Spark PositiveGrid Amp
- Thread starter Bob630
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Silicon Valley Tom
It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
Yes! 
Tom
Tom
jackderby52
Prehistoric blues knob (not newbie)
So, here is my quick opinion on the Spark if anyone is interested/or cares. This little amp in my experience is the best little modeling amp I have encountered so far… Especially for its size and price point ($225)… Over the years I had many in the house that include fender’s g-dec and mustang 1, crate something?, Yamaha and the Quilter micro pro(8 inch)… To my old ears, this is the best most realistic sounding amp that floats my boat (YMMV)… I would not hesitate to recommend this little amp to anyone who is on the fence… Especially considering the low cost… In fact, I might order a second one for my son as a Christmas gift…
So, a few things that I love about it… (Random order)..
The tone from this little guy is crazy good… Frankly, I didn’t think it was possible from two small 4 inch speakers. I was proven wrong...
It’s easy to sample other amp’s, pedals, etc… from the tone cloud… Just tap the screen and it’s instantly playing on your amp… Found some really nice Hendrix-SRV setups..
It’s easy to set the presets to whatever flavor you like… AND, I believe you can overwrite the hardware selections as well (not sure yet)… For example, I have no use for the high gain or metal setting, I’m going to replace those with a killer jazzy/bluesy setting I found in the tone cloud.
It’s a great way to learn/sample pedals which I had no clue what they all did? Like Gate, Comp, Mod, etc..
This is also a CON, you can go crazy looking into all the possibilities... I found it easy to just sample what other people put out on the cloud and grab what you like and tweak em to your liking… Or, just plug and play (Which is me)..
Acoustic settings!! Yeah baby!! One small package that does both!!
SO, for me this amp is perfect… I’m packing up all my full size amps to the closet for now… Maybe someday I will actually need a full size rig, but until then…
AND the number 1 thing;
So, a few things that I love about it… (Random order)..
The tone from this little guy is crazy good… Frankly, I didn’t think it was possible from two small 4 inch speakers. I was proven wrong...
It’s easy to sample other amp’s, pedals, etc… from the tone cloud… Just tap the screen and it’s instantly playing on your amp… Found some really nice Hendrix-SRV setups..
It’s easy to set the presets to whatever flavor you like… AND, I believe you can overwrite the hardware selections as well (not sure yet)… For example, I have no use for the high gain or metal setting, I’m going to replace those with a killer jazzy/bluesy setting I found in the tone cloud.
It’s a great way to learn/sample pedals which I had no clue what they all did? Like Gate, Comp, Mod, etc..
This is also a CON, you can go crazy looking into all the possibilities... I found it easy to just sample what other people put out on the cloud and grab what you like and tweak em to your liking… Or, just plug and play (Which is me)..
Acoustic settings!! Yeah baby!! One small package that does both!!
SO, for me this amp is perfect… I’m packing up all my full size amps to the closet for now… Maybe someday I will actually need a full size rig, but until then…
AND the number 1 thing;
Gunrunner
Blues and Bird Dogs
Jack, I got my Spark about the same time you did (mine arrived this past Monday), and like you I have just begun to uncover all of the amp’s features, but I agree with your assessment 100%. Truly a remarkable device, for one who primarily plays at home this is all the amp you would ever need and then some. The tone is truly astounding for being so small, I plugged mine in for the first time in our family room and my wife immediately remarked “wow, that sounds fantastic!”... since it was me behind the guitar, that speaks volumes! As I told my cousin (another picker and gear geek), it isn’t a question of if you will own one, only a question of when. Disclaimer: I have no connection whatsoever to Positive Grid, last time I checked they weren’t hiring 70 year olds ;-)!
Chris_NC
Blues Newbie
Most of the reviews I've read seem to really focus on the amp quality itself, as well as all of the effects. For those that have been putting it through the paces, have you tried out the other features like 'Auto Chords' and 'Smart Jam'? I'm curious how well the auto chords function works as some of the apps I've tried previously just weren't very accurate. I also have a Digitech Trio+ which does the 'band in a box' thing and I'm curious how the Smart Jam function compares to that.
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
I haven't tried the auto chords thing yet, but I have used the smart jam a little, and like it quite a bit. I didn't stretch its capabilities much, just loaded up a standard 12 bar track, set the key, and noodled around with the resulting bass and drum. I won't say it's as powerful or as versatile as the TRIO+ (which I have), but I found it lots simpler to use and more than adequate for my simple needs, and removed the need to have the pedal tagging along.
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
I haven't been practicing as much as I ought (shame on me) but have been noodling around with my Spark for a little while now, and I'm quite pleased I picked one up. The only part I'm not thrilled about (and it's not the amp's fault, rather my druthers) is the same thing that had me cooling on their Bias Mini amp: having it tied to using an external device to set things up. After the novelty of having a gazillion tones at my fingertips wears off, I find myself wanting to use just the amp itself, nothing hanging onto it, in a simple turn-on-and-play configuration.
Fortunately, in both cases the answer is to find a couple of tones I like, plug them into presets, and put the tablet/phone away for good. Working on that process now.
EDIT: I get I'll still need the interface to use the smart jam, but that somehow seems different from the choices-overload feeling of all the other configuration stuff.
Fortunately, in both cases the answer is to find a couple of tones I like, plug them into presets, and put the tablet/phone away for good. Working on that process now.
EDIT: I get I'll still need the interface to use the smart jam, but that somehow seems different from the choices-overload feeling of all the other configuration stuff.
Crossroads
Thump the Bottom
So still looking for the answer to this one @MarkDyson . Can you transfer amps back and forth from the Mini to Spark? Is the tone Cloud Universal?I haven't been practicing as much as I ought (shame on me) but have been noodling around with my Spark for a little while now, and I'm quite pleased I picked one up. The only part I'm not thrilled about (and it's not the amp's fault, rather my druthers) is the same thing that had me cooling on their Bias Mini amp: having it tied to using an external device to set things up. After the novelty of having a gazillion tones at my fingertips wears off, I find myself wanting to use just the amp itself, nothing hanging onto it, in a simple turn-on-and-play configuration.
Fortunately, in both cases the answer is to find a couple of tones I like, plug them into presets, and put the tablet/phone away for good. Working on that process now.
EDIT: I get I'll still need the interface to use the smart jam, but that somehow seems different from the choices-overload feeling of all the other configuration stuff.
jackderby52
Prehistoric blues knob (not newbie)
CR, if I understand this correctly maybe we can test it out for you? Do you have a mini configuration out in the tone cloud that I can grab? My guess it would be universal but that’s a wild guess on my part.
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
That's a great question. My initial guess is no, on the basis the data models for the two amps are different (lots more internal configuration data for the Bias amps, for example, and the Spark data sets include pedals). I'll put exploring that on my list.
Crossroads
Thump the Bottom
Possibly bfx2 then?
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
I don't have bfx2, but I have the original bfx. I just pulled that one, and the Bias 2 app, and the Spark app, and searched for "dumble clean" and the results had nothing in common with each other. I'm going to say no, the presents are each only good for the app they were created in.
Stinger22
Blues Junior
So have you received?
Elio
Student Of The Blues
Not yet. The initial order status said that it would ship "around the 19th". That later changed to "around the 24th", so hopefully it will go out on Monday.
PapaBear
Guit Fiddlier
I'm not too concerned about when it gets here, the further out it is the more authenticate my "oh yeah, I actually forgot I ordered that on a really great crowd funding deal" sounds
MarkDyson
Blues Hound Wannabe
Yeah: the missus and I jumped on a kickstarter for some high tech very small window a/c units. That was two years ago. Turns out the tech was more difficult than they expected but things are finally getting rolling. After that, an offhand, "Oh, it's a cheap, new-tech practice amp I funded on a Kickstarter months ago" just rolls off the tongue.
