52 Ayrton Diablo for Amsterdam’s famous Melkweg music venue.

Located at the heart of Amsterdam’s famous night life, the former dairy, Melkweg (Milky Way), is a popular music and cultural venue that hosts major concerts, acts and performances. With four spaces under one roof and embracing all music styles, Melkweg’s variety of artists and audiences is well-known worldwide.

Recently Melkweg celebrated a major upgrade to its lighting grids, adding 52 Ayrton Diablo profile fixtures to its inventory, supplied by full-service consultant Airlight of Utrecht, headed by Ruud Pouwels.

Pouwels, with his rich experience as lighting engineer, has for many years served as a lighting consultant for theatres and clubs, and provides a full and worry-free package of lighting services that includes 24/7 technical backup. Assisting his customers in the selection, commissioning and servicing of equipment, Ruud explains his choice of the Diablo for Melkweg:

“Besides Diablo’s obvious build quality, output and features, we faced two other important criteria: the fixture should be internationally accepted and rider-friendly, and, since the fixtures are hung on a fixed grid, they had to be so light that they can be handled by a single engineer using a manlift. The Ayrton Diablos ticked all the boxes, and so far they have been a real dream to work with in terms of lighting quality and reliability. That’s good news for the Melkweg, and obviously also for me as a full-service consultant!”

Versatile and feature-rich, and weighing just over 20kg, Diablo is the smallest, lightest, brightest and most efficient profile fixture in its category. With a record output of 19,000 lumens from its 300W source, and a zoom range of 7° – 53°, Diablo is a powerhouse of technology.

Supplied by Dutch distributor Ampco Flashlight Sales, the Diablo fixtures have now found their way to multiple venues in the Netherlands. The Airlight / Ampo Flashlight cooperation goes beyond this as Pouwels adds: “Ampco Flashlight not only serves as a very well-informed distributor for its brands, but its very professional rental department provides me with a valuable backup for extra services to my customers.”

Texte: Julie Harper
Photos: © Tim van Etten

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