Abstract: A spray bar dampening system (10) having at least one spray bar (12) that is controlled with a distributed control system to provide high-speed adaptive and custom control of spray dampening in a printing press or other application. Along with the spray bar, the dampening system includes a bar address module (14) for coupling with the spray bar, a speed converter module (16), a network interface module (18), and a remote terminal module (20) that all communicate with one another over a communications bus (22). Each module performs distributed control functions unique to its particular place in the overall system.