Where to buy a lighting desk

[stevieboi]

Hi - as the title suggests - where does one go to purchase a lighting desk and get price comparisons etc? im looking at a strand 200 series, or zero88 jester, or an etc express. any good / bad things about tose also appreciated. I know they are all quite different in price range.

 

cheers

[Paul J Need]

Hi there,

 

Drop me a line if you like and we'll try and help.

 

Although the Strand 200 is not made any more, we have one left I beleive.

It wouldl handy if you could list what features you need/want, and what type of productions the desk would be used for.

 

Cheers for now

 

Paul

[gareth]

The Strand 200 is a lovely little desk, but as Paul says you'll be very lucky to find one these days. Also, it's rather odd that you're looking for a Strand 200 or an ETC Express - they're very different desks, with very different capabilities and in very different price ranges. The Strand equivalent of the Express would've been the 300-series until a short while ago, and now the Classic Palette is probably the closest equivalent. Certainly not a 200, though ...

[stevieboi]

thanks for the replies. im looking for something that will happily run up 24 channels of dimming with 4 to 6 scrollers. with room for future expansion. would be used for live work, cue stack and monitor port usefull features and I want something that will last. moving light control not needed although it would be useful for future expansion. budget under £1000. any other suggestions also appreciated.

 

cheers

[Paul J Need]

So you need more than a 24 channel desk.

 

24 Dimmers

4 Scrollers ( 4-8 control channels)

6 Scrollers ( 6-12 control channels)

 

36 channel desk then :P

Here lies a problem; not any of that size made anymore. Unless you go for a second hand desk.

 

If you could stretch the budget a little I'd suggest opting for a Fat frog; fab little desk, you could then run you scrollers from the moving light control, and still have space for 6 movers, or use the subs, leaving room for 12 movers in the future.

[stevieboi]

stretching the budget by £1000. probably not unfortunately! forgetting moving lights, would the jester 24/48 do what I want to do?

[Andyb]

As for 'where', be careful. You may be able to get the cheapest price by phoning round suppliers and searching round the Internet to find box shifters. However, think also of after sales service. You may well end up spending any price difference if anything untoward happens. Things to consider may be a delay in the supply, through to a fault occurring. If you have made an Internet purchase you will almost certainly be liable for any additional rental and postage costs. If you have purchased from a local supplier, and they are worth there salt, they would almost certainly support their sale at their cost.

 

Just my two pence worth for buying locally - where ever you are...

 

RE Jester 24/48, in wide mode would happily do ther job. Zero 88 have a full spec on there web site and even specifically mention the control of scrollers.

 

andrew

[Paul J Need]

Things to consider may be a delay in the supply, through to a fault occurring. If you have made an Internet purchase you will almost certainly be liable for any additional rental and postage costs. If you have purchased from a local supplier, and they are worth there salt, they would almost certainly support their sale at their cost.

 

Hi Andyb,

 

Could you just clarify a few of your comments.

 

"Delay in supply through a fault occuring" - usually a good supplier would lend a replacement desk while a faulty one was being repaired, would you agree? Inside or outside the warranty period.

 

"you will almost certainly be liable for any additional rental and postage costs" - surely if a fault did occur within the warranry period a decent seller would arrange for collection from the customer at the sellers cost, and return this unit at their expense also; the customer paying nothing for this service. There would be no additional rental costs if a replacement desk was loadned to the customer.

 

There is always a cost of returning an item to where it was purchased from; whether the bus fare to and from the store; lost time and inconvenience. Surely if a supplier is able to collect from the customer during the same or next day following a reported fault, this is less hassle for the customer.

[Ben Langfeld]

Things to consider may be a delay in the supply, through to a fault occurring. If you have made an Internet purchase you will almost certainly be liable for any additional rental and postage costs. If you have purchased from a local supplier, and they are worth there salt, they would almost certainly support their sale at their cost.

