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Wireless Rig


gbailey94
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Hey guys, I was wondering if there was a viable way to make my rig completely wireless? At my church me and my dad(bassist) are running into the issue of there being WAY to much cabling in the area that we're in. We have our gear, IEM gear, plus we have a Spanish congregation that holds service after us. Needless to say there is just to much gear accumulating in our corner and I want to present a fix to our worship pastor and lead pastor. As of right now I'm just running the Helix with no extra's. At some point I may add some extra's but for now just the Helix. Any suggestions?

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Hey guys, I was wondering if there was a viable way to make my rig completely wireless? At my church me and my dad(bassist) are running into the issue of there being WAY to much cabling in the area that we're in. We have our gear, IEM gear, plus we have a Spanish congregation that holds service after us. Needless to say there is just to much gear accumulating in our corner and I want to present a fix to our worship pastor and lead pastor. As of right now I'm just running the Helix with no extra's. At some point I may add some extra's but for now just the Helix. Any suggestions?

At the minimum for your rig, you are going to have to have power to Helix and at least one output connected (either an XLR or 1/4"). You can go wireless on IEMs, but they are fairly expensive. What other gear do you have there that you are trying to get rid of cables on?

 

 

I have attached a picture of my church rig. I have power and a single XLR output. I am using the G10 wireless for my guitars. I do use a wired IEM connected to a Behringer P16 as well. All the other chords in the picture under my guitar are coming from other areas of the stage under the carpets, to the remote input unit we have in the back of the stage. 

post-2402848-0-84509600-1509382215_thumb.jpg

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As far as IEM’s go, I’m fine with those being cabled. It’s more or less instrument cables. Because the Spanish guitarist leaves his stuff at the church so I basically have to move it and rearrange every time I come in. So basically I’m just wanting to make my guitar rig completely wireless and if we can, the bass too. It’d just free up a lot of space. We really need to rearrange the way the instruments are setup anyways tbh.

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As far as IEM’s go, I’m fine with those being cabled. It’s more or less instrument cables. Because the Spanish guitarist leaves his stuff at the church so I basically have to move it and rearrange every time I come in. So basically I’m just wanting to make my guitar rig completely wireless and if we can, the bass too. It’d just free up a lot of space. We really need to rearrange the way the instruments are setup anyways tbh.

Tell the Spanish guitar player to clean up his crap when he's not going to be there. 

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Honestly, while I have a myriad of cables in and out of my Helix, I only really deal with two "bundles" per se.  Wireless would be nice, but I have other priorities. 

 

The main one goes back to my rack, and consists of an 8 way snake for the loops, aux in from my analogue synth, MIDI in/out, EXP3, CV out, USB and power.  The miscellaneous cables are bound in split loom and the two are run side by side held together with cable ties every foot or so, and everything is colour coded for quick hookup, both on the Helix end and the patch panel on the front of my rack.  The other is the extension cable for my in-ears, bound similarly to the instrument cable for my guitar.  The only other connection that isn't part of these two bundles is the XLR outs to wherever I need to plug my output into, and the EXP2 connection to my secondary expression pedal that sits right next to the Helix itself. 

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Honestly, while I have a myriad of cables in and out of my Helix, I only really deal with two "bundles" per se. Wireless would be nice, but I have other priorities.

 

The main one goes back to my rack, and consists of an 8 way snake for the loops, aux in from my analogue synth, MIDI in/out, EXP3, CV out, USB and power. The miscellaneous cables are bound in split loom and the two are run side by side held together with cable ties every foot or so, and everything is colour coded for quick hookup, both on the Helix end and the patch panel on the front of my rack. The other is the extension cable for my in-ears, bound similarly to the instrument cable for my guitar. The only other connection that isn't part of these two bundles is the XLR outs to wherever I need to plug my output into, and the EXP2 connection to my secondary expression pedal that sits right next to the Helix itself.

