JOHANNESBURG – The Gearhouse Group of Companies has made significant investments in the latest Lighting technology over the start of 2018. “It’s crucial for us as the largest technical supplier in South Africa to make this sort of regular CAPEX outlay. It keeps our capabilities ahead of the pack” says Peter Abrahamse, Lighting Workshop Manager in the Johannesburg Branch. “So far, we have taken delivery of 460 brand-new lighting fixtures and 7 new desks, which have immediately been deployed around the country. We split the purchase between the Gearhouse South Africa and INHOUSE Venue Technical Management branches according to their specific requirements.”
More details from Gearhouse (www.gearhouse.co.za):
“The fixture purchases for this year were mostly rider-driven” adds JHB Lighting Operations Manager, Adrian Skinner. “We had to consider the individual needs of a very diverse spread of client and event types as well as the particular characteristics of our regional lighting needs. The Western Cape region, for example, tends to prefer a more compact product suited to venues with less headroom whilst the Johannesburg region prefers the shutter functionality and brightness output of a larger unit like the BMFLs. The Kwa-Zulu Natal market is primarily looking for ease of use and reliability.”
The team cherry-picked items across the Robe, Phillips, MA Lighting and Martin stables; buying 48 Robe BMFL Blades, 48 Robe LEDBeam 150’s, 48 Robe Spiiders, 48 Phillips Varilite VLZs and 7 MA Dot 2 Consoles through local distributor DWR Distribution. A further 192 Martin Rush Pars, 48 Quantum Washes and 28 Quantum Profiles were purchased through Electrosonic, which holds the Martin Professional agency in South Africa
Each fixture has attributes that make it the “favorite” for a specific application or market sector. “The BMFLs are currently highest discharge light output in the JHB lighting arsenal, coupled with the fastest shutters in the game and high-speed precision movement while the VLZs offer unparalleled brightness for an LED profile and both have phenomenal shutter versatility, which makes them ideal for Corporates, Theatre use and Concerts” says Branch Operations Manager, Stuart Andrews.
The compact size and intensity of the Quantum Profiles and Robe Spiiders have made them a winner in the Cape Town Market for quite some time already and the new units are supplementary to the Cape Town branch’s existing Quantum and Robe 600 stockholding. “This high-output LED fixture has great on-board effects for everything from the rock and roll stages to high-profile corporates but also lends itself to TV work due to its color mixing and even field of light and low power consumption” says CTN Lighting Operations Manager, Andrew Gleave.
“The multi-functional, diminutive Spiiders are a notch brighter than the Robe 600 which they will replace in the Durban branch and offer superior control on channel programming” adds Goodman Nyoka, who heads up the Lighting division in the Durban branch.
“The Rush Pars have a fantastic zoom function and extraordinary reliability which make them solid workhorses, and they are really valued for that” continues Adrian. “The LEDBeam 150’s also provides great eye – candy in a compact housing and let’s face it, Designers cannot ever have enough quality beam light, so they are also always in demand.”
Sounds like we have a lot of happy customers here and looks like Gearhouse is set to shine brightly in 2018.
