Wireless systems often don’t get along well with pedalboards. BOSS now has your pedalboard in their sights with their new WL-60 Wireless System.
It’s pretty simple overall; with just a pedal sized receiver to place on your board. It has the usual 1/4” ins and outs, while power is supplied from the industry standard 9v power connection, or a pair of AA batteries. Want to power your pedals? There’s a 9V output jack, so with a daisy chain power cable, your other pedals now have juice. This cable isn’t provided however, and neither is the 9v power supply. Wait, why does it have an input jack? Well if there is some interference that can’t be overcome, just plug a standard cable in, and it works as a pass through, and doesn’t need to be unplugged, moved around or off a pedalboard and bypassed with a cable.
The transmitter/belt unit is pretty simple; as it runs on AA batteries, and only has an on/off switch and channel select function. Included is a small braided 1/4” cable, with one end straight, and one end angled. Perfect if you have a Tele with a vintage jack, where angled plugs won’t really fit, or if you have a front mounted input jack on a pickguard, you can keep a low profile on the instrument with the angled end.
Getting it running is easy; plug in, power up, and hit the SCAN Button on the receiver. Within moments it will tell you via the well-lit LCD display what channel is best, and you just select that channel on the transmitter. All done. Now go play.
The receiver’s display shows the channel, battery level, and lights up SIG when it’s getting signal. It also has a level display on the channel signal’s strength as well. Now the channels can be set manually without the scan mode, if need be. Speaking of battery life, the AA batteries can go for about 25 hours. Nice.
The range is about 65 feet, so for small to medium sized stages it’s perfect. Like all wireless units, line of sight is a big factor in maintaining a strong connection, but we had no issues going around to another room, and still getting a healthy signal. BOSS has also added in a “CABLE” mode, with an emulation of a short cable, like a 10 footer, for example. There’s also a long version as well, which has the feel of a 20 foot cable. Cable length does make a difference in tone, as longer cables can take a bit of high end out of the signal. That’s not a bad thing, with single coils that can make all the difference, producing a slightly sweeter tone. The player can also bypass these variations as well, in the off setting. Sound wise, it’s great with no added hiss or noise; players can easily find room on their boards for one of these.
The only con is both the transmitter and receiver are made out of plastic. For the receiver that will live on a pedalboard, that’s not such a big deal, but the transmitter could easily take a fall on a stage, and the wire belt clip isn’t that robust, it kind of felt like it was going to slide off, and when we tried attaching it to a guitar strap, it fell off with minimal force, and dropped to the floor. We didn’t want to bend or distort the wire clip for fear of breakage, but it fit easily in a back pants pocket.
Overall though, for the price and the sound quality, it’s a real good deal for players who want a reasonably priced, easy-to-use and great sounding wireless solution that is simple into put into any pedal board, for most small to medium size stages.
PROS:
Easy integration into any pedalboard, bypass mode, great sound, decent range
CONS:
Plastic construction on transmitter/instrument pack.
STREET PRICE:
$279