Dispensing with the overhead.

[Excalibur]

Won't be possible, or advisable for every gig, but a recent purchase ( The Fusion Max Rollers )and a comment by a client has set me off on a quest for a lighting change.
When I got the rollers, I also got a couple of clamps which allowed me to fasten them straight to a pole, a la " Wizard on a stick ".

Due to gig requirements, on Friday I used the trusty Teutonic Powerbar on its tripod for wash, which meant that with a roller on each pole, I didn't have a use for the overhead. I liked the look.

On Saturday, I used the same rig, rollers on the uprights, Powerbar on tripod behind, and having got used to the Mauis, a pair of huge great Proel V15s on tripods, looking a lot like the Grateful Dead's PA! What was the first thing the client said on seeing the rig? " What a neat setup ".
Now there may be a little bit more behind this. Lady was the 70 year old birthday girl, and it seems she had been treated recently to a DJ at a golden wedding function who seemed to think he'd been booked for the warm up at Ozzfest, or similar. I'm guessing ( ok, assuming ) that there was an overhead involved, with multiple units, and perhaps an offence or two against the cable police.

This got me thinking that perhaps I could mount a couple of LED bars on the uprights as well, lose the crossbar and have a smaller, neater rig for smaller gigs. Now, here come the questions. Is anyone else routinely doing this? If so, what bars are you using? My trusty Equinox power battens are no use at all, cos they're a metre long, and won't fit in the space between a DSB and the top of a standard Ultimax pole.

This leads to a search for smaller units, and the two front runners are ADJ VBAR, or the fractionally shorter and considerably cheaper 10mm Stairville offering

Any thoughts and advice would be very welcome, as would be any suggestions as to alternative lights which could be fastened to the uprights. Par cans won't work, but something like this would be cool. Even these would be a possibility. They have the advantage of being shorter, but might be a little manic for the effect I'm looking for.

Floor's yours folks, away you go.

[DJColsie]

I saw http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Equinox-On...sAAOSwyrFZOozm at a wedding where the DJ had them on the floor sweeping across the ceiling.

I was very unimpressed. The beams are very narrow and not bright. When they got half way across the ceiling you couldn't see the beams anymore.

Wouldn't spend my money on them.

[Imagine]

Ahhh....search is a wonderful thing as you always tell me Peter

Linky Linky

VBAR PAKs as I purchased in this thread to replace my 1m battens. They fit a treat on the speaker satellites and are as bright as the sun

BTW - well done on getting rid of the overhead. I did the same a couple of years ago and haven't looked back since. I'm now thinking of dispensing with the tripods too in favour of using the TriLite trusses as wash with a MegaTriPar mounted on the top of the two tall ones I have, and either a pair of Inno PocketSpots or Spherions on the smaller ones....still playing with that particular setup though.

[Imagine]

something like this would be cool

I "invented" mine first!

OK - mine are floor-standing hulks of MDF that stand 4 feet tall....but they work and work very well

[Excalibur]

Ahhh....search is a wonderful thing as you always tell me Peter

Linky Linky

How can I ever atone for my lack of diligence in searching? Perhaps if I had used the term Vbar, rather than Batten, your thread would have shown up.
I shall go outside, and castigate myself with birch twigs.

[Steven]

Peter why don't you use an O clamp and clamp it to the tripod of the party bar and then get another and have it matching either side instead of on the uprights?

[Imagine]

I shall go outside, and castigate myself with birch twigs.

Is it wrong to have images of the lovely Jeanette acting out the role of a Torquay hotel owner at this point ?

However, batten should have worked

I have a couple of the Showtec battens, but they're too long. I also don't like the way the colour mixing happens on them either (you can see the different coloured LEDs when it mixes white for instance).

[Excalibur]

Peter why don't you use an O clamp and clamp it to the tripod of the party bar and then get another and have it matching either side instead of on the uprights?

I'm sorry, but I must have missed something here. Forgive me for being dim. I don't intend any tripods being involved here, and while O clamps are the intended fixing method, without a lot of metalwork, I can't get the Equinox battens fastened on in any reasonable way, vertically or horizontally.
Gaffa taping them to the Maui 5s was considered fleetingly.

Is it wrong to have images of the lovely Jeanette acting out the role of a Torquay hotel owner at this point ?

Yes. Cold shower for you, son.


Well, after a call to a very nice man in Cumbria, money changed hands, and a VBar Pak is currently winging it's way South to Yorkshire. Sadly, I don't think they'll get a full run out this weekend, as one gig is a walk in, and the other is with John's lighting rig. You never know though, if he turns his back, a pair of battens may have attached themselves to his uprights.

[Jim - Scotland's Party DJ]

Not used an overhead in about 5 years.

Had my first gig out on Saturday with what's going to be my new lighting rig:

ADJ hex bar 6s and Jelly Domes attached to the poles of my Nano 600s.

ADJ hex bar 12 underneath my light console.


Skoosh to set up, looks great and means I take up next to no room

[Excalibur]

Not used an overhead in about 5 years.

Had my first gig out on Saturday with what's going to be my new lighting rig:

ADJ hex bar 6s and Jelly Domes attached to the poles of my Nano 600s.

ADJ hex bar 12 underneath my light console.


Skoosh to set up, looks great and means I take up next to no room

That's where the Mauis lose out. No poles. My rig should still have similarities to yours though, Jim. Fusion rollers at the top of the booth uprights, and the newly arrived VBars vertically underneath them. The overhead will still make an appearance of course, from time to time, but I'm really excited about this idea.