LED Lighting- whata think?

[Hoodoo]

I have a trio that has $400-500 to spend on new lighting. We're ready to take the step away from red and blue flood lights.

 

I've read many post here and this is what i'm thinking? Any suggestions/thoughts?

 

2- LED PAR's mounted on the FOH speakers (can't seem to find any 36 or 38's) and the 64's seem to large. Any suggestions?

 

1- Chauvet Colorsplash ($229)

 

1- T-stand for the color splash (already have)

 

This seems like enough lighting for a trio in a bar. It also sounds like the "chasing" method that comes stock in these lights are useless. I don't think we can afford the lights and a controller at this time. Is having lights without some controlling of them stupid? Can the color strip do automatic slow color fades not tied to the music to give some kind ambient light change throughout our sets?

 

Thanks

[TrickyBoy]

Personally, I would use your existing old-school par cans for front lighting and get 2 colorstrips for back lighting. With a little ingenuity, you can mount the two strips to the one T stand you have.

[Hoodoo]

Really? May I ask why you'd stay with the par38 flood lights?

 

 

thanks man

[Zeromus-X]

Probably because three cheaper LED lights aren't going to light a stage big enough for a three-piece, and your budget doesn't allow for anything brighter.

[Hoodoo]

Good enough reason for me!

 

What is a decent LED PAR and how much do they cost? What would a LED lighting system cost to light up a trio on stage?

[BillESC]

I'd suggest keeping two (at least) of your incandescent pars and mounting them to your speaker stacks and gelling them in amber.

 

Start with on of the LED strip style fixtures on a stand behind the drummer and get an Obey 10.

 

Costs look like this:

 

LED Strip - $ 179.00

Obey 10 - $ 90.00

DMX cable $ 18.80

Gel . .. . . . $ 6.79

 

Total $ 294.59

[Hoodoo]

Are the LED color splash's I can afford gonna be bright enough to compete with the flood lights? Or are they gonna get lost in the mix?

 

Also for stage lighting purposes- is it better to have 1 PAR56/PAR64 light or 2 PAR38's (per FOH speaker) if they'll all be set to amber. Does it matter?

 

For ease, I'd personally like to have just 1 light per FOH stack but if 2 par38's will be better on each side, I think I can rig something up on the FOH speakers to house 2.

[BillESC]

The Colorsplash's have under 200 diodes whereas the strips have 384. The strips are a better choice.

 

One Par 56 loaded with a 300w wide flood lamp will do the job.

[monthlymixcd]

First, you'll need to add a DMX relay pack (~$100) to Bill's quick budget list to plug your flood lights into unless you're leaving them on all the time. It's always good to have one... and you can also plug cheap strobes or whatever into the other channels as FX for solos, etc...

 

For stage wash you should be looking at the Chauvet 200B. They can be had for $150 or less and are brighter than they have any right to be. At least one on each side of the stage would be best, but your amber-gelled floods on one side and one 200B on the other would get you started with some different looks.

[Hoodoo]

Thanks so much guys and thanks for bearing with me. I thought I read the "lighting basic's guide" well enough but I'm confused.

 

The 200B seem pretty darn bright from the reviews (not very reliable though) and they seem to be quite versatile for the price (set it to one color OR hook it up to a controller). Could two of 200B's mounted on the FOH speakers do the same job as two flood lights (brightness wise)? Couldn't I just set them to hold an amber color or any color for that matter but still have the ability to add a controller to set up as I get the money? Are the American DJ LED par64 as bright/versatile or better then the 200B? To many options!

 

In addition, am I missing something in basic lighting understanding/skills, if I think buying 2 200B's ($300), a LED strip ($180) and a controller ($80) is the way to go? That's $560- a bit more then I want to spend but seems to give me a world of options but more importantly will the stage be lit up and will the crowd see us with this setup?

 

Or should I stop trying to find a good LED light (in my price range) to mount on the FOH speakers and simply stick with two par56's and the color strip?

 

Again, thanks for all the help.

[Remedy]

the reasons its recommended on this forum to front light the performers with amber floods( foh speakers is the simplest place to put them) is to -

 

-produce a good 'skin tone" (apparently led amber doesnt look as good as normal floods)

-amber flood constantly on the performers to highlight them and so you can see the performers face. This is preferred over flashing or color changing leds lighting the performers/faces, (you can imagine, sometimes theyre in the dark, then red then blue..) With the amber constantly on it gives a more professional and consistent appearance, makes the performers stand out.

 

maybe get some bastard amber gels for the 56s on foh. get 1 colorstrip and see what you think of it..

 

maybe you could get the 200b's as sidelighting, just put them on the floor an each side of the stage.(I dunno im far from an expert and havent experimented with sidelighting yet.)