Small First Light Rig Questions

[AtomicUK]

My first toe dip into the world of lighting, but something I have always wanted to do. :)

 

I have been offered a small light rig which I have seen in action many times and despite being of varying ages, It seems to pretty much cover what our band is looking for.

 

The rig comprises:

 

2 x Stairville HL-40 DMX Compact Floods.

2 x FutureLight PHS-250

2 x Active Color Systems Red Shuttle Laser YX-130*

4 x Acme Spot Knight MH-664

 

1 x Active light Colour laser rack control unit

1 x Q commander lighting desk

 

1 x 4metre Trilite truss

2 x Truss support stands & winches.

 

Items are little used (maybe 20 times!), although perhaps 6-10 years old.

 

My questions are:

1) Would this be a good rig to get at around £1000GBP / $1500usd?

 

2) I would add one more modern laser, perhaps the KAM SD-1, but are the other units good workhorse lights?

 

3) Would you add anything to this personally?

I would naturally need to add a hazer / fog machine.

 

4) Would it be possible to run this rig from an iPad App?

 

5) If we wanted to program the show in advance for every gig, could we use it in conjunction with anything like Ableton Live etc that would run the effects and click tracks for us?

 

I confess to have no knowledge on lighting, so I am trying to come up to speed and make sure I have a good basic rig to start us with.

 

Thanks in advance for any replies or help! :)

[TonyMitchell]

Apart from the two floods, the rest of the rig seems more "mobile dj" than "band" oriented.

 

Answering a couple of your other questions... unless the winch system is something serious (Manfrotto or Powerdrive Midihoist, etc) then £1,000 seems overpriced for a pile of 6-10 year old budget lights.

 

Being unsure of your location on the planet (as you've mentioned both £ and $), if you're in the UK, familiarise yourself with HSG95 "The Radiation Safety of Lasers used for Display Purposes" before using a laser. Unless you regularly visit venues with over 3m floor to ceiling height, then buying an additional laser will probably not be worthwhile, as you won't be able to use it. If you're outside the UK, check out your local equivalent legislation.

 

Have you got suitable transport? Some of that kit is large/bulky, also you're unlikely to want to move winch stands about in a car (not good for the upholstery!)

 

 

 

 

 

[AtomicUK]

Many thanks for the reply Tony, it was very much appreciated.

The rig is to be used in small venues, 100-300 capacity generally and for a relatively small rig, it always seemed quite creative with a couple of extra lasers thrown in, but I do take your point and have seen the DJ videos also.

As for the age, it had seen little use in that time, so the condition is very good, but as technology moves quickly, could we buy new and get more for the money now?

I notice the Floods are still sold now with two for under £150 with warranty, if we held a budget of £1000 for the rig, could you or anyone else suggest some options that would light a five piece with good effects (moving heads, lasers etc) with that small budget?

UK based and thank you for the laser information.

We will be using a van for the rig and instruments, but at 4 metres (in two sections) the truss is still large.Anything more portable that you could suggest?

Thank you once again.