Abstract CE Colour Changers. Are they any good

[thatblokewiththelaser]

Hello All, I offer a mobile dj service and currently we have a rig with a load of parcans, we want to get shut of these and go for more compact colour changers, now ive been offered 20 of these for £40 each. they are white and have a 150watt discharge lamp (all have lamps in!)

 

now I have the option to buy all of these or just a couple but I cant find a manual or anything about them, I know they are DMX and in good condition, but I also hire a rig out to a band who use it for shows and these would be an advantage to them. or I could offer them on for sale the ones I dont need.

 

can I have your opinion of them as abstract stuff is somethin we havent really touched and I thought the abstract revolution scanners were garbage!

 

many thanks in advance

[ed_ld]

Hi,

As colour changers go, these aren't too bad,especially at that price. We also bought a bulk load of them in white. They are nice and bright and work well on a controller or in stand alone mode.

There are plenty of gobos and the colours are really rich, however there are a few things to look out for as with all Abstract kit.

The green and UV tend to fade and burn out quite easily on the colour wheel with lots of use so it's worth checking them out first. Also they don't have a shutter, which may be a downside for your band work, as you have to scroll through the gobo wheel to do a black out but for discos, they're great.

 

There is a lot of white Abstract kit floating around at the moment, from when the Yates bar chain refitted all their bars a year or two ago. I've seen a lot of it, some good, some bad. In a lot of cases, the units have been left screwed to a ceiling for years without service or cleaning and as a result vulnerable parts like fans and stepper motors have worn out or become clogged with smoke and dust. I've heard some companies are simply cleaning the fixtures and selling them on without servicing and repairing them properly so I would definitely check the history of these units before you go ahead.

 

Hope this is of some help,

Cheers!

[paulears]

It's worth noting that Abstract no longer service or support any of their old kit anymore. they seem to have given that all to ouside companies to deal with. Service issues on older kit is now looked after by a company called Lextrix in Leicestershire - who do seem chirpy on the phone!

 

All the on-line manuals have vanished from the Abstract site and none of the old kit is mentioned at all!

[thatblokewiththelaser]

thats great, ill take them then, might take them alland then resell the ones I dont need, anyone want any!!!!

[Simon E]

I assume that you mean CED (which is the 150w discharge model, I think the CE was the 250w hallogen model). I too have a small collection of them in white! Great for use on mirror balls, fairly good for disco work (for colour changers anyway!), pretty rubish for lighting stages however as the beams are much tighter than par-cans, more like pinspots infact. Build quality is fairly solid, but as already said the UV and dark green gells will probably burn out (ammusingly they have solved the problem on the newer mad range by removing them completely!), on the bright side they are only about £1 each (they actualy look pretty funky burnt out too, like lithos imho). Oh and make sure that they have the yokes with them! (as they thend to get left behind!)

 

Si

[thatblokewiththelaser]

yokes?you mean the brackets! yeah as far as I know they are the CEDs as he toldme they are the discharge versions of them, thing is I cant find jack $sh1t about them on the net, I am buying from a bloke who knows someone who has stripped a nightclub and its a bit of a way to go to turn up and say, no I dont want them. he told me if I want the lot I can take 20 of them for £600 cash. so £30 per unit is not bad at all as they all come with lamps. the thing is as there is NO info about them on the net I dont even know if they have gobos in or anything else about them, (I know they are DMX and sound to light and I also know they will be grit blasted and powder coated in "disco light" black!!!

 

anywhere I can get the original manual or find anything out about ehm (ie numbe rof colours gobos channels, dms addressing) woudl be ghreat I might giev that company a call in leicester and see if they know anything

 

cheers all for the advice

[paulears]

if they are the basic rear end from the old futurescan 3 scanners, without the mirror, I have an old manual I could email to you - let me know.

[Simon E]

Ok some more info for you :D

 

Ch: 1 -Colour (ten + multicolour + multicolour)

Ch: 2 -Gobo (4 gobos, frost, colour conversion gell, and 4 apature sizes)

 

The colour wheel moves proportionally (so split colours and colour fades can be achieved), whilst the gobos 'snap' into position.

At higher DMX values the gobo wheel acts as a strobe.

 

In sound to light mode (which is one of abstracts strong points) the can be liked together, Oh and the last dip switch if set, makes that unit do an alternative (but complimentary) light show to the units without the dip switch set, which is useful if you are using large number of them on sound to light.

 

Si

[thatblokewiththelaser]

thats great. sounds great for a mobile rig. think ill sell my mate th epar cans for his own show!!! thanks all for your help. right offto go and collect them all now!