Ynot

Never changed a Prelude yet, but the sprung clip on the Quartet is a bit of a fiddle to get out (that one that's £11!!).But I guess it's just a knack of squeezing the right bit in the right way.

I actually thought the same thing earlier today as we moved on to the Prelude stock, but other than a quick physical comparison of the broken lens in front of the Prel F I forgot to check it properly.... Plenty of time to check though before we re-open :) But a quick Google actually led me to this topic from 6 years back confirming the identicality :o https://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=58855&view=findpost&p=481418

Cheers for that.The little bent paper clip type lens clip priced at ELEVEN EUROS...! that's rather steep for a bit of stiffened wire. Glad I didn't lose that when the lens came out!

Whoops - that's what I get for posting from the phone - tend to not type as much :) It's a fresnel (hence why I didn't stipulate the beam angle).

Going to be trying the usual suspects to see if anyone has any back stock of these, but just in case anyone out there has one tucked away or maybe a defunct lantern with a good lens in I am in the market. Just in the midst of annual clean, check, repair & test routines & pulled one out that's broken clean in 2...

<coughs back> not applicable to volunteers.... <clears throat>

"13 hour am-dram days...??" You were LUCKY!! Some of am-dram days occasionally stretch from 8am til gorn midnight!! (Thankfully not TOO many...)

We have 4 off week long musicals, a youth musical and three pantos plus Gang Show every year, all of which have build elements. Add to those 7 or 8 comedy nights, about the same number of tribute shows, a handful of touring shows film screenings and a large spattering of dance shows and that's our year... :) We close for 6 weeks as of this Sunday which rather than being a complete break for some of us means maintenance and refurb work time...

The fan element limit was twofold - yes, the lack of fan noise is preferred, BUT the more pressing issue was that the fans also suck in dust & other bits - and our stage sees several ground-up builds every year which creates a lot more debris than just a receiving house would. That meant that in the past twelve to eighten months we saw the Stagg PARs lose partial colour on the COBs and also a lot of random flickering. We noticed that the flickering was usually after the lights had been run for a time and after checking the fan intakes and finding the build up of dust etc on the outside we've concluded that the blockage of the air intake was causing them to overheat, blow the COBs and cause the intermittent strobing. I've cleaned and replaced the COB chips (not an asy job...) in I think a dozen of the 14 Staggs we own, and I now have the very last COB manufactured for those lights ready to go into another faulty unit - Stagg no longer produce them so there's no longer a source of spares. So when the rig comes down for PAT on Sunday this weekend during our dark month they'll all be cleaned and tested - those that are still as they should be will be put into the temporary stock pile and the new Chauvets will go back up when we're done.

We've just invested in ten Chauvet EVE P130 RGB to do our overhead stage wash replacing some Stagg LED PARs that have failed to fulfil the promises made. But the Chauvets are looking VERY nice indeed. They come with a magnetic rimmed interchangeable 25 or 45 degree plastic lens as standard which is quite neat. A little bit steppy at the lower end of intensity, but not unmanageably so - and I've found in the past that level changes as part of a cue is better than driving the change from a fader (no idea why but it does seem that way). Don't get hung up on the 'DJ' marking - these are nice and solid fixtures with Powercon in/out and 3 AND 5 pin ins/outs as well. No fans, so a bonus there (actually it was a requirement for me). We did look at the Prolights Studio COB options but weren't as impressed (and they have fans) And if you get the right deal from your favourite supplier they should come inside your budget. Time will of course tell, but our Chauvet Colorado tri-tours have been giving solid service as our main side-wash units for over 10 years I think, with only a couple of replacements needed so far. Oh - and being just RGB will limit the colour range of course, but it depends on what you're looking for.

How old is the mic? Sennheiser I recall have at least a 2 year warranty but you'd need to send back to them for repair. I've had a few done over the years, and use their repair or replace process - if they can't repair it within the single stated cost (currently £108) they'll replace it with a refurbed model. https://portal.sennheiser.co.uk/rma/repairs/wireless-mics May seem excessive if the switch is all that's bost BUT you then get a repaired guarantee on that mic.

Catalog? Do you have prices for their bars?, could you ping me over a copy. G Sent

If you have a DMX opto-isolator/splitter box try connecting it (carefully) through that. If there ARE stray volts coming off the fixture, the splitter will block them and the monitor should stay kosher...

