Smoothhound Wireless System. Yea or Ney?

[gelfin]

I have used one for the last couple of years and found it excellent and likewise the guitarist in the band.

There are comments regarding Smoothhound all over the forums here.

So I am asking here to try and keep answers in one place for now, for your opinons about it any good or bad experiences.

Views on quality of constructio, ease of use etc.

Please only comment if you own or have owned one of these devices.

[EBS_freak]

1 hour ago, gelfin said:

I have used one for the last couple of years and found it excellent and likewise the guitarist in the band.

There are comments regarding Smoothhound all over the forums here.

So I am asking here to try and keep answers in one place for now, for your opinons about it any good or bad experiences.

Views on quality of constructio, ease of use etc.

Please only comment if you own or have owned one of these devices.

Surely if you’ve used it for yourself, you’re in a good position to draw conclusions?

A lot of it (whether it works well for you or not) depends upon how you are going to use it and what else is happening wireless wise in your band.

I have my own views but I think the world doesn’t need yet another latency discussion when the search function works perfectly well!

[rushbo]

I've had one since April 2016. Loads of rehearsals and gigs (pubs and clubs to festivals in front of 5000+ punters) and my Smooth Hound has coped with it all admirably. Build quality has never been an issue for me - a few people have commented that the battery door seems a little flimsy, but mine shows no signs of falling off any time soon. Never had a drop out and latency is negligible. I've never noticed any delay. I run mine into a Zoom B3 and then into my Genz Benz rig and performance and sound quality has been flawless. I did have an issue with noise (due to the set up of my minimal rig) which Chris at Smooth Hound HQ sorted for me quickly and with courtesy. He even made me a YouTube video on how to reconnect it. Really easy to use - mine is attached to my strap by an elasticated hair tie (!) but there are way more sophisticated doohickeys available. I've used a couple of other systems at its price point at the SH wins hands down. The only minor gripe is that it's centre positive, which means you'll need an inverter if you're running it off a standard 9V supply. As my board is so small, I use the dedicated PSU, so it's not an issue for me. 

Full disclosure - the only other wireless user in the band is the singer with his wireless mic. 

I love mine and I recommend it highly. 

 

Edited September 11, 2019 by rushbo

[EBS_freak]

Oh boy.

latency is far from negligible.

[rushbo]

1 minute ago, EBS_freak said:

Oh boy.

latency is far from negligible.

I've read all the other threads on the Smooth Hound and latency crops up all the time.  Maybe it's because there's very little other wireless/digital gear used in my band, but I have never noticed any delay. In a fit of paranoia I've asked sound engineers, band members and punters and no-one has ever spotted any latency. 

YMMV as they say on the internet. 

 

[EBS_freak]

Hence why I said it depends upon the setup. In the world of DSP, the latency that the smooth hound introduces is a life time and certainly not negligible.

[Acebassmusic]

I have used a number of wireless systems and the Smoothhound works well in my situation eg: bass into Smoothhound into amp on a normal pub / club type stage (no arenas 😂). I don't at the moment use a digital desk or in-ear system. The Smoothound stated latency of 8ms equates to  you standing about 3 metres from your cab or monitor (1M = 2.9ms delay). If you plugged a standard 20ft cable (6 metre) into your amp and stood as far away as possible the delay would be 17ms which most people wouldnt consider a problem and just play on as normal.

I can understand the cumulative affect of adding all the processing delays of wireless bass, digital desk & processing and IEM transmition adding up to a potentially unuseable delay. How much is "unueseable" will vary from person to person as some seem to hear or feel the delay more accutely than others. As EBS says it all depends on your setup and needs.

From a build point I think there are a couple of improvements that could be made - transmitter battery door needs beefing up, receiver arial bases could also be stronger. I know there are a number of work arounds but a properly designed and available holder for attaching the transmitter to your strap would be a bonus. When I come to get another wireless setup it will probably be Smoothound as it's value for money works for me.

[martthebass]

Used one on over 130 gigs over the last couple of years. 

Generally been happy with the performance, good battery life, good indication of battery life, good indication of the level of interference.  Latency has only expressed itself when I stray far from the cabs (>20m) so it's more sonic velocity than electronically induced delay. 

Construction is great other than the transmitter battery cover which is a bit fragile (as stated above), however Chris sends new ones out if they break so it's not really an issue.  The receiver box is fine construction - I just Velcro it to the side of a cab.  Would I buy again, yes. 

[molan]

Persian end-blown flute for me.

It has been played continuously for 4,500–5,000 years, making it one of the oldest musical instruments still in use so why go for anything else?

Edited September 11, 2019 by molan
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[tauzero]

I've had one for a year or two. Works well, nice and compact, no latency issues - gets run through a Zoom MS60B and no other digital bits.

[Al Krow]

On 11/09/2019 at 12:00, gelfin said:

So I am asking here to try and keep answers in one place for now, for your opinions about it any good or bad experiences.

Been very happy with mine for past couple of years. 

But if you want everything in one place, then there's been some pretty thorough discussion about the pro/cons of the unit (including impact of latency with digital desks, IEMs vs analogue mixers and straight into PA etc) here: