Positive Grid: A Guide to the Spark Amp Models
Where do you mostly play guitar? At home? Most of us do, no matter how busy our gigging schedule gets. Practising, writing and just having fun playing: these are all daily occurrences in the home of guitarists everywhere.
So, with that in mind, what are you actually plugging into at home? I’m guessing it’s not a Fender Twin or Bogner half-stack, right? Probably something small and digital with lots of features? All of the main players have a stake in the game, from BOSS to Blackstar. Have you tried any of the Positive Grid stuff yet? They are phenomenally popular, and yet we haven’t spoken about them too much on the blog here.
That’s something I aim to address right now!
Contents
Positive Grid Spark Amplifiers
Positive Grid
- Game-changing software applied to amps
- Huge user base for tones
- Genuinely impressive sounds from small devices
Before they were making hardware amplifiers, Positive Grid gained a reputation for their software amp emulation. This was back when the Kemper was a new idea, and the Quad Cortex hadn’t even been thought of! Positive Grid’s BIAS FX software impressed players because of the innovative way that they could play around with different power amps, virtual valves and other ‘impossible’ ways of achieving guitar tones. Far from gimmickry, it opened our eyes to the possibilities of combining elements from disparate amp models into new combinations.
The software has developed now into BIAS FX2, but the real story I want to focus on today is that of the Spark amps. I’ll run you through the whole range but spend the most time on the Spark 2, since I feel that it’s the one that has the most to offer you.
Positive Grid Spark Amplifiers
- Spark 2 is the main model
- Huge hit with guitarists
- Infinite possibilities
The original Positive Grid Spark was a sensation when it first appeared four or five years ago. Taking its lead from the BIAS software, the Spark, in essence, allowed you to download sounds directly from its own cloud-based app. You could have a selection of your favourite sounds from literally thousands of choices, loaded up and ready to use through the amp at the push of a button.
Better still, you could dial in gain and EQ settings with physical control knobs just like a ‘regular’ amp, and add FX as well. The amplifier itself wasn’t creating the sounds as much as it was hosting them, and presenting them to you through a custom speaker and enclosure.
The genius is that The Spark was never intended to replace any gig-sized amp. It wasn’t ever trying: the intention was to provide guitarists with their own palette of preferred tones for practice and recording, available always, and adaptable. You didn’t have to stick with whichever amp models the manufacturer decided to include: you chose whatever you wanted, no matter how disparate.
It was a great idea!
The guitar community evidently agreed, because these are by some margin the best selling amplifiers in recent memory. This of course has led to an expansion of the range. I’ll give you the rundown right now, and delve into the Spark 2 at the end.
The Spark Range of Amps
- All Spark amps are portable, some extremely so
- Feature-rich and innovative
- Sounds can be shared across amp models
- Spark phone/device app is the nerve-centre
- Chop and change sounds as often as you want
Spark 2 - the largest non-PA model of the Spark range, but still tiny by comparative standards. The Spark 2 is the flagship amp, rich in features and tones. Excellent sounding, with lots of onboard control. It’s a great bluetooth speaker for your music listening and jamming, too. In terms of Sparks, I’d start here, if I were you.
Spark NEO - a fully functioning Spark amp built into a pair of headphones. It’s wireless, so you plug a special transmitter into your guitar’s jack socket. A footswitch is also available, for a super-futuristic set up!
Spark Mini - small enough to fit anywhere, but still packing a good fat sound. Simple controls, so a greater dependence on the app (sounds like a fair trade-off). A special Steve Vai model is available with custom sounds, speaker graphics and a gold-tipped cable.
Spark Go - so small you’d hardly believe it. Simpler again than the Spark Mini, the Spark GO is extremely portable (as in, pretty much pocket-sized), but loses a little in the tone stakes. Still pretty incredible, given its size. USB-C charged, you can have 4 presets plus onboard sounds.
Spark Edge - 4-channel amp and PA system with onboard looper. An outrageously handy device for solo artists and small groups of players.
Spark Live - 4 channel amp and PA like the Spark Edge but larger, louder and more versatile. Literally every musician could use one of these!
As you can see, the range goes from actual pocket sized guitar/bass amps to full on integrated PA speakers with amps onboard. Positive Grid are sewing up the entire market with these amps, and the reasons for their success are no mystery. Each Spark is designed for a specific purpose, it’s designed well and each sounds excellent for its intended context.
For example, your guitar will sound bigger and fuller on the Spark 2 than through the Spark GO, but the Spark GO takes up absolutely zero space, making it one of those devices that just travels around with you. What you lose in sound (a little bit), you gain in handyness (loads). You choose the one that meets your requirements, basically. Actually, I should say: you buy the one that meets your requirements FIRST, because experience has told me that people get hooked on Spark stuff and end up ‘needing’ a few different ones! Hey, at least you can share your tones via the app and use them across the different models!
Positive Grid Spark 2
- Flagship amp model
- Useful to all guitarists
- Lots of jamming and learning functions
- Great sounds available with a huge amount of variety
- Portable, versatile, handy, intelligent
So, I wanted to look a little at the Spark 2. I feel like this is the one that will interest most of you, so it might be useful to know more about what it does.
The Spark 2 is an upgrade on the original model. Everything the original Spark did remains, but there’s a lot of additional stuff onboard. I’ll try to keep this brief…
- The audio chip has been redeveloped for even more realistic tones (they call this Sonic IQ), and the speaker has been re-seated and re-angled within the amp chassis for improved performance.
- AI fans will be happy to know that you can literally ask the amp for a tone and it’ll present you with either what you asked for or the closest match.
- The Spark app on your phone will still be the central nexus from which the Spark 2 is controlled, and even that has been upgraded to be more user friendly and intuitive.
- There are more physical outputs round the back of the amp now, including a USB out to let you use the amp as an audio interface. Great idea!
- It’s still an excellent speaker for playing music through, and you can jam to your favourite songs, with over 100,000 tones available to use, directly from the app to the amp.
- Smart Jam function creates a weirdly impressive ‘phantom band’ behind your guitar playing, including bass and drums. It knows what you’re thinking!
- The Chord Analyser feature can figure out - and then display - the chords to any song you throw at it. Invaluable for learning.
Sparks Sound Great
All of that is really handy and impressive, but sometimes manufacturers are so preoccupied with being groundbreaking that they forget a simple fundamental: great tone. Basically, if none of those fancy features do anything for you at all, then you’ll still be able to fall back on the fact that there are tons of realistic, satisfying and exciting guitar tones to be had. You don’t need a degree in Computer Science to use it, and you don’t need to write yourself memos to remember settings. It’s all intuitive, at-your-fingertips stuff.
In other words, cutting to the chase: the Spark 2 is a really nice sounding amp, and it’s easy to use.
I think you’ll like it.
And after that, I reckon you might look at the rest of the range to see how they can help enrich your musical life. Next generation tech with all-time great guitar tone, at affordable prices. It’s already here: what are you waiting for?
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