A mix of Clay Paky Alpha Spots and Profiles shone a light on BET’s Celebration of Gospel ‘07, a two-hour special hosted by Steve Harvey, which aired on the cable network this past January. The show reached 2.5 million viewers, which made it the number one religious/gospel program in TV history and ranked it among BET’s Top 25 telecasts of all time. Performances by some of the biggest names in gospel combined with mainstream music to inspire viewers with the theme, “Taking You Higher.”
Lighting designers Design Partners Inc. specified 10 Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE and Alpha Profile 1200 fixtures, and were pleasantly surprised by the lights performance. “I was very surprised at the color mixing capabilities of these two units which I used for floor and set washes, band backlight, and extensively for set patterns and animated effects, says lighting designer Greg Brunton. "I discovered some shades and colors that I haven't been able to achieve with comparable fixtures." He adds, “Similarly, the effects and patterns are unique and distinctive. I was particularly delighted with the water effect that the Alpha Spot achieved. In addition, both lights are very bright, the field is flat and the color temperature is excellent.”
Design Partners obtained the Alpha Spots and Profiles from rental house Acey Decy. “They’re great lights,” reports Acey Decy's Mike Djomeh. “Clay Paky has come up with a feature set that’s flexible and attractive to designers. It gives them all the tools they need to create different looks.
“They also do things that other fixtures can’t,” he adds, specifically citing “the animation wheel and the Alpha Spot HPE. The lights’ “gobo selection used as default is very good, and there are lots of good breakups,” he reports. “The optics are also very good, the lights have a great throw and the clarity at distance is very good.”
Djomeh's praise for the Alpha Spots and Profiles doesn’t stop there. “The output is phenomenal,” he says. “And the shutter system in the Profile is unmatched—triangle shuttering, prisms, morphing between gobos. That’s really attractive to designers.”
As a rental company, Acey Decy is particularly concerned about equipment reliability and maintenance. “We’ve had zero problems with the lights’ reliability,” Djomeh states. “Their modular design allows us to get in and service the lights with great efficiency; they’re the easiest light to service in the entire industry. The fact that the parts are interchangeable and standardized among the product line is great. And support for the Clay Pakys has been unmatched. We’ve had support around the clock; Scott Townsend and Eric Mueller have both been great standing behind the product and bending over backwards for us. That’s not something we get from every company.”
Djomeh emphasizes that he has “heard nothing but good things” from clients who rent Clay Paky lights. “Everyone wants to use them again. Ultimately, the end user is the most important thing, and Clay Paky is there to make sure the end user and rental house are happy. That’s why we’re excited and plan on expanding our inventory. We believe Clay Paky has a great product.”
Design Partners also gives kudos to the fixtures. “The units were reliable and had no failures during the entire week of production,” reports Brunton. “I plan on making these units a part of my regular lighting complement.”