which moving heads?

[paulbass]

Hi I play in a band and I would like to have some advice on moving heads.I am inexperienced in lighting and would welcome any advice.We currently use adj led mega par cans which are very good but we would like a pair of moving heads either side of the drums to add more interest.We only have a small budget and dont mind buying secondhand.The problem is with so many to choose from what would you guys suggest. They must be sound active,bright and not too expensive and suitable for small to medium size venues.Any help and advice would be really appreciated.Thanks :)

[JCC1996]

I personally really like the iSolution iMove 5s. There quite easy to come by and there's some (in my opinion) good deals on eBay etc. It all depends really how small your budget is? Could you give us some idea of what you want to spend?

[Ashley R]

would need an indication of your desired budget.

 

I would highly recommend the Chauvet Q Spot 260/ the Showtec Indigo 4500 (I think!) or any copy of the Q Spot.

 

60w LED, as many features as a Mac Entour and like 500 pounds for the showtec one http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/cool.gif

[paulbass]

Thanks for your advice. I have a budget of £400. I have seen the lights that you have mention and they do seem to be suitable. I have also seen some futurelights,would you know what these are like? they look decent on youtube but are they reliable? The imove 5 do seem to be within my budget and I am tempted by these as they seem to be easily available. Thanks for your help :)

[paulears]

Your budget is really not going to get you very much - Up it to 600 and you could get a new pair of the iSolution iMove 5s. Or a second hand pair.

 

The other thing you'll need of course is a controller if you want them to do more than the built in waggle and wander facility. Will they be reliable? Yes, probably - but reliability for moving lights of any kind is a bit like reliability of a car. They are full of motors, belts, sensors and electronics. Expensive ones are the same but perhaps even more complicated - so they travel in flight cases that cost as much as these lights do. Without the cases to keep them secure, expect damage from travelling. Silly stuff such as the head part swivelling and banging up against something, often leads to problems with the internal sensors losing track of where they are, or the fragile pcb plug in connections fall off.

 

So no moving light is reliable, because they are complex and quite fragile.

 

Performance wise, budget movers have one major drawback. They are dim. These price fixtures use low voltage lamps very similar to the old projectors for slides. Do you have a smoke machine or a hazer? If not, then you'll only see what the beam lands on, not the beam itself. On top of this is quantity. 2 fixtures will just wave around - there's little else you can do with them. 4 or 8 or 16 can look good as a 'feature' - loads of yellow beams suddenly stab across the stage in yellow, lighting up the haze. 2 will look a bit naff, to be honest.

 

With your budget, I personally would scrap movers and buy 4 LED battens - fit them to microphone stands and dot them around the stage. They're bright, they flash, and the audience will be able to see them very clearly.

https://vimeo.com/27812349

You can see a few in this clip

 

Two waggling movers of limited brightness can be pretty naff - and cost you plenty for new lamps, new parts and service if you can't do it yourselves. I have some 575W discharge movers. Permanently living on a lighting bar. Used perhaps 40 times a year for a few hours, and still internal parts come loose, colour wheels fall off, gobs jam up and shutters get stuck. Each one takes perhaps an hour to strip down, fix and put back together - imagine chuckling them in your van, bouncing them about between gigs and then doing that a few times?

[beware]

For that budget you could get a set of 4 scanners which would probably achieve the same effect.

 

Something like the following:

http://www.soundlightuk.com/shop/products/Acme-Super-Nova-Pack-DMX.html

http://www.soundlightuk.com/shop/products/Equinox-Scantastic-4.html

 

Ah! here's the one I was actually looking for

http://www.soundlightuk.com/shop/products/Acme-100W-Dynamo-4-Head-Pack.html (They also do a case for all 4 for £95)

[Ashley R]

Yes with that budget, if you MUST have something that wiggles go for some cheap scanners. the Dynamo's aint to bad, and instead of the original Dynamo (Which uses a 100w Lamp) try to find the Dynamo 250 (250w Lamp), I remember these being about 100 pounds each to buy new, and you should be able to pick some up used on eBay.

 

They have a sound active feature, and with 4 you can link them up and they kind of look ok.

 

the iMove 5s uses the same lamp as the Dynamo 250.

 

What do you want to use these for? As then we can advise of possible alternatives.

