Used Venue LED Par 64s Q...

[monthlymixcd]

Local pawn shop has 4 of these Venue LED Par 64 cans (not the newer ThinPars) on a tree for $250. They all work... worth the money, or pass?

[BillESC]

Pass, didn't cost that much new.

[monthlymixcd]

How about four of these for $200? Still a terrible deal? Alternatively, what could I buy for the $200 that would be newer tech., brighter, lighter, more features, smaller, etc.?

[Vito Corleone]

Well, you're probably not going to get 4 cans and a tree for $200 that will be any better. I've used those Venue pars before. They are fine if you're just trying to add some light and color to the stage. Not bright enough for real spotlighting. But if you buy them just do so understanding that there's a decent chance you'll want to trade up at some point. So decide whether it's better for you to have these lights now or to put that same $200 towards something better down the road a bit.

[StratGuy22]

What are you using them fit? Behind the band or to light the band? If its to light the band, buy once, cry once and get a pair of Blizzard Hotbox RGBAW. I sold my old lights to a buddy. We put them on a rear truss in his shop to light a small stage he built. They worked fine but didn't really light the stage much.... One hotbox RGBAW per side made a HUGE difference: [/img] The HotBox RGBAW are around $202-ish each I believe. So it would be twice the price, but then you are set up. Nice n small, nice n bright. Again, buy once, cry once.

[StratGuy22]

$220-ish. Skip the dinosaurs.

[monthlymixcd]

Agreed... I'm no Dino-phile. BUT here's what I'm working with... all the lighting that the band owns (keyboard player, actually) is a pair of EVEN OLDER Chauvet Color Bank 8 fixtures... for a 12-piece band. I came to run sound for the band already owning several LED fixtures and a mirror ball setup that I had used for volunteering to DJ school dances with... and I also have the OnStage 10' truss with DIY floods for stage wash and blinders on them that I gel'd and added over the drummer for an outdoor festival that had no lighting on the "stage" at all... but the LED fixtures I usually put on the crowd so they're not dancing in the dark. (And they're not suitable band-lighting anyway.) These are not the greatest photos, but you get the idea. I've spent considerable cash getting the PA up to snuff over the last year to improve the sound of the band and this winter I'm trying to focus on improving the visual presentation. As you can see, even a crappy quad of Venue cans would make a world of difference. If I can convince them to give up pay for just ONE gig I could do wonders, but as it is it's my money at this point... the bright side for me being that if I ever left the band I'd take it all with me... except those Chauvet Colorbank 8s. lol (EDIT: I'm fixing a Martin MX-10 Extreme scanner that I plan to use at the mix position to spotlight singers and soloists (and sweep the crowd and the stage with gobos, when appropriate) and plan to use either an Operator 192 rack unit OR usb interface with my laptop to control everything... which I just bought both off CL for cheap from the same guy. Also, the dimmer packs I used with my DIY truss lighting are DMX controllable.)

[stevegarris]

Hmmm - I tried using Blizzard Hotbox 5's as front spots but hated them. They were way too bright (unless dimmed), and the beam spread is too narrow in my opinion. They do make excellent back-lighting though. For front spots I use 2 Par 38's, with 75 Watt flood lights and Rose tinted gels mounted on top of my PA speakers. They make for a perfect front wash, even and natural looking. I actually have the gels doubled, or sometimes tripled to keep them from washing out the back-lighting.

 

That's a good looking light setup you have there!

[Vito Corleone]

It's hard to say over the internet how much lighting your band will need. There's no way to say with any certainty whether you'd find the output of the Venues sufficient or not until you try them out yourself. But my biggest gripe with those "dino" cans is that the flatpars are so much more space-efficient. The bigger cans take up about 3 times the space and do so only so that they can look more like traditional par cans. That extra space adds nothing to the output or operation of the fixture. And flatpars look more 'modern' these days anyway.

 

Right now I'm using the Chauvet Slimpar 64s. Both the RGB and RGBA models. The former can be found for under $100 each and the latter runs about $20 more. They aren't the biggest and brightest can out there, but they'll light up your stage.

 

Again, no way to fully know your situation, but I would recommend that the Slimpar is probably the minimum you should be looking at for lighting a band.

[monthlymixcd]

... my biggest gripe with those "dino" cans is that the flatpars are so much more space-efficient. The bigger cans take up about 3 times the space and do so only so that they can look more like traditional par cans. That extra space adds nothing to the output or operation of the fixture. And flatpars look more 'modern' these days anyway.

 

It's funny, but that is EXACTLY what I needed to hear to get me to stay away from them. Excellent point.