As per the OP, the initial target will be for an LED floor, depending on budget available for the purchase and options available for re-sale post show. I'd found several places already with b/w or starlit LED floors but they're not quite what we need (though how that budgeting forecast will affect that decision is debatable at this point and we MAY use those as fall-backs). Had response from Grumpy Joe's including sales catalog & price list - as expected for a clearly respected (if hitherto unknown to me) UK manufacturer, the top line is WAY above that of the Chinese import option at that it is way above our practical reach. However they have given me some contacts who have bought their Colour Commander fllor and may have them in hire stock - so still a good contact made. :)

Never heard of that one, but mail sent off, thanks.

I'm designing for a production of Chess this November, and one potential plan will be (of course) an 8x8 chess board on the stage. We are looking at buying in a set of 64 LED floor panels (plus spares) from China (unless anyone knows of any for hire in the UK...) with the aim of looking to sell these on post show. Which of course will enable the investment in the short term. https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Magnetic-mobile-white-light-up-3d_60770040232.html?spm=a2700.8443308.0.0.45b33e5fBHfZ96 The question is, though, will there be anyone out there who would be interested in a commitment to that buy out come the end of November... We plan to include flight cases for storage/transport of course plus the relevant kit to drive it all. So, the questions... Please shout if you feel thus not to be a sensible buy/idea (I'll reserve the right to ignore, of course... ? ? ?) Anyone interested in the idea of taking them? Or are they a potential hire able item if we hung on to them...? Any other thoughts...?

I'm with Kerry. For stage work there's a limit to what you actually need to see/hear from an audience perspective. And unless the act of inhaling is absolutely crucial to the plot, the audience will forgive an awful lot of faux work simply because they will understand that unless the casting team managed to find an asthmatic actor to play the role, the actor playing the role won't be asthmatic and therefore wouldn't be expected to actually use the inhaler properly... Beware of directors who wail 'I MUST have this effect perfect...' because it quite often doesn't need to be, and often is a lot of wasted time trying to perfect something that is completely missed by the punters.

Fair enough - but have you looked at THIS machine in detail?

What's been described above as the pond-fogger type doesn't quite gel with what I saw at PLASA and ABTT, with the MT-Electronic machine though understandably all I have to go on is a short demo whulst there. Those machines are also marketed as 'Made in Austria' so whilst again I couldn't/wouldn't rule out Chinese component parts it's not looking like a Chinese import as a complete box. Add to that the fact that it has a variable fog level - dry ice look through regular fogging up to a definable height of cloud, and that doesn't sound like it's being done with ultrasonics - but then of course I have no background in those other than - well - as pond foggers. All I can say is that the machine on display WAS very impressiveand delivered exactly what I'd expect from a CO2 Pea Souper with no mess or drippage and instantly controllable. Oh - and their datasheet states fluid and water bottle changing being easy, suggesting that this is NOT the tray type Tom's alluding to. All in all, I would definitely recommend anyone getting a demo if you have the £000s to spend on such a machine. It certainly beat the crap out of the Glaciator I hired in once :) E2A data sheet for info

I took the local college route and got 3 on loan for the show (which finished 2 weeks ago :) ) Thought I'd updated this one but clearly failed. :)

That was very likely the MT-Electronic Aqua Fog Vario unit. I saw that first at PLASA couple of years ago and was VERY impressed with the selectable level/type of fog (dry ice effect, regular fog, or a 'cloud' layer at a specifiable height... www.mt-electronic.com I've never quite understood why these haven't taken off over here as the obvious benefits are huge, but if what Tom says applies to this machine then maybe that's the case. But still very impressive.

Is this for IEMs for musicians/singers? If so I'd caution against it for a number of reasons. PMR audio bandwidth is quite small, which means the listener will miss a LOT of any musical content you throw down the line at them. And the even more obvious fact that every man and his dog can run a PMR set both inside and close to the venue so there's a high risk of interference and noise from other users (even if they're encrypted you can still get crosstalk). There's a reason IEMs are built the way they are and can't be done on the cheap like this. If this is NOT for use with performers, then (possibly) ignore me, as it may be irrelevant.

Good thought, CEDD - but they responded very promptly to an e-mail enquiry - nothing available unfortunately. :(

Not quite the most bizarre requests I've had late at night but up there with the best :) Been asked about hiring a prop helicopter for a Miss Saigon themed carnival float next month. I've never seen anywhere doing such, but the hive mind might have some ideas. It's a Warwickshire carnival, so something in Scotland or south Cornwall probably isn't going to be practical, but the husband of the enquirer is a trucker so transport MIGHT be feasible within reason. So - thoughts?