With the introduction of the Alpha line several years ago, Clay Paky began an earnest push to reinvigorate its fixture offerings. Combined with an overhauled U.S.-based sales and support team, it has resulted in renewed brand awareness in North America and around the world. The newest addition to the Alpha line, the Alpha Profile 1200 moving yoke fixture is a direct answer to the framing shutter systems incorporated into the massively popular VL3500 Spot and MAC 2000 Performance fixtures.
Read on to see how the Alpha Profile 1200 stacks up.
Physical Profile
The exterior of the fixture is virtually identical to the other 1200-watt spots in the line. It’s 17.72 inches wide and 29.13 inches tall, with the head pointing straight up; the base is 19 inches by 18.1 inches and it weighs almost 85 pounds. Some of the shared features include:
3-pin and 5-pin parallel data connection
Battery-powered menu system for addressing and other changes without mains power
Switch-selectable 110V/208V
operation
Quarter-turn fastener access to
frequently opened areas
Its exterior is almost indistinguishable from its brothers and sisters, but the important parts of the Alpha Profile 1200 are on the inside.
Features
The fixture provides smooth dimming via a combination of electronic and mechanical dimming. Strobe effects are provided by a separate flag, allowing dimming and strobing concurrently.
The color system includes CMY color mixing, linear CTO and a six-position (plus open) color wheel. The cyan, magenta and yellow color flags are slightly over-saturated at the ends to allow for super-saturated colors.
The effects system consists of three wheels. A static gobo wheel includes eight fixed gobos plus open, which are individually interchangeable. The entire wheel can also be quickly and easily removed due to a unique magnetic mounting system. The other gobo wheel provides six indexable, rotatable gobos plus open. An additional effects wheel provides a rotating animation effect and a rotating prism, as well as two frost filters.
The framing system makes use of four shutters, each of which are controlled via two parameters. The entire system can be rotated (as a whole) up to 90 degrees. Especially convenient is the patented framing shutter system that Clay Paky calls a “total curtain” effect. Unlike other similar fixtures, each shutter can extend completely through the optical train, greatly increasing the framing possibilities of the unit. Other standard features include a 10- to 30-degree zoom, electronic focusing, iris and 16-bit pan and tilt.
What's All the Noise About?
In person, there are several striking things about this fixture. Not to be missed are the audible noise (or lack thereof), dimming, color mixing, easy maintenance and (especially) the framing shutters.
While it’s easy to overlook the noise produced by a single fixture (and all of its fans), the decibel output of a fixture can be critical in some applications. This seems especially true for any fixture with framing shutters, as it will inherently be used in many specialty applications (theatre, dance, etc.) where shuttered fixtures are de rigueur. As part of Clay Paky’s SV (Silent Version) line, the Alpha Profile 1200 has been designed from the ground up to be silent. This is one of the quietest fixtures, for its size, that I have ever encountered. Even parameter changes that are inherently noisy (strobe, gobo bumps, etc.) are almost imperceptible from a few feet away.
The Final Word
Clay Paky obviously spent a lot of time tweaking the dimming curve, as the fixture seamlessly shifts from mechanical (flag) dimming to electronic (ballast) dimming part way through its intensity range. It handles long- and short-intensity changes with grace. You can also select a standard dimming curve or a second dimming curve that mimics a conventional dimming curve.
As mentioned previously, each color flag is slightly over-tinted at the saturate end of its range. This feature is shared throughout the line and allows incredibly rich colors to be created.
Clay Paky has definitely been listening to some lighting techs as this line has evolved. Each new fixture seems to be a little bit easier to maintain and repair than the last, and the Alpha Profile 1200 is no exception. As an example, one of the main modules comes out of the fixture with a fan assembly attached so that the module will stand up straight on a work surface, resting on the fan assembly. Other things like modular effects systems, captive screws and circuit boards that are shared with other fixtures make this fixture a shop or touring technician’s dream.
Last, and possibly most important, is a spectacular framing shutter system that could take the industry by storm. The shutter movement and control is excellent, and the almost infinite amount of control is marvelous. The only real problem with the system is that the shutters are just far enough from the gobos to prevent the same great shuttering of patterns and textures (i.e. a sharply focused gobo cannot be shaped very effectively with the framing shutters). But this is a common issue in any framing projector because it can’t focus on the gobos and framing shutters simultaneously.
Clay Paky seems to have nailed it with its latest effort. While focusing on a next-generation framing system, the engineers in Italy have quietly improved on almost every feature considered “standard” in this size platform. Top-notch dimming, positioning, color mixing and output, combined with a revolutionary framing shutter system, make this fixture well worth watching for.
Phil Gilbert is a freelance lighting designer and programmer. You can contact him at pgilbert@ plsn.com.
What it is: Clay Paky Alpha Profile 1200 — a 1200-watt moving head spot luminaire with framing shutters.
Who it’s for: Any event needing extremely versatile framing shutters and top-of-the-line everything-else.
Pros: Incredible framing shutters; beautiful dimming; gorgeous color mixing.
Cons: Some combinations of gobos and framing shutters aren’t effective.
Retail Price: $17,300.