Okay...lol

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As far as IEM’s go, I’m fine with those being cabled. It’s more or less instrument cables. Because the Spanish guitarist leaves his stuff at the church so I basically have to move it and rearrange every time I come in. So basically I’m just wanting to make my guitar rig completely wireless and if we can, the bass too. It’d just free up a lot of space. We really need to rearrange the way the instruments are setup anyways tbh.

 

To be honest, the key here is for each service to be accountable and responsible for their own stuff as far as setting it up and putting it away.  That's just basic consideration for each other.  Wireless from the guitar to the Helix should be easy and there's plenty of good options.  As far as wireless to the board, that's a bit different animal.  You could probably use a Microphone wireless transmitter and receiver, but I'm not sure how much that might affect the sound, not to mention the complexity of the setup at the board or onstage.  We've even stopped using wireless mic's simply because of dependability issues and I just got tired of troubleshooting them.

 

Bottom line, if each group simply takes responsibility for setting up and putting away their own stuff, that's the cheapest and most efficient way to handle the situation.

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What rigs are you and your dad running and how do you have them connected with the main sound system?

Dad is running direct to DI. I’m running Helix direct to DI. It’s simple rigs. Then our IEM mixer sits right in front of us making more of a cable mess. It’s just we’re in a tight little corner and it all adds up quick.

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The system mentioned above could work to get your signals to the board, getting rid of output cable from the Helix, but you are adding a power supply and more cable for that. You are also adding potential points of failure. 

 

https://www.altoproaudio.com/products/stealth-wireless

 

 

For me the simplest solution is 120VAC power for the Helix and my guitar wireless, and a single XLR out to the house. I do use an external expression pedal, but it is connected to Helix with a 12" 1/4" cable, so I don't count that. 

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For me, I use a G10 to get my bass into the Helix. I power the G10 with a USB battery pack (which works great). The Helix then goes direct to the PA via XLR, typically, so the only wires I have are that one and the power cable for the Helix. Technically, there are cables between the wireless receiver and the Helix and the battery pack and the receiver, but it allows me to set up just about anywhere with very little hassle.

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To be honest, the key here is for each service to be accountable and responsible for their own stuff as far as setting it up and putting it away.  That's just basic consideration for each other.  Wireless from the guitar to the Helix should be easy and there's plenty of good options.  As far as wireless to the board, that's a bit different animal.  You could probably use a Microphone wireless transmitter and receiver, but I'm not sure how much that might affect the sound, not to mention the complexity of the setup at the board or onstage.  We've even stopped using wireless mic's simply because of dependability issues and I just got tired of troubleshooting them.

 

Bottom line, if each group simply takes responsibility for setting up and putting away their own stuff, that's the cheapest and most efficient way to handle the situation.

 

I absolutely agree, my stuff goes home with me after every service. Mainly because I don't trust to have it left there honestly. I had originally told the spanish guy he could leave his stuff if he wanted to, but didn't realize that he'd literally just leave it up on stage creating a clutter. We honestly just need to rearrange the pianos and guitars to have some more room. Also need a singular guitar rack for everyone's instruments. I'll probably bite the bullet and get that myself because it can be tight when asking for stuff for the music dept. I'll probably end up getting a Line 6 wireless system for guitar to Helix as well and get one for dad for bass to DI, or just get another transmitter pack and try to work out some single line patches where I can run him and me through the Helix on sundays. That way we only have two cords going to the DI's and nothing more besides the IEM cables.

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The system mentioned above could work to get your signals to the board, getting rid of output cable from the Helix, but you are adding a power supply and more cable for that. You are also adding potential points of failure. 

 

https://www.altoproaudio.com/products/stealth-wireless

 

 

For me the simplest solution is 120VAC power for the Helix and my guitar wireless, and a single XLR out to the house. I do use an external expression pedal, but it is connected to Helix with a 12" 1/4" cable, so I don't count that. 

