Professional Chainsaw

[NateTheGreat]

Hey,

I'm looking to buy a halloween chainsaw prop that has the ability to be very loud; something that would be used in a professional haunt. Anyone have ideas? Wondering if there are some options of some expensive and some not-so-expensive ones.

Thanks
N

[monsterwax]

Is it for inside or outside use? For outside, just adapt a regular gas powered saw. Be sure to remove the blade (obviously) before you use it and run the gas dry when you're finished (to store it). For inside, you'll want to avoid gas fumes and you'll need one of those fancy pants fake ones. I'm sure others who have used those can provide feedback on them.

[NateTheGreat]

Yeah, I need a fancy fake one for my indoor haunt. Anyone know of a good fake one that can get really loud? I don't care if the blade spins or anything like that.

[zombietoxin]

They seem to come in two flavors- ungodly expensive (like $600) and wimpy sounding (like won't scare a mouse).

If you are handy enough- you can do what we did- hack a gemmy chainsaw and connect it to a guitar amp for a MUCH BIGGER sound!

You'll have to deal with a cord- either power cord for moving the sound with you, or an audio patch cable for leaving the amp stationary- which is what we did since our saw man worked a short hallway.

Cost us about a $100 for that setup.

A side note- we did have our first saw audio die on us the second weekend, but it's replacement is still working fine! I think the first was just destined to die anyway, and the second one had a different circuit board than the first- maybe a little more reliable? Who knows...

As a back-up we pulled the guts out of the first saw and installed a spare picoboo controller and just programmed an idle sound and a raging saw sound as a trigger sound. It works, but finding the "perfect" chainsaw sounds is NOT easy. Someone- get into a proper sound booth and make a few saw recordings!

good luck...

[beardedbil]

Hey zombie toxin,
What are you looking for in a chainsaw sound that you are not achieving?

Maybe I can be of service if you need something custom. There is also the sound effects CDs of Poison Props (http://poisonprops.com/index.php?mai...=index&cPath=8)

[zombietoxin]

Well, (by my experience trying to use saw wav's off the net, on a hurry up and get it going type short notice) apparently most recordings are either made from too far away, with crappy equipment, not the right rev sound or are made at to close a distance to the mic- overpowering it and causing clipping. Even the few- and I mean very few that I finally loaded on the picoboo to try- seemed to suffer from echoing and sounded pretty muddy when amplified. It just wasn't that crisp ZZZZAAAAAAWWWWAAAHHHHHHH! You know?

It seems to me that you have to get the saw into a sound booth with good dampening if you want to pull it off right.

Like I said- I had 4 days to get it up again, and the picoboo back up was a very last minute idea. I really like the idea of using a mp3 player for the sound and next year I'm kicking around saw room idea that uses multiple saws that swing out of the walls. If that idea makes the cut I'll give you a shout about a custom sound!

Thanks Bill

[NateTheGreat]

thanks for the idea. I still might go for the godly expensive one like you mentioned. I bought one in the past for $500, but it was stolen. I guess I'll have to fork over another 500. Do you know the website where I can buy one of them? I can't seem to find it. If i remember correctly, the company sold two types of chainsaws: a regular one and one decorated like a funhouse chainsaw with poka-dots.

[Gore Galore]

That would be john from
www.spookyprops.com

[deathstaste]

spooky props

http://spookyprops.com/chainsaw.html

[monsterwax]

Nate-- I'm sure bummed to hear your fake chainsaw was stolen by some stupid a__hole, but won't they be surprised when they try to cut something with it?

Zombie Toxin, you should make a pile of your economy chain saws and sell 'em here (and ebay) for a discount. There's certainly a demand. I can see the ad copy now.. "Just add your own guitar amp and it's ready to go! (Fine print for stupid a__holes: The Economy Chain saw does not actually saw anything.)"

[NateTheGreat]

definitely. I'd be willing to pay like $250 with what you could come up with.