Good place to buy Lighting stuff

mbandgeek

Active Member
Where are some good places to buy anything related to lighting. from electrics to moving fixtures.
 
Thats kinda like asking "where is the best place to buy a go-cart and a BMW"?

For little stuff, plugs, gel, Source4's and parts, that kinda thing, I go with Production Advantage. They even carry a few moving lights, mostly the Revolution from last check of their catalogue.

For big stuff, well when my school did a major renovation we bought our consoles and dimmers and fixtures from Fourth Phase used. You could also call Christie Lights to see if they have used stuff, and 4 Wall.

What are you looking for exactly? It may be easier to point you in the right direction to know if your looking for a Mac 2k and Hog 3 to run it or a replacement pin plug for a Source4.
 
I was looking for some moving fixtures. I never knew that they cost that much. you can buy a decent used car for that.
 
I know someone who may be selling off some used Mac 300. Some are in excellent shape, just long hours. Some are a little less cosmetically good, but still working. If you're interested I'll pass his name along.

As far as new stuff, everything I've bot from Bill at ESC is top notch. He used to (and probably still does) guarantee his cable for life. I know he's a Martin dealer, and probably a lot of other stuff. If you're not in Virginia, there's no tax.

Also, for used try gearsource.com as they have some good deals once in a while.
 
Both my high school and college use Barbizon Lighting Company: www.barbizon.com

They appear to have good service and support, but sometimes you have to be careful and make sure that they don't cut corners or make mistakes on orders, but that's improved tremendously recently.
 
I tend to like Chicago Spotlight for purchasing stuff realted to conventional fixtues, and I like to get some gobos and such from ILC, but thats becasue I can have stuff delivered for free through my acting teacher. They are the same price as just about everywhere at $12 a peice.
 
We've always used Barbizon, mainly because there is a local shop here where I live so we can go pick stuff up or get it shipped from that store as apposed to the national store in NY. I have, however used the website to order stuff and it came just fine.

They're really nice, and usually are more than welcome to answer questions and stuff.
 
nez said:
always check on ebay
I'm just curious, has you (or anyone) actually bought something off of ebay? I mean, I haven't used them ever so I'm a bit suspicious already, but for lighting equipment I'd be really worried...
 
So, we've had this where to buy X discussion here quite a few times, you might search a bit for it and find quite a bit of information. I and others here advocate every time that forming a relationship with one or more local vendors can be extremely valueable for you and your organization. You may pay a few bucks more, but when the crap hits the fan and you need some part the night of your show, your local vendor is going to be the person that can help, not the mail order joint 500mi away.
 
DarSax said:
I'm just curious, has you (or anyone) actually bought something off of ebay? I mean, I haven't used them ever so I'm a bit suspicious already, but for lighting equipment I'd be really worried...

I have. I've never been burned but that's because I ask a lot of questions, am very picky about what I buy, I pay attention to shipping charges (sometimes you can get someone charging $100 to ship a 1 pound package) and ask for more photos. I wouldn't buy something I didn't know much about. I also wouldn't buy something I didn't know where to get repaired. Look at the seller's feedback. That's typically a clue. Also, a lot of retailers use ebay as a way to advertise cheaply. I NEVER would buy something from overseas. A lot of the led cans for sale are actually shipped from Hong Kong or somewhere and you may be responsible for outrageous shipping PLUS import fees.
 
I just about always purchase personal stuff one ebay these days. You just gotta check feedback and look at shipping costs. I have only been burned once and that was for a $10 book so it wasn't that big a deal. Ebay, Paypal and possably your credit card have protection for online auctions.

And there are theatre supplies online:
A quick search found s4 pars for $150
 
DarSax said:
I'm just curious, has you (or anyone) actually bought something off of ebay? I mean, I haven't used them ever so I'm a bit suspicious already, but for lighting equipment I'd be really worried...
I look at it this way, there's a small group (compared to other eBay sellers) that are selling "stage lighting". Most of what you'll find is stuff that was from a DJ or some tour rig and they're either upgradeing or going out of buisness, so the stuff works. This decreases the amount of crap that's out there. It really all depends who you buy it from though, but I'm just saying I've found that there is less cheap crap in the "stage lighting" section of eBay than in other parts of the site.
 
MHSTech said:
I look at it this way, there's a small group (compared to other eBay sellers) that are selling "stage lighting". Most of what you'll find is stuff that was from a DJ or some tour rig and they're either upgradeing or going out of buisness, so the stuff works. This decreases the amount of crap that's out there. It really all depends who you buy it from though, but I'm just saying I've found that there is less cheap crap in the "stage lighting" section of eBay than in other parts of the site.

my rule about ebay is that you can't always trust the pictures, expect to have to repair the thing you buy.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back