Wireless on DB

[Staggering on]

14 hours ago, PaulKing said:

Nice one thanks - yep, expect that's the deal.

I saw the exact same issue in a YouTube review of another brand. Just a bit of stray solder inside or a fingernail or something.

 

Shame I was gonna use it tomorrow night at a memorial concert where I have 5min changeovers twice in an evening, sharing amp with bass guitarists. At least its a MarkBass so I'll know what I'm doing with it.

I'll play safe with a lead and Schatten MiniPre for super simple super fast changeover. 

 

And here I was thinking I was the only one with the Schatten mini pre, I use it with my DB's and love being able to adjust volume so easily. I run the NuX from the bass to the mini pre that is mounted on my mic stand using a bracket I made and then it goes by cable to my amp or directly to the PA. Cheap, you can adjust the impedance and it's simple to use, can't get much better than that!

[PaulKing]

Brief update for future ref.

 

1) I found the cause of the rattle! The replacement unit had same issue - it's the power switch on the unit. Doh. I put a piece of tape over it to stop it buzzing. Minor design fault.

 

2) Tested at gig this week. Plugged receiver into whirlwind EQ pedal, exactly same as usual set up with Line6.

Hmm... inconclusive. I couldn't dial in my normal tone. Overall level seemed lower. I think I detected the time lag more than Line6 (but not sure of that), and the tone seemed oddly coloured, boxy and resonant/unfocussed.

I persisted through first set, probably overcompensated by turning up vol too much. Band commented .. so I switched back to Line6 for rest of night. Immediate improvement. Hmm, disappointing.

 

3) I ran spectrum test in DAW. Underwood via Cable vs Cable/Preamp vs Line6 wireless vs NU-X wireless vs JOYO wireless, all into Focusrite 2i2 interface.

All looked and sounded perfect with the NU-X ... indistinguishable from Line6.

As expected, from worst to best: 

Cable - very weak, low level, thin sound

JOYO - barely improved from cable

Line6 & NU-X - identical full, bass-rich, high-volume. Basically same tone as preamp, slightly lower level. 

Cable/Preamp -  best tone of all ... perhaps exaggerated by internal gain on preamp.  

 

So in conclusion, I want to try the NU-X in a couple different settings, because I love the convenience of it.

Can't figure why I struggled with it at gig. Maybe something incompatible going in to EQ pedal? But cant think what...

[Staggering on]

Another gig with the Nu-X on Tuesday with no problems, set up as described in my earlier post. This was a bluegrass gig in a hall packed with at least 120 people, 8 mics for the other 4 members for vocals and instruments while I just had a vocal mic and the Nu-X and from comments I heard the bass sounded good.

Edited Friday at 11:19 by Staggering on

[PaulKing]

I believe ya mate!

Perseverance pays off: At the weekend I set up at home to try things out cos it didn't make sense.

I had a hunch it may be a weird compatibility thing with the Whirlwind EQ pedal. So here's my genius solution!

 

I normally run my pedals in a chain before the amp: Wireless receiver - EQ - tuner - amp. It's convenient and reliable, means I can plug same set-up into any amp that's on stage with one cable. 

So, I plugged NuX straight into amp and... fine - indistinguishable from Line6, as you'd expect.

So how about I stick the EQ and tuner on the FX loop?

BOOM. In fact, just connecting the FX loop (even with EQ off) made the output noticeably fuller and louder. (Why is that? - had same effect when Line6 plugged into amp too) (**Edit - just looked it up, Markbass uses parallel FX loop, so adds FX loop signal to dry signal... well I never)

 

Anyway that seemed to fix it, at least in home setting. So: NuX straight into amp. EQ and Tuner on FX loop.

I do lose the tuner's auto-mute which is a shame. (Just had a thought ... I should try tuner inbetween receiver and amp. Yeh!)

And I may need to improvise with house amps if they don't have FX loops. 

 

Thankyou for listening...

 

 

Edited 23 hours ago by PaulKing

[PaulThePlug]

Why the EQ before the Tuner?

Howz about WR > Tuner > Amp to keep the Mute, with EQ in the Fx Loop.

[PaulKing]

4 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

Why the EQ before the Tuner?

Howz about WR > Tuner > Amp to keep the Mute, with EQ in the Fx Loop.

Genius. Yep I just figured the same as I finished typing my ramble.

Cheers!

[pete.young]

19 hours ago, PaulKing said:

(**Edit - just looked it up, Markbass uses parallel FX loop, so adds FX loop signal to dry signal... well I never)

 

Anyway that seemed to fix it, at least in home setting. So: NuX straight into amp. EQ and Tuner on FX loop.

I do lose the tuner's auto-mute which is a shame. (Just had a thought ... I should try tuner inbetween receiver and amp. Yeh!)

And I may need to improvise with house amps if they don't have FX loops. 

 

Thankyou for listening...

 

 

 

With a parallel loop, you're only applying it to part of the signal (probably 50%) and the un-EQd signal will still be getting through. My guess is that the signal sounds fatter and fuller with the EQ off when in the loop, because your EQ is filtering out the things that make it sound fat and full in the first place.

 

Some Markbass amps (for sure, the LM2 and LM3) had an internal jumper that allows you to change the loop from parallel to serial. That means you get the whole signal modified, at the expense of getting complete silence if the effects chain fails.

 

The other thing to be aware of is that most effects loops are designed to work with line-level voltage equipment (think rack effects) whereas most stomp boxes work at instrument level voltage. So they may not work properly, may require gain changes, or they might be absolutely fine.

And with house amps, not only do you have to worry about whether they have loops, you also have to find out whether they're serial or parallel.

 

My experience is effects loops on bass amps are best avoided altogether, unless you have something like a rack-mounted DBX 166 studio compressor and want to apply it to the whole signal, all of the time.