I'm looking for some very compact, reasonably professional looking/functioning stage lighting for my band. Mostly small stages, occasional outdoor venues. What do you use for lighting? Do you have experience with this set up from Chauvet?:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Chauvet-PK1BANK-Rock-N-Lite?sku=803210&src=3SOSWXXA

Looks like something I could work with if the quality is there. Other suggestions; reviews?

Thanks!

I bought this setup about 6 years ago. It's quick to set up and I run the foot controller. I've run it at gigs where there's no supplied lighting about 1000 times. It's still holding up just fine. Don't let that list price scare you. I got the set brand new off of ebay for half that amount.

EDIT: forgot link: http://www.mbtlighting.com/product-details.cfm?ProductID=4730&CFID=1597707&CFTOKEN=24940609

I'm looking for some very compact, reasonably professional looking/functioning stage lighting for my band. Mostly small stages, occasional outdoor venues. What do you use for lighting? Do you have experience with this set up from Chauvet?:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Chauvet-PK1BANK-Rock-N-Lite?sku=803210&src=3SOSWXXA

Looks like something I could work with if the quality is there. Other suggestions; reviews?

Thanks!
The Chauvet that you linked to is pretty cool. I have tried it out in GC, though, and it doesn't have much power behind it. It might work for you, but you'll also want something else to help.

Just think about what you like about concerts you've been to.

First, you need a little bit of fog (or smoke) in the air to catch the light and add ambiance.

Second, you do want color. However, you don't want that color to wash over the entire stage (do you really want to be washed in red for the whole show?). What you want is to provide a color wash but have a few neutral colored lights to illuminate the performers.

Finally, you need to have some movement. That usually means an effect of some sort. Again, with the fog/smoke in the air, this really does a good job of setting the mood.

In my band, we have 2 PAR 38s on each side of the stage, in the back. They wash across the stage, but also out toward the audience. Provides great wash for the fog machine to pick up on. Those 4 lights go into one dimmer pack on a preprogrammed chase. Then we set up 3 PAR 38s (uncolored) along the front of the stage, pointed at us. These are typically on all the time. Finally, we picked up an American DJ Vertigo light and set that up somewhere behind the drummer (either low and pointed up toward the backdrop or high and pointed down toward the front of the stage). Works surprisingly well for our purposes.

I figure you could pick up two of those PAR 38/dimmer/stand packages and pretty well duplicate what we've done.

Thank you for the input and experience.! Sounds like reasonable set ups.

I'm looking for some very compact, reasonably professional looking/functioning stage lighting for my band. Mostly small stages, occasional outdoor venues. What do you use for lighting? Do you have experience with this set up from Chauvet?:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Chauvet-PK1BANK-Rock-N-Lite?sku=803210&src=3SOSWXXA

Looks like something I could work with if the quality is there. Other suggestions; reviews?

Thanks!

Although it looks cool and is compact, I don't think it will provide as much light and wash as you might need.

If you're looking to do smaller shows, it might work, but I think that most folks would grow out of it and upgrade. The other problem with that setup is that it's not very scalable. If you wanted to add other lights, you'll still need to buy more stands, controllers, etc.

Par cans with a DMX controller will work for many situations, and can easily be added to.

But if you want something compact, I'd go with something like this
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/fixtures/stagewash1550_fix.shtml
or this
http://www.chauvetlighting.com/fixtures/stagewashpack_fix.shtml

They both offer much more light, and because they are DMX controllable, there's a lot you can do with them.

On the other hand, par cans work for most bands and are relatively cheap and easy to use.

^^^ The cool thing about the 950 pack (the second link) is that the two fixtures use standard hardware grade fluorescent bulbs. We're talking less than 5 bucks here, as compared to good quality floods (for your PAR cans), which cost far north of that.