Guitar Tricks Insider May / June Issue | Page 69

GEAR REVIEW I ntroduced in the late 1970s, early generations of wireless systems could be buggy, fragile, and expensive. Worse, they occasionally picked up local radios stations or nearby CB radios during your best guitar solos. Oh, how the times have changed. The Audio-Technica System 10 Stompbox (ATW-T1501) sports digital circuitry and a 2.4 GHz digital frequency range for accuracy and high-fidelity. Let’s find out more. The System 10 is based on one simple premise: you plug the foot pedal section into your amp and the transmitter into your guitar input. And it works. There is no fussing around with finding the right frequency or making sure the transmitter (AT-T1001) and receiver (ATW-R1500) achieve a proper “handshake,” which is parlance for how they begin to communicate. This is a great relief for the musician who wants a sturdy wireless system that’s ready to go at a moment’s notice. The basic parts of the Stompbox are a transmitter that clips onto a guitar strap and a floor-based receiver unit. The transmitter runs on two AA batteries, and its send and receive antennae are all but invisible to the user; but they’re definitely in there hard at work. Audio-Technica uses a “diversity” system for clear communications—Frequency (signal sent on two frequencies to avoid interference); Time (sent in multiple time slots); and Space, using two send and two receive antennae. This may sound complicated but the skinny is that the System 10 is sending out your guitar signal in many different ways to ensure that it’s received and sounds great on the other end. That other end, by the way, is a simple stompbox-sized unit that you can put on the floor or in a pedalboard. It runs a standard 9v-DC power supply, so make sure to have juice available for the unit. The pedal has a single footswitch and a digital readout to show the channel number (1-8) signifying the digital pairing between devices. The Audio-Technica folks have preset this at the MAY / JUNE DIGITAL EDITION GUITAR TRICKS INSIDER 69