How is this different from your LED profile?

The shaping is identical: shutters, gobos, an edge you can run from hard to soft. The difference is the source. The Source Four is a 750W tungsten lamp, so the light is warm at 3,200K and dims to nothing more smoothly than anything else, but it needs a dimmer channel and it makes heat. The Selecon LED profile draws a fraction of the power, stays cool and plugs into ordinary mains. Plenty of shows mix the two: LED for the workhorse cover, tungsten where the warmth shows on skin.

Do gobos come with it?

The holder does; the gobos depend on your design. The fixture takes standard steel or glass gobos in A- or B-size holders. Stock designs such as breakups, windows and foliage we can sort quickly. A custom gobo of your artwork or logo takes a couple of weeks to have made, so ask early.

Our hall has no dimmers. Can we still use it?

Only switched hard on and off, which is rarely what you want. A tungsten lamp fades by having its supply dimmed, so it needs a dimmer channel; this is not a DMX fixture you plug straight into the wall. We can add a dimmer pack to the hire and connect it to whatever desk you have. Tell us what you are running and we will make it work, or point you at the LED profile instead.

Is 26 degrees the right angle for our stage?

Measure from where the fixture will hang to where the actor stands. The pool is a little under half that distance across, so from 8 metres the 26 gives about 3.6 metres, which covers an acting area or two people comfortably. If your throw is much longer or shorter, lens tubes from 5 to 90 degrees exist. Send us the distance and we will advise, and source a different tube if the 26 is wrong for the room.

Home Services Equipment Hire Stage Lighting Hire

ETC Source Four hire — 26° profile spot

When a show needs a beam you can shape — a doorway of light, a gobo across the set, a face picked out downstage — a profile spot does it, and the ETC Source Four is the profile most theatres are lit with. Four shutters, a gobo slot and an edge that runs from crisp to soft, from a 750W tungsten lamp with real warmth in it. It hires at £6 per day, dry or with a technician.

Ask anyone who lights theatre to name a profile spot and this is the one they will name. The ETC Source Four has been the standard fixture of working theatres since the nineties: a 750W HPL tungsten lamp, a faceted cold-mirror reflector and a die-cast aluminium body that shrugs off years of get-ins. The 26 degree lens is the most generally useful of its nine angles, which is why it is the one we stock.

It earns its place by shaping light. Four stainless steel shutters frame the beam into doorways, flats and stage edges, and the whole shutter assembly rotates 25 degrees each way so the frame lines up with the set rather than the fixture. A slot behind the shutters takes steel or glass gobos for foliage, windows and breakups, and the lens tube focuses the edge from razor hard to soft. A drop-in iris can be added to pull the beam down tight on a single face.

The 26 degree tube suits most rooms. The pool it throws is a little under half the throw distance across: about 3.6 metres from 8 metres, 4.5 metres from 10, which covers an acting area from the front-of-house position of a typical school hall or small theatre. Tell us your throw when you book and we will confirm the angle is right. Other tubes from 5 to 90 degrees exist, and we can source one if your building is unusual.

It is a tungsten fixture, and that matters two ways. The light is warm, 3,200K on the 230V lamp, and it dims to nothing as smoothly as light can, which is still the fade LED chases. The cost is that it needs a dimmer channel rather than straight mains, draws 750 watts, and runs hot. The dichroic reflector sends most of the heat out of the back of the fixture rather than through your gel and gobo, but give the barrel time to cool before you handle it. If your venue has no dimmers, we can add a dimmer pack to the hire, or look at our Selecon LED profile, which shapes light the same way without needing one.

At 6.4kg including the clamp it rigs on a standard bar with a hook clamp and a safety bond, or sits on a stand. Hire one for a single special, or take as many as the show needs for front light, specials and gobo washes.

