Spark amp

[Jeff29361]

In the end I've gone for 2 amps, over the last couple of years I've had the Mustang gt40 for guitar, it's been brilliant, being able to download patches and adjust the sound with my phone or tablet, today I took delivery of the rumble 40 studio, works off the same app, can't wait to try it out 

[uk_lefty]

8 hours ago, Jeff29361 said:

took delivery of the rumble 40 studio, works off the same app, can't wait to try it out 

That sounds interesting, I had the old Bronco 40 and thought it was great for what it was. 

 

I am very late to this party, but a few months back I acquired a Spark. I didn't have an electric guitar amp since getting rid of my Blackstar BEAM which was a great bit of kit that I moved on too hastily. I saw the Spark as an upgrade on that. So far I've only had time to be using it as a plug n play practice amp. For guitar that's great, I recently moved on my budget electro acoustic and budget electric guitars and got myself a lovely Epiphone Casino. Tweaking the amp and effects is Ok but not stellar on the android app but I feels a bit restrictive with just what's available as standard though I may not be educated enough to swap out effects and so on just yet. I have a Helix Stomp so in theory I have all my effects and amp Sims there really but I wanted the one box simplicity of the Spark for recording without having to mess about getting out all the pedals, leads, power supply, USB mixer... Etc. The Blackstar was great for exactly this (here's a demo I did in minutes with just the Blackstar USB recording into my laptop, no other hardware Listen to Take on Me by clive mustang on #SoundCloud

https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/Gybdw . )

 

For bass I find the Spark disappointing tbh. The speakers don't like the bassinet notes, they get a bit farty from A downwards I find and I don't play at any kind of volume. The sound is a bit thin and weak. It's ok for playing along to tracks to learn them but it's not ideal if you really want to get into the detail of your sound. The bass amp models seem limited really. Again, maybe I need to do a system update to get hold of more options but for some reason mine just won't the handful of times I've tried. I've had better options for amp sim and effects in the old-tech Fender Bronco I had but that didn't do guitar. If I can get something at the right price I will probably be buying a bass specific practice amp and only using the Spark for guitar.

 

One app feature I don't quite understand is the video thingy... You can video yourself playing but it's just the same as doing that off your phone anyway, so it doesn't record a direct signal of your instrument for the video which would be more helpful if you were doing an online demo of a tune. 

 

Overall if I am to make demos of songs as I want to in future I can see me only using the Spark for guitar tracks, and only if I prefer the sound there than what I get from my Helix. If I get the time to get stuck in I would like to use some of the jam functions and learning tools within the Spark, I just need that time!

 

[uk_lefty]

On 14/06/2022 at 08:46, uk_lefty said:

For bass I find the Spark disappointing tbh. The speakers don't like the bassinet notes, they get a bit farty from A downwards I find and I don't play at any kind of volume. The sound is a bit thin and weak. It's ok for playing along to tracks to learn them but it's not ideal if you really want to get into the detail of your sound. The bass amp models seem limited really. Again, maybe I need to do a system update to get hold of more options but for some reason mine just won't the handful of times I've tried. I've had better options for amp sim and effects in the old-tech Fender Bronco I had but that didn't do guitar. If I can get something at the right price I will probably be buying a bass specific practice amp and only using the Spark for guitar.

Well, these aren't new anymore but someone somewhere might be interested.... It took a bit of farting about but I managed to upgrade the firmware. Holy moly, it's a different beast now! I was able to access a tuner on the android app, and form the website with the amp hooked up download patches. Some of the guitar patches are fantastic but so are the bass ones!!! They're not only good amp models but the weakness in the inherent sound has gone and the notes down to E are now clear and gutsy. I've just been bashing my Stingray with the "jamiroquai" amp sound on, lovely. 

 

So if you're picking one of these up, like most multi fx thingies, ignore the stock sounds, download some clever user made patches and the thing transforms.