Sound Devices has announced the launch of the Astral wireless guitar system that’s a new implementation of the company’s Astral-series wireless product ecosystem designed specifically for use by guitar and bass players.
The system configuration has the A20-TX smart guitar cable and A20-TX guitar strap clip working with A20-Nexus true-diversity wireless receivers and A20-TX transmitters. The patent-pending A20-TX cable utilizes circuitry within the 1/4-inch plug to allow for user-adjustable capacitance and impedance to make sure that the guitar’s pickups interact the same way with the wireless transmitter as they would hard-wired via a length of guitar cable.
As with all Astral-series products, the wireless guitar system employs Sound Devices’ proprietary SpectraBand technology that offers a global tuning range of 169 to 1525 MHz.
“The aim of the Astral-series ecosystem was to provide a robust, versatile platform for musicians by the musicians at Sound Devices.,” says Sound Devices CEO Matt Anderson. “The innovations we’ve made in wireless have provided us with the opportunity to revolutionize wireless in the live sound community. The Astral Guitar System serves the needs of guitar and bass players who – until now haven’t had access to this level of sonic transparency, reliable signal strength, and rock-solid reliability for tours around the world.”
Astral guitar system overview:
— Adjustment of cable capacitance from 0 pF to 1500 pF in 25 pF steps. This corresponds to 1 to 60 feet of typical guitar cable in 1-foot steps.
— Selectable input impedance of 100k, 1M, and 10M ohms, allowing the guitar’s pickup to “see” the same input characteristics as the amplifier.
— Stated 18 volts of signal headroom at 1/4-inch plug to eliminate unwanted distortion, offering 140 dB of dynamic range with any guitar or bass, even those with “super-hot” humbuckers and active pickups.
— Stated latency of 1.9 ms.
— Adjustment of these parameters from the A20-TX transmitter or remotely from the A20-Nexus receiver.
— 0 dB gain from ¼” input to ¼” output, just like a cable – the amplifier or pedalboard sees your guitar’s output exactly.
— Balanced output from 1/4-inch guitar plug to transmitter input, for the ultimate in noise-rejection without tone or feel changes.
— Two-sided, secure guitar strap clips designed to help prevent the transmitter from loosening or falling off the guitar strap.
— 100 percentdigital modulation, with stated 10 Hz to 20 kHz audio bandwidth and 140 dB dynamic range.
— Optional 1/4-inch output interface box with Lundahl isolation transformers, Iso and Direct modes, and ground-lift per channel.
