Setting up your lighting fixtures at a set is all too often a makeshift proposition. If you’re like us, you’ve put your lights everywhere from the tops of your speakers to whatever spare barstools you could find. Or maybe you’ve tried cramming them onto a little tripod stand you’ve long outgrown, and watched your rig teeter precariously to the beat of the music.

If you’ve reached the point where catch-as-can lighting setups no longer work, you may be thinking about a more professional truss system. Graduating to trussing is a good idea for many reasons: safety, protecting your lighting investment, and the more professional look it gives your performance.

But you may have heard that trussing is awfully cumbersome to lug around and set up – not to mention expensive. That’s why we decided to check out one of Global Truss’s Mobile Crank-Up Systems. These all-in-one rigging systems consist of two crank stands, the necessary support bars, and one or more pieces of aluminum trussing. They’re lightweight, surprisingly affordable, and supposedly very easy to set up, which to us means that one person who’s mechanically-challenged should be able to do it in under 20 minutes.

To find out if this was the case, we tested a Global system with two ST-132 Crank Stands, two STSB-005 Support Bars, and one piece of SQ-4114 10-foot square trussing that goes across the top. We took the stands out of the box, and proceeded to attach the support bars (also called adaptors) by placing them on top of the stands. We then tightened each adaptor into place simply by turning a knob at its bottom. Next, we attached the truss bar by placing its ends into each adaptor’s U-shaped clamps and driving a pin through it, and – click – it locked into place. That’s all there was to it -- no tools required! Even if you’re a single-op (with two left thumbs!), you can probably get the whole thing together in under 15 minutes. We should add that Global makes it super-convenient by including all the required connector pins with its truss.

Each of the ST-132 Crank Stands is rated at 220 lbs. so the rig can hold a total 440-lb. load. This translates into a pretty decent-sized light show – say, four to six moving heads the size of American DJ’s Accu Spot 250, plus several plug-n-play lights. The stands are just 5-1/2’ high at their lowest point, so the average person can rig up their lights without a ladder. Then just crank ’em up… . to as high as 13’. Again, one person can do the cranking, simply by raising one side a little, then bringing the other up, and so on.

Even though Global truss is made of very lightweight aluminum (one of its advantages for mobile entertainers), you can rest assured that your fully-loaded rig will be stable. That’s because all of Global’s crank stands and 12” and 16” truss are certified by TÜV, an officially recognized independent testing body.

Once our trussing system was assembled, we were really impressed with its polished, professional look -- an enhancement to any performance. And you can use it for much more than lighting, like hanging video screens or flying your speakers.

Another nice thing about Global’s systems is that they’re very flexible. Instead of one 10’ piece of truss across the top, for instance, you can use two 5’ segments, or even expand the truss bar up to 30’. In fact, you can “build” whatever truss structure you need for your rigging requirements. There are more shapes and sizes of trussing than you can imagine (straight pieces from 1’ to 16’and longer, circular arcs – you name it), and you can put them together almost like Legos. There’s a coupler at the end of every truss segment that allows the male end to be inserted into the female end. Then you simply hammer a pin into the coupler with a clip so that it stays in place.

So any Global system you buy can be easily expanded and re-configured for use at different venues – giving you more for your investment. We’re told, too, that all Global’s truss from 1.5’-16.5’ is in stock and ready to ship, so you can get what you need in a hurry.
Speaking of investment, the Mobile Crank-Up System we tested has a suggested retail price of $1,279. Had we gone with triangular truss instead of square, this figure would be an even lower. $1,189. Our test-drive left us convinced that however big or small your rigging needs, a professional truss setup is definitely something to consider seriously, especially when you’ve got products like Global’s that are lightweight, sturdy, easy to assemble, great-looking, and priced right for any budget.