 

 

[Vito Corleone]

I don't have many pictures that show off our lighting very well, but here's a few random shots from our last gig.

 

We use 4 of the Chauvet SlimPar 64s on either side of the stage on the front totems and 6 across the back. There are also two Venue flatpar 56s on the drum riser that point up at him.

 

Then there are also the two Chauvet colorstrips on each totem pointed out at the audience, two American DJ flatpar Tri 7X cans to uplight the totems, and the Chauvet Cubix in the center of the back truss. And, of course, the projector screen.

 

The front lights are set to focus on the band members. One on keys, one on drums, one on bass, one on guitar, two on the singers in the front of the stage and two on the singers a bit further back. The backlights are used mostly for washes and movement. I'll usually set up scenes so that the backlights are flashing and moving more while the front lights are used more as spotlights on the band.

 

This room wasn't particularly dark--they only turned the room lights down about half way, but you can see in the shots that they still do a fairly decent job of lighting the singers, lighting the guitar player in the back, and creating a color wash as needed. In a darker room, they should light up the band even more.

 

Obviously that's a lot more lighting than you'll use but the point of me showing you these pictures here is to focus on the front lights and how they light up the individuals which is probably what you'll want to do. Once you get the first 4, you'll probably decide you want 4 on each side. That seems to be the bar-band standard anyway.

 

[Vito Corleone]

 

[stevegarris]

I avoid green front lighting at all costs. Also, note the female singer is half lit very harshly - I would make sure she's evenly lit from both sides.

[Vito Corleone]

 

I avoid green front lighting at all costs. Also' date=' note the female singer is half lit very harshly - I would make sure she's evenly lit from both sides.[/quote']

 

 

I try to avoid straight-up greens as well. Unless I'm angry at someone. I presume you're talking about the light on the guitarist? Actually that one is usually set to more of a bastard amber on him. I'll have to double check the scenes. Or maybe it's just the way it photographed? (These are still shots from some video taken from an iPhone). But I'll check it out.

 

As far as the singer being half lit harshly: I keep the lights on the girls set pretty even. Problem is with two front singers standing side by side is that they are almost always going to be lit more on "that" side. And even more so as they roam around the stage. But I could probably stand to turn down some of the light on her in some scenes.

 

With the front lighting on the girls, the best I can do is just sort of wash the general area where they roam and hope for the best. But I'm always looking for improvements and suggestions. Thanks!

[monthlymixcd]

Pretty cool pics, actually. It would actually be great if I could get that much light on my band... which has twice the number of musicians on stage. So, how much time does it take to erect and dismantle all of that?

 

Also, do you know how the ADJ Mega Par Profiles would compare to your Chauvet SlimPars? I know where I can buy some of the ADJ fixtures at $49/ea.

[hfc7713]

I used to use 4xVenue Thinpar 64's per side and quite liked them till I realized I never had quite enough light on stage. 4 piece band small to mid size venues.

Then I sold them and purchased 6 Blizzard Q12's - 3 per side. OMG….they are ridiculously bright. In the smaller venues I only need 3 of them or I end up dimming them if I use all 6. According to my research the Blizzards are 3- 4 times the lumen rating. That means that only 2 Q12's per side would be noticeably brighter than 4 Venue thin pars each side.

Less to carry and set up to get the same or more lighting.

And yes, the thinner lamps are definitely the way to go these days!!!

[Vito Corleone]

Pretty cool pics, actually. It would actually be great if I could get that much light on my band... which has twice the number of musicians on stage. So, how much time does it take to erect and dismantle all of that?

 

 

Probably about 20 minutes or so to set it up. We've set it up so it goes up as quickly and easily as possible. The 4 lights on either totem are on a separate bar and are already DMX cabled and power cabled together. So those just clamp onto the totems pre-assembled. Same with two sets of 3 lights each on the back truss. The totems are two 8' trusses that connect to a metal base and the back truss and projector screen slip onto two crank stands. So it really doesn't take much time at all to put everything up in place and wire everything up.

 

Also, do you know how the ADJ Mega Par Profiles would compare to your Chauvet SlimPars? I know where I can buy some of the ADJ fixtures at $49/ea.

 

I don't know. I've never looked at those lights or compared.

[StratGuy22]

Good stuff. If we play a bigger hall, we put 2 Fan5's per side on T-Bars. Smaller places we put a hotbox or one Fab5 per side. I always have them set to 100% amber and about 75% white. It's something I've thought about quite a bit. I notice at big concerts (sabbath etc) more than not everyone has a spotlight. It's not real often that they are color washed from the front. That's why I keep it simple. I have control over the dimmers via a "volume pedal" on the controller, I can bring us down to a silhouette. But that's about it. That way it stays the same. I could maybe do it so each member was highlighted, by giving each of the 4 Fab5's a different address, but I don't...

