On the Sixty82 booth at Prolight+Sound, you didn’t know where to start from. This young brand – created in march 2018 by Dutch ol’timers professional trussmakers and aluminium afficionados – was presenting a bunch of new and various gizmos, alu-luyah !
Dynamism and inventiveness from Sixty82 for its second year of presence at Prolight+Sound in Frankfurt.
For once, and as we can remain very close to the ground sometimes, let’s raise the debate and step into this review with… a modular staircase! I know this ain’t that “sexy” a product, but this new model will show you the “staircase wit” (easy joke) of the handful of Mad Professors gathered in Sixty82.
Good enough, we meet Alain-René Lantelme from Axente, their french distributor, with his PhD-style resplendent beard 😉
Overall view of the Sixty82 Modular Staircase once assembled. Notice – top of the photo – the essential and typical Dutch accessory posed on the riser and bringing you full rewarding refreshness once you’ve finished bolting the stairs together.
SLU : Hi Alain, what’s up… the stairs? (laughs or consternation, tick the comment you prefer here)
Alain-René Lantelme : That’s exactly what we’re looking at here, we’re unveiling a totally modular staircase here, obviously called Stairs-Modular, where every stair is exactly the same, and allowing, once assembled, a total maximum height of 1.40 m.
SLU : What is the trick, then?
Alain-René Lantelme : Simply enough, the shape of each stair, with clever flat sides with a patented angle, allow stocking only one type of mounting piece, and not making mistakes forgetting this or that “start” or “end” element. All the stairs can fit anywhere into the global assembly. More, the load capacity is superior to the one of a standard staircase.
Stairs-Modular from Sixty82, a (stair)case that works! Once tightly bolted, rigidity and load capacity are increased.
SLU : How is it manufactured?
Alain-René Lantelme : It is made of birch plywood, with a non-slip layer (with embossed print) of phenolic resin. You can also have the same finish onto the risers, and more, you can ask for black embossed finish, instead of dark brown.
SLU : And is it more expensive than the standard staircase?
Alain-René Lantelme : No, because as a manufacturer, we’re making economies of scale (litterally), as we only have to produce the same element over and over. As we’re referring to risers, we also present here a clever new accessory, it’s the Multi-clamp, used to hold together tight risers from different heights.
SLU : As we’re celebrating in 2019 the very famous Neil Armstrong moon sentence, can we say, too, that “this is a small step for Sixty82, but a giant leap for the rental companies?” (embarrassed laughs)
Alain-René Lantelme : Great joke, hmm, let’s move to something different… As you’ve seen on our booth, we’ve had a very active year with many new products, so let’s turn to the new 39R truss, a bit like the 40 Series, but reduced in size, as the section is rectangular. So you gain 25 % in lorry volume, for the same (very efficient) load capacity.
The truly versatile wallmount Hang-On support from Sixty82
SLU : Can you say a word on accessories?
Alain-René Lantelme : The Hang-On is an universal support for any kind of transversal straight elements, but it can also rotate if needed! It is available in two types of finish, smooth satin or granite satin which is longer lasting and resists better to occasional bumps or shocks.
The two finish are priced the same, it is only a matter of choice and aesthetics. The Hang-On can support up to 900 kg, it is an interesting alternative to the T-Joint, and you can insert it anywhere in a whole truss construction.
The Wall Adapter can be fixed in two positions, either like figured here like a “chair”, or with the tubes positioned upwards. Its design is quite unique, for instance the width is the same that the truss it can support, the clamps position is adjustable. It can be connected to ladder, triangle or square truss, in M29S-T as well as in M39R. Its load capacity can go up to 500 kg.
Let’s keep going with Sybren Dijkhoff, who is going to show us bigger and taller metal animals.
SLU : Hello Sybren, what is this proud cross between an elephant and a giraffe thats occupies a good part of the back of your stand?
Sybren Dijkhoff : This is the Multibase Tower, a much appraised concept dedicated to a lot of applications. First of all, it can hang nice and easy a Line Array cluster, but not only that. It can wind up by itself with a hoist, it can also be part of Roof Systems. The base requires only a 3.80 m x 2.55 m space. It is designed to withstand the rough seaside conditions, qualified as WS4 certified by the German authorities.
Two views of the Multibase Tower standing in full pride on one side of the Sixty82 stand.
SLU : OMG, what a flock of newbies! Can we mention some other ones?
Sybren Dijkhoff : In view of sporting events or concerts, as we just saw we can easily hang Line Arrays to the Multibase Tower, we also became very interested in LED screens hanging, and we designed the LED Screen Support (with some space on the sides to hang sound systems, if needed at the same time).
Last but not least, we can also quote the Roof Systems: Booth82, one man alone can set it up, for small stages, and of course the big Arc Roof, that way we end this up with an impressive new product! (laughs)
More information on the Sixty82 Website.
Text & photos: Bruno P. Souchaud.
