Positive grid spark amp

kaypeejay

Used mine as a Bluetooth speaker today and was very boomy on the floor next to the wall. It is much better when placed on a hard surface in the open. 

Barnezy

They seem pretty cheap now the USD has fallen and no more customs due to the Germany distribution center. 

Is it better than using BiasFX on a PC through decent monitors? I practice always at my desk. The thing I dislike about Bias FX is the feedback and noise gates. There always seems to be an excessive amount of noise and the gates just kill any dynamics. Maybe its just how I'm using it, but I don't have that problem with any others. 

Line6 would be nuts not to release a POD practice amp now. 

Whistler

kaypeejay said:

Used mine as a Bluetooth speaker today and was very boomy on the floor next to the wall. It is much better when placed on a hard surface in the open. 

It is down to acoustics: when placing a speaker next to a hard surface, eg. the floor, you get a 6dB boost to the bass, because bass eminates in all directions but as it cannot go through the floor it bounces back, doubling the volume of the bass. Treble frewuencies are directional so will travel in the direction the speaker is facing.

Take this further, as kaypeejay did, and place the speaker next to the floor and a wall, you get a 12dB boost in the bass. Place the speaker in a corner, that is, next to the floor and two walls and you get an 18dB boost in the bass.

Putting the speaker on a chair or table away from walls help not overly accentuate the bass.

Switch625

What’s the consensus of buying one of these vs buying a MFX like the Boss GT100... could they end up doing mostly the same thing for a bedroom player, with the exception of having an expression pedal? 

DartmoorHedgehog

switch625 said:

What’s the consensus of buying one of these vs buying a MFX like the Boss GT100... could they end up doing mostly the same thing for a bedroom player, with the exception of having an expression pedal? 

The main reason I've got a stand-alone practice amp (currently a Blackstar ID core, and I've ordered a Spark) is because of the "stand-alone-ness" of it.  I can't be bothered to set my gigging amp up at home between practices and gigs (when that was a thing) so I want something I can just plug into and use, and easily take to any room in the house or even to a mate's place for a quiet but non-acoustic jam. 

If I only ever played in my home office/studio where my PC is then software may be a better choice, and even a multi-effects thing like the GT100 needs to be plugged into an amp (I've got a Zoom G3 in the house - it's my daughter's but I use it occasionally -, which is excellent but I find myself favouring a stand-alone amp).

What attracted me to the Spark is as well as the fancy app, which does look very cool, it can still be used on its own like a normal guitar amp with preset sounds.  I've not used a Yamaha THR, but TBH I think they're ridiculously expensive compared with the competition (the Spark is pretty much at the top end of the price I'd want to spend on a practice amp, more than double what the ID core cost, but I just fancy a change and I like the Positive Grid software)

Switch625

Ok I bit the bullet and ordered one. Let's see how long it takes to get here.

DartmoorHedgehog

switch625 said:

Ok I bit the bullet and ordered one. Let's see how long it takes to get here.

I'm wondering the same.  I ordered mine a couple of weeks ago - I assume the wait won't be as long as for the early preorder people because they seem to have stepped up their production a fair bit when they realised how many orders they were getting, but we'll see...

Still, I don't really NEED it so I don't mind if it takes some time - it's more that I just fancy a new toy really   My current practice amp is still doing good service in the meantime.

ThePrettyDamned

Okay, real talk.

I play an ac15. It's gorgeous - danplifier ef86 handwired thing. 

It sounds great at whisper volume clean - middy, but round and clear and very responsive. It also has a master vol so can get overdriven. 

But I sorta want one! So, what's the skinny - can these do a good ac15 tone and if so can you show me? I am interested in clean and driven ac15, plus a good clean silverface Fender tone. 

ronnyb

There's one of these appeared on facebook, 'Buy sell and swap musical instruments in Cumbria' says it's brand new £250.

DartmoorHedgehog

ronnyb said:

There's one of these appeared on facebook, 'Buy sell and swap musical instruments in Cumbria' says it's brand new £250.

That's about £40 premium to jump the queue.  I'm happy to wait!

