Vari-Lite is back in the saddle again, indeed. Their new hybrid moving head, the VL10 Beam-Wash, includes the new Philips 25R Platinum, 550 W of sheer power. Apart from an impressive 2.2 to 48° zoom, this U.S. hot rod can rely on its 16 gobos, 5 animations pattern of the exclusive sur l’exclusif disque VL*FX Animation Wheel, its 2 prisms, its Frost filters and its combination of CMY color mixing + color wheel to run ahead of the pack.

SoundLightUp camera was there on the first European presentation during last JTSE show in Paris to interview Cyril Prat, Technical Manager of Freevox, the Vari-Lite french distributor.

Muscle Beam

Picture it: the Vari-Lite warehouse, 2 Choppers driving in with sputtering motor backfire from hell. The two drivers step out, open the back door and step inside the premises to unwrap some VL moving heads sleeping on the shelves. Getting out of one of the just parked HotRods, a heavily tattoed guy points to a VL3500. An incredible customisation ballet begins, to mutate the Last Great US Flagship of Moving Light into a monster BeamWash fixture. Days have flown, tests duly undergone, here’s the result.

Well seated on its 2 hanging rails, the new Vari-Lite creation boldly takes pride wit hfreshly sticked original logos. The VL10 is wisely (and relatively) high enough for a Texas lighting jewel. 33 kg and 70 xcm of steel and black polycarbonate give precedence to the perfect eye of the 180 mm, an agressive grille firmly tightened by the large base and the head equipped with two extra handles on the top sides

At the heart of the mechanical part waits an extreme light source, a 550 W Philips 25R delivering 28,000 lumens, 640,000 lux @ 10 meters!
The resulting beam flux confirms the synthesis spirit of the Americans flux, an ideal balance between raw power, traditions respect and effects modernity.

The 7,000K color temperature and the CRI of 80 fate the VL10 to stage lighting, rather modern concert or show. The CMY color mixing follows the path, it sticks to the up-to-date standards, quite saturated, with deep tints and precise pastel hues. 10 fixed colors wisely come in addition on a dedicated.

The optics evoke the good old days of Vari-Lite. The very wide 20:1 ratio of the zoom goes from 2.2° to 44°! The focus can me made in every zoom position, allowing the user to play endlessly with the incredible collection of gobos and effects provided by the VL10.
On the first wheel, one finds 8 efficient and fixed gobos, and 4 beam reducers to reach down to 0.7°. The second wheel is equipped with 8 rotating gobos, more dedicated to aerial shapes and volumes.

The third wheel is the main Vari-Lite here. Named LV*FX, this provides 5 large animation patterns on one gear, for effects of dressing, deformation, aerial or multicolored beams.

The customisation goes on with a double superimposed prism, 8-facet circular or 4-facet linear and 2 Frost filters.The first one is a Soft Edge to soften the edge, the second one is a Heavy Frost, allowing the use of the VL10 as a Wash fixture with an angle of 48°.
Almost each of the effects is controlled thru 3 DMX channels, multiplying even more the combinations and possibilities. Apart from indexing, rotation and speed, another channel drives different modes: mega stepping, twist, shake or scrolling. A 2-glass blades dimmer and a shutter conclude the DMX chart, in DMX – RDM or ArtNet.

Please take note that the Vari-Lite VLZ and VL2600 are still available simultaneously. Please remind that each range hosts Led fixture in Profile, Spot or Wash model. The VLZ fixtures provide a power and a number of options aimed at big stages, while the VL2600 models are lighter and more compact and can be defined as Vari-Lite’s Swiss Army Knifes.

More info on the Vari-Lite website.