Review of the Fishman AirLock GT Wireless Guitar System]

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If you’ve always dreamed of cutting the cord but never wanted to deal with the inherent hassles prone to most sophisticated wireless systems, Fishman’s got a worthy plug-and-play digital design to consider. For the wireless wary to fully embrace, it would have to be stupidly simple, attainable, reliable and compatible with most active and passive instrument pickups. Enter the AirLock.

The concept could not be more straightforward. Plug the transmitter into your guitar, the receiver into your amp or first pedal, and play away.

The AirLock is Fishman’s first foray into the wireless field, and this move makes total sense. Fishman makes tons of pickups, and a proprietary wireless platform designed to deliver all sorts of signals to amplification is a logical next step. It’s kind of surprising this hasn’t come about before over Fishman’s more than three decades of operation, but also understandable as the company that started out making acoustic pickups has been busy conquering arenas from amps to electric pickups. It stands to reason that a Fishman wireless design would be aimed at the masses that simply want to connect.

I’m glad this review wound up in my hands because it was high time to reconsider going wireless. Like lots of players, I never wanted to deal with big battery packs or worry about signal quality or dropouts. Those concerns were clearly high on Fishman’s list of priorities as indicated right in the name: AirLock. The design looked super simple, so I inquired about a review unit. That took several months as the product has been back ordered since it was announced in summer of 2025. There’s clearly an eager audience for such a system. I couldn’t wait to try it out in front of one.

Talk about simplicity, I was able to achieve AirLock engagement without referring to any instructions.

The nifty product box that you’ll take on the gig has form-fitted compartments for the TX Transmitter and RX Receiver. The latter is slightly larger, but both are very conveniently sized and lightweight. Each fits perfectly in the palm of a hand and has an extendable/retractable 1/4″ jack attached.

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The AirLock transmitter’s front.(Image credit: Courtesy Fishman)

Open the zippered box like a suitcase, and the top half contains all the cords and connectors plus a quick start guide. It’s easy to charge both units simultaneously using the USB Y-cable into a wall charger (not included). An LED light on each unit turns from red to green when ready. The same happens during the pairing process, which happens automatically.

I plugged the transmitter and receiver into a Taylor guitar and amp, and just like that the cord was cut. The full-bodied tone of the acoustic came through loud and clear, and I started walking around the room feeling like Sir Roger Daltrey running along the beach in Tommy — “I’m free!”

I had a few gigs coming up and brought the AirLock along on an Allman Brothers tribute, a holiday party and a wedding. I was still flying blind, and that turned out fine, as there are only a couple of controls to consider. On the transmitter, you can select from three different Cable tones approximating a length of three, five or 10 meters. I found that interesting. Have we all finally adopted the metric system? Anyway, the tone kind of opens, loses bass and becomes more treble-y the longer the selected length, just like an actual cord. I prefer to keep mine as thick as possible on the lowest setting of three meters, or about nine feet.

There’s also an Interference switch with options for low, medium, and high depending on how much Wi-Fi is bouncing around a given room. From what I can tell, the main trade off as you increase the level of Interference resistance is a tiny increase in latency, but even on the highest setting I could play my fastest licks without feeling the tone noticeably lagging behind my fingers. I wasn’t sure what I was going to be dealing with, so I simply choose the middle setting and had no trouble getting a great sound wherever I went.

A photo of the Fishman AirLock Wireless GT in use

The AirLock Wireless GT transmitter. (Image credit: Jimmy Leslie)

It was particularly fun on the holiday party gig because the guests were seated at long tables, and since the first set was all acoustic guitar with no vocals, I was free to stroll my merry way along the audience. I’m the bandleader in the Allmans tribute, so it was great to be able to get up close to each cat for cues. At the wedding, which was actually for the drummer in the Allmans tribute, I walked all around the venue, which was kind of like a rustic barn house, and once again had no issues getting a great tone wherever I roamed.