[Vito Corleone]

I set up different scenes for different sections of a song. I'll set up front lights to feature a vocalist or a soloist. I'll have intro scenes that are more static or maybe chorus scenes that are more active. A bunch of flashy stuff for a "build" section. Stuff like that. I try to get the most out of the system that I can within the limitations of what I can do with my right foot. lol.

 

I want to use the lights to light the band but also to help create the atmosphere and increase the excitement as need be. I'm learning more and making adjustments and getting better with it all the time (I hope.)

 

Our shows are less concert than they are dance-party, so my theory on lighting the band is it needs to both light the band like a concert and motivate the room the way a DJ does. So I try to find a blend between the two as much as I can.

 

I'd love to have a dedicated light tech and have that sort of a show, as that's the world I come from. We've talked about doing that and may move to that at some point. But right now it's just me and my foot.

[monthlymixcd]

I AM, in effect... the dedicated light tech.

 

So, long story short... I passed on the Venue lights. Talked to my friend at the local DJ Supply shop and he pretty much convinced me that I should get a pair of HotBox EXA lights (based on what my endgame is thought to be) at about $260/ea. Then, later that day I saw that iDJNow had the ADJ Mega Par Profile lights on clearance for $49/ea., so I temporarily ignored his advice and bought the 5 that they had left in that BiN auction. lol My friend DID say that those were a bang-for-buck value right now at $80 most places... so when I saw them for less than $50 I couldn't resist. In the short term I'll put four of them on a tree and use one to uplight a vertical band logo banner. In the long term they'll probably all end up as uplights or as rear lighting on a truss over the drummer. Five of those lights for the cost of a single HotBox?!? Why not. I know that the HotBox lights are probably as bright as 5 of these, but right now I need coverage more than intensity. Thoughts?

[Vito Corleone]

You'll find out soon enough whether you spend your money wisely or not. Like you said, you'll probably be able to find SOME use for them or maybe resell them at about what you paid for them. And coverage vs intensity always need to be a consideration as well.

[StratGuy22]

Give them a go, the price was right. When I was researching lights the more I seen the "litebrite" style the more I realized that wasn't what I wanted. But give it a go. Lighting as with anything is a learning experience. I'm definitely not where I started and it's been a bit of a journey but now I'm where I want to be. [/img] I provided sound for a small gig last night, again, I used one Hotbox RGBAW per side, it looked great!

[Vito Corleone]

I gotta think I could find a good use for almost ANY type of fixture. But, at the end of the day, it comes down to efficiency in terms of getting the most of what you need out of the least amount of gear possible, I would think.

 

In the case of my band, we have to be able load in, set up and soundcheck within 3 hours and strike the stage and be out of the building within 1 hour. So doing the most with the fewest number of fixtures is certainly something that is always a big consideration for me, while still being able to have a sufficiently 'impressive' set up as well.

[monthlymixcd]

Good points, all!

 

We're currently at 1.5 hours for setup and 1/2 hour to strike everything back onto the truck. That's with at least 3 of us setting up and usually at least 8 of us tearing it all down. I certainly don't want to add much to the setup time because of lighting and my plan is to put at least the breakdown and storage of the lighting system on 2-3 people (like the trumpet players) and just have it be "their job". Wireless DMX will make expansion of the lighting system fairly painless and stupid simple... and a pair of ADJ transceivers will be my next purchase. I would anticipate that the purchase after that will be a pair of the HotBox EXA fixtures for the reasons you mentioned.

 

Thanks for all of the comments!

[stevegarris]

 

 

 

I try to avoid straight-up greens as well. Unless I'm angry at someone. I presume you're talking about the light on the guitarist? Actually that one is usually set to more of a bastard amber on him. I'll have to double check the scenes. Or maybe it's just the way it photographed? (These are still shots from some video taken from an iPhone). But I'll check it out.

 

As far as the singer being half lit harshly: I keep the lights on the girls set pretty even. Problem is with two front singers standing side by side is that they are almost always going to be lit more on "that" side. And even more so as they roam around the stage. But I could probably stand to turn down some of the light on her in some scenes.

 

With the front lighting on the girls, the best I can do is just sort of wash the general area where they roam and hope for the best. But I'm always looking for improvements and suggestions. Thanks!

 

I should have mentioned that overall your lights look great - lots of vivid color with minimal components. You are brave to lug around those trusses - they look pretty cool!