Looks like we have a new brand in town, bringing with it a decidedly edgy name – Eliminator – and a whole new range of lighting products. Eliminator is a sub-brand of ADJ, whose lighting fixture distribution for the UK and Ireland was recently taken over exclusively by Audio Visual Security (AVS), with the aim to improve delivery times (including next-day delivery for retailers) and ensure DJs can quickly get the latest products and faster repairs.

At the Pro Mobile Conference in March, ADJ (Lighting & AV sponsor) brought along the brand-new Eliminator Vortex, which attracted a lot of interest from attendees.

The lighting effect has a very familiar look, as ADJ’s Warlock has a similar design, but there are a few key differences, mainly size and output. The Vortex is about a third of the size of the Warlock, which will please any DJ who enjoys the output from a sophisticated barrel unit, but not necessarily the size and weight.

At 12.3" x 11.11" x 6.2" (312 x 282 x 157mm) and with a weight of 7.1 lbs. (3.2kg), the Vortex is extremely easy to transport and set up. The compact size and lightweight moulded-plastic design make it a great option for mobile DJs or anyone who needs to transport lighting equipment frequently. While we do get PowerCon in for power, the fixture is lacking an output for linking – although on a unit this small, it’s easy to understand why there isn’t room.

The Eliminator Vortex also offers 3-pin DMX in and out, a 4-button touch-screen/digital display for changing settings, and a focusing knob. There’s also a hanging bracket that uses a pair of thumb-tightening screws, allowing for a variety of rigging options. You can mount either vertical or horizontally, depending on your needs. Finally, there is a safety eyelet on the rear which allowing for additional security when mounting.

So, what’s it like on the road?

The Eliminator Vortex comes with an 80W LED engine that seems incredibly bright. On testing in a typical hotel room with around 150 guests, it certainly filled the entire room, producing an eye-catching classic moonflower effect through its mirrored barrel with continuous 360-degree rotation.

The mirror barrel can also pan through 180 degrees, which is what allows the fixture’s beams to truly fill an entire room – plus you can enhance those multiple razor-sharp 5-degree beams of light using the 10 colour and gobo combinations on offer.

The Vortex also offers a gobo shake effect, strobe effects and six built-in light shows for your to play with. It’s worth noting that the gobo wheel is fixed, so there aren’t separate colour and gobo wheels.
This does mean you don’t have the option of picking colours for gobos, but then the light is designed to create kaleidoscope effects rather than projecting static images or patterns. This kaleidoscope effect is created by the fixture's high-output RGBW LEDs, which overlap to create patterns of swirling colours and shapes.

There are a variety of built-in lighting effects, including strobe, colour change, and colour fade, all of which you can control using the fixture's menu (in sound or show mode) or via DMX.

Using the menu, you can adjust the speed of the six built-in shows from 1-10, adjust the sound sensitivity from 1-100, and control sound on/off. Within the ‘personality’ menu, you can also invert the pan and tilt and set the primary/secondary mode, while the dim modes allow you to change between standard, stage, TV, architectural and theatre along with speed (adjustable between 0.1 and 10 seconds). If you need to make the fixture camera-friendly, Eliminator also gives you to option to set the refresh rate.

The Vortex’s manual mode lets you control each element of the light, including pan, tilt, gobo, mirror, strobe and dimmer, but on this fixture I am struggling to see the benefit. Either you use the fixture in auto sound mode or via DMX (which runs in 10- or 12-channel mode).
In DMX mode, you get control over pan and tilt and the gobo wheel, which features red tri-bar, blue hazard, green triangle, yellow shattered glass, RGBY multi-colour quad dots, magenta square rays, aqua four-point star, lime multi dots, and white small dots. Then, as you move up the DMX channel for gobos, it moves into ‘gobo shake’. The rest of the channels are reflector rotation, shutter, dimmer, built-in shows, show speed, dim modes, dim speed, and dim curves, while channel 12 goes through special functions.

Overall, the Eliminator Vortex is a top-of-the-line lighting fixture that offers a range of advanced features and options for DJs and other lighting professionals. It’s a small fixture that packs a big punch and creates a sense of energy and excitement on the dance floor – a standout choice for anyone looking to add dynamic lighting effects to their performance or event.

In my opinion, the Vortex would work well as a centrepiece or in pairs, especially with the less-is-more look that most DJs are tending to go for these days.