What I dig most about AirLock is its simplicity. It’s truly plug and play. But what surprises me most is how much I like using AirLock around the house. It’s awesome to audition loud electric guitar tones with the amp in the next room. AirLock works through the walls in my house unless I go into the kitchen, which apparently has more interference, as even on the highest Interference setting, the signal drops out there. AirLock goes into sleep mode to save battery if you don’t play for a while. So I wound up simply leaving it on all day around the house and “waking it up” every once in a while when I felt like playing.

It was particularly fun on a holiday party gig, where I was free to stroll my merry way among the audience.
— Jimmy Leslie

I tried a variety of guitars, and the one I had a bit of a concern about the transmitter fitting was a Fender Stratocaster, as that unique input jack style running up the body means there’s no great way to maneuver the AirLock Transmitter very far out of the way of a flailing plucking hand. At the very furthest, it’s just far enough. I play freehand and do a lot of flailing, so if I can deal with it, everybody else should be on terra firma.

I haven’t had the opportunity to try AirLock in an obviously high radio or Wi-Fi interference situation such as a music festival, but according to the product literature, “AirLock operates on a license-free frequency of 2.4 GHz using 24-bit A/D/A digital audio conversion with a range of up to 150 feet.” It goes on to point out, “This is not some typical 2.4 Ghz radio design that makes you choose between Wi-Fi or wireless. Unmatched interference handling allows you to overcome dense Wi-Fi situations with incredibly low latency, yet still achieve audio quality as good or better than a standard instrument cable.”

A photo of the Fishman AirLock Wireless GT in use

The Fishman AirLock Wireless GT receiver. (Image credit: Jimmy Leslie)

I can attest to that, as I compared the AirLock to high-quality cables and found the signals comparable.

I also found the battery to last plenty of time to cover any of the gig situations. According to product literature, the internal battery lasts for about nine hours and is user replaceable, meaning you can replace just the battery kit rather than the whole apparatus after, say, four to five years of trouble-free operation. In the age of disposable everything, I appreciate this consideration.

Another cool application is using the AirLock to record directly to a computer using the USB-C on the Transmitter.

— Jimmy Leslie

Another cool application is using the AirLock to record directly to a computer using the USB-C on the Transmitter, which facilitates direct recording or streaming without the need for an interface. Fishman.com says, “This USB digital audio output is 24-bit, class-compliant, which means you don’t need no stinkin’ drivers.” I checked it out, and it works great. That’s very handy for recording to a laptop in the hotel after a gig.

Since I have a Universal Audio Apollo Twin X interface at home, I wound up using the AirLock wireless with the Transmitter plugged into the front guitar input jack, eliminating cable clutter and sounding as good or even better than a cord to my ears during tracking and when I A/B’d the recordings upon playback.

Kudos to Fishman for stepping up and delivering simple, reliable wireless signal processing designed specifically for guitar players. Cables suck! Being untethered feels fabulous and sounds great. I’ve often joked around at the end of a gig when I’m still winding cables after most everyone else has left that I’ll be doing this for eternity in hell. Now I’m in cordless heaven.

SPECIFICATIONS

PRO-AIR-GT1

CONTACT fishman.com

PRICE $319.95 street

CONFIGURATION 1/4″ instrument set with Transmitter and Receiver

I/O AND CONTROLS TX TRANSMITTER 1/4″ input, USB-C (charging), Bluetooth pairing, Interference (low, med, high), Cable Tone switch (3m, 5m, 10m) power on/off, LED indicators for pair and power

I/O AND CONTROLS RX RECEIVER 1/4″ output, 9VDC in, USB-C (battery charge or record out), power on/off, Bluetooth pairing, LED indicators for pair and power

BATTERY Rechargeable internal Li-Po, user replaceable, 9-10 hours per full charge, 3 hours after 5-min charge

RADIO TECH RF channel diversity with automatic channelization and interference avoidance; operating frequency 2.4 GHz license-free (2402 – 2480 MHz, 80 channels)