Strand GSX Lighting Console

[lightbulb789]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know anywhere I could get a Strand GSX lighting console Second Hand and cheap. But in good condition.

 

Thanks

 

Adam

[tonythetechie]

Hi Adam

 

If it's a GSX you are after, a quick search from the lighting frequently asked questions throws up the following two links from the where do I buy second hand equipment question.

 

Both have GSX's for sale.

 

Stage Electrics

 

Enlightenment

 

Hope this helps

 

Tony

[Brian]

Used Lighting have one at the moment.

[lightbulb789]

Does anyone know how much they retail for Brand new.

[peter]

AFAIK they aren't being manufactured any more - they've been superceeded by the Strand 300 and 500 range. They're certainly not listed on the Strand website.

[Bryson]

Yes, they don't make them any more. Strand would say that the 300 series replaced them and the LBX.

 

Depending on what you use it for, the extra money for the faders on the LBX could be well worth it.

[Jon T]

yer usedlighting.co.uk have one. It's the cheapest one I have seen 2nd hand for 1k. Quite a good desk for the money in my opinion.

 

J

[Brian]

Does anyone know how much they retail for Brand new.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In 1994 a console with software (100 channels) was £4534

[Mr Steve]

I have a 25 channel GSX. The only problem I have with it is that it's a 25 channel GSX.

 

Does anyone know anyone selling the 25 channel upgrade software? I have emailed SE and Strand, and they both do it for £479, which quite frankly is a rip off ;)

[James C]

When I needed to hire a desk I knew well to cover for my Express (it was on sick-leave, and was taking in the sea-air at a convalescent home in Bristol), I asked about hiring a GSX for old times' sake. Apparently the one Stage Electrics have (it was in hire-stock, not for sale at the time) is their last one (and curiously, would have cost more than an Express to hire :** laughs out loud **: ). Moral of the tale: If you want one, snap one up sharpish!

In the end, Those lovely Bristolians did a rush-job on getting my express through surgery, and saved me a fortune in ire bills. ;)

[SceneMaster]

Hi,

 

I’m probably going to get shot now but are the GSX and LBX desks any good as lighting desks by today’s standards? I know there old hence I have only so far seen two old pics of both desks but do they have functions and features which make them an ok desk to work with even if they are old and are they worth the £1500 I have seen the GSX advertised in some places? Having never worked with either desk I don’t know but I am guessing that they must have in their time been legends if people are still prepared to pay censurable sums of money for them??? If they were the ancestors of the 300 and 500 series they must be ok as these are great desks (well I can only vouch for the 500i but anyway…). What features of the GSX or LBX make them great desks and do they have the ability to handle movers well or not (LTP???). I may have the opportunity to hire an GSX or even an LBX instead of an Axiom36 would this be a good idea if the desks have full software?

 

On a side topic could someone please explain the software upgrading idea to unlock more channels (I understand the principle eg. You pay more for the software with more channels) but isn’t this a little unfair on the owner of the desk who has brought equipment which has the capacity to do something and is not able to do it without paying lot more. Personally I would rather pay more up front and get free upgrades (like an avolites desk) I know strand don’t operate in this way anymore I just can’t see the reasoning for this in the first place. The only sensible valid reason I can see is to allow people who need fewer channels than the maximum to pay less but even then this desk must have been expensive.

 

Any thoughts,

 

Scenemaster

 

Please don't shoot me for asking if these desk are any good, I’ve never been in contact with one ;) .

[Mr Steve]

As far as I know, the GSX can't do movers. It even struggles with scrollers as that capability was an afterthought. It has a crappy chase/FX system (eg, you can only have 10 steps per chase, and each step must be full intensity, unless you do it with linked cues).

 

It's a good theatre desk though for generics. Real simple.

 

But you're right, it is old and has been superseded really.

