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Author Topic: Yorkville LP-LED4  (Read 12004 times)

Ryan Day

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Yorkville LP-LED4
« on: September 19, 2013, 11:13:18 AM »

Does anyone here have any experience with this unit? 

http://yorkville.com/lighting/lp_series/product/lp-led4/

I'm trying to determine how this would stack up versus going with 4 individual fixtures, presumably from Blizzard.  Maybe something like 4 RokBoxes.
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Tim Weaver

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Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2013, 01:05:23 PM »

Does anyone here have any experience with this unit? 

http://yorkville.com/lighting/lp_series/product/lp-led4/

I'm trying to determine how this would stack up versus going with 4 individual fixtures, presumably from Blizzard.  Maybe something like 4 RokBoxes.

Each "pod" has 4 quad-color LED's in it. The Blizzard lights have many more LED per fixture. One way to compare LED fixtures is to look at their total power consumption. IOW, the Yorkville states that it is a 270 watt fixture. Each Rok box draws 140 watts. So by doing that fuzzy math, you can expect 2 rok box's to be pretty equivalent in output.

That doesn't tell the whole story though. What do you want these lights to do? Wide wash to light up as much as possible? Or narrow beams to add some effect to the show?

The only thing I can see using the Yorkville thing for is if you only want to buy one light yet still hit every band member with it. Since you can individually aim four heads this becomes easier.
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Ryan Day

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Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2013, 01:19:38 PM »

Each "pod" has 4 quad-color LED's in it. The Blizzard lights have many more LED per fixture. One way to compare LED fixtures is to look at their total power consumption. IOW, the Yorkville states that it is a 270 watt fixture. Each Rok box draws 140 watts. So by doing that fuzzy math, you can expect 2 rok box's to be pretty equivalent in output.

That doesn't tell the whole story though. What do you want these lights to do? Wide wash to light up as much as possible? Or narrow beams to add some effect to the show?

The only thing I can see using the Yorkville thing for is if you only want to buy one light yet still hit every band member with it. Since you can individually aim four heads this becomes easier.

Agreed. The Yorkville lights would be setup on tripods to light up the stage and members of the band. I'm not sure if the narrower beam pattern (13 degrees) is better, but if we purchased 4 of these units under haze it might look really nice. 

But the Yorkvilles are not cheap. ($1449 online, plus another $150 per pod for DMX control) So obviously, the bang-for-buck comes into play, hence the comparison to Blizzard or other alternatives.

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Josh Daws

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Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2013, 09:30:37 PM »

Does anyone here have any experience with this unit? 

http://yorkville.com/lighting/lp_series/product/lp-led4/

I'm trying to determine how this would stack up versus going with 4 individual fixtures, presumably from Blizzard.  Maybe something like 4 RokBoxes.

way over priced. well built product tho. for $1500 bucks you can get 4 x Chauvet SlimPar QUAD 6 IRC for around $250 each and Martin MPC USB Box. which will give  you all the control you need.

The other thing that i don't like with this product is that unless you spend approx $500 more for the DMX option card (not $150 per pod as previously stated)  the unit is completely proprietary. personally a complete waste of money...the fixtures i mentioned are superior to the Yorkville Pods, in regards to brightness and even the colors...and very sturdily built!
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duane massey

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Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2013, 11:04:00 PM »

The negatives outweigh the positives on these fixtures, IMHO. Better choices for less money from several manufacturers.
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Duane Massey
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Jim Turner

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Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2013, 07:05:47 AM »

These are very common here in Canada.
Yorkville is the in house built brand of Long & McQuade, a LARGE Canadian chain music store.
These are aimed at their rental market...
L & M have cornered the small dry rental nich nation wide by renting everything from speakers on sticks, backline and even projectors & screens at silly low prices. Lighting was their next step.
I doubt they even care if they sell any as they rent these out by the boat load every weekend. VERY bright and super durable... perfect for dry rentals.
Go see a Pub band anywhere here in Canada and chances are you'll see a "Danley designed" Yorkville speaker system and a few of these.
Cheers!
« Last Edit: September 20, 2013, 01:33:01 PM by cyriljamesturner »
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smile & wave...