DiscoStu

Ordered mine 28th July. Shipping update has consistently said 'between August 17th - 21st' but today now says 'before August 31st'. I can live with that but hope they don't keep pushing it back like the earlier orders.

urban_winter

Ordered mine 3rd July. Status changed to "Shipped" yesterday. The courier tracking says "In Transit (5 days)".

Switch625

ronnyb said:

There's one of these appeared on facebook, 'Buy sell and swap musical instruments in Cumbria' says it's brand new £250.

Somebody on Gumtree is trying to get £340 each for 3 of them...

MildAshers

DiscoStu said:

Ordered mine 28th July. Shipping update has consistently said 'between August 17th - 21st' but today now says 'before August 31st'. I can live with that but hope they don't keep pushing it back like the earlier orders.

Yeah this is what mine did. Ordered 31st July. However in between it saying 17th-20th and before the 31st, it did say will be shipped on 15th August. So I'll be keeping an eye on the tracking and see if there's any movement tomorrow. Sounds like we may be kn the same batch. 

McToot

Balls to it. Ordered.

I had a jam session on Sunday with my colleague and fellow forumite @PonchoGreg and I realised that I really need to practice jamming along a) with other people or b) to actual songs (so that I learn the damned things in full). The fact that I know 30 seconds of about 200 tunes is both embarrassing and useless in real life situations.

This little box of goodies might just help me to do that.

Assuming I don't die of old age before it arrives, that is. 

PonchoGreg

McToot said:

Balls to it. Ordered.

I had a jam session on Sunday with my colleague and fellow forumite @PonchoGreg and I realised that I really need to practice jamming along a) with other people or b) to actual songs (so that I learn the damned things in full). The fact that I know 30 seconds of about 200 tunes is both embarrassing and useless in real life situations.

This little box of goodies might just help me to do that.

Assuming I don't die of old age before it arrives, that is. 

Yes!!! Good shout. Hopefully it arrives before long. Would be very curious to test it out too, as a living-room practice solution that doesn't require wiring the laptop and USB interface up.

Bluesboy82

McToot said:

Balls to it. Ordered.

I had a jam session on Sunday with my colleague and fellow forumite @PonchoGreg and I realised that I really need to practice jamming along a) with other people or b) to actual songs (so that I learn the damned things in full). The fact that I know 30 seconds of about 200 tunes is both embarrassing and useless in real life situations.

This little box of goodies might just help me to do that.

Assuming I don't die of old age before it arrives, that is. 

Sounds all too familiar. Intros and main riffs are about the sum total of what I get to play now.

 I’ve been looking at the Spark verses using my laptop with amp sims but like @PonchoGreg said, the Spark may be a better option as I won’t have to keep connecting and disconnecting the interface and headphones when I can actually find a sneaky 20mins to pick up my guitar.

duotone

McToot said:

Balls to it. Ordered.

I had a jam session on Sunday with my colleague and fellow forumite @PonchoGreg and I realised that I really need to practice jamming along a) with other people or b) to actual songs (so that I learn the damned things in full). The fact that I know 30 seconds of about 200 tunes is both embarrassing and useless in real life situations.

This little box of goodies might just help me to do that.

Assuming I don't die of old age before it arrives, that is. 

That sounds like me @McToot ;
I would suggest one of these JustinGuitar books, https://www.justinguitar.com/products?type=books has the chords charts with song lyrics & tab for any intros/notable song riffs.  

I’ve been getting good use from his vintage songbook one
https://www.justinguitar.com/products/vintage-songbook

dazzajl

McToot said:

..........The fact that I know 30 seconds of about 200 tunes is both embarrassing and useless in real life situations......

Wait.... what???

That’s not all there is to guitar??

rossi

I like mine .Its a very good practice amp which seems to have escaped many of our over seas colonials  who compare it to a huge wall of tube amps and find it lacking .I find it very useful even at my old age .Many are investigating ultimate tone  from a well designed practice amp /interface /app instead of actually learning something .I owned a THR and its a great sounding amp .If thats all you want dont buy a Spark ..simples.