Spark 2 adds AI, doubles its DSP power to help your guitar rock out
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And we found the guy who hasn't bought new music gear, folks. Engineering and producing a musical amp isn't cheap, and the market isn't as big as bluetooth musical speakers. You have to get your money back on all the R&D and support somehow.
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My daughter composes on her computer and has a hard time adding her bass in because of latency so she bought a few FX pedals to go with her Fender amp and mics that.
I would look at one of these as the price isn't much different than what I paid for the Crate CR-112 back in the 80s and the Digi-Tech RP80 that was a gift. The RP 80 does reasonably well modeling different amps and FX for playing along with songs or just jamming with friends. I don't play in a band or anything so if it is reasonably good it seems worth the price.
We also have my late brother in law's stuff from his home recording studio that we haven't gotten into yet, but he has a few Shure mics, amps, breakout boxes and what not. I think his unit can only do 32 tracks from what I remember. I know the stuff he recorded sounded really good though.
I would look at one of these as the price isn't much different than what I paid for the Crate CR-112 back in the 80s and the Digi-Tech RP80 that was a gift. The RP 80 does reasonably well modeling different amps and FX for playing along with songs or just jamming with friends. I don't play in a band or anything so if it is reasonably good it seems worth the price.
We also have my late brother in law's stuff from his home recording studio that we haven't gotten into yet, but he has a few Shure mics, amps, breakout boxes and what not. I think his unit can only do 32 tracks from what I remember. I know the stuff he recorded sounded really good though.
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The Spark does have settings for bass. Most of these types of devices have based settings. If you go with a system like Axe-FX or Dual Cortex, there are plenty of bass settings there too.
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Yeah, music gear reviews! More of that!
I'd be interested in this kind of amplifier, but it is not so clear what the USP is compared to an-ever crowding niche. I'm using Yamaha's THR series (and it is excellent). How would it compare to equipment from more established makers?
Also, throwback to Line6 when they came on the market in the 1990s and I could try them in the shop but never buy them because of the insane prices
I'd be interested in this kind of amplifier, but it is not so clear what the USP is compared to an-ever crowding niche. I'm using Yamaha's THR series (and it is excellent). How would it compare to equipment from more established makers?
Also, throwback to Line6 when they came on the market in the 1990s and I could try them in the shop but never buy them because of the insane prices
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My bass has a wireless transmitter hooked up to an iRig hooked up to my phone, which has hundreds of custom bass profiles that work great out of my "clean" amp. I can use it alongside GarageBand with head monitoring (nod my head to switch effects), with Tonebridge, AmpliTube, or even route through MIDImorphosis, which converts the audio to MIDI, which can then be routed through my MIDI pipeline for further recording or transformation (such as piping back into Thumbjam as a bowed cello or upright bass).
It might be useful to have an amp that's calibrated to mimic the various outputs exactly, but I've never found my amp to sound that "off" with the effects added, and I can switch it out for a different amp depending on the size of venue I'm playing (and whether it's pumping into a wired sound system that may or may not be able to take various signals).
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iPhone play music, you play along/etc. They also probably offer BT for headphones so you can hear the modelling through them from your guitar also without looking it might support BT MIDI.
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What a fantastic-looking, and well thought-through bit of kit...
You can tell it was designed with real affection and belief in what they were doing.
Edit: typo.
You can tell it was designed with real affection and belief in what they were doing.
Edit: typo.
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Cool article, I have not purchased an amp in a while. The idea of going Bluetooth is a bit concerning as I know it was change the sound but it is compelling for just messing around. Fewer wires would be nice.
I have several digital amps and only one real amp left, they are heavy to keep around. Digital amps are different from real amps, you may like them better, you may not, but they are not the same much like some manufacturers of amps are not like anyone else and if you are looking for a certain sound there is no replacement.
I'll never play in front of anyone again so my preferences do not matter anymore, but I have an old amp that I like very much and its sound is from an era. The two digital amps are too clean in comparison for what I want to hear.
There are some very healthy comparisons in the below from industry professionals.