Oh don't pay attention to that last bit, just my mind playing its old tricks on me ;)

[apexsoundandlighting]

Hi I play in a band and I would like to have some advice on moving heads.I am inexperienced in lighting and would welcome any advice.We currently use adj led mega par cans which are very good but we would like a pair of moving heads either side of the drums to add more interest.We only have a small budget and dont mind buying secondhand.The problem is with so many to choose from what would you guys suggest. They must be sound active,bright and not too expensive and suitable for small to medium size venues.Any help and advice would be really appreciated.Thanks :)

I know both the Robe XT150/160's & the martin mini macs have sound to light modes, you can get them for around £200 each if you shop around. Buying from a manufacturer such as martin or robe would be a better bet than buying acme ones, as they have proper support that you can get in contact with. In addition to this they all utilise 150watt halogen lamps, which are a lot brighter than LED heads, and in the future, if you are looking for an upgrade to using DMX to control them, you are more likely to find the fixture profiles available for most consoles and software options.

 

Cheers,

Mat

 

 

[gyro_gearloose]

In addition to this they all utilise 150watt halogen lamps, which are a lot brighter than LED heads

Ummm.... No they don't, and no they aren't. The Mini Macs and Robes use 150W discharge lamps which are brighter and much longer lasting than halogen lamps (as in several thousand hours for the discharge lamp, and a few hundred hours for the halogens if you are lucky). As for them being brighter than LEDs, they might have been once but aren't anymore. Many LED moving heads and scanners these days are as bright as 250W discharge lamps, even at the cheaper end of the market. And lets not forget that you can always convert a scanner to LED, like I did :)

[Ashley R]

even though the Mini Mac's and the Robe's have got those advantages, to be honest only having a pair looks like sh!te.

 

After my memory has kicked back in again rethinking the suggestion to Acme Dynamo's, not exactly good for band work. Maybe someone will have a set of 4 Acme Winners used for sale thats within your budget? (advantages of smoother motor's and separate colour/gobo wheels).

 

But then again with a pair of MiniMac's/ the Robe 150/160XT's you can then expand later down the track to a set of 4, and they shouldn't be that hard to come by in the UK.

 

hmmmmmm (tm Ynot)

[paulbass]

For that budget you could get a set of 4 scanners which would probably achieve the same effect.

 

Something like the following:

http://www.soundligh...a-Pack-DMX.html

http://www.soundligh...antastic-4.html

 

Ah! here's the one I was actually looking for

http://www.soundligh...-Head-Pack.html (They also do a case for all 4 for £95)

I've never considered scanners because they look fragile BUT you do get a lot of light effect for your money!.This has thrown a spanner in the works! There are some decent scanners out there at reasonable prices and they are plentiful....mmmmmm now I'm confused! thanks Beware ;) This is a very valid option and it does leave me some spare cash to buy some more lights! gonna have to sleep in this ** laughs out loud **!

[david.elsbury]

In my experience, scanners tend to have a smaller beam angle which means you need more of them to get a good effect. Moving heads have a larger beam angle, and many have prisms to split the beam even wider, which means you'll get more effect for your buck.

 

2c

David

[paulbass]

Thanks for everyones advice on this! Although I only have a small budget and I know I'm not going to get top of the range moving heads but there are some cheaper and cheerful options.There are so many different lights out there it can seem a little daunting! I dont want something thats too dim or too flimsy. I will be using a smoke machine to add to the effect if this helps.I've never considered scanners but they could be a valid alternative maybe?......confused dot com!

 

In my experience, scanners tend to have a smaller beam angle which means you need more of them to get a good effect. Moving heads have a larger beam angle, and many have prisms to split the beam even wider, which means you'll get more effect for your buck.

 

2c

David

A moving head does give a wider beam which is something that I feel will give a better effect....which light would you reccommend David?

[david.elsbury]

I don't have any specific recommendations sorry, but if you can come up with a control system that means you don't have to run sound-to-light then you'll have more options.

 

David

[Ashley R]

Or what about some old Martin or Robe scanners? Its about looking at whats out there at the moment thats within your price range, and then either telling us/ looking at the spec's. Ideally you would want something with a 150-250w Discharge lamp, but dont completely discount the Halogen stuff (SGM Victory II's, HES Trackspots both use Halogen lamps)