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[Nils Erickson]

Here is a picture of a gig I did last week at Pebble Beach.  Lights are:
6 Microh Tri Bar in the back and sides, facing up to light the ceiling
4 Blizzard Tough Par Fab 5 (providing the blue on the backline and white on the front)
2 Blizzard Rok Box RBGAW (white on the front of the stage)
2 Blizzard Hot Box RGBA (also lighting backline in blue)

The Fab 5s are nice looking, though I wouldn't describe them as extremely bright.  The Rok Box RGBAW, on the other hand, is pretty darn bright.  And, a lot more money.  I wish I had four per side of those, they look great.  If you are only going to have a few a side, it is nice to have something that you can play with dynamics and not always have to have them full on to provide enough light.

Hope these pics help...

Nils

[Nils Erickson]

Crap, I can't get the first photo to post correctly, sorry... you get the idea, hopefully.

Nils

[Rob Gow]

Crap, I can't get the first photo to post correctly, sorry... you get the idea, hopefully.

Nils

That looks awesome! Those Tri-bars really put out!! I'm guessing the rok boxes outdo the Fab5's

[Nils Erickson]

That looks awesome! Those Tri-bars really put out!! I'm guessing the rok boxes outdo the Fab5's

Thanks Rob... yeah, the Tri-Bars were a good buy, recommended here actually (thanks James F.).  They were the first lights I bought and they look pretty nice... FYI, the have eighteen 3-1 LEDs.  The cool thing about these is that I can bring them to club gigs that have lights but that don't have anything like this- put them on the floor and you can do some pretty dramatic things to the back curtain or walls.

The Rok Box RGBAW is so much brighter than the Fab 5.  It has eighteen 15 watt 5-1 LEDs; the Fab 5 has seven 15 watt 5-1 LEDs.  It is priced accordingly.  But, I still think it is a better value because you can work a bit more dynamically.  I plan to pick up a couple more eventually.  I think that 4-6 could wash a small stage (20'x12' perhaps) pretty nicely.

I have a two more trees which I didn't bring to this gig because we didn't have a long enough load in/out window; these have 4 Tough Par Zooms, 2 Pro Par Vari Whites, and 2 more Hot Boxes.   All in all, it does a decent job covering this particular band (14 piece) on stages that are usually 24'x16', give or take.

The trick for me has been getting a decent white on the front line; that is not so easy.

Rob, what are your moving lights in the videos?

Nils

[Rob Gow]

Thanks Rob... yeah, the Tri-Bars were a good buy, recommended here actually (thanks James F.).  They were the first lights I bought and they look pretty nice... FYI, the have eighteen 3-1 LEDs.  The cool thing about these is that I can bring them to club gigs that have lights but that don't have anything like this- put them on the floor and you can do some pretty dramatic things to the back curtain or walls.

The Rok Box RGBAW is so much brighter than the Fab 5.  It has eighteen 15 watt 5-1 LEDs; the Fab 5 has seven 15 watt 5-1 LEDs.  It is priced accordingly.  But, I still think it is a better value because you can work a bit more dynamically.  I plan to pick up a couple more eventually.  I think that 4-6 could wash a small stage (20'x12' perhaps) pretty nicely.

I have a two more trees which I didn't bring to this gig because we didn't have a long enough load in/out window; these have 4 Tough Par Zooms, 2 Pro Par Vari Whites, and 2 more Hot Boxes.   All in all, it does a decent job covering this particular band (14 piece) on stages that are usually 24'x16', give or take.

The trick for me has been getting a decent white on the front line; that is not so easy.

Rob, what are your moving lights in the videos?

Nils

Wow 14 people!!! That would be a challenge!!

My moving heads are Martin Minimac Profiles.

Color wheel
Spinning gobos

They don't have a prism, but I picked them up for around $500 each used. I really like them, they aren't LED either, but they are good and bright. I actually ended up with 8 of them. But that's ok, I can use 4 of them In the basement for programming and leave 4 in the roadcase.

I'm planning on setting up a small T-Bar on each stack which will let me use 2 Fab5's per side for a bit more coverage, but I'm happy with how it is now...

[Randall Hyde]

Just a quick note about Blizzard Fab 5 (and other Wicicle enabled Blizzard fixtures). Having blown up six of the Fab 5 fixtures now (6, count 'em, 6) by doing something as simple as plugging in a (Blizzard branded) DMX cable (with nothing on the other end) while power is applied, I'd strongly recommend cutting the wire that provides wicicle power to the DMX input connector.

