Chauvet gig bar.

[Benny Smyth]

In case it's useful for anyone.

[Imagine]

I saw that video before I got mine - doesn't even come close to what the Gigbar looks like in real life unfortunately.
If you can get some smoke blowing in front of it - it's absolutely awesome considering the lights actually look cheap and plastic like close up.

I'll try to get some footage of mine this weekend, although I've only got kids' parties so might not be a lot of cop.

Yes - it's raised manually (it's not heavy) and it's supported by the usual thumbscrew on the upright and a lock-bolt through the tripod.

This one's not mine - but gives a rough idea of what it's like in the dark

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152451094976254

[MikeW]

I saw that video before I got mine - doesn't even come close to what the Gigbar looks like in real life unfortunately.
If you can get some smoke blowing in front of it - it's absolutely awesome considering the lights actually look cheap and plastic like close up.

I'll try to get some footage of mine this weekend, although I've only got kids' parties so might not be a lot of cop.

Yes - it's raised manually (it's not heavy) and it's supported by the usual thumbscrew on the upright and a lock-bolt through the tripod.

This one's not mine - but gives a rough idea of what it's like in the dark

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152451094976254

Thanks for that. It does look very good with smoke/haze. Does anyone actually dmx theirs? Or do most people just plug and play?

[Imagine]

I just plug and play. TBH - the bar has its own inbuilt DMX programmes to talk between the lights on it anyway (keep pressing the pedals on the footswitch and it cycles through several different lighting setups)

[MikeW]

I just plug and play. TBH - the bar has its own inbuilt DMX programmes to talk between the lights on it anyway (keep pressing the pedals on the footswitch and it cycles through several different lighting setups)

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Horrible.

Take a couple of dotty led effects and a couple of pars, bung on a refraction laser that looks very dated and voila!

If you really wanted to, you could make something like this yourself and probably a lot cheaper.

Good for hire I suppose.

Looks tacky and not a great deal of output or coverage by the looks of it.

[Excalibur]

Horrible.

Take a couple of dotty led effects and a couple of pars, bung on a refraction laser that looks very dated and voila!

If you really wanted to, you could make something like this yourself and probably a lot cheaper.

Good for hire I suppose.

Looks tacky and not a great deal of output or coverage by the looks of it.

Have you seen it in action, in the flesh? Until I did, my views coincided exactly with yours. I thought it was cheap and nasty ( and if I'm honest, it's not high end gear ) but see it working, and it comes to life.

One or two of us wonder if a " Pro " version may appear, with higher grade fittings? Who knows? They'll struggle with a price hike though, I feel.

It's not the answer for every function, but it adds what the powerbar lacks, variety. I still prefer the Swarm, but it's even more of a niche unit, and far less controllable, apparently.

[Imagine]

Have you seen it in action, in the flesh? Until I did, my views coincided exactly with yours. I thought it was cheap and nasty ( and if I'm honest, it's not high end gear ) but see it working, and it comes to life.

One or two of us wonder if a " Pro " version may appear, with higher grade fittings? Who knows? They'll struggle with a price hike though, I feel.

It's not the answer for every function, but it adds what the powerbar lacks, variety.

It does look cheap and nasty. The lights "look" flimsy on the bar, but believe me they're sturdy little things
The laser does leave a lot to be desired - the non European version is tri-colour whilst we only get green for some reason.

As Peter says, it's not the answer to every function. But for the majority of stuff some of us do (i.e. Xmas/New Year in a pub, birthday in a local village hall) - it's ideal and makes setup a lot quicker. Plus once it's dark, you don't actually see the fixture itself.

I rocked up to a large hall on Saturday for a golden anniversary with only the Gigbar (I'd previoiusly been to a kids party and not had time to go and fetch my other lighting rig). On seeing the size of the hall (holds 200 dancing easily), I panicked and thought I'd made a big mistake for the sake of the extra 15 mins it would have taken me to re-load the lighting. Turned the Gigbar on though and the panic disappeared very quickly. OK - it wouldn't be the same for the same number of people at a 21st rave or something, but for what I was doing, it was actually more than enough (I've booked a wedding off the back of that particular party for next year as well, so the show can't have looked too bad)

The videos are deceptive. The fixtures on those things will cover a hell of a lot of ground in bright light. OK, Derbies and PARs aren't to everyone's tastes, but for the vast majority of run of the mill gigs, it'll serve the purpose more than admirably.

I'd suggest seeing one actually running in the flesh....it will surprise you

[funkymook]

Horrible.

Take a couple of dotty led effects and a couple of pars, bung on a refraction laser that looks very dated and voila!

If you really wanted to, you could make something like this yourself and probably a lot cheaper.

Good for hire I suppose.

Looks tacky and not a great deal of output or coverage by the looks of it.

Like this? Ok the sum of it’s parts are more expensive than the gig bar (ADJ Dotz TBar and 2 x Cheetahs), but it’s lighting I had anyway, takes a minute to set-up and controlled by a footswitch for the Tbar and a 6 channel battery DMX controller for the Cheetahs - gives me plenty scenes.



Two led pars and a Swarm 5 would give a similar effect to the gigbar and be even more compact - and even the cheapest of lights look great in haze.

I think the real attraction of the gig bar, apart from it’s quick set-up, is it’s programming, DMX is still seen as a kerfuffle for most DJs so this is a synchronised lightshow without the DMX headache. I’d like to see what it could do with no haze and for a first dance though.

[Excalibur]

Two led pars and a Swarm 5 would give a similar effect to the gigbar and be even more compact - and even the cheapest of lights look great in haze.

.

My flight of fancy is even simpler. Two swarms on a bar, and there you go. Can't see it ever happening, but I can dream.

Martin, after many views, I realise what you've done there. Very clever, well done. Took a long while for the penny to drop. Only negative for me is circular pars. Much food for thought, though. Hmmmmm................