rental question

[Pie4Weebl]

I know rental prices factor on many many things but I'm still in the very early stages of planning for a gig and I was wondering two things. Which would be cheaper, renting 70 pars, the distro, the dimmer, the cable and truss to hang it all on, plus purchasing gel, or renting 10 s4 pars and cmy scrollers for them?

Also what sort of ballpark range does rental costs go for those sort of things in IL during the summer? I don't expect a response of "for a week you can expect to pay $1,532.83" but a ballpark area is what I am looking for since I never have rented a full rig before for a show.

thanks!

[stantonsound]

These are my prices per week, and pretty standard...

Par 64's - $7 each
Truss - $35 per 10' piece
48 channel dimmer - $450
Cable, rigging, etc.... $300? (without motors)


S4 Pars - $12
Apollo Smartcolor Scrollers (it is what I use) $30
Powersupply - $45
Cable - $100?


The S4 pars option would be MUCH cheaper! (The par cans sure do look cool, though! Very rock and roll!)

[Charc]

Originally Posted by stantonsound

These are my prices per week, and pretty standard...
Par 64's - $7 each
Truss - $35 per 10' piece
48 channel dimmer - $450
S4 Pars - $12
Apollo Smartcolor Scrollers (it is what I use) $30
Powersupply - $45
The S4 pars option would be MUCH cheaper!

Out of curiosity, how many Apollo Smartcolor Scrollers can each power supply handle, or when you say "powersupply" do you mean a flat rate for all your power supply needs?

While I'm at it, are the used S4s you are selling come with yoke, clamp, safety, gel frame. And does that price possibly include shipping? (Hey, can't blame me for trying!)

[stantonsound]

There are several models, I am sure that Kelite will give you all the info that you want. The $45 is for the SmartPower 250watt unit that powers up to 8 scrollers. The larger unit, the 400 watt which powers 12, is $80. I would recommend a few of the smaller units (2 units each or 5 units each) to reduce the amt of 4 pin cable that needs to be rented. That cable usually accounts for as much money as the power supply.

PS. I am a long way from St.Louis and am not soliciting business!!!!!!!

[wolf825]

Originally Posted by Pie4Weebl

I know rental prices factor on many many things but I'm still in the very early stages of planning for a gig and I was wondering two things. Which would be cheaper, renting 70 pars, the distro, the dimmer, the cable and truss to hang it all on, plus purchasing gel, or renting 10 s4 pars and cmy scrollers for them?
Also what sort of ballpark range does rental costs go for those sort of things in IL during the summer? I don't expect a response of "for a week you can expect to pay $1,532.83" but a ballpark area is what I am looking for since I never have rented a full rig before for a show.
thanks!

Not in IL so I don't know the local prices...you can call up many local rental shops and tell them to A/B you a rate price for each and you will decide from that. Also know--you can get Pre-Rig doublehung truss (12 pars/lamps per 8' stick) fairly low priced these days its so common...and you would only need 5-6 sticks of it to make your 70 lights...or use a couple of lamp bars with just scrollers for even less...

So--are you saying you really just want/need 7 colors from 10 lights and S4 pars with scrolllers would work for you instead of 70 lights, which I am guessing 10 of each have their own color? Do you need a custom gel string for the scrollers--Cause custom gel strings are expensive and require pre-ordering several weeks ahead of time.... If you have comon colors you need you could find a stock string for scrollers that could work...just another cost factor to consider...

PARCAN vs S4 pars, the S4's are usually more expensive then a par can would be individually--but add in a scroller and your price increases. Plates for scrollers to fit S4Par or Parcan are usually not a problem for either fixture from most rental shops.. Parlamps are durable more then the HP Lamps--for outdoor weather conditions I would go with a PAr can and Par lamp for moisture and humidity sake.. But--Really this depends on so many factors tho for what you mentioned for which is better and more doable... Power is a factor, rigging and weight issues are a factor...crew and set up/tear down etc or transportation could be a factor..

Can you give more info on your project--it may help folks help you...cause many folks from all over read controlbooth and you may stumble onto someone who can suggest a good rental shop...

-w

[Jezza]

The other thing you have to factor in is the appearance of the rig and what kind of show it is. If you are doing a rock show, the look of big aluminum truss and lots of PAR cans chasing quickly down the stick may be what you are going for. Similarly, if you are doing theater gig and trussing is the only way to rig the instruments, you might want to get the S4s with scrollers for the identical placements for color, look of the instruments, and flexibility.

Moral of the story--the S4 option would still be cheaper wherever you went. Depeding on the rental house and what kind of dimmers/truss you get, the S4 option could cost anywhere from $400 to $800. The PAR can option would be higher, espciall because of transport as well. You are probably talking close to $1000+ for that kind of setup.

Tell us more about the event and we will be able to better assist you.

[stantonsound]

I agree with Jezza about the appearance. For rock style shows, the look of the rig is just important as the light that it gives off. Even with movers and scrollers, I love putting a few parbars across the back. It isn't rock and roll without par cans.

[avkid]

Originally Posted by stantonsound

I agree with Jezza about the appearance. For rock style shows, the look of the rig is just important as the light that it gives off. Even with movers and scrollers, I love putting a few parbars across the back. It isn't rock and roll without par cans.

Absolutely, and some strobes can't hurt either!

[gafftaper]

Probably the largest theater dealer in the Pacific Northwest, PNTA has part of their rental catalog posted on-line. So it's easy to check prices. Since you are on the other side of the country you aren't going to rent from them, but it might be helpful to set budgets with.

Just go here.

[Pie4Weebl]

wow that was quite a lot of responses for such a short period of time. The project this would be for is a production of Seussical The Musical in an 900 seat proscenium house. After giving the soundtrack a listen to a few times I got more of a rock and roll vision for the show which would include chasing between fixtures, when thinking about it more I realized that if I went for the S4 par plan I would probably want to double the number of units and scrollers so I could do bumps between sets. My reason for going with pars for the scroller-less rig v. S4 pars for the scroller rig, is that with multiple washs of pars I could use more than one at once so I could make up the difference in punch of not having the pars, and because the difference in quantity the price difference would be dramatic.

Wolf: yeah the double hung truss was exactly what I was thinking about when my mind was plotting what I wanted as far as look. And my main goal is having access to 7 wash colors. Morpheous M-Faders are what comes to mind first because they have mixing and can do cleaner cross fades as a result, but I will have to look into those cmy washs high end makes along with the fresnel version of sea changers...

Regardless of which way I would go with that there will still be a few acls mixed into the show as well as a few other specials. I may try and beg/borrow/steal a pair of movers to put into the mix as well. Also I hope to use side light heavily for the production because they theatre doesn't have many good foh positions, so I may look into faders for that section as well.

The venue I believe has a 400amp disconnect so power isn't a big concern.

Of coarse all of this planning at the moment is a very tentative fantasy world where the venue has no inventory and the group lets me rent what I want. This may turn out to be a show comprised of old altmans and burned out gels which are distinguished by approximate color.