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[Mal Brown]

Tidy package but...  advantage 1 power cable, not a stringer.

1. I’m not in favor of electronics in the bar

2. Locked in placement of fixtures (on the bar)

3. Is ip65 rating important ?  Doesn’t scream that it has that.  It is to me up here in the great north wet...  maybe less to you down. In sunny J’Tree

In my rig which I rolled on the cheap (like everything else I do, eh ?). I used 9x10 color mixing led pars from monoprice.  Plastic housings, not ip65.  60 bucks per.  I have 20 of them.  They look great.  Colors are reasonably close to the Robin dmx color chart.

I hard mount 12 to Ultimate T bars. 4 on the bottom and 2 on the tops.  Top row is audience facing, bottom towards the stage.  1 Donner receiver in the first fixture of each tree.  Outlet bar provides power to all.  The rest of the cabling is hard wired so power to the outlet bar and I am deployed.

Front T bars are replaced by my new Global Truss F33 rig for this season.  CBI supplied power disto to the truss.  Rubber boxes similar to OA Windsor.  Same basic concept.  Riggingwill live on the truss after the first deployment.

 I do various with the others. I cut down painters bucketswith a sort of rounded scroll shape.  Wrap the buckets in appropriately festive wrap.  Holiday, wedding color, etc...  I can scatter those on the perimeter of a venue or in a string across a stage back for up lighting.

I have another pair of T bars plus a set of extra long poles for some aluminum Ultimate stands I have.  On those I use clamps and arrange 3 per pole, stop light fashioned for sidestage.

Just depends on the venue.

Anyway I go, Donner receivers in each separate fixureor group offixtures.  No dmx interconnects.  I use a separate stringer to power it all up.

Mono price has a 6 x 10 color mixer that is ip65 at $100 per can.  Planning on 8 to 10 of those for my front truss by fall.  I’ll phase out the 9x10’s in favor of all ip65 rated fixtures over the next season or two.

Almost all my gigs are outside or in tents so the weather rating thing - well I’ve been lucky...

[Joel T. Glaser]

Sounds interesting, Mal. Would love to see any pictures you might have to share.

[Scott Holtzman]

Yeah they do come short - not sure why... I would simply replace the one that comes with the system for a taller one. The Chauvet 4 bar I had used to come with or without a tripod and I chose without for that reason.
You gotta get lights up nice and high if using them for front lighting.

I just realized you are talking about the height of the stands, not the length of the bar. 

The stands they come with are useless.  For something a little lighter than an ST-157 we tried the Manfrotto https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/636420-REG/Manfrotto_1004BAC_3_1004BAC_3_QSS_Air_Cushioned.html

Someone here recommended tham, very good.

[Mal Brown]

Sounds interesting, Mal. Would love to see any pictures you might have to share.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/GorgeSoundandLight/posts/

So... I’m doing sound and suck at photography... not great at lighting either but I’m getting better.   Some shots from last season.  Note the amount or color I’m getting out of those $60 fixtures when there is a lot of ambient light to fight. They put out some light and as they color mix in the led, the colors are smooth.

I think this is my fourth season on those lights.  So far I have repaired 2 housings.  There is a threaded barrel embedded in the plastic where the bracket attached.  I managed to pull two of those through. Last season.  Ran zip tied for a few shows.  Then pulled them apart and 2 part epoxied the barrel in place.  Sanded them down after curing. Used a black sharpie.  Good as new...

[Debbie Dunkley]

You can get some great lighting fixtures for cheap these days. Like Mal I have had very good luck whilst spending very little. I use my $275 Blizzard Pucks for the bigger stages - they are really bright at 120w output each but also heavy - they are all metal body and made well ( although 1 failed on me after only 12 or 13 shows)
However, the generic ones I have purchased at anywhere from $35 to $55 have been fantastic.
I have had 2 fail on me in 4 years but after a lot of use.

Because they are plastic body - yes they need a bit extra protection when transporting and handling perhaps BUT they are SO LIGHT which makes them much  easier to move around and place on stands.
Ironically they also dim smoother than the Pucks do and whenever I can get away with 8 of the cheapies, that is what I take. 4 per side lights up the stage really well in small venues.
I use mainly DMX and these perform flawlessly.
I have each set of four connected to a T bar along with the daisy chained iec and DMX cabling so 2 cables up to the T bar and done.

If one stops working, the investment is minimal to replace it.
I wish I could get as good results from PA equipment by spending such little money - but alas no....

[Taylor Hall]

You can get some great lighting fixtures for cheap these days. Like Mal I have had very good luck whilst spending very little. I use my $275 Blizzard Pucks for the bigger stages - they are really bright at 120w output each but also heavy - they are all metal body and made well ( although 1 failed on me after only 12 or 13 shows)
However, the generic ones I have purchased at anywhere from $35 to $55 have been fantastic.
I have had 2 fail on me in 4 years but after a lot of use.

Because they are plastic body - yes they need a bit extra protection when transporting and handling perhaps BUT they are SO LIGHT which makes them much  easier to move around and place on stands.
Ironically they also dim smoother than the Pucks do and whenever I can get away with 8 of the cheapies, that is what I take. 4 per side lights up the stage really well in small venues.
I use mainly DMX and these perform flawlessly.
I have each set of four connected to a T bar along with the daisy chained iec and DMX cabling so 2 cables up to the T bar and done.

If one stops working, the investment is minimal to replace it.
I wish I could get as good results from PA equipment by spending such little money - but alas no....

I feel you there. LED lighting has come a long way in a very short timeframe. We have a small fleet of those BL-63 bar pars from parts-express and out of the 40 or so we use, only two have ever given us any issues in the 4+ years we've had them. At $40 a pop (or less if you get the 4-packs) it's a ridiculous bargain compared to fixtures offering the same performance for 2-3x the cost.

[Steve Garris]

Same here on the cheap, lightweight Chinese pars. My light show has a bunch of them, and we've yet to have one break or fail. I don't even put them in a case!

Regarding tripod height, I want them tall and stable. I use these from Odyssey. I leave out the little angled supports - not needed. The 12 ft height allows me to put them on the ground when there's a low stage. I typically ask for 3 ft clear behind the stage to allow for this.  https://goo.gl/epHnGF

The pic here is almost all $40 Chinese lights:

[Mike Karseboom]

The lights look great, Mal. 

I hard mount 12 to Ultimate T bars. 4 on the bottom and 2 on the tops.  Top row is audience facing, bottom towards the stage.
Almost all my gigs are outside or in tents so the weather rating thing - well I’ve been lucky...

What effect do you use/get by facing the top row to the audience?

[ProSoundWeb Community]