Electro Controls 3201-3214 ERS

[derekleffew]

To Ship/Steveterry/Jmabray/other "old-timers":

Has anyone ever used such an animal? Those guys in Utah must have been smokin' some crazy mushrooms in the '70s!

While perusing my recently acquired copy of Photometrics Handbook by Robert C. Mumm, which I'm slightly disapponted in, I came across this line of ERS fixtures which use a 500w or 1000w PAR64/NSP as a light source. According to the footnotes, for the 3201, 36°: "This unusual instrument uses a 500 or 1000 W. PAR 64 lamp for a source, with an 8x18 step lens to gather and concentrate the light, and an 8x4.5 lens to focus it." All use an 8x18 step lens, other models use 2x 6x16; 1x 8x11; 2x6x20; and 1x 6x18 as the final lens. Output for these fixtures seems dismal, even with the 1000w lamp, compared to the comparable 360Q EHG-750w. Cut sheets say they have a gobo slot, or you could order the iris model without shutters, but I can't imagine achieving a sharp focus without an ellipsoidal reflector. Should it even be called an ERS if it uses, by the lamp's definition, a parabolic reflector?

This, from a more recent thread, may be a picture of the fixture:

http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/f...tml#post133219

Once again, I applaud EC's ingenuity, and pity their demise. Anyone want to talk of the Parallipshere, which was widely touted, though seldom seen, when I was studying stage lighting in college. Or of the audacity to name a control system the "Playmate" during Hugh Hefner's sexual revolution of the 1970s?

Food for thought. Have a Grand Day!

[Grog12]

Yes....I despise EC with a vengeance matched only by my hatred of Leprecon...Do yourself a favor and if you ever see one accidently drop it.

[Footer]

Never seen one myself, but my guess is they were made so that the huge par rigs there were touring around the country only had to carry one lamp. It seems a rather stupid thing to do because I am sure the optics were terrible, but at the time I am sure it seamed like a get idea. Could have been one of the first "one lamp to rule them all" thing like ETC is now doing.

Now with the Parallipshere... really they are a pretty good fixture, only problem is they are HUGE. Also the method for zooming/focusing took some serious time to get used to. The last theatre that I knew that had them took them out of service about 8-10 years ago, they had been using them for nearly 20 years.

[DarSax]

Though I've since graduated, we have a full rig of Parellipspheres (thats the spelling, yo) back at my high school. Big tanks, weird focus, really annoying to bench, general ew. When I saw "electro controls" in the title of this thread, my eyes lit up :D

[rmarston]

Yes, unfortunatley I have used them - The design even back in the day was lacking - by todays standards they're just garbage.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by DarSax

Though I've since graduated, we have a full rig of Parellipspheres (thats the spelling, yo) back at my high school. Big tanks, weird focus, really annoying to bench, general ew. When I saw "electro controls" in the title of this thread, my eyes lit up :D

I'd love to own a Parallipshere for my personal collection. Do you think they'd swap for one S4 or PAR64LED? I'd pay shipping both ways.

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by Grog12

Yes....I despise EC with a vengeance matched only by my hatred of Leprecon...Do yourself a favor and if you ever see one accidently drop it.

Now don't be snobbish. I've had lots of success (and some failures) with Leprecon gear. Just last year a Lep 12x2.4 pack saved my posterior when two different Sensor SR6 packs decided to misbehave (CEMs improperly configured).

When in college the EC 3466 was a better alternative than the Kliegl, Capitol, Century, or Altman 6"FS of the time. And I've had one hanging on the unistrut in my garage for the past 13 years.


And I have accidentally dropped a Source4-26° but I swear it committed suicide by jumping out of the scissor lift I was in from 22' above carpet. Pieces/parts were found in the next ballroom over! Luckily it was a PRG rental unit, and that's what the Collision Damage Waiver is for, right? Immediately we instituted a policy of laying them down in the lift instead of standing them up.

I heard a good one recently; I think I've told this before. Over the walkie: "The problem is not with the console. The problem is between the chair and the table." Being dense, I ask back, "oh, so it was a cable?"

[Grog12]

Its not so much being snobbish as having had the misfortune of programming their boards both as a programmer and a designer.

[gafftapegreenia]

The Leprechon boards are ok if your a small theatre looking for a two-scene.
However, I am way more fond of their dimmers than their boards. Also, they happen to be the parent company of Littlelite.

I have nothing against EC scoops, they're scoops!

The gel frame holders on their PAR 64's dont like to stay on however, and I've yet to experience their other products.

What ever happened to EC? Were they purchased by ETC? I can't remember.

[derekleffew]

Electrol Controls was purchased by Strand in the late 1980s.