In case you haven't heard, Littlite has released a new product line of gooseneck lights with LED's. The new lights each have six white and four red LED's that give a more uniform, balanced true-white light than regular incandescent Littlites, they don't get as hot and the bulbs last much longer. They are also way more expensive.

Since I now have a second 9000 Pro keyboard I thought I'd get a second pair of LIttlite's to go with it, and that gave me the excuse to buy the new LED Littlites to compare with the regular incandescent ones I already have. The LED LIttlite model that goes with the 9000 Pro is 18XR-4-LED. I exchanged emails with reps at Littlite and they promised the new lights would work anywhere the old lights did.

So - how do they compare? The new LED lights emite a VERY SOFT white light that is not as bright as I expected... in fact, overall it may be a little less bright than the standard Littlites. The light is FAR more uniform though - the regular lights give off a "spiked" incandecent glow whereas the new LED lights give off a highly uniform blue-ish white light. It's a little like comparing flourescent lights to standard light bulbs - the LED lights emit a very soft blue/white that kinda resembles flourescent light, and the standard bulbs emit a more typical yellow/white. The LED lights may have real use on complex mixer consoles for making dials etc. easier to read. On the 9000 Pro they make sheet music somewhat easier to read but they don't make a huge difference over the standard bulbs as far as making the control surface of the 9000 Pro any easier to use on stage.

Is it worth the price difference to go with the new LED LittLites, or to replace the current ones if you have them? Not really - I wish the darn things were brighter. The dimmer on the 9000 Pro works somewhat with the new LEDs but that doesn't help with brightness. The LEDs will reportedly last much langer than standard bulbs but standard bulbs are cheap & easy to replace, LEDs are not. The light/color difference between the two is striking but so is the price. I'm going to keep my new LED Littlites but I don't really recommend them over the standard ones.

[This message has been edited by The Pro (edited 09-07-2004).]

From experience with bright LED lights in other areas - cycle lights, and climbing head torches - LED "bulbs" last for years, possibly forever. Failure is more likely to be due to a broken wire than the LED itself. And they can be very bright, too, despite using very little battery power (40 -150 hours from 3 AAAs in my head torch)

I'm going to look up these "Littlites" now...

The Pro. I notice a low level hum when I switch my 9Kpro light on. Question.....Do you get the same hum on your Pro with the standard supplied lights?.

Graham:

No... never. No hum with my standard Littlites or the new LED models on either of my 9000 Pro's (note: there are no "supplied lights" - the Littlites do not come with the 9000 Pro).

BTW/FYI: I read that you can switch off the white LEDs and go with red-only on the lampset model of the LED Littlites, but you can't do that with the ones that plug into the 9000 Pro.