Richard Turner

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Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2013, 09:58:12 AM »



They are a pro built unit, and the stand alone purpose built contorller works well, you would be looking at something from elation to compare with for light output, its a true 4 color LED per head. I'd classify it more as a wash light as the light output is quite harsh at close distances. I certainly wouldnt want to be proforming with it focused on me at any closer than 12' or so. It runs on a proprietary signal protocol but they do hace a dmx convertor available at extra cost ($150). the old 4 head par 56 cans can run off the new controller and the old lp608 can run the new led heads in crippled mode, you can adjust the dimming but not adjust colors on the fly with it . it can do a stand alone static scene, theres a knob for color of each head on the bar.

there are 2 controllers available the LPC4 is a pedalboard type similar to the ols lp608 ~$350 good for making the bass player do lights but its going to clone each head as its only a 4 head controller and the LPC12 ~$425 is a 12 head controller so you can make it do more elaborate chases etc. which can be foot controlled with a guitar amp pedal

That said its a perfect system for what it was designed for, rugged case, idiot proof set up, run a mic cord to the controll box, twiddle a few knobs instant light show. I think 2 lights controller, 2 stands and a couple 50' mic cords daily rental is about $100 out the door at any long - mcquade in canada. I know they killed my rentals to bands when they opend up locally, at their prices it wasnt worthwhile as they put in all new gear and let people put rentals on accounts. is it woth about $4k for the kit? possibly possibly not but if theres a market there for 80 nights rent annually at$75 a night thats only a payback time of 9 months, thats a no brainer in my books especially on somethin with a 2 year no questions asked warranty.


If its what your client wants and can handle its the right product. I know a lot of gigging bands wouldnt want a bunch of blizzard pucks and cables everywhere, these are very simple, 2 wash bars on the floor, 2 extra mic cables and a few knobs to twiddle, most of them glaze over once you get past explaining how to recall a scene on a dmx controller.

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Looking at retiring. Local PA market has shrank to 2 guys with guitars and bose l1 compacts or expecting full line array and 16 movers on stage for $300... no middle left going back to event DJ stuff, half the work for twice the pay.

Ryan Day

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Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2013, 02:53:41 PM »

Great feedback from those with hands-on experience with these Yorkies.  Curious, it looks like the overall brightness level can be controlled on each unit.  Would that be post-DMX?  It would be great to be able the leave the light board scene programming alone, and simply increase the brightness on the units for stages where more light is needed.
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Josh Daws

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Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2013, 06:54:24 PM »

The negatives outweigh the positives on these fixtures, IMHO. Better choices for less money from several manufacturers.

why would anyone ever buy anything that is a proprietary system that is designed to work with their own systems only...and to integrate it into another system you have to pay extra...yorkville just designed this product poorly...
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Josh Daws

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Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #9 on: September 20, 2013, 06:58:31 PM »

Great feedback from those with hands-on experience with these Yorkies.  Curious, it looks like the overall brightness level can be controlled on each unit.  Would that be post-DMX?  It would be great to be able the leave the light board scene programming alone, and simply increase the brightness on the units for stages where more light is needed.

yes its possible....with a controller...for memory our need a controller of some sort (i could be wrong on this though)
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Richard Turner

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Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #10 on: September 22, 2013, 04:16:16 AM »

why would anyone ever buy anything that is a proprietary system that is designed to work with their own systems only...and to integrate it into another system you have to pay extra...yorkville just designed this product poorly...

I disagree,

The simplicity of the system is this. Its stand alone, no lighting knowledge know how needed at all. daisy chain the controller to the bars, set the  bar to be a 1, 2 ,or 3 corresponding to the 1 2 or 3 row output on the controller, , the controller is powered by the light bar, similar to old microplex systems. no need for a wall wart or ac outlet. scene programming is automatic, select a scene adjust the color knob and intensity for each pod, auto saved when you go to next scene, built in chases it is beyond idiot proof. I think even your dog could run a lighshow with this product.

price? retail? 3 bars controller and 3 stands from yorkville about $5200, steep yes, but long mcquade music stores are renting them out hand over fist,

local music store monthly rates are 75 per bar, 20 on the controller and 8 per stand  so system $270/month, weekends are 1/3 $90 daily $65 for a 3 bar system.

