Positive Grid Spark Live. A small PA/digital wizzy guitar and bass amp/buskers dream that's ... pretty good

[kwmlondon]

Right. I've had this for a couple of weeks now and I'm very keen on it but have not seen Positive Grid stuff mentioned much on basschat so I'm going to try and give a good account of how I've found it in use. This is all personal and I'm not a pro, I've only used it a couple of situations but I'll have a go.

 

I wanted a small amp that could do a lot of things, mainly be a practise amp that I could use for bass AND guitar and may be up to practising with a band if need be. And it does the job. Not without flaws. I think the best way to describe what it's like is to tell you what it's, then how I've used it, and finish off with some pros and cons.

 

So, what is it? It's a small combo amp about the size of a practise amp, 2x8" with tweeters and 150 digital watts. It SAYS it has 4 inputs but really it's CH1 instrument input at the front, CH2 instrument/mic input at the back and CH3/4 is a stereo in though you can connect with bluetooth and USB. You can also buy a battery and run it from that though I've not got one as it costs about £80 - quite a lot I thought but then that's no more than the one in my DeWalt drill. First impressions are that it's heavy, the knobs feel a bit cheap in use but it has a feature that I love and that's a little sort of leg thing at the back that you can use to tilt it up. This is really handy as when I'm practising I want the sound firing at my ears not the floor - it's good for the neighbours too. It cost me £480 from GuitarGuitar (great company) and came with a free mic stand and cheap mic so that's a couple of Christmas presents for people sorted out.

 

As a bass practise amp.

I've been really enjoying it to practise. The Positive Grid app is great and I'm still getting to grips with it but the bass models are pretty decent and there are loads of pedals and effects to play with, but as a basic quiet amp it's really good. The sound is quite rich and deep and dynamic at low levels - no doubt all manner of algorithm fakery flattering the sound but it's good. I saw one review that said the bass tone was sort of synthetic, which I can understand, but it's one of the few practise amps that sound nice at low volumes. One drawback that I found right away was the hiss. I suspect that the preamp and a/d circuitry isn't very high quality as the moment you add presence or drive it gets really noisy. I don't mind this so much but if you find hiss annoying try before you buy.

 

As a guitar amp

Blimey! It's incredible. I am not much of a guitarist and I have always been put off by high tech modelling setups but this makes it really easy to dial in a good starting tone, from a British combo to American tweedy or high-gain amp so I can just enjoy playing and not get hung up on the tech. It's bloody loud. You could definitely do a small gig with this for guitar duties. 

 

I took it to a mate's place for a bit of a jam, practise sort of evening and with him on acoustic and this amp doing the bass the sound was really lovely. I think as a practise tool it has a lot going for it as it sounds very pleasant in a mix.

 

Practise with a drummer

Well. This took it to its limits really. We were in a small space (shed) and even in there it looked small, but I carried it in a rucksack on the train along with my bass and I can't think of many rigs I could do that with. I have a MarkBass NY121 that I can get around on a trolley but nothing I could stick in a backpack to carry. The kit wasn't a really loud one but the Positive Grid did manage to keep up and not sound bad, but to get it to that volume I had to do a lot of messing around within the app to boost gain on part of the signal path. Having said that, I enjoyed the rehearsal and the other guys were impressed. In future we will go to Pirate and book a room with backline but I know if I have to rely on this again it'll do the business.

 

In conclusion. 

Pro's. It's small, not too expensive, it does a lot of things - some well, some not so well - has an amazing range of sounds and you can run it off a battery. It's a great practise tool and ideal for a cafe gig - you could easily have a microphone too OR a guitar as well, or even run a small mixer into it. It's also great if you want to play some music in the garden for a bbq or take it camping. 

 

Con's

It's not a pro piece of kit. I don't think I'd ever want to be in a situation where I was relying on this for a paying gig - the fact you need an app to adjust so much of the sound means it's clearly not something you'd rely on. It also doesn't feel or sound like pro-kit, but then doing what it does and costing what it does I don't think anyone would get that impression. If I was a serious busker I'd be looking at a powered PA monitor, mixer etc, or maybe a Roland Street Cube EX - those seem more rugged and reliable.

Another big drawback is the noise, and I think this is something that other Positive Grid products have struggled with. If you don't wind up the volume it's okay, and you can put a virtual noisegate in the chain too, but be aware it's a thing.

 

Me and a mate are planning on doing an open mic at a small venue around the corner and this would be ideal for that. It's small, portable, sounds good at low volumes and if there is a problem - even a really bad one - it won't matter for the sake of a couple of tunes.