What you get

The fixture with its 26 degree lens tube, a hook clamp and a colour frame, lamp fitted and tested before it leaves

A safety bond for any overhead position: ask when you book if you do not have your own

A gobo holder on request. Gobos themselves are extra, but tell us the look you want and we will sort steel gobos in time for the fit-up

A mains lead wired for dimmer circuits. Tell us whether your outlets are 15A or 13A and we will send the right plug

Gel cut to your colour call, if you give us the numbers when you book

Not included as standard: dimmers, a lighting desk, stands and an iris. All can be added

Good for

School productions where faces need light from the back of the hall without spill on the proscenium

Am-dram and youth theatre specials: a doorway, a soloist, a corner of the set picked out cleanly

Gobo work: foliage, windows and breakups projected onto cloths and set

Village hall stages, where the shutters keep light off walls and ceilings a fresnel would splash

Dance showcases that need a crisp downstage special to match the big numbers

Extending or matching an existing Source Four rig in a venue that already has dimmers

What you need to know

What it does: A profile spot: a beam with a proper edge, framed by four shutters, softened by focus, or filled with a gobo pattern. It puts light exactly where you want it and keeps it off everything else.
Beam: A fixed 26 degree lens, the general-purpose theatre angle. The pool is a little under half the throw distance across: roughly 4.5 metres from a 10 metre throw.
Power: A 750 watt tungsten lamp on UK 230V mains. It fades by having its supply dimmed, so it runs from a dimmer channel rather than a wall socket.
Control: From the dimmer, so any desk that runs dimmers runs this. Nothing to patch on the fixture itself.
Where it goes: 6.4 kg including the clamp, so one person rigs it on a standard bar with a hook clamp and safety bond, or on a stand.

Rates are per day and exclude VAT. A longer hire costs less per day — tell us your dates and we will price the period exactly. Ask us about delivery and hiring with a technician.

Alternatives

Selecon PLPROFILE1 — the LED profile — cooler running and no lamp to blow, where the classic tungsten warmth is not the point.

Full technical specification (18)

Manufacturer and model	ETC Source Four 26°
Model number	426 (black); 426-1 (white)
Fixture type	Tungsten profile spot (ellipsoidal), fixed 26° lens tube
Lamp	ETC HPL 750W; HPL 750/230 on UK 230V mains
Colour temperature	3,200 K (HPL 750/230)
Average lamp life	300 hours (HPL 750/230)
Field angle	26°
Beam angle	18°
Field diameter	0.45 × throw distance (about 4.1 m at a 9.1 m throw)
Shutters	Four stainless steel shutters in a rotating assembly, ±25°
Gobo slot	Takes steel or glass gobos in A- or B-size pattern holders
Accessory slots	Two front slots, plus a wide slot for a drop-in iris or motorised gobo device
Colour frame	159 mm (6.25 in), included
Reflector	Faceted borosilicate with dichroic coating; removes over 90% of infrared heat from the beam
Electrical	115–240 V, 50/60 Hz
Construction	Die-cast aluminium body, steel yoke with two mounting positions
Weight	6.4 kg including clamp
Dimensions	579 mm long, 541 mm high on its yoke, 338 mm wide

Common questions

The shaping is identical: shutters, gobos, an edge you can run from hard to soft. The difference is the source. The Source Four is a 750W tungsten lamp, so the light is warm at 3,200K and dims to nothing more smoothly than anything else, but it needs a dimmer channel and it makes heat. The Selecon LED profile draws a fraction of the power, stays cool and plugs into ordinary mains. Plenty of shows mix the two: LED for the workhorse cover, tungsten where the warmth shows on skin.
The holder does; the gobos depend on your design. The fixture takes standard steel or glass gobos in A- or B-size holders. Stock designs such as breakups, windows and foliage we can sort quickly. A custom gobo of your artwork or logo takes a couple of weeks to have made, so ask early.
Only switched hard on and off, which is rarely what you want. A tungsten lamp fades by having its supply dimmed, so it needs a dimmer channel; this is not a DMX fixture you plug straight into the wall. We can add a dimmer pack to the hire and connect it to whatever desk you have. Tell us what you are running and we will make it work, or point you at the LED profile instead.
Measure from where the fixture will hang to where the actor stands. The pool is a little under half that distance across, so from 8 metres the 26 gives about 3.6 metres, which covers an acting area or two people comfortably. If your throw is much longer or shorter, lens tubes from 5 to 90 degrees exist. Send us the distance and we will advise, and source a different tube if the 26 is wrong for the room.