Not too long ago, Vari-Lite introduced the VL6000 Beam, an innovative fixture meant to emit a thick collimated beam of light from its wide aperture, with a new three-wheel type color system and some gobos. This year, they released its mate, the VL6500 Wash. Both the VL6000 and VL6500 bear a resemblance to the VL5, with its turbine engine looking blades behind the front glass lens. But the similarities end there. It’s twice the size of the VL5, emits ten times the firepower, mixes color and can strobe. VL realized that many end users of the 6000 were more concerned with a viable replacement to the old 3K Syncrolite wash light of yore, but without a scroller or bulky power supply. Some users didn’t require the extra attributes. Vari-Lite complemented the beam with a wash version. And it kicks some serious butt.
A Missile of a Beam
The main beauty of this fixture is the output. It delivers a thick 6° collimated beam emitted from a 15” diameter front lens – the same sized aperture as the VL6000 Beam. The 7000°K native temperature is as white as a light gets before taking on a blue hue. The bulb is a Philips MSR FastFit 1500/2, and with the lens, mirror and reflector, it kicks out 130,000 lumens at the source and over 50,000 lumens from the front. From 20 feet away I’m metering 16,500 foot candles (178,000 Lux) at a tight zoom, which is pretty sick. When I zoom the fixture wide, I still get a respectable 1,200 foot candles at the same distance. I have never seen a wide beam emit that many lumens. While most fixtures lose 90 percent of their output between a tight zoom and a wide output, this fixture has the horsepower to still make a statement. I could indeed wash a 60-foot-wide stage easily with five of these units.
There is a 14-inch round reflector centered in the fixture. Masking that on the face are 18 Dichro*fusion blades to change beam size, maximizing at 30° wide. This vintage turbine engine look is still sexy as ever as they catch the colored light being emitted for a nice architectural presence. Moving these blades slowly can greatly change the beam shape. One can purposely make it look like it has a donut hole in the middle of the beam. At other times, one can barely add some diffusion and you get this really bright beam in the center with a sweet halation effect around it. Some may not like this, but I consider it an attribute.
In the center of the front protective lens covering is a 3” black circular plate to eliminate the expected hot spot. The side of this plate facing the lamp source has an aspherical mirror attached to it to kick what would be some lost light back at the reflector for additional brightness.
The mechanical shutter works fairly well for a motorized strobe as opposed to an electronic one. The fixture operates the strobe function in two separate channels. One chooses between Sync, Random and a Random Sync modes. The Random Sync mode means that all fixtures will strobe randomly, but they will all do the same thing in unison. The other DMX channel controls the rate.
Colors
While I personally liked the three-wheel color system that the VL6000 Beam offered, I have to admit that I find this new model a bit easier to assemble color palettes with. This fixture has CMY color flags. I found the Cyan and Yellow flags were well saturated, but the Magenta resembles more of a Rose color. I was able to mix plenty of color variations, but of course the red mix is of the Fire Orange variety and the Blue is medium. I can bump colors on the CMY in about a quarter of a second easily, and I can execute a rainbow effect easily. In addition, there is a variable CTO flag that can knock the color temperature down from 3800-6500K.
The color flags are singular and enter the optical path from the side. The Red and Yellow come in from one side while the Blue and CTO enter from the other. This may be a concern if some hard edged lights tried to do this, but it’s barely noticeable on the beam itself. I will say that I was able to (on purpose) come up with some mixed colors that offered shafts of different hues that assemble into one beam.
There are two modes for color mixing — the normal way of adding in color flags, or one can use a method that takes the light from 0 to full saturation in 95 percent of the range before it pops white at the top end. I prefer this mode because it makes color mix chases from white to deep saturated colors instantaneous.
To achieve the deep saturated colors, two color wheels contain dichroics like Blood Red, Deep Blue and Congo. Of course the famous Vari*Lite Kelly Green (Teal) color is included. Both wheels include a minus-green filter (1/4 on one, ½ on the other) in the center of the wheel. The reason for this is when you bump from one color on the wheel to another, you will see a white flash as the dichroics pass the almost white color on route to the next desired color. Nice to see this logic utilized again.
The color wheels come in from two different sides of the light path. This takes half colors to the next level as I was able to either split two colors on a single wheel OR bring one color from each wheel into the optical path. By the same logic, one can also make a three-color beam. We brought the deep blue color in about a third of the way from one side, then added the red from the other. We left the center white. Toby Keith would love this red, white and blue beam. The color wheels default to take the fastest path between two colors on the wheel, but there is a way to override this setting so the wheel acts the way programmers may be accustomed to.
The VL6000 Beam comes with a color preset channel that gives users quick and easy access to 55 premixed colors. The R&D team realized that it would be beneficial to designers if they could precisely match these premade macros with the same colors from the CMY and CTO flags combined in the wash fixture. They were able to do just that, so all VL6000 Series fixtures can essentially match their colors on the same rig.
Size Matters
This fixture takes a maximum of 20 channels and has just one control mode. What we have here is precisely what many LDs have been looking for in a large format bright wash fixture. VL is setting the meat and potatoes in front of you with no sides. What you see is 1750 watts of raw power in action. Don’t even think of running that much power with 120 volts.
Despite its bulk (think 30 percent wider than your normal wash light), it’s not any bigger than a large pancake-style light. With permanent handles worked into the base, one person can easily handle this 66-pound fixture.
Physically, the fixture is 28.6 inches wide, which made it just a tad too large to fit in a section of Tyler GT truss at first. So VL has manufactured an optional GT truss hook to allow the fixture to suspend just low enough to lock and ride in this PRT. It takes a full three seconds to pan this fixture 540°, but nobody is looking for ultrafast movement with this type fixture.
The fixture is black, with a sturdy metal frame and aesthetically soothing plastic covers. It gets fed 200-264V through a PowerCon True1 connector and receives DMX via 5-pin XLR only.
At a Glance:
A New Classic for Large-Scale Gigs
The 6500 is the ultimate large format rock ‘n’ roll beam that the public has been waiting for. With 130,000 lumens at the source and over 50,000 lumens from the front, it’s powerful enough to wash an arena bowl or melt the faces of the people at the other end of the stadium. It’s a new classic, and a must for any large-scale event.
Vari-Lite VL6500 Wash
PROS: An unprecedented 50,000+ lumens of output provides a missile of a beam. Ability to wash wide spaces with enough footcandles to matter. Improved color system.
CONS: None
FEATURES
- 50,000+ lumen output wash fixture
- Companion fixture for VL6000 Beam
- Dichro*fusion blades
- Two static color wheels
- Full CYM+CTO color mixing
- Extended color range mode
- Two-year warranty
STATS
- Light Source: Philips MSR FastFit 1500/2 Lamp
- Native Color Temp: 7000K
- Zoom Range: 6-30°
- Wattage: 1,750W
- Voltage: 200-265V
- Weight: 66 lbs.
- Size: 28.6 x 23.8 x 20.4”
- MSRP: $10,999
Manufacturer: Vari-Lite
More info: www.vari-lite.com
