Our needs are for local concerts - everything from gospel to rock to whatever. We regularily do rider work, but not regularily enough to need to own a rack of top-shelf Sennheisers or Shures. But we weekly need to do between 6 and 10 channels of wireless - sometimes as much as 12 for christmas shows and what not. Doing the math and looking at feature sets, we were somewhere near the 100 series Sennheisers or the ULX from Shure. SLX probably would have done us well, too, and we still have 10 kits of PGX for single use or rentals.
We had a nice rack of Shure UC that we were very happy with for a long time. But the end of their life coincided with a slow few years, so we've had to truck along with the PGX and subrenting when needed.
With the reviews I have read, the Line6 seem to fit in to the market in a similar way to us: Quality-oriented, good features, but not doing national tours.
I had slated this order for a few months ago, but, as happens with small businesses, other expenses came up. We ultimately placed our order with Washington Music Center, where we got both the best pricing and good telephone and email service.
There was a little mixup with our order - it got shipped to WMC instead of drop shipped to us, so it came in about a week after I was expecting. WMC did turn it around overnight to us when they realised what happened, though.
Unpacking / First Impressions
The Line6 packing does not leave you wanting anything. These ship with rack ears, coupling kits, antennae, and even half-rack blanks with holes and screw-in BNC pass-throughs. We ended up not using the half-width blanks, and made our own full-width. Popped the BNC pass-throughs in, then wired up the rack.
Had the rack put together in just a few minutes - the coupling kits are a little hard to slide on to the right side of the receivers, and I had to tap them gently with a rubber mallet to get them to go all the way on. Interestingly, the left side of both sets slid right on.
Build quality on the receivers is excellent. The beltpacks are similarly stout, though the buttons feel a touch squishy. We will see how they hold up.
I wish the handheld transmitters were metal, but I'm not willing to pay an extra $400 to step up a level. Persuant to other reviews, the batteries went straight to the trash.
This weekend will see use in a wrestling event. I hope to have time to play with the different mic models and to get the beltpacks out and see what I think of the elements. I imagine the beltpacks will spend most of their time paired with our existing Microphone Madness earsets*.
Does anyone know if Line6 has a four-receiver power supply?
I'll be back with more info next week.
*Mini Review on the MM Headsets: Good build quality. Require more EQ to sound good than a Countryman. I think the ear hoop is too soft - we seem to have trouble with some people getting them to stay on. Not sure why - I can wear one snugly all day long. People with small ears, though, seem to have an especially hard time getting them to stay tight.
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After use this weekend, I am very pleased with these microphones. I neglected to take a manual with me and had a brief moment of panic when I couldn't immediately set the transmit and receive channels, but it only took me another 40 seconds to figure it out.
We had three handhelds in use for the opening business of the wrestling match, channels 1, 2, and 3. No problem whatsoever, and no feedback issues even though it was a less-than idea room set up. (Yorkville sound system pointing right at the ring from the corner of the room.)
The thing that impressed me most is the open sound of these mics. And I mean open in contrast to the PGX, which sound muffly and heavily compressed. Line6 calls their transmitter technology "wire replacement," and that's how it sounds to me.
We used the L6 default microphone model, and I sounded like myself coming through the PA. I have not yet played with the other models, but I do have some 58 heads and I am curous to screw them on and see what they sound like compared to the 58 model in the microphone.
Why I would want to make it sound like a 58, I am not yet sure. But it's nice to know I can.
We had absolutely no issues with RF or interference; we had two wireless access points running nearby, one for file transfers between production computers and one for remote control of the show control system. No evidence of problems on the mics, and no immediate evidence of problems with the WAPs. I will battle test these here at the shop to see what kind of effect the mics can have over, say, Stagemix or a big file transfer.
In the last minutes before the show, the promoter asked us to add a microphone for the ringside bell. This one did get the batteries supplied by Line6, and the battery indicator on the receiver was down to the last LED by the end of the two hour show. Yes, those batteries are garbage, and Line6 should immediately replace them with Procells. Everything else that comes in the package is top notch, why tarnish the first impression with crappy batteries?
