Thread: Gemmy Light Show and Simulated thunder?

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I remember I had bought a gemmy light show last year that you can hook up to your ipod or mp3 for music and the lights go in synchronization to the music. I wonder if anyone has tried using thunderstorm soundtrack and use dimmable floods to simulate thunder and lightning? I SOOOOOOOOOOOO dont want to buy the firefly, but my hubby says the gemmy wont work. Any ideas?

Is your main objection to the Fire Fly (seems like a really nice product and very realistic effects) the cost? If so I can understand not wanting to invest so much money into a lightning machine especially if you are a home haunter and/or have other props you'd like to buy as well. Personally I'd love either the midrange or high end one as a present myself!

If no one answers about using your Gemmy Light Show question, I suppose you could always set yours up to see what you get. Just pay attention to the bulb wattages as I'm sure they are not meant for floodlight type bulbs and you wouldn't want to overload it and burn it out. I know it can do an acceptable job for many as a singing pumpkin controller. I think your husband might be right about it not being a good solution for this other use. If you really want to keep the budget low on something like this, you can still pick up those Lightning FX boxes (with lightning bolt or Xmas tree on them) online. Just not at the cheap closeout prices that we were jumping at a few years back. This product has been discontinued but I still see them on Amazon for example for around $30. Certainly not the full effects and power of the Fire Fly but might give you enough of what you want for the price.

Here's two links; the first is the product info page from BuyCostumes that use to sell it for $20 where you can get an idea of the specs. The second is an Amazon source (for around $32).

http://www.buycostumes.com/Lighting-...uctDetail.aspx

Unfortunately the people selling these on Amazon are sold out now too: http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Tree...ef=pd_sbs_bt_1

So this lightning effect route might have dried up too and not left you guys with much choice. The Morris' Perfect Storm Effects Machine box linked to on the Amazon page however might be a solution. Sounds like it works like the FX box and it gives you 500 watts of more lighting.

Searching under the right keywords to find these things can be the biggest challenge. Here, i was able to find a guy over on eBay who has 8 of the xmas tree version boxes right now. The xmas tree/lightning bolt (same insides) boxes while only rated 500 watts does have a line in as I recall which was the reviewers complaint on the Morris box.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NIB-Christma...-/320508696536

I purchased a thunder and lightening box from Monsterguts.com and was very happy with the sound track that came with it.
Very easy to set up and with the player I used which I set on repeat play I didn't have to worry about it all night. A great deal but the price was high but worth it. No problems at all.

I've use the christmas tree box for two halloweens now and it's great for me. And it does work with dimmabe floods- perfectly. Actually I use two flood bulbs that put out 90 watts of light each, but only use 75 watts of energy each. They are dimmable exterior low watt flood bulbs- make sure you get the right ones. At that actual wattage you can get plenty of floods going for lightening, but I find two useful enough for me, angled in just the right directions for max coverage. It's not an elaberate box, but the sensitivity setting allows you to dial in just the right amount of response and it's very effective. I place the speaker that play the thunder nearby and it works great. My 2011 halloween video in my signature link shows it in action, with the dimmable bulbs. Have a look to see.

GoS- thanks for that ebay find!

Dan

The gemmy will work, not the greatest, but will do the job.
It is an on/off type of controller, no dimming and the soundtrack will have to be tweaked for best perfomance.
It is a bandwidth control color organ for all essential purposes.
Pay attenton to your max wattage/amperage if you use incadescents, or just use LED bulbs and you can take it a lot further.


The christmasFX/lightningFX will do the trick and is a nice economy product when it can be found.
It can work with our LED bulbs, and incandescent bulbs up to 500 watts total.
You get a lot more milage with our LED bulbs (I have over 30 of our LED bulbs connected to about 1000 ft of wire) vs maybe 4-5 incadescents.
I run it via a cd player and split the output to a 400 watt marshall amp head/monitors and the controller.
Also you need to convert from 1/8th audio to RCA, one minor hassle.


The morris perfect storm, has no input, only an mic,, so it limits your effectiveness unless you isolate it by a sound source.
Plus limited output, it has not been tested with our bulbs,, so I have no idea how it would handle themm.


The firefly works fine too.
Depending on how insane you want to be should dictate which model
Most are fine and dandy with the 101. the other units handle more overall.
Again, you need to supply sound, and then output wiring from them.
You can run about 15 incadescents, hundreds of our led bulbs on them, perhaps 120 of their light units, or hundreds of cfls.


The PicoSorm is another nice choice, which has included sound track on an sd card
You can brew your own by putting in different sd card with your own audio.
This one feature reduces your wiring time, since now you do not need to connect any incoming player to the controller, only output the audio to your steroe or amp.
It too works really well with out LEDs, and can operate several hundred, or about 10 incadescents.


There ya go, a break down on 5 units.
Have fun.

Originally Posted by Shockwave199

I've use the christmas tree box for two halloweens now and it's great for me. And it does work with dimmabe floods- perfectly. Actually I use two flood bulbs that put out 90 watts of light each, but only use 75 watts of energy each. They are dimmable exterior low watt flood bulbs- make sure you get the right ones. At that actual wattage you can get plenty of floods going for lightening, but I find two useful enough for me, angled in just the right directions for max coverage. It's not an elaberate box, but the sensitivity setting allows you to dial in just the right amount of response and it's very effective. I place the speaker that play the thunder nearby and it works great. My 2011 halloween video in my signature link shows it in action, with the dimmable bulbs. Have a look to see.

GoS- thanks for that ebay find!

Dan

Christmas tree box ? I assume its also one of the light shows right? I will try it after christmas - I bought some dimmable LED floods that have 92 LEDs.

Thanks Corey! Very helpful info.....that all should read if they want to set up lightning....

Yes it was billed as a holiday light show of sorts, controlling your Christmas tree lights or house lights to music. I think Gemmy's product had the official name of Light Show in its name.

The Christmas Tree FX was by Can You Imagine and still appears in their catalog which continues to surprise me. http://www.cyi.net/index.php?option=...004j_p_q_-_175 (btw I'm pretty sure their site has flash on it so may or may not be visible, this page did show up for me however). They are a southern California company and still in business manufacturing many light related products, some for halloween.

A while ago Eyegore contacted them about the possibility of selling to us as a group buy and was told that it is a discontinued product. This box was also done with a lightning bolt on it and at one time under the name of 13 Transylvania Ave. Both of these boxes had a desirable input in line to connect to your CD player, for example.

That was a nice review Corey.

Omars Haunted Trail's website, an Ohio haunt, has a resource area on their site similar to Monster List of Halloween Projects. In particular there's a section under Prop Ideas (Lighting -- Lightning; Commercial Thunder Lightning) which links to Wolfstone's review of commercial products. This might be helpful to those that find some of these older products in resale shops or garage sales, ebay and such. Omars has a nicely organized resource area that makes things easy to find.

Here's the link to Omars Haunted Trail: http://omarshauntedtrail.com/
and to HauntMaven's Wolfstone Haunted Halloween: http://wolfstone.halloweenhost.com/Welcome/Welcome.html