Conventional Fixtures Phoebus Ultra-Arc/GE Marc-350 question

[Scenemaster60]

A colleague of mine who has recently become the TD for a local college reached out to me yesterday with a lamp question for their followspots. It turns out that hey have 2 Phoebus Ultra-arcs (original) that use the GE Marc-350 lamp. I have never used or encountered this particular followspot and have not used anything with a GE Marc-350 lamp since 16mm projectors back in my college days (early 1990s). It seems that this lamp is discontinued and that there never was any sort of cross-listed substitute by either GE or any other manufacturer. Online searches indicate that you can maybe still get them from old stock and that the price ranges from $200-$500/ea. with various estimates on shipping time ranging from a few days to weeks. He has two of these units in his theater. One unit has no lamp in it and the other works, but is not very bright. His musical opens in a week and his LD is planning on 2 followspots that need to be able to punch though a mixed lighting design of source 4 conventionals and Colorsource LEDs at about 100'.

He's in St. Paul, MN and I told him that his best bet is probably to try the rental houses in the Twin Cities area to see what he might be able to find to rent because trying to find NOS Marc-350s online is just throwing good money away at this point. Anyone out there have any other thoughts about this situation?

In the arc-lamp world it would seem that the Phoebus/Strong Ultra-Arc II (ST) or the Lycian Midget HP would be tried and true older units that a rental house might have in stock.

 

[microstar]

Several Marc 350 currently listed on eBay, some as low as $135.
I agree it's a tough situation to be in though, basically throwing money away.

Your friend might want to check out a closeout deal at PSSL on the Leviton Romer 230w LED follow spot for $520, with free shipping too:

Leviton LEDFS-30W Romer Medium Throw LED Follow Spot, 3200K, 230-Watt (White Finish) (Stand Not Incl

Leviton LEDFS-30W Romer Medium Throw LED Follow Spot, 3200K, 230-Watt (White Finish) (Stand Not Included) Romer Medium Throw LED Follow Spot, 3200K, 230W. Electric Dimmer on Side, Top Mounted Iris and Gobo Holder, Front Mounted 5-Color Changer and Extra Color Frame Slot. Offers a High CRI...

www.pssl.com

I bought two of the Romer 230w 5600K units earlier this year and am quite impressed with the quality and brightness of this little-known fixture. No factory warranty due to being a closeout, but the price was right. PSSL shipped very quickly also. Just a thought.

 

[derekleffew]

Even in the best of times, the Marc-350 was life-rated for only 50 hours. But in reality only about 25 of those hours were actually "good," aka "usable," A brand new lamp would start off with a very purple-ish hue, then slowly drift toward yellow until about 35 hours. After that it was anyone's guess what they would do. Almost on the nose, at 50 hours they would turn "brown" and stay there pretty much forever. In the Rental Dept., when I had to send out two or three units (Altman Orbiter, Phoebus Ultra-Dark, Lycian Submarine Wheel), it could take me an entire afternoon of swapping in and out used lamps, as many as ten, to get three that "matched".

Today I wouldn't spend one penny on the lamp or fixtures using it.

 

[STEVETERRY]

Even in the best of times, the Marc-350 was life-rated for only 50 hours. But in reality only about 25 of those hours were actually "good," aka "usable," A brand new lamp would start off with a very purple-ish hue, then slowly drift toward yellow until about 35 hours. After that it was anyone's guess what they would do. Almost on the nose, at 50 hours they would turn "brown" and stay there pretty much forever. In the Rental Dept., when I had to send out two or three units (Altman Orbiter, Phoebus Ultra-Dark, Lycian Submarine Wheel), it could take me an entire afternoon of swapping in and out used lamps, as many as ten, to get three that "matched".

Today I wouldn't spend one penny on the lamp or fixtures using it.

What Derek said.

ST

 

[brucek]

Once upon a time Altman made a 600w HTI conversion kit for Orbiters....but I believe it is long discontinued. It consisted of a reflector, lamp socket, additionl fan, some modifications to the focus rail, and a ballast.

I do remember a local 1 stage hand once showing me a "trick" to raise the color temperature of a MARC-350 by jamming something in the fan until the lamp heated up then letting the fan resume.

 

[almorton]

Similar problem for Strand solo - the discharge lamps they used were only made by GE/Tungsram and they're out of the entertainment market now.

I'd be looking at hiring a couple of Lycians or RJ or similar, I think.