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Old Skool vs LED, when the other option is nothing


bigboy78

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Finally going to bite the bullet and cough up my hard earned for some lights. Old style Par56 with big lamps etc can be had for under $100. I can see all the advantages of LED, but when something similar is going to cost me $500 each am I better of going with a basic static colour stage was to start, maybe one each side on top of our FOH and add some cheaper LED effects. This is total weekend warrior/dad band stuff, but I'd like to look as as pro a I can without letting my kids go hungry.

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It's all about how much you can afford to spend.

 

As you said, old style cans are "to start", which means you'd likely only be buying LEDs in the future and in the long run you'll only end up spending more. I've got a garage full of beat up old par 56s that are evidence of this.

 

But LEDs don't need to cost you $500 each. I use the Chauvet SlimPar 64s which are a good, solid LED fixture you can get for under $100 each. And the slim-pars are nice because they take up so much less space.

 

 

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Cost of LEDs will depend upon the amount of output you need.

 

For example, Blizzard's Hotbox 5 RGBAW's will run under $ 200 on the street and offer the output greater that a 300w Par56. Plus, you get dimming, strobing and unlimited colors out of one fixture.

 

Using 300w Par56's, four per side will eat up a 20 amp circuit and give you only 4 colors and you still need an analog control system.

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I'm in Australia and haven't been able to track down Blizzard lights over here. The Chauvett slim par 64, RGBA, retail @ $150 which isn't too shabby. How many would I need too light a small to medium stage adequately? 4 piece band.

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The RGBA is a good fixture. The RGB model is probably adequate for the needs of your band and will run $20 cheaper.

 

how many you need to light your band adequately is a broad question that can't be definatively answered. The standard small band light rig is 4 cans on either side of the stage. But you we're talking about just setting a single par56 can on either FOH speaker. That's not much light at all, if that's all you want to accomplish.

 

it also depends what sort of effect you're trying to create with the lighting. If you just want the band to be seen and to be able to see each other, you don't need much. If you're trying to create any sort of actual light show, you'll need a bit more, of course.

 

Since your budget is tight and your needs are small and uncertain, I'd suggest starting small. Buy two cans, set them on the floor up at the band or on the speakers pointing back at you and see how you like it. My guess is you'll soon decide you want more and you can always keep adding to the rig as money permits. Even two cans will be two more than you have now, so no reason to not get started on the rig just because you know that ultimately you'd like to have 8 or more cans but can't afford the whole rig at one shot.

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I'd look at something with Quad LEDs as it'll be a lot brighter and won't hurt your eyes as much (due to the lensing vs. viewing lots of LEDs directly). In AU check out these guys http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/EVENT-LIGHTING-PAR-RGBW-5-x-8watt-Quad-colour-RGBW-/311068874059?pt=AU_Stage_Lighting_Effects&hash=item486d26554b&_uhb=1. Nice little quad can, if you got 4 total (2 per side) you'd probably be good. Put some diffusion over them if you need more coverage.

 

Remember that with standard cans, as Bill said, you'll blow through power very quickly and also need to get a dimmer pack as well (more $$). With the LEDs you can just get a basic DMX controller (similar to what you'd need to control that dimmer pack for the conventional PARs) and call it done.

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I'm a solo vocalist/humorist/host/entertainer with a self contained system, including lights, that I use if necessary. I use two old school pars for front/face lighting and a few adj led mega bars for a little flare- aimed at a backdrop, ceiling, architectural element,etc. It has worked out great for me.

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OK. Good advice. Thanks everyone. I think I'll get 2 ( maybe 4) slimpar to get us out of the dark (or house lights, how bad is that!) What other things do need that I haven't realised yet. Like cables, power cords, stands etc that are potentially going to blow my budget.

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The ADJ units have a remote that does quite a lot of functions without DMX cables or controllers. If you can afford the rechargeable led fixtures those would be so convenient. When I replace my lighting I'm going to all rechargeable. As for mounting, if you can find a fly point on your speakers you can just use a thumb screw and attach them directly to your cabs.

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The LED pars are getting brighter, lighter, and better with color mixing. When they first hit, I know that there were many here that used them for side-washing the stage or rear lighting for interest, but still relied heavily on incandescent pars for lighting the performers... even if it was just a pair of pars w/ bastard amber gels on 'em to light faces so that everyone didn't look so ghoulish. (IMHO - Unless you're getting some LED pars w/ amber LEDs in them... they're best not used for front-lighting performers except as an effect.)

 

Today, the only good excuse for not giving LED lights a try is that better fixtures are just around the corner. (And will always be...) Buy last-year's model when the new stuff hits for the best bang-for-buck.

 

I'm not sure that the COB LEDs are where it's at right now though. but because of that tech the Quad (RGBA or RGBW), 5x (RGBAW), or hex fixtures (RGBAW+UV) are coming down a little in price and any of those would make good front lights. You can load up on as many of the RGB fixtures as you like for side and rear washes and although for $500 you can't get many of the Quad or better fixtures... they'd be something to build a solid system on.

 

If it were me trying to light a 4-piece from scratch, Here's what I'd do at two different price points:

 

$500 Budget - Chauvet 4 BAR ($400) and a pair of bastard amber gel'd par38s mounted on your FOH speakers for front lighting ($100 incl. some mounting hardware) - decent color from the original 4-Bar although it's getting a little long in the tooth now but it comes with its own controller and you could do a lot worse for the money. You'd be fine in a dark room with this setup. Against a wall of neon beer signs? Just use the par38s up front.

 

$1000 Budget - Chauvet 4 Bar Tri ($600), 4-Play ($200), and 6 Spot ($200) - Simple mount-on-a-single tree setup... some pointed at band in slow fade, some pointed at audience set to sound-active and a 10-min. setup and teardown. Spend an extra $100 for a "DMX DJ" controller and a little extra time aiming the spots at band members, programming scenes, etc. and let a friend run it from out front for a cool show for a cool ~grand.

 

**I'm not necessarily a Chauvet fanboy, just illustrating a point with this gear. You could also throw the 4bar minis, ADJ DOTZ TPar, etc.into the mix... and with enough money you could get individual HEX pars all around... one or two (or a colorband or colorstrip) uplighting a pair of scrims or a backdrop, get a truss or truss columns on base plates and use 'em as truss warmers... you get the idea. Get enough stuff or enough desire to want to program elaborate scenes or chases and sooner of later you'll want a USB to DMX interface so you can do it all in FreeStyler or DMXIS, etc.

 

My best advice to you is... keep it simple. (To run, to setup and tear down, to maintain/store/transport, etc.)

 

Have fun!

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Here's a stage, with one RGBAW hotbox per side, each set to a slow fade, with no controller. (Video) I set up a buddy with my old light rig, some simple old school cans. 8 on a rear truss. By themselves you get this look... The stage still seems pretty dark. 63B9A6AE-1C8C-4A18-BF25-FCF060ACA3A4.jpg Add a couple hot boxes to light the band and it makes a big difference... 76BB00F3-2BED-4486-8C64-A40F65286DDD.jpg

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So the Chauvet stuff isn't in stock and noboby knows when it'll turn up........the sales guy recommended the ADJ Mega TriPar.

 

Looking at StratGuy's photo the HotBox is what I need, just some basic wash lighting. I checked the HotBox and its specs are 7 x 15w LEDs. The Mega TriPar has 5x 3W LEDs. That seems like a HUUUGE difference or am I interpreting it wrong?

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