[gareth]

Hi,

 

I’m probably going to get shot now but are the GSX and LBX desks any good as lighting desks by today’s standards? I know there old hence I have only so far seen two old pics of both desks but do they have functions and features which make them an ok desk to work with even if they are old and are they worth the £1500 I have seen the GSX advertised in some places? Having never worked with either desk I don’t know but I am guessing that they must have in their time been legends if people are still prepared to pay censurable sums of money for them??? If they were the ancestors of the 300 and 500 series they must be ok as these are great desks (well I can only vouch for the 500i but anyway…). What features of the GSX or LBX make them great desks and do they have the ability to handle movers well or not (LTP???). I may have the opportunity to hire an GSX or even an LBX instead of an Axiom36 would this be a good idea if the desks have full software?

 

On a side topic could someone please explain the software upgrading idea to unlock more channels (I understand the principle eg. You pay more for the software with more channels) but isn’t this a little unfair on the owner of the desk who has brought equipment which has the capacity to do something and is not able to do it without paying lot more. Personally I would rather pay more up front and get free upgrades (like an avolites desk) I know strand don’t operate in this way anymore I just can’t see the reasoning for this in the first place. The only sensible valid reason I can see is to allow people who need fewer channels than the maximum to pay less but even then this desk must have been expensive.

 

Any thoughts,

 

Scenemaster

 

Please don't shoot me for asking if these desk are any good, I’ve never been in contact with one  :** laughs out loud **: .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Cor! What a lot of questions! :huh:

 

OK, one at a time. The GSX/LBX weren't really any good by yesterday's standards, never mind today's. They were, IMO, a best-not-talked-about blip in Strand's otherwise-excellent lineage of control desks. I certainly wouldn't pay £1500 for a second-hand GSX - it's functionality is very limited compared to modern desks, and it's an obsolete model (has been for quite some time).

 

I wouldn't say they're the 'ancestors' of the 300-series, and certianly not of the 500-series. If you're looking to compare these fine pieces of deskage to something from Strand history, I'd say you'd have to look at LP90 (or possibly Galaxy Nova, which was a fine, fine desk which I love to bits) as being the direct forerunner of the 400-series (which preceeded the 500-series). The 300-series was a sort of 'afterthought'' - my own personal theory is that someone at Strand realised that the 500-series was selling like hot cakes to customers who would previously have bought a Galaxy Nova or LP90, and thought to themselves "but what about all those all-but-fogotten potential Gemini 2 purchasers who are now buying ETC Express consoles?". Ker-ching! 300-series was born! ;)

 

GSX and LBX didn't, as far as I can see, have any features which "made them great". Never mind moving lights, they even struggled a bit with scrollers (as someone else has already mentioned).

 

As regards the question of buying a desk with limited software and then hasving to expand it by virtue of ludicrously expensive 'software upgrades' - well, that's something that I never quite managed to get my head around, and I hope the genius at Strand who came up with that idea was gaffer-taped to a Manfrotto in the carpark at Kirkcaldy and had M10 wingnuts thrown at him/her for 6 hours non-stop. The 400/500-series have always (IIRC) been hardware-capable of driving 2048 DMX channels - what on earth was the logic behind deliberately limiting the capabilities of this fine console to 50 poxy channels? Bizarre. I hope the person who came up with this truly unique piece of marketing tosh is now selling brushes and dusters door-to-door in some god-forsaken industral town in the North East. ;) I know of no other console manufacturer in the known world who has implelemted such a daft scheme.

[PeterT]

And you know they're still doing it...

to get the server software activated on my 300 Series console will cost £1200 but it's already in there!!! as part of the regular software install. I love the GSX brilliant console and we still use ours quite regularly. yes it's not dedicated to moving lights but will control one or two after a fashion (it's quite tricky but if you use the subs it's not too bad) The scroller software is a bit of an afterthought but is also relatively simple to set up and use.

Downsides:

can't control chases/macros from cues all have to be done separately

chases are at full only (so not good for movers etc.)

no 0.* cues start at 1 which is annoying if you like using 0.5 for your preset!

 

otherwise a great little desk

[lightbulb789]

My local Theatre (White Rock, Hastings) Use's the GSX and they say its a great desk. and from what I've seen when I done the Summer Youth Project there. It is a good desk. I saw it was easy to use. I learnt the basics in about 5mins