Lighting : Reliable Stand + Cans + Lasers ??

[metaverse]

hey everybody,

I've been playing around with the idea of purchasing a chauvet 4 bar lighting system
specifically because it is cheap and is almost enough lighting for the small venue I currently work at weekly.

BUT

... after doing a bunch of reading I've heard things like "chauvet is the behringer of lights".

That being said ... i'm assuming that if I took that same amount of money and pieced together my own rig
that it would outperform the chauvet 4 bar.


What I was originally thinking was a chauvet 4bar , maybe the chauvet 4play and a Chauvet Eclipse , which
has an LED and a Laser that combined create a kind of "night sky" effect.

My budget is roughly 1k ...

I'm just looking for a solid stand with a few lights and lasers to set up and break down for mobile gigs of 50 - 100 people.

[James R]

Check Ebay, but be careful

[Grant Bunter]

For ages the Par64 LED cans had,at best, similar output to incandescent Par56's.
As time has gone on, you can now get higher power LED's in the can (more lumens), but they cost more. Cans loaded with multi-colour LED's also cost more.

IMO, the deal you want to try and snag is:
4 x Par 64 LED cans with DMX cables, controller and tree. You should be able to find that from anywhere between $300-500.

Worst case, you still have 500 left for your FX lighting, and you already have a controller for the FX lights.

Just do your research regarding lumen output (and the proportional power consumption) so you know what you're buying...

[doncolga]

I've had my 4bars over two years and they're doing fine. Setup and operation is just what I need.

[ontime1269]

I own both the 4Bar & 4Play. I haven't used them a whole lot but it is a decent little light system bang for the buck. You can't beat the setup and tear down time using them. There is not a lot of "WOW" factor with them but they do the job. I've used several Chauvet lights in the past and never had a problem with any of them.

[rotebass]

"chauvet is the behringer of lights".

I see Chauvet Colorado's popping up with touring level acts more than any other LED light.

[Tom Smit]

Wanna do DIY? There a whole bunch of LED stuff on that site.

[James R]

Last year or so I bought 12 par 64 led's off ebay for 700.00 and recently got 4 chauvet color strip leds for a 100 a piece.
I run this with the American DJ Mydmx from a laptop and a Korg midi controller. The stands I bought from Cheaplites, so for a little more than your budget I have a nice little light show

[metaverse]

THANK YOU to everyone who contributed to this thread ... its good to hear about people's real world experiences.

After reading through I may just stick to my original plan and grab a 4bar and an eclipse and call it a day.

Its cheap enough and it'll cover what I need ... I think.

Otherwise ... are there Any recommendations on specific BRANDS of Par 64 LED's , dmx controllers and Stands ??


I'm really only looking for like 3 or 4 par 64 LED's , 1 or 2 effects lasers and a stand.

[zefrenm]

If you have a buddy that can add some organic flair to your light shows, look at Freestyler DMX control software running one a laptop with a GUS Electronic USB-VL344 DMX dongle. Thats how i control the lights for my cousins rig.

[Gauss]

I use Chauvet mostly, and they are not the cheapest - Cheaplights, Venue, and others undercut them. (plus all the stuff at guitar center/ Best buy is lower grade.) You can definitely spend more money (Martin), but for a band or mobile DJ, it depends on how hard you use it. I had one of my Chauvet scanners burst a connection. How, I don't know, but I opened it up and saw the wire nut was black and flaky stuff surrounded it, so I took it out and soldered the wires together to make it work.

The 4bar is an extremely popular light, there should be a lot of reviews. I love my colorstrips and scanners, but part of that comes from knowing how little I've spent to get the light show I've got.

[wilkins1kc]

I've had good luck with American DJ Mega Tri Par Proflles...they have an optional remote control at fairly low cost if you don't want to run with a DMX controller. Both power and dmx can be wired "daisy chain" so they are pretty easy to setup.

[metaverse]

THANKS for all the info guys


I've come to the conclusion that i'm probably going to buy a 4bar FLEX which doesn't come with a stand (as far as I can tell) but has hook ups on the light brackets to mount a laser or two to the top. (is this even worth it?)

BUT - I'm still trying to figure out if the 4bar FLEX is running the newer "TRI" lights that are present in the 4bar TRI or the older lights that are present in the original 4 Bar ??


For Lasers i'm probably either going to get :

Chauvet Eclipse - which is a laser + LED combo that produces a kind of "nights sky" effect with the LED looking like clouds and the laser like stars.

Chauvet Scorpion 2.0 - which is a laser that produces the fat "laser sky" effect.

Chauvet Scorpion 3D - I love 3D lasers and I really want to get this but I think i'll end up getting a projector instead since this laser is like 500+.


I'm also thinking ill just get another Global Truss St-90 light duty stand to hold up the 4bar FLEX.

thoughts?

[metaverse]

According to info I got from another site - the FLEX has the same lights as the old 4bar.


So i'm going to get the 4bar TRI and probably the Eclipse and the Scorpion and a VJ quality Projector.


Any thoughts or recommendations on places to buy brand new lights for the best price ??


i'm a beginner to all of this so anything helps
~ E