LED 'Bars'

[Brian]

Is anyone using any of the budget LED 'bar' fixtures? Things like these...

...though not exclusively those models.

 

I'd be interested in hearing your views and experiences.

[Joe Bleasdale]

I have used the Showtec Pixel Track MKII and they were suprisingly good quality. Good output, easy to control. No issues. They are budget, but I think they cost more than those in your photo's, so they are probably the higher end of the budget line, if that makes sense. Sometimes the cheap LEDs are really cheap to hire (obviously because of the lower purchase price) but they generally tend to be OK for short show runs if you are just using them in a matrix or for cheap "flashy flashy" effects. Of course, if the budget can hold, the higher end ones like Chromabanks, PixelLine 1044 and Colour Blasts are alot more durable for a longer term show or tour.

 

The only bad thing I found about cheaper LED bars is the colour matching as the fixtures age and sometimes the cheap plastic covers that go on the front get broken easily.

 

Best Regards,

[law99]

I've used something similar, from KAM. Worked well for a bit but like with everything in life, you get what you pay for! An LED would go here and there, then the menu button, then my patience trying to get them to work each gig!

 

It would have to be more proven equipment now... then again my first choice would have been a Pulsar / Phillips / Thomas solution anyway!

[Brian]

Thanks, keep the comments coming. I'm thinking of them for 'eye candy' and wall washer applications primarily.

[Jamtastic3]

The first one looks really tacky IMO. If you're going for cheap, eye candy bars, make sure the LED colours are overlapped evenly (RGBRGB etc) so that the light 'looks' more even. I find that blocks of colour gives the bar a cheaper look to it.

 

Look at things like ADJ Megabar or even Eurloite's LED 648 bars if you're looking in the cheaper end of the market.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13tQoUMl1Q4...feature=related

[henny]

a venue I do a lot of work in uses LEDJ RGB Spectra Batten as wall washers, they have 22 of them and they have been in for 2 years without any problems.

[jacet]

I've had good experiences with LEDJ Blockbusters but it seems they've been discontinued... Although they have been replaced by these.

The originals were quite impressive considering the cost and stood up to a fair bit of punishment with minimal damage. They also had some quite cool macros on them once you got around the less than logical control channels. Can't speak for the second lot but I'm sure I've heard good reports of them from somewhere...

 

Jacet

[Thomas1987]

We've got a range of the LEDJ gear (Mega Bar Pro, Mega LED Wash) installed in our small room, primarily as wall washers, and to replace nasty fluorescent house lighting. Been in 6 months, no issues yet to report. I'm pretty pleased - sure they're not the best, but they're bright, interesting to use, and have a 3 year warranty, and at the cost of less than 1 mover/scanner for 10 units, make a much larger impact on the room!

[Sound In Gloucestershire]

3 year warranty on LEDJ? Since when? Or did you buy from Thomann?

[J Pearce]

We've just bought 5 Showtec Pixel Track Pros for cyc duties, eye candy and dimmer free lighting for events in spaces without infrastructure.

 

They're essentially a 1044 copy. They do it quite well, have some useful chases onboard, though an annoying 4bit dimmer/4bit strobe control all on one DMX channel that had strand's (horizon's actually) fixture profile writers stuck for a bit.

 

Not quite as bright as proper 1044, but for the price difference.... Certainly very usable for footlight/cyc/wall washing and great for eye candy!

[Brian]

Thanks everyone for all the ideas so far.

[Thomas1987]

Apologies, meant American DJ products...

 

http://www.americandj.com/WarrantyInformation.aspx

 

Bought them from CPC actually, as with the bulk buy discount, fairly significant discount, more than our usual companies could do.

 

(Mental note! Fill out the warranty cards!)

[aidso]

the second one looks like a miltec led batton. Very very good for the price. I have used these a lot for set wash on coperate shows and as blinders for rock and roll gigs and never really had any problems with them. The only thing I found is that the plastic endcap would shatter but its easy fixed with some sheet alu. All in All very good for the price. Check them out here www.miltec.org.uk. I have also used the show tec ones and no as impressed with these as the plastic sheild on the front does break very easy meaning the leds get maangled. Mil tec were running a deal for a while there that the IP rated ones were only like £20 or £30 more than the non IP rated ones.

[boswell]

Apologies, meant American DJ products...

 

http://www.americandj.com/WarrantyInformation.aspx

 

Bought them from CPC actually, as with the bulk buy discount, fairly significant discount, more than our usual companies could do.

 

(Mental note! Fill out the warranty cards!)

 

Read the small print, 3 yr warranty ONLY applies to items bought in the USA,

last time I looked, Lancashire was in the UK but with the government boundary changes, you never know!! :P

[Thomas1987]

Hmmph, sneaky gits. Well I hope CPC would be honourable, but we shall see. Fortunately they're not killer priced units.