How effective would this be do you think? Because I think our sound guy would be all for this if it will be pretty reliable.

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For me, I use a G10 to get my bass into the Helix. I power the G10 with a USB battery pack (which works great). The Helix then goes direct to the PA via XLR, typically, so the only wires I have are that one and the power cable for the Helix. Technically, there are cables between the wireless receiver and the Helix and the battery pack and the receiver, but it allows me to set up just about anywhere with very little hassle.

Right, I'll definitely get a system for Guitar to Helix. My only thing is I would to love to have as much stuff already plugged up and ready to go as possible. That would add another step unless I bought a board to put the helix on with the system.

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How effective would this be do you think? Because I think our sound guy would be all for this if it will be pretty reliable.

Not sure, never used that. What I do know is that a direct wired connection from point A to point B is more reliable than wireless. I am not willing to compromise the trade off with reliability on the output side of things. 

 

I take my gear with me after church as well. I have a dedicated XLR and power chord sitting in my spot on stage. I just plop my Helix down, plug in XLR, power, external expression, G10, and I am good to go. It's a 3 minute set up and tear down. 5 minutes if you include me tuning and doing a quick sound check. 

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Right, I'll definitely get a system for Guitar to Helix. My only thing is I would to love to have as much stuff already plugged up and ready to go as possible. That would add another step unless I bought a board to put the helix on with the system.

 

Which is totally doable, but another thing to have. If you've got the rack system (which it sounds like you do not), you could have everything always hooked up, but then you have a cable running from the floor controller to the rack, so... always something to be plugged in.

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  • 1 year later...

My solution to the cable problem is:

 

Guitar with Line6 G10 plug "A" - sends signal wirelessly to the G10 base "A".  Line6 G10 usb power cable is hidden behind the scenes.

 

G10 base "A" sends signal via instrument cable, to the Helix Guitar Input.  This cable extends into our "workspace" and is tethered as below.

 

Helix with Line6 G10 plug "B" - sends processed signal wirelessly to G10 Base "B".  The Helix power cable is tethered to the signal cable (above) using zip ties for ease of management.  These are the only two cables visible, or seen entering our "workspace".

 

G10 base "B" sends signal via instrument cable, to INPUT on FRFR/PA speaker.

 

The cables are all hidden in the back with the exception of the Helix power cable and the instrument cable carrying the signal from G10 Base "A" into the Helix.

 

It works like a charm.

 

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On 10/31/2017 at 5:05 AM, DunedinDragon said:

 

To be honest, the key here is for each service to be accountable and responsible for their own stuff as far as setting it up and putting it away.  That's just basic consideration for each other.  Wireless from the guitar to the Helix should be easy and there's plenty of good options.  As far as wireless to the board, that's a bit different animal.  You could probably use a Microphone wireless transmitter and receiver, but I'm not sure how much that might affect the sound, not to mention the complexity of the setup at the board or onstage.  We've even stopped using wireless mic's simply because of dependability issues and I just got tired of troubleshooting them.

 

Bottom line, if each group simply takes responsibility for setting up and putting away their own stuff, that's the cheapest and most efficient way to handle the situation.

 

^^^THIS.  Churches are notorious for being terrible at cable management.  If each group took responsibility of their own setups, it would mitigate nearly all of the issues, I feel.  Perhaps taking an off-church day during the week and going there to set things up a bit more permanently and run cables more efficiently is a better solution.  Maybe even having a member of each group that uses the area each week could be present and an arrangement made that pleases everyone would be in order.  In my experience,  many churches don't have lots of money to spend on extra things no matter how easy it makes things go.  I hope this helps.

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You could just use your Helix for Guitar AND Bass (guitar on Guitar Input, Bass on aux input) both direct to FOH via XLR and 1/4" outputs. if each of you have a wireless system as the Line6 G10 and wireless IEM, you'll just have 2 câbles from Helix to FOH (+ power) (no need for DI boxes) 

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