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Budget dimmer pack recommendations


mksound

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Hey all,

 

Looking for some advice regarding budget dimmerpacks? I am looking for 18 to 24 channels and hoping to spend around €300 per six channel pack.

What would be the best brand to go for without getting into Zero88 / Strand territory? These will be used for small budget school shows / fashion shows hence

the price range I'm enquiring about.

 

At the minute I'm thinking Showtec / Botex / Starville / Vareytec. Are there any major differences in these other than the price? I.e construction.

 

Thanks in advance.

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Hey all,

 

 

At the minute I'm thinking Showtec / Botex / Starville / Vareytec. Are there any major differences in these other than the price? I.e construction.

 

Thanks in advance.

I think you will find they are all the same, just different labels/ graphics on the cases.

I have the 4 channel versions and they are all the same internally.

Cheers

Gerry

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Something to bear in mind is that around this price point you're unlikely to find anything socketed, unless you're after IEC or maybe Shuko - so you'll have to budget for casing, cabling and fitting an appropriate patch panel into your €300 per pack.
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Something to bear in mind is that around this price point you're unlikely to find anything socketed, unless you're after IEC or maybe Shuko - so you'll have to budget for casing, cabling and fitting an appropriate patch panel into your €300 per pack.

I plan on wiring them to a socapex output panel so that end is all covered. It will be a hardwired version I plan on buying so its just the technicial differences I'm inquiring about.

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The real differences are simply construction and potential reliability, and lifespan. Zero 88 kit of considerable vintage can still be fixed. Once your guarantee runs out on these products, if you get a proper fault, it might be that you need to just buy a new one. The ones I have used have been ok, to be honest - the only thing is that they are just not built to take a real beating - so if I was putting a touring rack together, I'd be happier with a Zero 88 product that a Botex. If I was going to treat them gently, I may well buy twice the quantity of the Botex, and maybe even get a spare. It's just really annoying that when a problem happens after the guarantee, there may not be an identical one to buy - just a similar one, that will have different pin outs or spacings, so your nice neat socapex assembly isn't quite going to fit!
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I'd echo what others have said, having fixed old Betapack 1s which are still going strong; there are a few stock fixes like resistors and triacs, most of which are on the wiki, and apart from that they generally seem to be pretty rock solid. At the other end of the scale, I got myself a Behringer dimmer years ago, the first one failed within the warranty, but the replacement has been fine since. It doesn't get much use, and gets treated fairly carefully, but I think it was maybe £120 new at the time, so its certainly earned its keep.
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One company I freelance for has had a rack of Showtec dimmers (3x 6ch) for years and they're still going strong. I was dubious at first, I thought they would last a year tops, but they're great! You can't really go wrong I don't think, if you get more than a year out of them then I would consider that a success financially, and after that it's a bonus. As I said, this particular company has had them for 4 or 5 years and they're fine.

I'd go Zero88 if I had the money as I also still use a Betapack 1 rack of 18 for another company that's been going for at least 14 years, but if you can't stretch then the Showtecs are surprisingly good!

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There is a problem with some of the budget 6-way racks in that they don't meet EU standards for EMC, especially emissions. Or at least they don't unless you fit external filtering. This means they may, or may not, or may if there's an 'R' in the month, or may not if there is a high tide, cause interference with other systems, eg sound.
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