Clay Paky have enjoyed enormous success with the Sharpy product over the last couple of years. They haven’t said, but I’m sure it must be their best selling product ever, perhaps only beaten by the Golden Scans they used to manufacture and sell by the thousands back in the golden days of discos in the 1980’s. An enormous success like the Sharpy can be somewhat of a double edged sword for a manufacturer, it’s fantastic while it lasts, but how do you keep the momentum going and justify the now larger company you have built up on the back of it? They are level-headed folks in Bergamo and I know they are pondering these issues. They’ve brought out a new range of LED products this year and have followed the Sharpy with the product I’m looking at today, the Sharpy Wash 330.
At first glance the name seems like a bit of an oxymoron. How can a wash light be sharp? However, I don’t think we are supposed to take the name too literally, instead it should be looked at as more of a product family name. What we have here is a very small, lightweight, automated wash unit which uses a lamp similar to that in the Sharpy, but more powerful. It is physically of similar size and has an optical system that allows it to produce a very narrow beam, albeit soft edged, that gives it kinship with the Sharpy spot unit. Although also designed for aerial effects, the Sharpy Wash 330 can provide a long throw wash with zoom and colour mixing. How does it perform? Will it help Clay Paky keep their sales momentum going?
This review follows my typical format, we start with the lamp and work along the optical train, measuring everything as objectively as possible, ending with the light output. For this review all data comes from tests I carried out on a single unit supplied to me as typical by Clay Paky. I need to add the same caveat to this review as I did to the one on the original Sharpy and other tight beam effects units.
Measurements don’t tell you the entire story with luminaires like this. Because the main use is for effect rather than illumination of performers, then it’s the way it looks to your eye and the camera that matters, not just the numbers. So please temper your opinions with that in mind, good or bad, and understand that a final judgment can only be made by trying the unit out yourself. All tests were run on a nominal 115V 60Hz supply; however, the Sharpy Wash 330 is rated to run on voltages from 115-230V 50/60Hz.
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