Illinois-based Upstaging has purchased a large complement of Clay Paky moving lights from A.C.T Lighting, the distributor of Clay Paky fixtures in North America.
“As with most of our gear, we bought the Clay Paky fixtures because demand for them was client-driven,” says Upstaging’s Jerry Swatek. “Lighting designers are asking for Clay Paky, and we wanted to be able to meet their needs.”
Upstaging took delivery of 77 Clay Paky Alpha Beam 300s for use on AC/DC‘s current tour, 34 Alpha Beam 700s for Katy Perry‘s California Dreams Tour and 48 Sharpies for Disney Junior‘s Imagination Movers’ In a Big Warehouse Tour and Ricky Martin‘s Musica + Alma + Sexo Tour.
“The fixtures have been outstanding,” Swatek reports. “The Sharpy itself is a unique fixture: It brings back that tight ACL beam effect that lighting designers have missed, only in a very practical moving head”.
The Sharpy is a 189W moving beam light with unprecedented brightness usually only achievable with far greater wattages. It creates a parallel, laser-like beam with an output of almost 60,000 lx at 20m. Sharpy is also groundbreaking for the purity of its beam, which is halo-free with no discoloration around the edges. The unit offers 14 different colors and 17 gobos.
“We have always been extremely happy with the service and support we get from A.C.T Lighting,” says Swatek. “We haven’t been interacting with them about servicing the equipment, though: Our service department reports the lack of any complaints about the fixtures and the absence of big parts orders or warranty repairs”.
“From the sales end, A.C.T made it simple. They know a lot about their products, the price was right and they met delivery targets, which was key. They never let us down.”