Positive grid spark amp

pvdmac

I cancelled my order on their website just after New Year..it took a couple of days for them to reply and refund my cash.

Aidanspaghetti

Cancelled mine 2 weeks ago -It tok a second email for them to react. Bought a super reverb instead as my practice amp lol

Sparky

Not quite ready to cancel mine yet, but if we get to the end of May it will be a different story

Headphones

The advert for this has just started spamming me, just about every site I visit today.

I am struck by one thing: it's spelt S P A R K, yet appears to be pronounced "Spock"?  As in the Vulcan from Star Trek.

Am I missing something critical here?

If this is aiming to emulate and they can't even manage English???

adamino

Headphones said:

The advert for this has just started spamming me, just about every site I visit today.

I am struck by one thing: it's spelt S P A R K, yet appears to be pronounced "Spock"?  As in the Vulcan from Star Trek.

Am I missing something critical here?

If this is aiming to emulate and they can't even manage English???

Absolutely no way are they going to beam these amps out to anyone out there.Scotty is in quarantine.

Sparky

I'm not holding my breath.

Jabberwocky

I placed my order on 20th Feb. I just cancelled my order and received my refund in about 5 hours. I want to make way for those behind me in the queue who want it more than I do. 

When I ordered, I was about 3060/3100. Right now, as I am writing this, it sits at 14953/15050. The Last Chance offer does not close; it keeps moving up in increments of 100. I find this disingenuous of Positive Bias. In Feb., it showed an estimated delivery period of April-May. Right now, it still shows April-May. I understand Cov-19 threw a spanner in the works. Cov-19 is a perilous time for all. I understand estimates and delays. But there are reasonable estimates and wildly optimistic and misleading ones. If they had reserved a payment on my credit card and charged it only when it was ready to ship I would have waited it out because it came at no cost. But they took my money at once. When you do that you owe me an obligation. I am essentially giving them an interest free loan for what looks like a 5 to 7 month delivery schedule from the time I placed my order. Too, the pressure to ship out orders could lead to a shortfall in quality. I read between the lines and concluded that they are looking to add a couple more subcontractors to build the orders. What does this mean for quality? Will all the units shipped pass quality muster? I am not going into the rigmarôle of a return.

Positive Bias should have had this ready to be warehoused when they started taking pre-orders. That is, even before taking pre-orders, the units should have been in the production line pipeline ready for the warehouse. They are building to order while taking my money with an indeterminate shipping date. Yes, Cov-19. No, don't take money until it is shipping.

I do not like the way Positive Bias is doing business. This should have been sold to dealers if they cannot manage direct orders and let the dealers manage it. This Spark will never be sold by dealers, I surmise, so the discount is pure bunkum anyway.

Good luck to those still waiting. I am making way for those who need it more than I do. 

Jabberwocky

Back to a Yamaha THRII or Vox Adio GT...or Vox Cambridge 50.

Barnezy

Guys, just throwing this out there. I've read great things about the Fender Mustangs since the latest Firmware update 3.0, with the tone app. People are also saying this has resolved the issues with the GT40 and has now made it a great sounding amp. 

Given the Spark is effectively rehash of Fender's concept, that Fender seem to have fixed the previous issues and apparently made it sound great, it is readily available and costs less, is the GT40 a better option for this type of practice amp? I'm seriously considering one now. 

Here's a review of the GTX100. The software is the same, so assume the tones will be somewhat similar.

Jabberwocky

Thanks for bringing up the forgotten GT40. With the latest GTX/GT firmware, the GT40 may finally live up to its promise. The New Old Stock price isn't bad either. I had wished for a Spark or THRII with a pair of 6.5" drivers. The GT40 is it!! 

It is a practice cum desktop amp. Not meant for live gigging; I don't understand the fellows who say it does not play loudly enough. Of course not! 

I will check it out when it is safe to go out...

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Just seen a Spark appear this morning on one of my local guitar sales FB pages. Was listed at £175. Think it lasted about 15mins before being snapped up!

Barnezy

Jabberwocky said:

Thanks for bringing up the forgotten GT40. With the latest GTX/GT firmware, the GT40 may finally live up to its promise. The New Old Stock price isn't bad either. I had wished for a Spark or THRII with a pair of 6.5" drivers. The GT40 is it!! 

It is a practice cum desktop amp. Not meant for live gigging; I don't understand the fellows who say it does not play loudly enough. Of course not! 

I will check it out when it is safe to go out...

I ordered one yesterday to become my practice/rehersal amp. £205 with a footswotch for the looper etc. It arrives on Monday. I will let you know how it is with the latest firmware, but everything I've read suggests it's now really very good. 

I listened to a blind test between the GT40 and a Deluxe Reverb and Blues Junior and I could bearly tell the difference. 

I think alot of the negative feedback initially was people misunderstand the use of the GT40, thinking it's a gigging amp and not adjusting the Global EQ!! Every YouTube review takes it straight out the box and plays. The global EQ is set for music playback as default, as soon as you set it to one of the guitar EQ's it apparently improves dramatically, as you'd expect. Deffinately a mistake by Fender to set the EQ that way as default. 

Kebabkid

I know there are delays with these coming through and I commiserate with those waiting or who've cancelled their order. However, this is such an impressive piece of kit. The features and tones sound good to me

LuttiS

Yup, I find it incredibly easy to find a usable tone really quickly, I've barely scratched the surface of the sounds it can do.. 

Sparky

With my THR30ii order falling through, I'm back to waiting for one of these to arrive. Possibly July.

kaypeejay

I must admit it does look good and I am very tempted.

Sparky

I'm in fire and forget mode now. No expectations on arrival date, it'll get here when it gets here....hoping it will take a looper ok.

LuttiS

Sparky said:

I'm in fire and forget mode now. No expectations on arrival date, it'll get here when it gets here....hoping it will take a looper ok.

It takes pedals surprisingly well, not that it needs them. Haven't tried an actual looper in it though as my only looper is on a large MFX pedal and the smart jam is a pretty fun feature

RaymondLin

I have changed my mind, for £220, going to take a pun, will arrive when it arrives.

Seziertisch

skinfreak said:

I had vat on top. Also PayPal didn't convert the USD for some reason so I got tagged for another £6 currency conversion. My Amex bill states £214.84.

You don’t want PayPal doing your currency conversion. They would have taken a lot more than 6 quid off you. They don’t charge a conversion fee as such just give you a less competitive rate, which usually works out as more than a conversion fee.

I recently signed up for Revolute for exactly that reason, to avoid being shafted for conversion fees and the likes.