what are the most impressive and effective lights

[DK Karaoke]

Hi all,

Thinking of rationalising my lights and was wondering what lights you all think are the most effective. Dont matter if they are dmx'd or not.

I use some moving heads but they are a bit clumsey, so anything else you can think of.

I'm not thinking big money here, just your best value for money, effective and impressive lights.

Oh, and also, where can I guy those flame effects from, and do you recommend them.

All thoughts welcome and appreciated.

Martyn

[Dillmiester]

My vote would be...
Acme Stormbird 250W Effects Light.
Great light and a steal at £90.
Its a shame it cant be slowed down at times but its still amazing.

[flatliners]

martin macs or the goldenscans or amything with a 1200 discharge lamp

[djsteve10]

Clay paky golden scans are amazing piece of kit, a local club near me where i Dj on a friday night has 5 Mac600 wash lights, 5 mac 500's, 20 clay paky golden scans hung upside down on the ceiling.... These things are huge they must stand about 5ft odd and probably weigh more than what i do so i wouldn't advice them for mobile work lol

[Corabar Steve]

I'm not thinking big money here, just your best value for money, effective and impressive lights.
:whistle:

martin macs or the goldenscans or amything with a 1200 discharge lamp

Um....

[BrightLights]

Stairville Tomahawks are meant to be pretty good and look to be excellent value. I don't have any myself, but I expect someone around here does and could comment.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/stairville_tomahawk.htm

[djsteve10]

if you really want an impressive light show go for 2 Martin Mac250 kryptons, 2 Martin MX10 Scanners and a wizzard extreme in the middle on the truss... That is a show, ive seen it in action!!

Maybe even add a laser!!!!

[flatliners]

value for money then the acme boogie led lights 100000 hour lamp life

[Corabar Steve]

I stand by Wild Tech Kaleido & Cubist, cheap, bright (for a 250w lamp) effective & you can run them all night if you wanted without burning your fingers at the end.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

if you really want an impressive light show go for 2 Martin Mac250 kryptons, 2 Martin MX10 Scanners and a wizzard extreme in the middle on the truss... That is a show, ive seen it in action!!

Maybe even add a laser!!!!

Another one who isn't reading the thread properly..:rolleyes:




I'm not thinking big money here, just your best value for money, effective and impressive lights.




Try a couple of LED pars - they make a nice change if you are using heads and scanners that are whizzing about all over the place.

[djsteve10]

cheap and impressive lightshow... 4 dynamos and 2 par56 par cans as a wash on the back walls look amazing!

[Alex - Cream Ents]

I know I'll get slated for it not being cheap enough but, you'll only ever need 1 for most venues....Martin Wizard / Wizard Extreme. You can get some good deals on EBay at times.

I would say at this point that I noticed a cheap copy has appeared in one of the catalogues at work, made by NeoNeon, but badged up as various things from Batmink etc, look like a wizard, but are nowhere near on brightness, gobo's, or performance in general - so steer well clear.

Back on topic, LED pars do compliment a show nicely if you've already got flowers / scans / heads as before mentioned. They are cheap as chips - and give you the option of colorwashing FOH or behind you, which is often a nice effect.

[flatliners]

i have seen one of the copys of the wizzard and i was very impressed not much diffrence apart from price if you put a martin bage on the copy bet know one could tell
a really cool effect is the opticnetics club strobe flower

[Have a disco]

Good old 4ft UV tube set never fails to get people talking why I'll never know LOL

Chavet Pizzazz bulbs just keep on working no matter how they get punished and they are a good mid ranged lighting effect

[Arnold_disco]

i have seen one of the copys of the wizzard and i was very impressed not much diffrence apart from price if you put a martin bage on the copy bet know one could tell
a really cool effect is the opticnetics club strobe flower

What copy is it?

[DMX Will]

My feeling on this is, it doesn't necessarily matter which lights you have, but what you do with them.

For instance, I've just installed 10 Martin RoboScans (812s) in a local club (I seem to have become the tech for this club since theirs left). They were given to them from an old club that shut down due to finances. All the lights were dusty etc, some didn't work properly (shutters, motors, wheels etc). But by the time they had a clean and been fixed and then placed on various bars around the club....together, they look very neat.

My point being, we started off with some good (in theory) lights, which hadn't been treated well, were dirty and generally in not very good condition and now the rig looks awesome. I think the rig would have looked the same had it been the 250w dynamos to be honest, again my point is, its what you do with them. If I'd put them on one bar it wouldn't have been as good....but as I did something different....they looked alot better.

