Wireless For Bass

[Stealth]

Having joined another band playing a few outdoor jolly’s I feel the urge to run about albeit slowly at my age. 
a]Anyone recommend a wireless that doesn’t rob your bottom or squeeze your epic solo moments to death? Be nice if a mortgage wasn’t required I’m talking fundays and weddings not Glastonbury lol 

Edited June 9 by Stealth

[Wombat]

I had a Boss WL20 (with the Cable Tone) for ages and love(d) it. I just set my EQ to allow for the slight ‘top’ it gave. I found it gave me some ‘punch’.

After struggling with dropouts recently I put this down to the (slightly) busier pubs we were playing so changed to the Blackstar Airwire i58 as it was the ‘most similar 5.8ghz from a brand I trust’ I could find. This one has switchable cable tone which I’m currently liking ‘on’.

OK I have to remember to charge them but I don’t have ‘another thing to plug in’.

I would add that I don’t really run (or walk!) about that much but I like the tone it gives me and they are great for sound checks as you can get to the back of the venue to see how it sounds.

[Lozz196]

Yep the Boss WL20 works well, pretty much the easiest to use on the market, just plug them together and they do it all for you.

 

If concerned about running on 2.4 as the Boss does then NUX do one that runs on 5.8 and is almost as easy to use - a couple of small on/off buttons.

[Wombat]

Aye, I have the NUX in ears so ‘wanted’ their wireless as its 5.8. A plus point is the charging case! The thing that pushed me to Blackstar was that the NUX only have a 2hr (ish) battery life before needing to be charged in the case. An Open Mic play at goes on longer much than that - and generally people use my gear even if I don’t play - and a lot of gigs are 2 1/2 hrs. Didn’t want to risk it.

I saw both at the Bass Show and another plus is the Blackstar fit in an old glasses case and take up a lot less space in the old leads bag (should we still be calling them that now?).

[BigRedX]

13 hours ago, Wombat said:

the NUX only have a 2hr (ish) battery life before needing to be charged in the case.

 

Not my experience at all. My band has 3 hour practice sessions where the NUX system is running continuously for at least 2 and half hours with status lights still on green by the end of the session.

[ossyrocks]

I have the Boss WL-20 and the Nux. I bought the Nux because my wireless router is right next to my practice amp at home, and it interfered with the WL-20. The Nux works fine at home.

For gigs, I always use the WL-20 as it’s just so simple and easy to use. I take the Nux as backup, but I’ve never had to use them. Only once has the WL-20 given me a surprise, the guitarist also has the same system, and I forgot to re pair mine before plugging in, and all of a sudden he had bass coming out of his guitar amp! Re paired and all was good.

I haven’t done a any scientific testing, but I think battery life is better on the WL-20 than the Nux, but then the Nux can be recharged from the case if needs be.

Rob

[Al Krow]

+1 for Nux 5.8 GHz.

 

Been using them regularly on gigs (100+) for the past couple of years, and have a worked a treat. Previously had the Boss WL-20s which were great sonically, but I was often getting drop-outs with them in the more crowded 2.4 GHz space particularly following a switch by a couple of us in the band to wireless IEMs.

[Stealth]

Cheers my dears 

[tauzero]

Lekato - I have WS-50s and WS-90s. The WS-50s are smaller but have a bit less battery life (4 hours or so versus 6+ hours for the WS-90s). Available for £40-£45 from Ebay, £35-£40 from AliExpress. I use them for everything - rehearsals, open mics, and gigs. Both of them are switchable between channels in case someone else's dongles interfere with yours.

[chris_b]

I'd be more worried about you bumping into things, than your sound!

[mcnach]

I've been using the Lekato/Joyo JW-06. It works on the 5.8GHz band. What I really like is that the holder is actually a USB-C rechargeable power pack, which can recharge the transmitter and receiver while in the box. The power pack itself is good for several charging cycles.

 

[stewblack]

I endorse this ☝🏻 sentiment 

[Davy]

On 17/06/2025 at 11:06, mcnach said:

I've been using the Lekato/Joyo JW-06. It works on the 5.8GHz band. What I really like is that the holder is actually a USB-C rechargeable power pack, which can recharge the transmitter and receiver while in the box. The power pack itself is good for several charging cycles.

 

Is there any bottom end loss with this unit?

[mcnach]

51 minutes ago, Davy said:

Is there any bottom end loss with this unit?

 

No. In general that's not an issue with modern digital units, even the cheaper ones. You may notice it sounding very sligthtly brighter, if you're used to long cable runs, but for the most part is not significantly different from using a cable.

[dave_bass5]

Dont forget to factor in form factor. Some of these tend to stick out quite a bit and could be knocked. 

Ive had a few of those recommended and settled on the Legato WS-90. They are still quite large and cumbersome, but at least pivot. Some of the others mentioned here dont and look ugly when protruding from the bass (IMO) 

Edited 22 hours ago by dave_bass5

[Woodinblack]

So I am looking for yet another wireless system, so checking on what options are around. 