I have several digital amps and only one real amp left, they are heavy to keep around. Digital amps are different from real amps, you may like them better, you may not, but they are not the same much like some manufacturers of amps are not like anyone else and if you are looking for a certain sound there is no replacement.
I'll never play in front of anyone again so my preferences do not matter anymore, but I have an old amp that I like very much and its sound is from an era. The two digital amps are too clean in comparison for what I want to hear.
There are some very healthy comparisons in the below from industry professionals.
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I have a Kemper Profiler, but with that I still prefer to use my Danelectro Twin 15 unless I'm trying to accurately recreate a highly specific sound.
For soundtrack work though, I usually just plug the end of my pedal chain into a DI because I just need super clean 99% of the time.
For soundtrack work though, I usually just plug the end of my pedal chain into a DI because I just need super clean 99% of the time.
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I’m not into amp sims tied to hardware. I have a Line 6 Amplifi and it’s a pain.
I’ve been enjoying lately the Primo amp sim app which is free for iPad at the App Store. I use it with an iRig HD2. It’s by some guy in Italy. it comes with 11 amp models, but you can also load as many impulse responses as you want. has reverb and delay and all the effects you need plus equalizer and noise gate, etc. It has a great simple interface. Go to soundwoofer.com and download impulse responses and load it up.
I’ve been enjoying lately the Primo amp sim app which is free for iPad at the App Store. I use it with an iRig HD2. It’s by some guy in Italy. it comes with 11 amp models, but you can also load as many impulse responses as you want. has reverb and delay and all the effects you need plus equalizer and noise gate, etc. It has a great simple interface. Go to soundwoofer.com and download impulse responses and load it up.
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Just an old fashioned part time, for fun musician here. I don't think I'll ever have the time to get into something like this. It's just me, my guitar and the old amp.
Just enjoy the music and have fun. And don't let the down voters ruin the day.
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I haven't heard of any headphone amp that would run the actual processing on a phone or connected device, the latency would kill it. They are configured and controlled through apps - I think only the latest generation Boss Katana and Fender units have their own display and any significant amount of on-board controls. On the older units, on-board controls were mostly limited to a button for switching between stored profiles, and a volume control.
The very cheapest ones, like the VOX amPlugs don't have apps, but they are much simpler fixed-function devices with nothing to configure, and no wireless features.
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I've watched the Spark subreddit on these, and would like to hear more about the update bricking, which seems to be extremely common. How difficult is it to overcome, and how is the Spark support?
Also ...
Also ...
I'd very much like to hear about using the Spark as a headphone amp, given that I live with a person with alzheimers and would like to not wake her every few hours.
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I also like my Yamaha THR digital amp but whoever decided that marking the control knobs with dark brown letters on a black amp needs a lesson in user-friendly design. Except for that, tho, it fills my niche for a bookshelf/bedroom amp very well.Yeah, music gear reviews! More of that!
I'd be interested in this kind of amplifier, but it is not so clear what the USP is compared to an-ever crowding niche. I'm using Yamaha's THR series (and it is excellent). How would it compare to equipment from more established makers?
Also, throwback to Line6 when they came on the market in the 1990s and I could try them in the shop but never buy them because of the insane prices
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I work in the music touring industry. I don’t know a single band that doesn’t currently use Neural Quad Cortex’s for their live sound. The age of modeling is here, nearly every band you see live is modeled.
I have used the Spark Go for a few years. Slightly bigger than a JBL Go 4. On tour my guitarists use two to do warmups and riff over songs. For personal practice it is unbeatable. Need to be quiet? Plug in some headphones, sounds incredible. The Bluetooth feature is great as you can adjust music from your phone and the guitar volume independently. Battery powered, easily fits in a guitar case or backpack. Has all the app features. Essential piece of gear.
I have used the Spark Go for a few years. Slightly bigger than a JBL Go 4. On tour my guitarists use two to do warmups and riff over songs. For personal practice it is unbeatable. Need to be quiet? Plug in some headphones, sounds incredible. The Bluetooth feature is great as you can adjust music from your phone and the guitar volume independently. Battery powered, easily fits in a guitar case or backpack. Has all the app features. Essential piece of gear.