Plugging in a microphone cable will blow the  power supply almost every time.
Apparently, plugging in *any* cable while the fixture is powered up can damage the fixture (I've seen this happen three times now, the third time there was nothing on the other end of the cable; and these were all good Blizzard-branded DMX cables -- no shorts).

Blizzard has been kind enough to repair these fixtures, but unless you take lots of spares to shows with you, having a fixture die on you just isn't worth the chance.  Clip the wicicle power line and save your fixtures. I'd do this even if you use Wicicles (just use the wall wart to power them).

Also, if you *do* use Wicicles, note that the casing on the Wicicle is *hot* (+5v or so). So don't pull it from a fixture and gaf-tape it to your truss to get better line of sight to the transmitter. I learned this the hard way, too (at least I didn't blow up anything).
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

[Rob Gow]

This is plugging them in while they are powered up?

[Randall Hyde]

This is plugging them in while they are powered up?

Plugging a DMX (Blizzard branded, so no excuses for monkey business here) cable while power is applied to the fixture.  Pop! And the magic smoke comes out.

Won't guarantee that it happens every time, but it did happen three times to me (before I finally figured out what was causing the fixtures to explode).  The first two times the other end of the cable was plugged into another fixture. The last time the other end of the cable was hanging in mid-air (not even touching the truss with the shield).

Blizzard has repaired them all. And a tech sent me an email describing how to remove the Wicicle power supply (which I don't need) to prevent these problems in the future.

Note that the manual says two things about cables.

First, it says that microphone cables *should* work.
Later, it says that XLR cables that short pin 1 (IIRC) and the shield together 'may' damage the fixture. Every mic cable I own shorts ground with the shield; one has to be very careful about what cables they plug into these fixtures (or do as I'm about to do and disconnect the Wicicle power supply from the DMX input connector).

Other than this one issue, I really love the Fab 5 fixtures. They could be brighter, for sure, but the colors are fantastic and they are *just* small enough for my particular application (I mount them inside some 12" Rectangular Global Truss).

Recently did a show featuring James Wesley (country) and Great White with these lights. Took me a while (prior to the show) to get issues with the Wicicles worked out, but at show time the fixtures did a great job (16 Rocklite RGBAW on side totems, 35 Fab 5 fixtures on US and DS trusses, plus 24 Puck RGB + 8 Puck RGBAW fixtures arranged in a 4x8 matrix on US totems).  Just need to get past the Wicicle power supply issue and I'll be a very happy man.
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

[Nils Erickson]

Plugging a DMX (Blizzard branded, so no excuses for monkey business here) cable while power is applied to the fixture.  Pop! And the magic smoke comes out.

Won't guarantee that it happens every time, but it did happen three times to me (before I finally figured out what was causing the fixtures to explode).  The first two times the other end of the cable was plugged into another fixture. The last time the other end of the cable was hanging in mid-air (not even touching the truss with the shield).

Blizzard has repaired them all. And a tech sent me an email describing how to remove the Wicicle power supply (which I don't need) to prevent these problems in the future.

Note that the manual says two things about cables.

First, it says that microphone cables *should* work.
Later, it says that XLR cables that short pin 1 (IIRC) and the shield together 'may' damage the fixture. Every mic cable I own shorts ground with the shield; one has to be very careful about what cables they plug into these fixtures (or do as I'm about to do and disconnect the Wicicle power supply from the DMX input connector).

Other than this one issue, I really love the Fab 5 fixtures. They could be brighter, for sure, but the colors are fantastic and they are *just* small enough for my particular application (I mount them inside some 12" Rectangular Global Truss).

Recently did a show featuring James Wesley (country) and Great White with these lights. Took me a while (prior to the show) to get issues with the Wicicles worked out, but at show time the fixtures did a great job (16 Rocklite RGBAW on side totems, 35 Fab 5 fixtures on US and DS trusses, plus 24 Puck RGB + 8 Puck RGBAW fixtures arranged in a 4x8 matrix on US totems).  Just need to get past the Wicicle power supply issue and I'll be a very happy man.
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

Wow, that nuts... sorry to hear about your problems.  So far, mine have not had any such issues; I am also using Blizzard DMX cable.  Got any pictures of the rig that you can post?

Nils

[Randall Hyde]

Wow, that nuts... sorry to hear about your problems.  So far, mine have not had any such issues; I am also using Blizzard DMX cable.  Got any pictures of the rig that you can post?

Nils

Didn't take any at GW show. But I've got a big July 4th gig that will use the whole rig. I'll try and post some then.
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

[ProSoundWeb Community]