not in the charge box!)

Well, very first impressions of the CQ18T are that it's decently compact and should mean one fewer bag to take to take to gigs! That's a good start...😄

Maybe the easiest way to check is to fully charge each of ours and then put them on to see how long it takes to discharge them? Rechargeable batteries do get worn with usage, as we will all be familiar with. Yours sound like you bought yours new and have used < 20 times? Mine were bought used and are therefore probably 2 to 3 years old now and I've used mine 100+ times at gigs. I'm just charging mine up now and will report back later...

Yup 😊 Just checked - I've had my set for 18 months and now done 100+ gigs and been very happy with them! They replaced my 2.4 GHz Boss WL-20s which I'd had for a couple of years before my Nux - great bit of kit but I was experiencing drop outs. I also tried the Lekato WS-50, which were also good and great value, but I found they introduced a little bit of noise with a couple of my basses. The Nux seem to have hit the sweet spot for me in terms of quality, range, lack of drop-outs and price. The only thing I would like them to do better is longer charge retention - they're fine for a 2 hour gig, but I take the precaution of switching them off between sets if we have a long gap.

+1 for the Nux 5.8 Ghz. Really good range and I've not experience drop outs which I did get with some of the 2.4 GHz systems.

What's Google? Tbf totally no need to post any pics of bugs 😅

Oooh some great bits of kit coming up on here already...Be even better if you all added some cool pics of your aforementioned kit? 😊

Well...I've managed to source a B stock CQ18T from Andertons for £40 more than the price of a new CQ12T, which has made the decision on which one to get much more straightforward 😊 Should be arriving later this week.

Following on from the same topic we've successfully run since 2018 - a chance for some useful hints and tips with Black Friday and Xmas goodies still ahead, and, of course, nothing to stop us changing our minds between now and year end! As with previous years, the only "house rules" are that it's bass gear and something you bought (or at least arrived) in 2024. Here's the last thread in the series from 2023 as a reminder of some of the goodies we bought then. And definitely post your GAS inducing pics please!

A wireless set up on bass does certainly help to hear yourself in the mix from the audience, in my experience. Having the ability to adjust the desk settings on the fly while you're still in the audience rather than having to walk back up to the stage and then back out to the audience and back again etc., should help speed things up during sound check? Only usually possible with a digital desk with wifi? I suspect a digital desk such as the A&H with no sliders or gain knobs, is going to be trickier for bandmates back on stage to figure out menus and adjust settings, unless they are prepared to put in the time to get up to speed, vs being able to adjust a post EQ volume slider or a pre EQ gain knob? So I can see that being able to tweak the desk settings from your phone or tablet from the audience as definitely having some benefits, which the built in router allows. We're a 4 piece band, so the 12 channels on the CQ12T would be ample for us, but I'm thinking that the wifi/built in router on the CQ18T could well come in very handy.

Would the router on the 18 not have come in handy? eg being able to stand in front of the speakers and real time adjust the FoH band mix via your phone or tablet?

Excellent thanks! Just what the doctor ordered!

I've also seen that the CQ18 has three multifunction rotary knobs not available on the CQ12 - do folk find these useful? Can these be used as a master volume control for the desk? The lack of anything obvious in that department in the CQ range is a bit of a concern if you there is a sudden volume/feedback spike!

Thanks Phil - I was hoping you could just let us know when each of the set ups comes up at what point in the video, as it's almost a 19 minute clip and be helpful in terms of going back and forth to compare?

Ah that's a shame - I'm guessing there was a fair bit of loss of low end from the phone mics and considerable further compression when uploaded to YT?

Thanks for sharing that. Could you note the time when each PA is playing at what point in the video for us please?

And you get to choose which channels each of the four FX channels applies to i.e. you can tailor for vox plus 3 additional instruments?

Sure thing. But is that impedance and level adjustment likely to be what Zoom are also delivering when switching from stereo headphone --> balanced mono for monitors on their L20 model?

Xvive/Zoom Livetrack - really happy to defer to you given your electronic engineering background, which I certainly don't have! Given what we found with the stereo / mono outputs from the Zoom L12, what would your reading of the cause be? A&H CQ18t - ah the lack of built wireless could be an issue down the line. Maybe well worth investing the extra in the CQ18t for that reason alone?

Thought it might be useful to quickly update on a couple of points: Zoom Livetrack with Xvive U4 IEMs Met up with another bass player who also provides the band PA last week - he uses a Zoom L12 desk. We got the exact same issue when using the headphone monitor outs with my Xvive U4 wireless IEMs i.e. a high pitched whine. HOWEVER when using one of the L/R outs, both individually mono, of the additional monitor output (not available on my L8) there was no whine! Conclusion: because the Xvive U4 are purely mono they don't play nicely with the Livetrack's stereo outputs. Fortunately for us Xvive U4 users most aux out are mono so this should not be an issue with most desks / monitor outs. Interestingly the Zoom L20, which would otherwise be overkill for our needs, has the ability to switch each of its 5 stereo outs from headphone stereo to mono balanced signal which should also deal with the issue. Just wondering whether the same stereo --> balanced mono is available with an adaptor? Unfortunately the L12 L/R outputs only have one mix so that does limit the use a bit. A&H CQ12 - multitrack recording I think there may have been some discussion elsewhere that the CQ12 didn't offer multitrack recording and we'd need to step up to the CQ18 to have that capability. Turns out that's not correct i.e. multi-track recording is available on the CQ12 too.

Oooh it sounds incredibly glitchy! But maybe that's the point of it and if that's your cup of tea... I'll be sticking with my Boss OC-5!

Killers - Somebody told me. Fun bass line which really drives the song!

Thanks, also an excellent summary! I think maybe where we are collectively landing is that for an "average" venue with a full rock band, the two following alternatives (which are likely to be a similar weight & cost) are both pretty compact and can be made to work well without backline: option 1: 2 x 12" tops (e.g. RCF 732A/932As, QSC K12.2) option 2: 2 x 10" tops (eg RCF310/710/910As) + single decent (15") sub Although we're probably no longer in the realms of a "budget" set up (referring back to the topic title from a couple of year's back), but a pretty decent quality one!

Haha thanks, it's actually been really useful! One of my 912A's needs to get serviced, and that's tied in with me thinking about upgrading. Hearing @Jack's band sound so good with that bigger set up makes going for something like that very tempting, but being reminded that will be great for larger & outdoor venues (but overkill in a typical pub set up) and will mainly benefit the drums was important to hear. I think it may well be time to have a chat with the drummer and agree a split of investment for the band e.g. me desk & lights and he can sort out a sub!!

Phil, that's an excellent summary, thank you! Also a useful reminder that: we add a sub primarily to improve the drums (kick and floor toms) and not for the bass guitar 😊