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I'm right there with ya.So you tease that your bricked your device doing an update... so what happened? Did the company respond promptly? Did they ship you a new unit? Did the entire Amp just stop working at all? This is a critical part of the review and you just ignored it after the first paragraph. Otherwise it sounds like a neat device, too bad I can't play or sing in tune at all...
"When Are They Going To Get To The
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I have a Spark Mini and it is a really nice piece of kit. Like many guitar players, I have multiple heavy and loud tube amps and lots of pedals, none of which are very portable, so they just stay in my music room. With the Spark I can noodle away anywhere. Perfect for when I am watching baseball in the basement or sitting outside. Overall it sounds pretty good and the Orange models are probably my favorites. I have a Rocker 32 which I highly recommend as there aren't a lot of stereo amps on the market, and this does a reasonable facsimile of that tone. I didn't realize this needed an external battery. The nice thing about the mini is that it is built in. I probably get 3-4 hours of playing per charge.
The app integration generally works well. I loaded a few different sounds onto the amp and pretty much only use the app if I want to jam to a backing track. I preferred this to a headphone amp because this can be completely wireless if you want it to be and most headphone amps, due to their small size, pretty much require using the app to tweak your sound.
If you plan on using this for actual live playing, they do make an FRFR cab you can plug any of the Spark amps into. Not sure that is the route I would take, but maybe if you are busking or playing a coffee shop type gig it would work well.
The app integration generally works well. I loaded a few different sounds onto the amp and pretty much only use the app if I want to jam to a backing track. I preferred this to a headphone amp because this can be completely wireless if you want it to be and most headphone amps, due to their small size, pretty much require using the app to tweak your sound.
If you plan on using this for actual live playing, they do make an FRFR cab you can plug any of the Spark amps into. Not sure that is the route I would take, but maybe if you are busking or playing a coffee shop type gig it would work well.
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The best simple headphone amp IMHO is the Valeton Rushhead Max. No bluetooth but you can connect a device for backing tracks by wire. Sounds great. Three amp models with reverb, delay etc. rechargeable battery. $39.
Best overall is probably the Fender Mustang micro plus.
Best overall is probably the Fender Mustang micro plus.
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Sounds compelling, but as we've seen with Google, Sonos, Spotify, etc, I don't want to rely on a hardware product that requires an app for update, maintenance, and downloading additional feature sets. Been burned too many times.
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I tried a few sparks, including this one. Ended up going with a 30w headrush FRFR go, battery operated Bluetooth speaker basically. And added my boss gt-1 I have laying around since I got a li e 6 helix floor.
It's a great combination. Works for my acoustic guitars also and I get foot switches for the looper in the gt-1, and a pedal also. $200 for the gt-1 and $150 for the headrush and I got a great living room setup that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker for parties
Spark left me flat. As a retired firmware engineer, the Bluetooth and bricking problems are not acceptable. I assume they will come out with a better unit in a year.
It's a great combination. Works for my acoustic guitars also and I get foot switches for the looper in the gt-1, and a pedal also. $200 for the gt-1 and $150 for the headrush and I got a great living room setup that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker for parties
Spark left me flat. As a retired firmware engineer, the Bluetooth and bricking problems are not acceptable. I assume they will come out with a better unit in a year.
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Thanks for the writeup! So nice to see an Ars quality article on music gear. Keep them coming please!
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I think probably it's just a value add. Bluetooth chips are super cheap, and it turns the whole thing into a speaker for your phone. Which isn't a bad idea really, even if you don't use it as your hifi system, being able to play a track for someone, or just while you're tidying up your room, sounds useful enough.
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I don't really play any "real" instruments, but I've been an on and off again electronic musician for almost a few decades now.
I was a "bedroom musician" in the late 90s, a DAW, a cheap SM57 mic, some turntables, really didn't need much. I did a lot with SoundEdit 16 and Deck.
Now I have more toys. I use Ableton Live, I have a Push 2, some physical intruments like an Arturia Minifreak etc. I'm honestly in awe of the power of software. The tools are just so good now.
It's really neat to see people who play live instruments get to be part of the party. You can obviously spend a ton of money on music gear still, but that fact that you don't have to and can still get such great results in your bedroom is super fun.
