High End Systems ShowPIX and ShowGUN

[TechGeek]

Hey everyone. So I was interested in buying 4 High End ShowPIX used but most units I'm finding are in Europe. Anyone know of a fixture similar to the ShowPIX? I'm having a business meeting for financial funds to buy lights for my company in the 2 months and would like to find something by then. Also, anyone know where to find something like a ShowGUN? It's like a Sharpy on roids! I would love to have 2 of them for outdoor events and such.... I've seen the pictures of lights and things that have gotten melted by a ShowGUN too, it's scary that a fixture is that strong.

 

[soundlight]

Showguns: 1) They're HUGE. 2) They're unreliable. That's one of the reasons they faded from popularity so quickly - a lot of people that I know that used them (Showguns in particular) said they were horribly unreliable. But if you want some give Mainlight a call and see if they want to sell any of their units. You should probably hold off and rent as necessary from Mainlight rather than buying, though. Other units that would be better in this category include the Clay Paky Alpha Beam series.

ShowPix: there are a whole lot of individual pixel control movers out there these days, not the least of which is the Clay Paky A.LEDA series. Not just the B-EYEs, they also have the regular A.LEDA wash units that have pixel mapping. You've also got Ayrton MagicPanels (and knockoffs thereof from Chauvet and Blizzard and others, I'm sure) and several other units that might be of interest. The LEDs in the ShowPix are ancient as far as LED technology goes. They're not going to look nearly as good as today's Quad- or Penta-color LEDs and even the R, G, and B won't be as saturated. Up until rather recently, the ShowPix and Studio Pix were some of the only pixel-mapping moving heads out there, but that category has exploded recently.

A cursory search on GearSource reveals multiple sources listed in the Northeast US region for used ShowGuns and ShowPix, if you're dead-set on those units.

 

[Wood4321]

No doubt,
Everything soundlight said is true. They were bright, had a couple cute effects, but were massive. And they weren't the most reliable fixture out there. Hell, the lamp likely costs a bit over $200. They also weigh 140 pounds each, and draw 14 amps at 208. If I wanted a beam effect right now, I would be looking at something more like the sharpy or sharpy wash. Much more reliable, and much smaller. Or if you really want a bright wash light with a tight beam, look for used mac 2000 wash XB. (if you want gobos, look at VL3500 FX) Both are much better lights. Remember, the reason they are cheap is that nobody wants them any more..

Showpix,
I think High end still had some new in box at the factory around a or 2 year ago, (from the initial run!) That tells you how popular they were. There are much better wash lights, and much better led eye candy right now. I would go with b-eyes, or the mac quantum wash, or even a mac aura well before I would start looking at showpix. (or studio pix for that matter) Or, usually you can get an 8 pack of mac 101's with road case for around 9-10 grand usually.

 

[Les]

Have you looked in to Syncrolite fixtures? They're huge and certainly have that 'wow' factor. Might be a bit expensive and more difficult to source though. Especially used units.

 

[TechGeek]

Soundlight, I believe we know each other... Do you work at Starlite?

Anyways... I mostly was looking for ShowPIX because of the large size of the head and the eye candy it has. I would use it for an effect light more than a wash.

As for ShowGUN, I have heard about them being unreliable but how so? I did see the Clay Paky Alpha series which is pretty nice... There couldn't be anyone better than Mainlight!

Wood, I will defiantly look at the Mac and Varilite fixtures you said.... Maybe I'll make a call to High End for some new ShowPIX haha!

Les, I have heard of Syncrolite but never looked into them but I defiantly will do that now!

 

[c-reel]

tech geek did you ever get showpix ? We invested in showpix, showguns, showbeams, and alpha beam 1500s a few years ago all for outdoor and arena gigs. Lets connect sometime