I cant think of many other things you could sell/rent to a gigging band that would have the return and cool factor hat wouldnt take training, ipod monitor mixing, have to babysit them to log into the wifi, then get the app to configure then explain who is on what channel and what an aux is then which aux is theirs......oh you have a mixlive console, you should just set that up for us gratis...

I'm looking at it for purchse to use and rent, if it went out consistanrly it should payback in 20 months, would have 4 monts remaining and would likely easily sell at half price with the balance of warranty also most dealers will sell warranty extention on yorkie stuff at reasonable cost, and he warranty is pretty much no questions asked, dropped down stairs, spill a beer into it no problem, use it in place of a wheel chock for the 5 ton truck, just retreive all of the pieces and should be fine.


I had, well still have the incandescent par 56 yorkville system ant it was a rental money making machine, pricey to purchase but so simple anyone could use it, run a mic cable to the light bar and plug ligh tbar into AC and done, no dip switches, no finding the program button figuring out set programs, just pure plug and play bliss. Still goes out occasionally but not fasionable anymore just cant justify selling off at scrap value just yet as its well beyond paid for itself and still comes in handy.
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Looking at retiring. Local PA market has shrank to 2 guys with guitars and bose l1 compacts or expecting full line array and 16 movers on stage for $300... no middle left going back to event DJ stuff, half the work for twice the pay.

Josh Daws

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Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #11 on: September 22, 2013, 11:26:46 PM »

i can buy 8 x Chauvet SlimpPAR Quad 6 IRC at $250ish each. i can by 2 y/ville lighting bars with t-bars for approx $180. that is half the price. you also get a 2 year warranty with the product. they are also built outta metal and really robust. not to mention that from there i can spend 300 bucks on a lighting controller in which some inbuild scenes and chases. thats less than $2500...

please tell me that as a rental house that doesn't make more sense? if it doesn't then your logic isn't sound.

i don't know which local music store you frequent, because the one i do rents this exact system for $50 inclusive of stand/cables...

don't buy into L&M BS...shure they are a great store, great people,  but honestly, look at what they sell...only YORKVILLE owned product. they cannot recommend anything else other than their "owned" product. (i have talked and have good raport with some L&M staff to confirm that). now how is that looking out for the end user. its not...its their bottom line. don't even get me started on their speakers...this is why myself personally support the smaller non chain stores because its not about the bottom line (to a degree). Smart on L&M part, i will give them that!

i stand by my statement....why spend money on a system that is built for 1 thing. customers don't like that, they want something that they can expand at minimal cost. a system they can add to. a poor design IMO....its pretty obvious i think that we won't agree on this...so lets agree to disagree, and leave it at that...
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Richard Turner

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Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2013, 12:49:45 AM »


I think a more accurate comparison would be to a blizzard hotbox or Q stick for offshore product, an apples to apples comparison would be to an elation level Q7 which uses the same rating LED element 7 per fixture, the lpled4 has 4 per head, 16 per bar total.

We lilkely would not agree. The class of customer this is aimed at is the type who would plug their guitar into a passive monitor and wonder why no sound is coming out... not savvy lighting techs Yes I have seen that happen.

Self contained, idiot proof yet pricey. I dont know if you have rented to musicians or not but there is never any such thing as too simple. Ever try explaiing how to get a dmx lighting system up and running to a dry rent zero knowledge customer?  Its easier to explain that  "Hey I'ver got a cool lighting righ you can set up in 8 minutes and control with a guitar pedal its $65 a night $90 a weekend or you can take these other lights and heres some cheat sheets and lets spend 20 mins here teaching you how the controller works and program a few scenes on the fly..... iits only $50 a night... oh wait shop rate is $60/hr after tax,  I just lost money teaching a dmx lesson and will likely get a panick gig time phone call needing another walk through....


the yorkie lights not going to be for someone used to running Grand MA multi universe systems but for a band just wanting lights on a 20' stage 2 bars and the controller  it can do quite a lot.
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Looking at retiring. Local PA market has shrank to 2 guys with guitars and bose l1 compacts or expecting full line array and 16 movers on stage for $300... no middle left going back to event DJ stuff, half the work for twice the pay.

ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Yorkville LP-LED4
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2013, 12:49:45 AM »


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