So. Between good sound, good RF performance, great packaging, I am pleased with these microphones and will probably buy four more soon, heading towards a total of 12. My favorite feautre so far is the bult-in antenna distro which goes a surprisingly long way towards swinging the cost calculation in favor of the Line6.
They get my vote for best bang for the buck upper-middle range microphone system.
We had a nice rack of Shure UC that we were very happy with for a long time. But the end of their life coincided with a slow few years, so we've had to truck along with the PGX and subrenting when needed.
With the reviews I have read, the Line6 seem to fit in to the market in a similar way to us: Quality-oriented, good features, but not doing national tours.
I had slated this order for a few months ago, but, as happens with small businesses, other expenses came up. We ultimately placed our order with Washington Music Center, where we got both the best pricing and good telephone and email service.
There was a little mixup with our order - it got shipped to WMC instead of drop shipped to us, so it came in about a week after I was expecting. WMC did turn it around overnight to us when they realised what happened, though.
Unpacking / First Impressions
The Line6 packing does not leave you wanting anything. These ship with rack ears, coupling kits, antennae, and even half-rack blanks with holes and screw-in BNC pass-throughs. We ended up not using the half-width blanks, and made our own full-width. Popped the BNC pass-throughs in, then wired up the rack.
Had the rack put together in just a few minutes - the coupling kits are a little hard to slide on to the right side of the receivers, and I had to tap them gently with a rubber mallet to get them to go all the way on. Interestingly, the left side of both sets slid right on.
Build quality on the receivers is excellent. The beltpacks are similarly stout, though the buttons feel a touch squishy. We will see how they hold up.
I wish the handheld transmitters were metal, but I'm not willing to pay an extra $400 to step up a level. Persuant to other reviews, the batteries went straight to the trash.
This weekend will see use in a wrestling event. I hope to have time to play with the different mic models and to get the beltpacks out and see what I think of the elements. I imagine the beltpacks will spend most of their time paired with our existing Microphone Madness earsets*.
Does anyone know if Line6 has a four-receiver power supply?
I'll be back with more info next week.
*Mini Review on the MM Headsets: Good build quality. Require more EQ to sound good than a Countryman. I think the ear hoop is too soft - we seem to have trouble with some people getting them to stay on. Not sure why - I can wear one snugly all day long. People with small ears, though, seem to have an especially hard time getting them to stay tight.
--------
After use this weekend, I am very pleased with these microphones. I neglected to take a manual with me and had a brief moment of panic when I couldn't immediately set the transmit and receive channels, but it only took me another 40 seconds to figure it out.
We had three handhelds in use for the opening business of the wrestling match, channels 1, 2, and 3. No problem whatsoever, and no feedback issues even though it was a less-than idea room set up. (Yorkville sound system pointing right at the ring from the corner of the room.)
The thing that impressed me most is the open sound of these mics. And I mean open in contrast to the PGX, which sound muffly and heavily compressed. Line6 calls their transmitter technology "wire replacement," and that's how it sounds to me.
We used the L6 default microphone model, and I sounded like myself coming through the PA. I have not yet played with the other models, but I do have some 58 heads and I am curous to screw them on and see what they sound like compared to the 58 model in the microphone.
Why I would want to make it sound like a 58, I am not yet sure. But it's nice to know I can.
We had absolutely no issues with RF or interference; we had two wireless access points running nearby, one for file transfers between production computers and one for remote control of the show control system. No evidence of problems on the mics, and no immediate evidence of problems with the WAPs. I will battle test these here at the shop to see what kind of effect the mics can have over, say, Stagemix or a big file transfer.
In the last minutes before the show, the promoter asked us to add a microphone for the ringside bell. This one did get the batteries supplied by Line6, and the battery indicator on the receiver was down to the last LED by the end of the two hour show. Yes, those batteries are garbage, and Line6 should immediately replace them with Procells. Everything else that comes in the package is top notch, why tarnish the first impression with crappy batteries?
So. Between good sound, good RF performance, great packaging, I am pleased with these microphones and will probably buy four more soon, heading towards a total of 12. My favorite feautre so far is the bult-in antenna distro which goes a surprisingly long way towards swinging the cost calculation in favor of the Line6.
They get my vote for best bang for the buck upper-middle range microphone system.
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