According to the guys at, the decision to purchase Claypaky Scenius Unicos was probably one of the easiest they’ve had to make.
Amongst others, Powa provide complete touring production and staging for the Red Hot Summer Tour and they were looking to update their rig with a fixture that was bright enough for daylight shows. As the headline artists often change, having the versatility of a spot/wash/beam fixture on the road with plenty of punch was exactly what they needed.
“After Show Technology’s Branden Butler organised for us to trial them on a couple of shows, we instantly knew the Unico was going to suit our requirements,” commented Geoff Knight, Director of Powa.
The first big show Powa used their Unicos on was at Wollongong Arena earlier this month on John Farnham, along with their new full size MA Lighting International MA2 console.
Currently Powa are preparing for their second tour with John Farnham so it was important that long-time LD Chris Newman was happy using the Unicos. As expected, Chris was very happy with their output, aerial effects and deep colours.
“It was the first time I had used the Unicos and I have to say I was pretty impressed,” commented Chris. “They’re compact, a little heavy but the head speed is quick. The optics are great and the zoom range is fantastic, sharp all the way through. The gobos were great too and sharp throughout the range. I didn’t use the shutters but they looked an amazing feature.”
Chris further remarked on the incredible brightness of the Unico, saying he was tempted to put them on a group mode so he could pull the brightness down!
Both Chris and Darren Stott (systems/ops at Powa) remarked on the fact you could clearly see the beam without even using haze! Chris used eighteen of the Unicos (with two as spares) situated on the upstage and mid-stage truss as well as on the floor upstage.
“The spot feature on the Unicos comes with six rotating gobos, a rotating prism, a beautiful animation wheel and it is equipped with the most sophisticated and precise framing system on the market today,” remarked Geoff. “As well as being an excellent wash light, it also features a system with different diffusion filters, which may be inserted gradually. One thing that really stands out is the incredibly concentrated light, with a minimum beam angle of only 5 degrees. The Unicos feature a 1400w Osram discharge lamp (changeable to 1200w) with 6500k output colour temp, CMY system and Linear CTO. Quite simply, the output capability of this fixture is brilliant. They haven’t spent much time in the factory since arriving. I can only see us adding to our inventory in the short term.”
The recent purchase of the full size MA2 compliments the Unicos beautifully as both are incredibly well designed and their respective functionalities have allowed Powa to enter the international market in both corporate and live performance.
