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[Tim Weaver]

Jeff, I own some Bizzards that work great for strobe and other effects such as up-lighting.  I plan on keeping them for those functions, but I am not a big fan of Blizzard.  As far as used, I am trying to stay with new for warranty as well as Hopefully, getting something that is current.

We currently have 6 Mac 500s, but they are getting long in the tooth.

It might be better for me not to go with the standard Chauvet COLORdash Par H12IP non moving Par and instead go with a fewer number of moving head wash lights.  I am not sure how that would workout.


 
The more I get into this the more I remember why I didn't want to get into the lighting side in the first place.  In for a Penny, in for a pound...yes I am that old.

Bill

Having more moving washes instead of pars is typically a great idea. You don't have to climb the truss to focus them! Although, if you go this route make sure these lights have a zoom function. You can get away without zoom in the rear, but up front it's necessary.

I will say, I picked up some Elation Fuze washes and could not be happier with them! The Z350's are really bright. I have 4 of them for front wash/specials along with traditional lekos. I have 8 Z120's for the rear eye candy and they work fantastic for that as well.

I love the fact the the Fuze wash has both movers and pars in the same family and all of them zoom. It's a really fantastic product. I have 10 Z175's for stage color, 4 Z350's for front wash, and 8 Z120's for rear wash.

I also love the fact that these have a lens so you only see one color. No lite-brites on stage anywhere. The Z350's are a great replacement for Studio Color's or Mac 600's. The fact that you can buy them in smaller fixtures and different configurations is just a bonus.

[Mark Cadwallader]

Having more moving washes instead of pars is typically a great idea. You don't have to climb the truss to focus them! Although, if you go this route make sure these lights have a zoom function. You can get away without zoom in the rear, but up front it's necessary.

+ 1.

[Rick Powell]

For an old skool look, you could try the ADJ PAR Z120’s. Homogenized-beam RGBW LED, manual zoom, looks just like a 1978 vintage PAR 64 can, and you can vary from a wide flood to a narrow spot. I agree the Colorado Solos are more versatile with their motorized zoom.

[Jeff Lelko]

It might be better for me not to go with the standard Chauvet COLORdash Par H12IP non moving Par and instead go with a fewer number of moving head wash lights.  I am not sure how that would workout.

I'm in agreement with the others as well in that moving washes tend to be more useful, especially as a mobile operator.    Along these lines and since you mention older lights, I'll volunteer that I still maintain an inventory of High End Studio Beams for this purpose.  One of these days I'll get around to retiring them for a modern LED alternative, but their 700w MSR lamp plus CMY mixing and frost/zoom/beam shaping in a sub-50 pound moving head is a tough act to beat (at least on a budget).  The only thing that I currently own LED Pars for is truss warming, uplighting, and eye candy effects.  All my washes are halogen and discharge - at least on jobs the size you're referencing.     

The only thing to maybe consider the Pars for is if you need IP65.  Even then, there continue to be more wet location use moving lights coming onto the market that are surprisingly reasonable in price. 

[William Schnake]

Tim, I am thinking about the largest deck that we would be covering without renting.  It should be 40' wide x 32' deep.  What if we did 8 Elation Z350 Fuze for a front wash and then on the back had something such as 6 Rogue R2X Spots up along with 12 Elation Fuze Z175?  We could also put 2 Rouge R2X Spots on totems.

Is something like that workable or is it to small or to large?

Thanks Bill

[TJ (Tom) Cornish]

Hi Bill, it sounds like you have a nice plan in place.  I've said this in a few threads, but to me, the Rogue R1 Spot/Wash and R2 Spot/Wash are the industry's next Martin Mac 250/300 and Mac 500/600, respectively.  Bright enough to be useful, small enough to be portable, rugged enough to handle professional use, and cheap enough for the upper-end weekend warriors to nearly every professional user/rental house to afford.  If you've seen them and like them, then go for it!  On the other hand, if you're really doing crowds of 4000 outdoors then you might want to look a step up to the Maverick Series.  I don't have much real-world experience with these units but I believe TJ owns some.  Maybe he can chime in. 

I agree with Tim about the FX units - they're a love it or hate it effect that has limited use.  I'd bin them with my Sniper Pros - they're an effect light that can do neat things but aren't going to be a staple of your rig.  I'd vote to replace those with something like the Clay Paky B-EYE or Martin Mac Aura - both of which can do neat eye candy effects if desired but can also double as a generic wash light if needed.  Some of the Beam/Spot/Wash Hybrids can also serve the same utility.  Hope this helps!

I have Rogue R2 wash units and Maverick MK2 spots. Both are very solid fixtures; neither are IP-rated.  The cost of a moving wash head isn't that much more than a static wash head, and being able to tweak it sans-ladder is worth the extra money, IMO, if you can handle the extra DMX channels. The Rogues do a very decent 3000K warm white, too, so I have had no trouble using them as main front wash.

On the beam side - if you are looking for basic beam fixtures and are planning on aerial affects rather than projection, probably a larger number of lesser fixtures will be more valuable than a smaller number of more full-featured fixtures like Vipers or Maverick MK2s. I do more projection than beam stuff, so the larger fixtures were worth it for me. I don't have personal experience with the Rogue spot and beam fixtures, but if they're built like the Rogue wash fixtures, I'm sure they will be solid.

Generally speaking, the brighter the better. You can always dim a fixture down, but you're in trouble if you need more. Beam angle matters of course, but I wouldn't consider anything less than a 250w LED source for a spot/beam fixture, and more is better. The Maverick MK2s are a 440w source with 18,000 lumens of output which works for a 35° fixture. Somewhat less is probably OK if the fixture is narrower, but you will need to compensate with more fixtures.

For quasi-rider acceptability, I think the Chauvet Pro stuff will meet anyone's expectations that doesn't require specific models for their show.

[TJ (Tom) Cornish]

The more I get into this the more I remember why I didn't want to get into the lighting side in the first place. 

I said in about 2005 that "I will never be a lighting guy". In the last few years I've done more lighting than audio, in part because the audio side is easier for me to hand over to a crew member (most mixers operate fundamentally the same, so once a board is patched anyone can mix on them), while the lighting side has a more specific knowledge set. I make more money on the lighting side than the audio side, too.

[Tim Weaver]

Tim, I am thinking about the largest deck that we would be covering without renting.  It should be 40' wide x 32' deep.  What if we did 8 Elation Z350 Fuze for a front wash and then on the back had something such as 6 Rogue R2X Spots up along with 12 Elation Fuze Z175?  We could also put 2 Rouge R2X Spots on totems.

Is something like that workable or is it to small or to large?

Thanks Bill

I think that would work well for you.

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