Okay, so that doesn't really help you as you've probably got one bit of truss or whatever, but my suggestion to you is, think outside the box, don't do something standard with whichever lights you have now or end up with.

P.S. Off to Light Jockey at the club tonight! woo

[Dragonfly]

To me the effectiveness of lighting is totally dependant on what type of effect you are trying to achieve??? that sounds like a stupid comment but it really is a genuine one ....

if you are trying to create a nightclub atmosphere different lights will be more effective than the lights that will be effective for maybe a 70s night or a top end country house wedding.

and impressive the same .......... i now use less and simpler lighting than i ever have and have had more comments and nicer comments since i did so the most photographed piece of kit i own now by punters is not my moving heads at 200 quid each but my 20 quid mirrorball !!!!

bear in mind that you are asking djs on here so of course martin macs and movers etc will be very popular .... not necessarily with the punters????

[Sapphire Disco]

Did a wedding in a marquee last week, mostly used 2 Datamoons linked looked very good especially the white mode (which I don't normally like) with everything else being white.

[Tom]

i agree with diamondgeezer

[gaza]

I stand by Wild Tech Kaleido & Cubist,

did you sort out that video of the wild tech kaleido steve ?:)

[Corabar Entertainment]

did you sort out that video of the wild tech kaleido steve ?:)
It was me, not Steve, who was trying to sort that out, and the simple answer is no (I've only just got back on here after last night's fiasco!) I'll see what I can do in a minute!

[soundmaster mobile disco]

The New led boogie light from acme is amazing just trying them out this weekend.You can buy 2 for £110 from ukdj.com


http://www.ukdj.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=27771

[DK Karaoke]

:whistle:


Um....

Ya, looked at Martins a while ago, but couldnt afford them, even secondhand.


if you really want an impressive light show go for 2 Martin Mac250 kryptons, 2 Martin MX10 Scanners and a wizzard extreme in the middle on the truss... That is a show, ive seen it in action!!

Maybe even add a laser!!!!

How much are they then?


Another one who isn't reading the thread properly..:rolleyes:



Try a couple of LED pars - they make a nice change if you are using heads and scanners that are whizzing about all over the place.

What size do you reckon, have some led pars already, but they are the 56's and big and black, very bright, but no action with them, nor are them dmx'd


I know I'll get slated for it not being cheap enough but, you'll only ever need 1 for most venues....Martin Wizard / Wizard Extreme. You can get some good deals on EBay at times.

I would say at this point that I noticed a cheap copy has appeared in one of the catalogues at work, made by NeoNeon, but badged up as various things from Batmink etc, look like a wizard, but are nowhere near on brightness, gobo's, or performance in general - so steer well clear.

Back on topic, LED pars do compliment a show nicely if you've already got flowers / scans / heads as before mentioned. They are cheap as chips - and give you the option of colorwashing FOH or behind you, which is often a nice effect.

Hadn't tried the wash approach, but will do. Still need some really effective impressive lights to go with it.

Saw this laser in action once, it was an imove green laser, very impressive, and cost around £400.00 but was a bit wary as lasers can be damaging to the eye, if they are rated above a certain level, and dont want to get sued for damages.


i have seen one of the copys of the wizzard and i was very impressed not much diffrence apart from price if you put a martin bage on the copy bet know one could tell
a really cool effect is the opticnetics club strobe flower

Have you got a link so I can have a look?


The New led boogie light from acme is amazing just trying them out this weekend.You can buy 2 for £110 from ukdj.com


http://www.ukdj.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=27771

Had a look, but how bright are they?

Have quite a few acme lights, used them when I first started, but they are not very bright, so now in boxes in the spare room.

[Corabar Entertainment]

Have quite a few acme lights, used them when I first started, but they are not very bright, so now in boxes in the spare room.Like all makes, you get ones that are brighter than others..... have you seen the video I posted up of the Wildtech Kaleido (here (http://www.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=158196#post158196))? That's an acme light.

[djsteve10]

Well as for prices go...

Martin MX10 - about £1500 a unit
Martin Mac250 Krypton £1200 a unit if i remember rightly
Martin Wizzard Extreme - £800 if i am not mistaken

This is big money but you wont ever see a rig like it in your life, i have had alot of comments on how it is not a disco, i can agree its a mobile nightclub.

