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[Philip Borgnes]

Hi all,

I have a very basic question. I'm lighting a small 12x10 outdoor stage for a 5 piece acoustic band. I read through these - and other forums yesterday and belive I've got the answer for what I need but wanted to run it by folks who know this stuff.
I don't need anything more than to light the performers - no light show - yeah pretty simple but that is want we want.

I've found two systems that fit the bill and need to understand better how they work.

Quote:

MBT PAR38/C801 Deluxe Stage Lighting Package for $750 street. • 8 x Par38S Black Steel Par Cans and 90-watt Lamps • 2 x Lightweight Steel Light Stands • 1 x C-801 8-channel Lighting Controller An 8 channel dimming console that includes programmable chasing control, sound-to-light. Features: 8 individual channel slide dimming controls. Master slide dimming control. Individual flash control and full on. Sound-to-light • 2 x P-404DT1 4-channel Dimmer Packs Four channel power pack to be used with C-402, C-601, C-801 and C-1212 non-powered dimmer controllers and the SC100 foot controller. Features: 4 channel dimmer power outputs with 4 Edison sockets on rear. Sudden current protection. Individual channel test buttons and LED indicators. Warm up/preheat control. 8 pin DIN input and output for linking multiple units together. Individual channel fuses. Load: 8A max per channel / 15A max total. One 5 8 pin DIN cable supplied • 2 x dimmer pack brackets • 2 x 50-foot connecting cables • 2 x 4-color gel packs (Yellow-Green-Blue-Red)

If I'm understanding this then the lights get pluged into the four channel dimmer pack. Then a cable is run from each dimmer pack to the controller where you control the lighting. So there isn't any power that is run to the controller, correct? All power is coming from the 2 dimmer packs.

The other system I'm looking at is this:

Quote:

MBT STAGE-38 Basic Stage Lighting Package - $480 street Package includes the following: • 8 x Par38S Black Steel Par Cans and 90-watt Lamps • 2 x Lightweight Steel Light Stands - adjustable, up to 9.5 feet high • 1 x LC-4800 4-channel Controller Features: 1200 watts (10A max) per channel, individual slide controls on each channel. Slide controls for master, background and speed. Each channel individually fused. Includes level controls, flash switch, selector switch, dimmer run and chase modes. External audio input for sound-to-light control. 19" rack mountable. 4 Edison outlets on rear. Recommended max load: 20A • 2 x 4-color gel packs (Yellow-Green-Blue-Red)

Here the power and controller are built into one unit and I route the power through the controller board. Rather than one cable like the first system I now have 4 power cables snaking up to the stage and spliting off in 2 to the lights on the stands.

Am I understanding this correctly? It seems that the first system would be safer since I'm not running power all over the place. Thoughts?

Thanks!

[Al Limberg]

Definitely optin one is more reasonable - particularly since you will find that all those extension cords you will need with number 2 won't be included - you might end up coming close to option 1 pricing by time you're done!  The other  suggestion I would make would be to see if you can get option 2 with Par46 fixtures rather than Par38s.  They cost more but the lamps last infinitely longer and are much more professional grade. The Par 38 is basically your standard backyard flood lamp in a can.

JMHO,
Al

[Philip Borgnes]

Great. Thanks for the info.

I may just buy the lights on the stands with a foot switch and fogo the controller for right now since there are a few more items popping up on my list. I can always get a controller and dimmer pack later... I'll try to see if I can stretch my budget some.

[disc2slick]

I'm not sure exactly what a "foot switch" is, But I'd say it is worth having a controller.  It will allow much greater flexibility in terms of how bright the different colors are than any sort of on/off switch (unless I am much mistaken as to what a foot switch is).  Where are you doing this show? I'm pretty sure you can find fairly inexpensive rental packages that will fight all of your needs, assuming this is not a permanent install.  For instance, I work with a theatre group in Boston, we usually rent a package that consists of 8 Source4 PARs (much better than PAR38's) 3 ellipsoidals, a control board, 3 4 channel dimmer packs (1.2kw a chanell just liek yours) 3 lighting trees and more than enough cable for $400.  I'd recommend looking around online for some better deals.  If you are in the northeast USA let me know, I may know some places.

-dan