lightingtek
Member
In the last year and a half, I have made two separate purchases for my theatre that individually were great, but together have caused me a headache that I didn't even realize until yesterday.
In May of 2011, I purchased 3 new countryman B3 mics for my existing Sennheiser EW100 (G2 series) lavalier packs (I have six of them, and had purchased 2 B3s when I purchased the EW100s 7 years ago). The new B3s worked great. Towards the end of 2011 I purchased 8 new Sennheiser EW100 (this time G3 series) lavalier transmitters and receivers, along with two antenna splitters to add to my sound system. It may seem like overkill to have 18 body mics in a high school theatre (when you include my 4 Shure mics which are not a part of this scenario), but we actually used all of them in our recent production of Les Mis. As I continued using the new B3s and the new G3s I started having to pull a B3 off of an actor and replace it with the black lead that came with the mic (doesn't look as good taped to an actor's face, but at least we could hear them) during a rehearsal and when I tested it the next day, couldn't find a problem. By the end of the school year, I had a pile of B3s on my desk that I couldn't get reliable service out of, and realized they were the three that I had just purchased in the previous year. So I took them to the distributer for repair, who in turn sends them to countryman for warranty work, only to find out the damage is not covered under manufacturer warranty and I'll have to pay for repairs. Fine, getting three working mics back in rotation is important, so I pay the bill. First show of the new school year rolls around, and I hand a box with three recently repaired (or replaced) Countryman B3 mics (un-opened since it was returned to me) to my sound tech to put on actors at our first tech rehearsal. As we make it half way through rehearsal, I realize I have gone backstage and changed ALL 3 OF THE MICS back to the standard black leads that came with the mic pack. Upon returning them to the distributer and demanding my repair money back, they ask me to leave the mics with them so they can test them and will call me back. They call the next day to say the mics are working just fine. So I return to the distributer with a Sennheiser EW100 G2, and a Sennheiser EW100 G3 to plug into their system and see why they work on the rental mic, but not mine. Turns out they work just fine on a G2, but not so much on the G3. We look closer and see that the model number is B3W5FF05LSD, and the other two B3s that I have are B3W5FF05LSR. The SR means Sennheiser. If they end in SL they are for Shure, SO is for Sony, etc. There is no mention of what the SD mic is designed for on Countryman's website. For the record, the original 2 mics that I have that end in SR work just fine on the G2 AND the G3 series of transmitters.
Now I come to the question. Does anyone know what a B3W5FF05LSD is, and why it will work on a Sennheiser EW 100 G2, but not on a EW100 G3?
Thanks,
Steven Gillmore
Heritage Hall
Director of Technical Theatre
In May of 2011, I purchased 3 new countryman B3 mics for my existing Sennheiser EW100 (G2 series) lavalier packs (I have six of them, and had purchased 2 B3s when I purchased the EW100s 7 years ago). The new B3s worked great. Towards the end of 2011 I purchased 8 new Sennheiser EW100 (this time G3 series) lavalier transmitters and receivers, along with two antenna splitters to add to my sound system. It may seem like overkill to have 18 body mics in a high school theatre (when you include my 4 Shure mics which are not a part of this scenario), but we actually used all of them in our recent production of Les Mis. As I continued using the new B3s and the new G3s I started having to pull a B3 off of an actor and replace it with the black lead that came with the mic (doesn't look as good taped to an actor's face, but at least we could hear them) during a rehearsal and when I tested it the next day, couldn't find a problem. By the end of the school year, I had a pile of B3s on my desk that I couldn't get reliable service out of, and realized they were the three that I had just purchased in the previous year. So I took them to the distributer for repair, who in turn sends them to countryman for warranty work, only to find out the damage is not covered under manufacturer warranty and I'll have to pay for repairs. Fine, getting three working mics back in rotation is important, so I pay the bill. First show of the new school year rolls around, and I hand a box with three recently repaired (or replaced) Countryman B3 mics (un-opened since it was returned to me) to my sound tech to put on actors at our first tech rehearsal. As we make it half way through rehearsal, I realize I have gone backstage and changed ALL 3 OF THE MICS back to the standard black leads that came with the mic pack. Upon returning them to the distributer and demanding my repair money back, they ask me to leave the mics with them so they can test them and will call me back. They call the next day to say the mics are working just fine. So I return to the distributer with a Sennheiser EW100 G2, and a Sennheiser EW100 G3 to plug into their system and see why they work on the rental mic, but not mine. Turns out they work just fine on a G2, but not so much on the G3. We look closer and see that the model number is B3W5FF05LSD, and the other two B3s that I have are B3W5FF05LSR. The SR means Sennheiser. If they end in SL they are for Shure, SO is for Sony, etc. There is no mention of what the SD mic is designed for on Countryman's website. For the record, the original 2 mics that I have that end in SR work just fine on the G2 AND the G3 series of transmitters.
Now I come to the question. Does anyone know what a B3W5FF05LSD is, and why it will work on a Sennheiser EW 100 G2, but not on a EW100 G3?
Thanks,
Steven Gillmore
Heritage Hall
Director of Technical Theatre