 

"Delay in supply through a fault occuring" - usually a good supplier would lend a replacement desk while a faulty one was being repaired, would you agree? Inside or outside the warranty period.

 

Notice Andyb said "through to" not just "through".

[Andyb]

You used a phrase that I completely agree with. "A decent supplier" would, I agree, fully support the product that they sell, arranging collections, supplying substitute desks etc as required.

 

There are some companies selling at vast discounts that would not provide the service you and I would expect to receive and supply. On the margins that they are re-selling, from a business prospective I am not surprised either.

 

My point is that a buyer should make themselves aware of what after sales service that can expect to receive before they make a purchase. If only the statutory minimum provided, it could become expensive in time and money.

 

Make sure that you do find a 'decent' company to purchase from, that will give you the service you require.

 

I hope that clears up my comments.

andrew

 

Hi Andyb,

 

Could you just clarify a few of your comments.

.....

[Dave]

You used a phrase that I completely agree with. "A decent supplier" would, I agree, fully support the product that they sell, arranging collections, supplying substitute desks etc as required.

 

There are some companies selling at vast discounts that would not provide the service you and I would expect to receive and supply. On the margins that they are re-selling, from a business prospective I am not surprised either.

 

My point is that a buyer should make themselves aware of what after sales service that can expect to receive before they make a purchase. If only the statutory minimum provided, it could become expensive in time and money.

Question: what level of service would you and I expect? Different people have different expectations. In the end, you pays your money and you takes your chance.

 

If you want to pay something close to list price, I'd definitely expect a commitment from the seller to a high level of service. But I do wonder how many companies would (eg) arrange for collection of a failed product and supply a loan one whilst it was being fixed. Not that many, I suspect.

 

If you get a deep discount on the list price, then you'll probably just get a return-to-base warranty.

 

I don't expect anything more than the latter, but then I don't pay retail.

 

In the end, it's down to what you as a buyer need. And if you don't need it, why pay for it?

 

What I'm saying is that I don't think it is appropriate to criticise the lack of service from box-shifters (unless they promise something that they don't provide) or suggest that they are not "decent suppliers". They operate under a different business model to companies providing greater levels of support. I suppose the two extremes are:

 

(a) Low margin, low price, high volume, low service

(b) High margin, high price, low volume, high service

 

Both are equally valid IMO.

 

The other thing worth considering is that equipment is very reliable and failures are rare. So if you buy an number of items, the chances are that only a small fraction will ever break down. So, the savings you make by buying everything cheap will normally cover the rental cost of replacements (with plenty left over). But the equation may be different for you...

[Tomo]

Sorry to say this, but a new ETC Express is way outside your budget!

 

The ETC consoles that would suit your price range are the Smartfade series.

I would recommend either a Smartfade 24/96 or a Smartfade ML.

 

The Smartfade is a pure generics desk - push a fader, a light comes on.

The Smartfade ML is a powerful moving light and generics desk, which was launched last month. ML would stretch your budget though.

 

You can buy these from any of ETC's dealers - check the website to find your local ones.

 

And don't forget that ETC offer lots of support!

[dave singleton]

Go for the Jester 24/48. We have some in stock I believe.

 

Fantastic little desk, ours are constantly out. They either be a highly basic very simple to use memory desk for amdram or if you read the manual a bit more you will find out they do alot more.

 

Just don't think that you can plot the auxillaries into cues. I found that out the hard way! :D

[monkeypuzzle]

shame, I just let my MA lightcommander 24/6 go, that may have done the trick perfectly, it has six extra channels that are post master fader so they don't change when you drop the level (perfect for scrollers) its a two preset desk but will run in wide mode giving a total of 54 ch. its got more playbacks than you can shake a stick at and is really easy to use. The are really robust desks, quality german engineering but new are a little over priced at 2350 list from ac. Second hand though, you might just get yourself a bargin.

[Ian Ferguson]

Although the Strand 200 is not made any more,

 

The Strand 100 and 200 series desks are still being made and are available.