Line 6

October 2009 Guitarist 109

£285
ACCESSORIES
The Bottom Line
We like: Great sound;
reliable performance;
innovative cable tone feature
We dislike: Not cheap; cable
is too short for some guitars
Guitarist says: The freedom
afforded by a reliable and
good-sounding wireless
system shouldn’t be
underestimated. Line 6 has
truly picked up the baton
The Rivals
There’s a good choice of
wireless systems available,
with Audio-Technica’s ATW-
701F/G (£199) or the
Samson Airline 77 (£199)
being just two excellent
examples. Nady’s Lightning
guitar system takes the
interesting step of including
a transmitter-loaded guitar
along with a remote receiver,
all for around £170.
G
uitar wireless systems
are commonplace these
days – after all Fender,
almost unbelievably,
introduced an embryonic cable-
free set-up as far back as 1961.
Although the unit, the TR-105,
was ultimately discontinued
just a year later, one of the
reasons for its development and
introduction was to protect
musicians from the rather
ropey electrics prevailing in
venues of the time.
Today, it seems that Line 6
has brought similar levels of
invention to that established
idea, and there are a couple of
features on the Relay G30 that
set it apart from the vast
majority of affordable systems
available today.
Its USP lies with the unit’s
transmission frequency. Most
contemporary systems –
including the G30 – operate
within the UHF band, sited
between 300MHz and 3GHz.
Where this system differs is
that it operates almost at the
very top of that congested
range, at 2.4GHz. That means
a vastly reduced chance of any
interference from radios,
mobile phones and the like.
The system comprises the
familiar marriage of a TBP06
transmitter and RXS06
receiver, each of which
possesses a sliding selector for
access to a total of six channels.
The transmitter is powered by a
pair of AA batteries, which Line
6 says will give up to eight hours
of continuous use, and is bereft
of an external aerial.
The receiver is slightly larger
in size and powered by the
included DC-1 PSU. Moreover it
includes a three-way selector
for its Cable Tone feature,
intended to allow users to
darken the tone if required.
It’s an interesting concept, as
Line 6’s Dan Boomer explains.
“All guitar cables have [signal]
losses and many players have
crafted their sound with these
losses in place.” he says. “The
G30 has virtually no losses so
we added Cable Tone so that
you can recreate them if they’ve
become part of your set-up.
Basically, it’s a software model
of the alteration a typical cable
does to pure sound.”
Sounds
Using the rather modest 67mm
cable supplied with the G30 we
hooked up our ESP GL-56 to the
Peavey 3120 reviewed on p92 of
this issue and got to work. The
first thing you notice is the
sheer freedom you have when
released from your umbilicus.
It’s truly liberating and we got
well over 50 feet away from the
amp without noticing a loss of
signal or tone. Equally critical,
never once were our licks and
riffs sullied by a taxi driver or
mobile phone shrieking over
the airwaves.
There’s no doubt that the tone
is louder and toppier when
compared with that of a
traditional cable, thanks to the
improved efficiency of the
signal transmission itself – we
found that we set the cable tone
to its darkest setting for the
majority of the time. It’s a subtle
effect at best, but does
discernibly round off the
majority of trebly edges. Of
course, for cleaner, janglier
styles you could even consider
turning the switch off.
The only niggle here is that
the lead provided is a little too
short for certain guitars – a
Flying V, for example – and we
suggest buying (or indeed
knitting) some sort of holster
to allow you to attach the
transmitter more securely to
your strap. After it dropped
from ours for the third time we
simply popped it in our pocket.
Verdict
Could this be your last wireless
system? Possibly, and we’d
strongly recommend everyone
experience the freedom of
going cable-free at least once.
At £285, the G30 isn’t the
cheapest system available
today, but it ticks all the right
boxes and is, on balance,
certainly among the best we’ve
come across so far. Simple to
use and, far more importantly,
hardly the tone-killer that
wirelesses are presumed to be
by the uninitiated. Why not
give it a go?
Line 6 Relay G30 £285
An innovative new package for guitar and bass that’s been
designed to cure any and all associated tonal ills that have
plagued many a wireless system by Simon Bradley
Line 6 Relay G30
 £285
 China
 Digital wireless guitar system,
 Six-way
channel select slider, 6.4mm jack
input, battery and audio LEDs, belt/
strap clip

73.6 x 57.1 x 31.7mm
 Six-way
channel select slider, three-way cable
tone slider select, 6.4mm inch jack
output, audio strength, level and
battery life LEDs
 111.8
x 53.3 x 31.7mm
 Nine-volt DC-1 PSU
(receiver); two AA batteries
(transmitter)



Test results






Six frequencies are available
GIT321.rev_line6 109 10/9/09 12:25:46 pm