Today I am reviewing a really cool product – the Lekato WS-50 Wireless Guitar system. If you’d like to watch this review and hear some samples, it’s available on the budgetguitarist.com YouTube channel.
Lekato sent me this product earlier this week, and I spent a few days using it so I could do the review. I’ll get right to the point – I really like the WS-50, and I will definitely be using it for jamming and I’ll try it out at gigs. Since this unit is available on Amazon, I’ve included an Amazon-affiliated link below and at the end of the review. If you buy this unit using my link, Amazon will give me a very small amount of money, which supports the website.
LEKATO Wireless Guitar System 5.8 Wireless Guitar
The Lekato WS-50 comes with a transmitter, a receiver, a recharging cable, and an owner’s manual. The owner’s manual tells you how to pair the devices to each other and gives you some tips on usage. You can get it in black or fake wood grain. I got the fake wood grain. Some people think the fake wood is a little tacky, but I kinda like it. I think it’s kinda funny.
Let’s talk about specs.
The WS-50 uses a 5.8 Ghz wireless transmission system. Lekato also sells 2.4 Ghz systems, if that’s more what you’re looking for. There’s a lot of conflicting information available online regarding 5.8 Ghz vs 2.4 Ghz. 2.4 Ghz is more widely used, so 5.8 Ghz is often a better choice if there’s a lot of radio waves in your area, like in a city or a very populated place.
The audio quality is extremely good for a budget device. It’s a 24 bit 48 Khz system, which is definitely broadcast quality.
The frequency response is 10 Hz to 22 KHz, give or take 1 db.
The total harmonic distortion is .02%, which is very low.
Latency is somewhere around 5 ms. For guitar playing, that’s pretty good. Most players start to notice latency at around 10 ms.
The internal batteries will last for around 5 hours, which is good enough for almost any gig. The owners manual says that the batteries will slowly lose their charge if they sit around for long periods of time, so they recommend recharging them at least once every two months.
The transmitter can send signal to up to four receiver units, so technically you could send a signal to your amp as well as to a recording system at the same time.
The range of the system is around 100 meters, but you might start to notice some artifacts if you put several walls between the guitar and the amp.
How does it compare to the sound of a regular guitar cable, you ask? In the room, I can hear a small difference between the WS-50 and the cable, but I’m not sure if one sounds better than the other. They both sound good. In a recording, I couldn’t tell one from the other unless you told me.
As of right now, July 5, 2023, the WS-50 sells on Amazon for $58.99, which makes it the least expensive 5.8 Ghz wireless guitar system I could find.
Lekato sells other wireless systems. The WS-60, WS-70, and WS-80 systems are all available on Amazon. They’re even less expensive, because the WS-50 has the best frequency response and the lowest latency.
So it works well, sounds great, low latency, 5 hour battery life, and it’s inexpensive. Is there any downside? I can only think of two. One, it doesn’t come with a case, although you can order one for 15 bucks. And two, this has a rechargeable battery in it that can’t be replaced, so when the battery finally dies, you’ll need a new system. The Line 6 Relay G30 system uses double A batteries which can be replaced. But the Line 6 system costs $230, and this is around $60. This isn’t designed for Eric Johnson or Steve Vai – it’s designed for budget-conscious players who want great sound for not much money. I can’t tell you how many years the battery will last. If that’s super important to you, I’d recommend a more expensive system with replaceable batteries.
Overall, I think this is a great product for what it is – it’s an inexpensive wireless transmitter for your electric guitar, and it’s cheaper and better than Behringer’s offering. If you can beat Behringer on price, you KNOW you’re inexpensive. I’m definitely happy with this product!
If you’re interested in purchasing one through my Amazon-affliated link, there it is again:
