I now own 2 of these and i think there great barrel scans. They give a decent output (250w) and have a large number of gobos (14) and are pretty cheap to buy (around £170 from a retailer but can be bought for around £100 on online auctions).

Spec-

Model: MJS-3
Lamp: 250W
Gobos + Colors: 14 colored gobos + white

Strboe: 1-4 fps
DMX Channels: 4
Audio Control: Yes
Connectors: 3 pin XLR
Dimensions (LxWxH): 475X220x160 mm
Weight: 7.7 kg

The built in audio shows are very good and so are the auto shows, they look alkot better when linked to multiple units too.

there light and small which is always good for transportation etc.

only downside to them i can see is that the strobe isnt very fast and the speed of the gobo scrolling isnt too fast neither and it takes about 2 seconds to go once round the whole wheel where as with the Geni Mojo scan 1 it takes about 1/2 a second.

what u lot think?

i got one too, but its not a bright as other effects, it's a good effect but could be a brighter

QUOTE (TymmyD @ Jul 18 2003, 05:16 PM)

i got one too, but its not a bright as other effects, it's a good effect but could be a brighter

The main problem with the majority of the Geni range, is that they use a non focused M33 lamp and dodgy reflector array to try and mimic the focused ELC dichloric style lamps. many manufacturers gave up on this idea 4 or 5 years ago, but sadly Geni still use the idea.

Any gobo effect needs an ultra sharp beam of light to make the most of the design, the ELC lamps do this since they are manufactured to focus an intense, sharp beam through the Gobo and colour filter and the result is a bright pin sharp beam.

The Geni on the other hand, use a halogen capsule as used in moonflowers, and this is designed to radiate light, rather than focus it. The Reflector mounted behind the lamp tries to compensate and the idea works...although the resulting beam is more equivalant to a 100W Dichloric effect than a 250W Scanner.

If you buy a scanner of any type, barrel or Mirror then ALWAYS choose one that uses the dichoric style reflector lamps - these are usually known as A1/231 (12v 100W), A1/232 (15v 150W) and ELC A1/259 (24v 250W). Nearly all manufacturers use this type of lamp for anything using Gobo's - which says it all!.

Chris, what would you recommend as alternate to these, bearing in mind they're reasonably priced.

I'm need an alternate scanner to Mad/evl scans (big lights). Need to be small though for transport purposes.

Cheers,
Martin

But this light does us the ELC A1/259 Lamp.

Must be the optics!

Believe you van get these with different bulbs, probably why some people are big fans, others not.

I put two out last week for the first time. I did find them rather heavy to cart around but once they're up on a bar with some smoke they do look quite impressive. My only grievance would be you do need at least two of them to make any sort of effect. I put them on with two 812 Roboscans which worked very well but again the Roboscans are'nt the lightest effects to carry around.

Yeah i got the spin master 1 and think its rather good considering the price

it uses the ELC 250W bulb and has worked fine for a year where the last time it powered up but no light came!! I was hoping it wasnt the transformer and lucky enough it was just the bulb gone

for the price it isnt really bad!! Would like to see what 2 or 4 together is like

cheers

hey guys how u doin if your looking for a small scanning effect this one is fantastic it is:
"The smallest, most portable, scanner possible, with the facilities and reliability of the larger and more expensive models
drum roll please lol!
it is the NJD microbeam its a good light it is a dmx light. it cost £220 were ive seen it but that with a controller i dont know if chris sells them or what?

7 Dichroic colours + white 7 Gobo's
Blackout facility (Strobe effect)

this light is very very small it looks good but depends i you wanna go for a light at that price me personally i would go for lights like twisters and datamoons.

what do you think guys any one seen this microbeam!
cheers

The MojoScans look like quite a good light, I do believe they are the same range and work together.

I have 2 Spinmaster 1's linked together and I'm very happy with them for the price I got them for.

True, they aren't dazzlingly bright if the house lights are up, but I usually have all other lights off except for the moonflower on the ceiling when the spinmasters are running.

I Have 2 Mojo Spinmaster 1s. I payed 120 quid for a pair at my local [Filter Edited - read the rules ]. Theyr are really well built and although the arent discharge, they still give a great effect for the price.

Matt

I got a pair of the GENI spin master 1 and linked up they do a fine job as you with
their auto program, I was looking into the Spin master IIIs but you say the SM I
turn their gobo's quicker, now Im wondering if I should.

Cheers

Always go for effects that take the 24v 250w bulbs, they normally last longer, look brighter, and are cheaper to replace

I have a Geni mojo scan 1 and 2x Geni mojo scanII at home. The mojo scan 1 is very quiet whereas the mojo scan 2 is very noisy. The motors whine a lot and the when the mirror moves fast it rattles inside as if its grinding.

I dont reckon much to the built in program as it doesnt do much.

Has anyone else got any opinions/problems on this model? (Mojo ScanII)

And would anyone recommend Chauvette Intimidator or Insignia?

RIchard.

On other threads people people warning off Chauvet lighting. But I never had any Chauvet gear apart from my Mirror Ball and Rotator motor

there ok "for the money" but i do have a few little things i dont like, the gobos arnt really anything special and the thing that really bugs me is the reaction time,
- not so much move on the beat but move on the off beat! The sound to light movement isnt very accurate atall when you compare them to the simalarly spec'd abstract gladiator revoloution 1ce 250w which of course has the single beam partner in the 250w 1ce futurescan i find these too be well away the best for acurate fast sound response but then again u do pay 300 a head as a pose too 140 a head for the geni stuff
worth every penny of my money tho i have 2 glads and 2 futurescans and we have 6 more of each at work -

tom

ps. (shame abstract have stopped making them)

The point about the M33 Lamp setup is very flawed.

In fact it's the better option over the ELC type.

The M33 is not pre-focused so you have a free hand at focusing and what type of reflector is used, much the same way as any HTI fitting works.

Also the M33 has a far brighter colour temperature than the ELC lamps, this gives the percieved "brighter" effect.

You'll also find that Barrell effects often appear slightly dimmer than a single scanner beam. the reasons for this is fairly obvious.


Manufacturers simply opt to use ELC more often because they require less unit design and are cheaper.

The Mojo Scan 1, fitted with their EHJ (M33) lamp are brighter and sharper than the ELC version, and almost as good as their HTI version, due to colour temps.

If you want a Brighter Barrell Scan go for the HTI or EHJ versions, I opted for the ELC version of the Barrells, so they are purposely dimmer than my scanners, as barrell's can not be kept away from seating areas as well as scans, when they are spining and flipping.

So the dimmer ouput of the ELC barrell serves me well.

I think the reason for the slower scrolling on the Barrel's is probably due to the fact they are barrels. With multiple smaller images projected faster scrolling would make the gobo's difficult to make out.

When used with a DMX controller you can actually control the speed of the scrolling and the barrel motors more precisely.

what do people think of the acme jaguar...... ?

i saw a demo of this and thought it was very impressive, but have not seen one in a live enviroment....

i quite liked the shape of them too

I've got a pair of Spinmaster III's and they work well.
Agree that they aren't particularly bright, but I guess that's a symptom of having small GOBOs, that need to reflect, in full, off the thin mirrors of the cylinder. They are really effective with haze/smoke etc. accentuating the "movement" of the beams.
The mirrors are quite fragile, be prepared to cover the cylinder aperture with a "box" of correx or similar if not using a carry case.
Overall, a nice change from the normal "flower" type effects.

Clive.

Hi - I have 2 Jaguars (barrel) and 2 Panthers (scanner) - they work well together but
as mentioned on another thread, the Jaguars are less bright than the Panthers for
obvious reasons.

The simple controller (CA-6?) is fine for the in-built programs but I'll probably
end up trying to reprogram them myself when I get the time.

One problem is the shape of the units - they hang almost horizontally and the
weight makes it difficult to angle the light any distance from the stand but
it's usually just a question of putting them up and then fiddling with them until
the light angles across the floor.

Hope this helps, Chris.

I have a couple of customers with Spinmasters, sourced from a local 'electronics' chain we all know.

Both customers have told me they're over the moon with them! One uses them for mobile disco gigs and the other for a 'disco' effect in a theatre.

Regarding the M33 vs ELC, I reckon its pretty much 50/50 in the marketplace amongst quality lights, take eg the Opti Solar 250 vs its far-east rivals. I suspect performance is just as much to do with good design of gobo size and use of lenses/reflectors, I think NJD explained this in another topic regarding cine projectors, the 12V A1-213 is common for Super-8 film, M33's are often used in Overhead Projectors.

I now have 2 Spinmaster 3's and have linked them via a Soundlab DMX controller. I haven't programmed them yet but i do have fun moving the white spot gobo round the room for small kids to chase the spots!

hi,
i have the spinmaster 1's a pair of them, the good but they just dont have the effect or the spinmaster 3. think your better off with a data moon than a spin 1...

but i always thought the spin 3's were great, would love to get me old hands on a set!

As an addendum regarding the fragility of the barrel's mirrors, I recently found that PLASTIC replacement mirrors, originally designed for broken car wing mirrors ( I found a 8"X5" blister pack @ £4.99) can be purchased from motor factors.
just take out the cracked or broken glass elements, they will have to be stanley knifed away from their neighbours and prised from under the rubber "gears" that are the end pieces of the barrel. cut the plastic mirror to the same size using a stanley and straight edge (carefully!!) and insert them under the rubber gears. a small dab of contact adhesive applied with a cocktail stick to the back holds them tight under the rubber. no need to glue them to their "neighbours". I cut mine slightly overlength, so they did not move at all when placed under the rubber edging "gears".
There you are, another set of lights back on the road at minimal cost.
Although I have no scanners, I would think that these plastic mirrors would be OK for the larger mirror surfaces on these effects, too. Not sure if I would use them on a reflector "dish" - I'm thinking Datamoon/Twister here - as the heat generated by a bulb in close proximity INSIDE a unit might be a fire hazard.

Hope this helps,

Clive.

Nice one,

Down to motor world tomorrow.

I have owned a pair of these for about 3 years, and I like them. I just link them together and they do the job. A good s/h buy too.

[b][i]I have 3 of these hooked up and they look truely awesome. I replaced the mirrors on the barrels myself with 2mm thick glass mirrors, and the difference is truely amazing. Crystal clear images and really bright. Although i do tend to wrap them in cotton wool so as not to crack the mirrors. I have just purchased 2 acme dynamo's so hopefully they will look just as good when all lights are going together. I will try and post a photo of them all lit up with smoke. Just hope my gantry can take all the weight, lol

Well i bought a second spinmaster 3, and bought a couple of DMX cables, to link them up (was going to link it to the spinmaster 1 too), but looks like the DMX side isn't working on the most recent spinmaster 3 purchase.

I also noticed that it wasn't anywhere near as bright as the other spinmaster 3 - I found the ELC bulb's reflector wasn't that good, in fact the reflector layer seemed to be too thin - it would also light up the surrounding area behind the bulb. Replaced it with an osram one and voila, bright light again!

Anyway, looks like the DMX signal isn't getting through to the light (works ok on audio mode). Looks like I'll have to crack open the case to check the pcb is ok..

David