The only thing i can strongly suggest if you are going to buy this gear is make sure you get it properly cased. A mate of mine uses this rig and has spent over £1000 on cases for it all!!

[TONYTIGER]

I know I'll get slated for it not being cheap enough but, you'll only ever need 1 for most venues....Martin Wizard / Wizard Extreme. You can get some good deals on EBay at times.

I would say at this point that I noticed a cheap copy has appeared in one of the catalogues at work, made by NeoNeon, but badged up as various things from Batmink etc, look like a wizard, but are nowhere near on brightness, gobo's, or performance in general - so steer well clear.

Back on topic, LED pars do compliment a show nicely if you've already got flowers / scans / heads as before mentioned. They are cheap as chips - and give you the option of colorwashing FOH or behind you, which is often a nice effect.

How do you know the Warlock yes thats what it is called is not as bright as the wizard have you tried one?.i can assure you it is but fewer gobos 6 in all with 9 colours. In my opinion Martin is over priced and over rated your average punter would not know the difference "nice lights mates" is the normal comment.

[leighinstoke]

My feeling on this is, it doesn't necessarily matter which lights you have, but what you do with them.

I'll go along with that - I have simple Acme Gobos and after hanging 6 on my bar for ages, I've left the Magic Gobos on the bar and put the other two lower, so I have 4 angled down and the 2 angled up. Found I'm getting a far better effect and more coverage of the crowd than before.

Simple.

Leigh.....

[flatliners]

i have seen the warlock in action and the martin not much difference
with martin you just pay for the name

[Alex - Cream Ents]

Ah yes the warlock...let me see

Out of the 8 we had for an install 2 did not work properly out of the box (1x ignitor duff / 1x Dead PSU)...not off to a good start...

I would have to completely dissagree on not being a visible difference between the warlock and wizard extreme, having had them side by side its considerable in many ways.

Brightness - no comparison, I find the warlocks output shamefull, couple that with a really unrewarding stand alone show, I would not buy any either personally, and we no longer use them for install work either.

I do agree that Martin retail prices are ott and reliability recently has waned, but there is no comparison between warlock and wizard. Different league.

[Paul James Promotions]

with martin you just pay for the name

Not really. We use mostly Martin stuff, and apart from the EGO's (they seem to have a common problem), it's been solid kit. The original Mac 250s we purchased (about 5 years ago) still do both disco and demanding hire work, flightcases have been banged about and dropped and they still go strong. Have a look at the casing on the new Robe stuff and tell me it is built as well. ;)

Back on topic, I still think the Datamoon is a great 'plug & play' effect, though the Martin Mania range is also pretty tidy.

Jamie

[Dragonfly]

Not really. We use mostly Martin stuff, and apart from the EGO's (they seem to have a common problem), it's been solid kit. The original Mac 250s we purchased (about 5 years ago) still do both disco and demanding hire work, flightcases have been banged about and dropped and they still go strong. Have a look at the casing on the new Robe stuff and tell me it is built as well. ;)

Back on topic, I still think the Datamoon is a great 'plug & play' effect, though the Martin Mania range is also pretty tidy.

Jamie

I'd agree with everything Jamie has said .... not many people suggest the martin mania range .... may have changed them but im sure they used to only bee 100w effects??? however when i looked at them as you would expect from martin the optics are superb making them very bright with a good spread....

cant say ive done a direct comparison but i would imagine they hold their own with datamoons and such like.

still maintain though the effectiveness of a lighting effect is totally dependant on the effect you are trying to achieve...

[Alex - Cream Ents]

Have to agree on the mania stuff - even the 100w flower is bright!! And reasonably priced.

I like the Ego's but we too have had several of the DMX ones develop the same fault.

I have to say however we installed them (4x DMX Egos) into a venue called "Crystal" in Sheffield projecting on to all the brickwork walls and the effect is spectacular!

[Paul James Promotions]

cant say ive done a direct comparison but i would imagine they hold their own with datamoons and such like.



We have used the Mania EF3 and EF1i against the LFX Revolver 250w and it seems just as bright.

The good thing (IMO anyway) with the Manias is that they don't strobe, so no problems with epilepsy. With the Datamoons (used to have 4), we used to find they strobed excessively when used 'stand alone'.

Jamie

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I was looking at the Mania EF series, but I don't think they are DMXable are they?

[Paul James Promotions]

I was looking at the Mania EF series, but I don't think they are DMXable are they?

Nope

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

See, that makes no sense to me at all?