Elio
Student Of The Blues
This is probably the answer you already know but I just came across this FAQ,
Q: Can I export presets from BIAS FX 2 to Spark?
A: No, you can only download or save presets via the Spark app.
Elio
Student Of The Blues
Well, my Spark arrived yesterday and I had a little time to play with it last night. Overall, I have to say it is a really nice product. In terms of weight, appearance, and sound, they did a great job on the physical design in that it is small, light-weight, and sounds way better than one would expect through those small speakers.
I didn't delve into the amp models in very much depth, but the ones I tried I thought sounded really good. My only quasi-complaint is that the presets I tried all seemed to dial in an inordinate amount of reverb, which is easily remedied. My Godin using the piezo pickup through the acoustic setting sounded convincingly acoustic, and I was able to find some reasonable blues-rock and jazz tones with just a little bit of exploring.
I tried a few of the user-submitted presets for BB King and Santana tones. The ones I tried were reasonable attempts but there were so many to choose from that I just scratched the surface. I'm fairly comfortable that with some more hunting and my own tweaking, I can find or create ones that I really like.
Setup with the app was quick and painless. The UI was initially a bit less than intuitive, but not particularly difficult to figure out, especially after watching Steve Stine's excellent video walk-thru of the features and how to use them (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ8PB-UUwu8). The Spotify link works really well, as does the voice-command feature (E.G. "Find the thrill is gone backing track").
In the past, I have used my Fender G-DEC 3 to store all of my backing tracks and pertinent BGU lessons on its SD card. I am trying to figure out the best way to organize them all so that I can dial them up quickly on the Spark. My first thought was to create a Spotify playlist and upload them, but I will need to experiment a bit to explore the options. I'm not really much of a Spotify user, so this part will take some time. Since the amp essentially works as a Bluetooth speaker for the phone, I suppose I could just play them through any app so that they output to the amp.
The only thing that I see missing at this point is that the Spark does not support a foot-switch. I have gotten really used to the G-DEC's ability to start and stop a backing track or phrase sample with the foot-switch. That feature ends up being really valuable when learning something new and needing to be able to go over something multiple times while keeping my hands on the guitar.
Overall, I think this will end up working out well, although I will probably find more things that I love or hate about it as I go along. So far, I'm pretty happy with it.
I didn't delve into the amp models in very much depth, but the ones I tried I thought sounded really good. My only quasi-complaint is that the presets I tried all seemed to dial in an inordinate amount of reverb, which is easily remedied. My Godin using the piezo pickup through the acoustic setting sounded convincingly acoustic, and I was able to find some reasonable blues-rock and jazz tones with just a little bit of exploring.
I tried a few of the user-submitted presets for BB King and Santana tones. The ones I tried were reasonable attempts but there were so many to choose from that I just scratched the surface. I'm fairly comfortable that with some more hunting and my own tweaking, I can find or create ones that I really like.
Setup with the app was quick and painless. The UI was initially a bit less than intuitive, but not particularly difficult to figure out, especially after watching Steve Stine's excellent video walk-thru of the features and how to use them (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ8PB-UUwu8). The Spotify link works really well, as does the voice-command feature (E.G. "Find the thrill is gone backing track").
In the past, I have used my Fender G-DEC 3 to store all of my backing tracks and pertinent BGU lessons on its SD card. I am trying to figure out the best way to organize them all so that I can dial them up quickly on the Spark. My first thought was to create a Spotify playlist and upload them, but I will need to experiment a bit to explore the options. I'm not really much of a Spotify user, so this part will take some time. Since the amp essentially works as a Bluetooth speaker for the phone, I suppose I could just play them through any app so that they output to the amp.
The only thing that I see missing at this point is that the Spark does not support a foot-switch. I have gotten really used to the G-DEC's ability to start and stop a backing track or phrase sample with the foot-switch. That feature ends up being really valuable when learning something new and needing to be able to go over something multiple times while keeping my hands on the guitar.
Overall, I think this will end up working out well, although I will probably find more things that I love or hate about it as I go along. So far, I'm pretty happy with it.