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Buy new lightning


RobinJacobsson

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We need to buy new lightning to our band. Right now we have 4 old Coeff MP250 moving heads and 4 impractical LED's, we want flat LED's. And we have 2x4 PAR64 as frontlight and 4x4 PAR64 in the backtruss. Can you give me some advices of what we could buy that's not so expensive but would match the light we have right now or better? With DMX so we can get rid of the dimmerpacks. This was bought around year 2000 I think so I guess it don't has to be that expensive to match the light we have since then? I want it to be easy to handle, if we play 3-4 days a week I would prefer if it's weight would be low and that we could pack it up and down fast. So if you have any advices about what to buy and what's affordable, please let me know!

I control the lights through a laptop with Sunlite Suite 1

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I have access to loads of lighting we could use with the band, but to do anything worthwhile needs a human, not a foot switch. I've tried them, and never have time adjusting all the palettes to cope with changes in positions and heights. I've gone back to a few washes, that do very little. I don't have a person, and the sound guy is too busy to do more than press a button at the start and the end!
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I think he is looking for modern fixtures which are lighter ('easy to handle') rather then a new control system. Those Coeffs are 26kg each and do nothing without DMX, so I think he has that part under control. Replace the PAR64s with some decent Chinese LED Pars = smaller and no dimmer required. Do much the same which the movers, any descent ones will be brighter than the old ones.
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Washes or something with gobos? My favourite useful fixture now is zoom RGBW units. Lot of brightness, and able to do quite a bit of useful stuff.

 

There are two different versions of the Coeff MP250, I assume he has the one with gobos and an effects wheel. The wash version is called 'Coeff MP250 Wash'. Those little Chinese mover washes with 7 LEDs are almost as bright as a Coeff MP250 Wash, I was comparing the two last week! I just wish the Chinese one was better quality and had an encoder to feed back position, rather than relying on counting motor steps.

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I think he is looking for modern fixtures which are lighter ('easy to handle') rather then a new control system. Those Coeffs are 26kg each and do nothing without DMX, so I think he has that part under control. Replace the PAR64s with some decent Chinese LED Pars = smaller and no dimmer required. Do much the same which the movers, any descent ones will be brighter than the old ones.

 

Yeah, that is what I mean. The size of the stages varies and I have much time to program it. I need "easier to handle" light, and something that looks better than this old sh*t ;)

So I need some buying advice, which LED's and Moving heads are the cheapest compared to most priceworth light?

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Well - a few months ago I bought some Thomann decotruss to use vertically to support lights, each attached to a base plate. I bought some 90W leds, that have a bunch of decent gobs, and very good light output. I also have a dozen RGWW 19X36W washes. I have another dozen LED strips. All sourced from the Chinese suppliers I use for the audio gear I import.

 

I bought them to service two separate jobs - pretty stuff to use on stage in a theatre, mainly for the music nights, and to use in my band, for myself. The stage side has worked very well, and is simple to connect and use in a number of different ways, but the band usage has been less useful than I liked. They're all in cases, so in most cases, space is the killer. I cut notches in the truss bases so they would slot into each other to fit about 6, maybe 8 in the van horizontally on top of the cases. This worked dreadfully. I ended up having to disconnect the base plates each time. So it fits, but is a pain. It also takes time to set up, something that we cannot afford, either in financial terms or simply available time terms. Without doubt, the show is hugely improved by the lighting, but sometimes it's just not possible in the budget. The expenditure on the equipment has been funded by the theatre work, not the band. No way would this ever pay for itself. What is very clear is that beams in the air, gobos and rotating prism type stuff looks nice, but doesn't light the band. The washes do that - so if I had to work out an absolute minimum to look good it would be 4 of the moving head profiles, probably at the back looking towards the audience, and then 4 washes from the front, lighting the band. If space is at a premium, we might put just a couple of washes on the main speakers, and some of the lighting bars on mic boom stands. Not as good and startling to the eyes!

 

The key feature is flightcases and spare equipment. The Chinese kit, which I'm very positive on is not built to last. Cases crack when bashed. Gobo wheels can bend. Power supplies can die and a thump to the LCD display board can kill the unit totally as it covers all the essential features, but is quite unprotected. This is a years worth of problems. If you need 4 of something, buy 5. At the moment, I have two in bits waiting for the replacement parts. I'm not cross about it, just how it is - but it is a pain.

 

I don't think with this type of equipment it's much use giving specific models as the lifespan on the shelf is too short, and many are common units and modules within different casings. Buy the features you want, and if you buy from Thomann, their guarantee is worth having - but remember that in 18 months, the replacement they send will NOT be the same product.

 

This is just my own experience so far.

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People may scream - but the Showtec Phantom 75's and the one above whatever number it is are very good little LED moving heads. The gobos are able to be swapped around. (handy little door on the top of the fixture),

 

Cant remember the spec off hand - but they quite bright. I regularly use the bigger ones for corporate events and they're great.

 

Well worth a look and not huge £££ either.

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