I had the smoothhound, it fell apart after a lot of gigs and I sent it back to get it fixed. In the mean time I had a Lekato 2.4GHz which worked fine, but I lost (found much later, still use in the house). I got a cuvave wireless which broke. Then I got the Lekato WS70, which was good to use but it became apparent after a while there was a compressing effect on using it, you could hear the end of quiet notes being cut off. So I got a WS90. This doesn't have the compressing but has a high noise floor, so when using a drive, it is unacceptably loud.

I could go back to the smoothhound but I don't want to make a space on the pedalboard for a receiver.

 

So I am wondering if the Fender Telepath or Xvive A58 was any good?

[dave_bass5]

I guess it’s down to trying it personally. All the systems you mention are probably used by others without issue, so it’s going to be a personal thing. 

[Alba]

I have been using the Telepath for a few months. No dropouts, syncs immediately and charge lasts well beyond a three hour gig without going into the red. I can't distinguish any noticeable differences to my tone or any latency.

[mcnach]

14 hours ago, dave_bass5 said:

Dont forget to factor in form factor. Some of these tend to stick out quite a bit and could be knocked. 

Ive had a few of those recommended and settled on the Legato WS-90. They are still quite large and cumbersome, but at least pivot. Some of the others mentioned here dont and look ugly when protruding from the bass (IMO) 

 

 

Indeed. I don't like them for that reason, they seem like a catastrophic accident waiting to happen. I still use them like that sometimes, but... worry.

 

Most times I use a little extension cable, male and one end and female at the other. Male goes into the bass, wireless 'blob' on the other end, and then it goes either to my strap (velcro strip) or my pocket!

 

 

[mcnach]

12 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

So I am looking for yet another wireless system, so checking on what options are around. 

I had the smoothhound, it fell apart after a lot of gigs and I sent it back to get it fixed. In the mean time I had a Lekato 2.4GHz which worked fine, but I lost (found much later, still use in the house). I got a cuvave wireless which broke. Then I got the Lekato WS70, which was good to use but it became apparent after a while there was a compressing effect on using it, you could hear the end of quiet notes being cut off. So I got a WS90. This doesn't have the compressing but has a high noise floor, so when using a drive, it is unacceptably loud.

I could go back to the smoothhound but I don't want to make a space on the pedalboard for a receiver.

 

So I am wondering if the Fender Telepath or Xvive A58 was any good?

 

 

The WS70 works on UHF and yes, there's compression/expansion going on with those systems, typically. 

 

I haven't noticed noise with the WS90, 'though. It's true that I do not use overdrive much, but I can't imagine how using overdrive or not could affect the inherent noise of the unit... hmmm. 

[Woodinblack]

12 minutes ago, mcnach said:

The WS70 works on UHF and yes, there's compression/expansion going on with those systems, typically. 

 

I might temporarily go back to using that while I decide, as the compression is better than the hiss

 

12 minutes ago, mcnach said:

I haven't noticed noise with the WS90, 'though. It's true that I do not use overdrive much, but I can't imagine how using overdrive or not could affect the inherent noise of the unit... hmmm. 

 

The overdrive doesn't affect the noise of the unit, but as you are amplifying the sound more to overdrive, a larger part of the signal becomes the hiss, to the point where if nothing else is playing, the hiss is pretty loud. Obviously in the scope of a full band playing you don't really notice it, so I don't worry too much but I am doing an event mixed by someone else in a few weeks, and they are certainly going to have an issue with it. 

 

It is possible the hiss is inteference with something else I gig with - I have wireless IEMs and there are other wireless things around, but that doesn't help much if we need those things. 

[dave_bass5]

I do all my home practicing on headphones, and never noticed any noise with my WS90's.

[Woodinblack]

ok, puzzlingly I did a trial with the WS90 and a cable through to a spark 40 with everything turned up and an overdrive on, and I couldn't tell the difference between the wireless and cable. So I thought maybe it was the WS90 Rx connected to the back of the Mod Dwarf, so i tried that, and again, no actual noise until I play with my 'whole lot of love full distortion' patch, and no difference between the cable and the wireless, so I think I must be looking in the wrong place. Which is a concern, I can't think of any more places! 

[mcnach]

2 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

ok, puzzlingly I did a trial with the WS90 and a cable through to a spark 40 with everything turned up and an overdrive on, and I couldn't tell the difference between the wireless and cable. So I thought maybe it was the WS90 Rx connected to the back of the Mod Dwarf, so i tried that, and again, no actual noise until I play with my 'whole lot of love full distortion' patch, and no difference between the cable and the wireless, so I think I must be looking in the wrong place. Which is a concern, I can't think of any more places! 

 

The good news is that when you do find that place, you might find a couple of missing socks and a fiver.