Lampy has been busy… Not only is she crafting the perfect rucksack portable small venue lighting rig, but she’s been sharing what she’s learnt by reviewing the kit she’s using on the Thomann website!

Stairville PAR 16 GU10 (polished) – Great Little Lamps! (A.K.A: the Birdies!)

These little lamps with the phillips led bulbs are a great piece of kit.

I use them mainly to light bands in small venues, often combined with a few basic Led pars. They are a lot brighter than expected and surprisingly hardy (one of mine has survived a mosh pit encounter with a flying bassist while attached to a drum kit, and the drum kit came off worse!).

Being so small and light they can be fixed to a variety of places on the stage, where a larger lamp would not be practical. Also as they are so pretty, I am quite happy having them on show.

I was initially rather hesitant about the filter holders, they are not quite as pretty and a bit roughly made, but they do the job and actually add to the strength of the lamp.

The only con really is that the cable is a bit short for using them as a stand alone, which means I do have to play around with extension leads a lot.

14/08/2016

Varytec BAT.PAR 3 RGBW – A flexible but hardy lamp for small DIY gigs

I do lighting for small DIY garage rock gigs in odd corners of London. Often there is a distinct lack of power sockets and the added danger of highly mobile band members and a jumping mosh pit. These battery powered pars have been perfect to provide light in these situations. The saturated colours are good, even at close range and although not the brightest, are more than enough for the little venues. Being able to just pick them up and move them around the stage while the band are playing is a massive plus, as is the capability to change and charge the battery while the light is on.

I have used them for all day events, plugging them in for a bit of a recharge between bands so I am not too sure what the full battery life is exactly but definitely longer than 3 hours.

They proved to be surprisingly hardy too, as often they get kicked by the band, knocked off speaker stacks or trampled by a stage invasion. One also survived a dousing with custard on stage!

They do also work well in a conventional static rig with dmx control but the big draw to these is really their mobile capability.

The only thing that has disappointed me is the remote control, it is really flaky and has only worked a couple of times for me, so I don’t bother using it anymore. This is a shame.

17/12/2016