Brisbane’s Twisted Pair Productions recently purchased eight Martin MAC Ones but we suspect there will be more shortly!
They were a specific purchase for the comedian Tommy Little whose Producer, Token Events’ Nathan Pettenon, likes to request brand new products that nobody’s ever seen before. Twisted Pair isn’t complaining as it gave them a chance to purchase new toys!
“As soon as the MAC Ones were launched, I was interested in them because they’re a beautiful little fixture that allows you to be very creative with bringing in different shapes and configurations in order to get away from grids of larger lights or overhead on stages,” commented Michael (Gilly) Gill, Head of Lighting at Twisted Pair. “They are so small but with a high quality of light output thanks to the Fresnel lens and the RGBL system. It is bright and weighs less than 5 kilos, a fantastic little bit of engineering.”
Gilly says they have had great reports on the experience of touring with them on a comedy show because you can fit two of them and all their associated cabling in a rather small suitcase.
“They’re bright enough and light enough that they can be handled by anybody,” he reiterated. “I like what they’ve done with it as a product. I think ever since the MAC 101, there have been other companies that have released small washlights but the MAC One is the only product that feels like a noteworthy successor to the MAC 101.”
Gilly adds that the Fresnel lens makes the output light quality look a lot cleaner than with the multi-eye style fixtures, as he believes that you don’t get any colour fringing with it, rather a nice precise soft wash.
The network failsafe feature on the MAC One has impressed Gilly who wishes all manufacturers would have this feature built into their products as it would greatly help technicians like himself.
“Obviously, with channel counts and fixtures getting more and more up there, a MAC One can use up to 108 channels in its highest mode,” he said. “You don’t get much bang for your buck with DMX universes anymore, so every passing year there’s more of a case to be using network connections direct to your fixtures. The MAC One has a fail-safe bypass function where if that fixture dies or loses power or stops working, your network signal still passes through.”
All of the eight MAC Ones were used on Tommy Little’s Melbourne Comedy Festival run as well as larger venues whilst his Has A Regular Size Deck tour plays in regional centres and small venues where only two MAC Ones are easily deployed along with a couple of bits of LED set pieces.
“I’d love to expand the fleet a bit more because it’s pretty limiting having eight of this cool new toy, which as Eurovision just showed us is kind of designed to be used en masse as one of its signature looks,” remarked Gilly. “I’m not sure exactly when that will be but I’m very much looking forward to it!”