I'm dabbling with trying to get more hands on and away from my computer. Not going to go full DAWless, but I am building a modular synth rig so I can twiddle knobs and try things without a screen. And man, for anyone complaining that this amp is too expensive, do not look into modular synthesis.
I was a "bedroom musician" in the late 90s, a DAW, a cheap SM57 mic, some turntables, really didn't need much. I did a lot with SoundEdit 16 and Deck.
Now I have more toys. I use Ableton Live, I have a Push 2, some physical intruments like an Arturia Minifreak etc. I'm honestly in awe of the power of software. The tools are just so good now.
It's really neat to see people who play live instruments get to be part of the party. You can obviously spend a ton of money on music gear still, but that fact that you don't have to and can still get such great results in your bedroom is super fun.
I'm dabbling with trying to get more hands on and away from my computer. Not going to go full DAWless, but I am building a modular synth rig so I can twiddle knobs and try things without a screen. And man, for anyone complaining that this amp is too expensive, do not look into modular synthesis.
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I just plug into my FX pedal. The Crate does have headphone out as well.
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"Oh, and did I mention that Universal Audio uses the truly terrible iLok DRM system and that if your Wi-Fi drops for even a few minutes, the plugins will deactivate?"
I'm guessing you have the iLok authorization for this software in the cloud. If instead you shift the authorization to be on your computer, or on a physical USB iLok key plugged into your computer, you won't have this problem.
I'm guessing you have the iLok authorization for this software in the cloud. If instead you shift the authorization to be on your computer, or on a physical USB iLok key plugged into your computer, you won't have this problem.
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Great to see some musical gear reviews on here! I'm a little like the guy early on who got down-voted to oblivion in that I think it's quite pricey for what it is - particularly with requirements like needing wi-fi and firmware updates (both of these things I'd see as a stability risk for performance). However, as someone noted, I also haven't purchased any new musical gear in decades so am somewhat out of touch (I almost never buy new when I do anyway - and there's usually too high an extra cost in shipping to the ass end of the world).
I've been running a modelling amp since the early 2000's and it's still going strong (a Vox ADVT50) - perhaps it's my old and beaten ears but I don't hear much of a tonal quality difference between my older amp and newer modelers. If anything I think having the 12" speaker makes the biggest difference and if I dial back the power output I can still get the tone without the volume.
And can I just say I got a lovely little surprise when Black_Box mentioned Crate amps! I had two when I first started out in the 90s and they were both work horses!
I've been running a modelling amp since the early 2000's and it's still going strong (a Vox ADVT50) - perhaps it's my old and beaten ears but I don't hear much of a tonal quality difference between my older amp and newer modelers. If anything I think having the 12" speaker makes the biggest difference and if I dial back the power output I can still get the tone without the volume.
And can I just say I got a lovely little surprise when Black_Box mentioned Crate amps! I had two when I first started out in the 90s and they were both work horses!
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I believe that all my friends who started playing around with software synths moved onto the same, very expensive, path. But oh boy, those modules are so so very great. No wonder even boutique makers do good business. Tactile experiences aside, the other advantage is that it doesn't tie you to subscription services for sounds, like Roland is trying to sell.I'm dabbling with trying to get more hands on and away from my computer. Not going to go full DAWless, but I am building a modular synth rig so I can twiddle knobs and try things without a screen. And man, for anyone complaining that this amp is too expensive, do not look into modular synthesis.
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As someone who traditionally went to DAW only in the lead-up to mastering tracks portion of music, I've been having a lot of fun lately with Logic's latest features allowing for chord following smart instruments and AI-driven mastering as part of the composition process. It's crazy that you can come up with a song and almost instantly hear what it sounds like played in various genres with various instrumentations, before you even begin to work out the specifics on a keyboard and add in the various instrument parts.I don't really play any "real" instruments, but I've been an on and off again electronic musician for almost a few decades now.
I was a "bedroom musician" in the late 90s, a DAW, a cheap SM57 mic, some turntables, really didn't need much. I did a lot with SoundEdit 16 and Deck.
Now I have more toys. I use Ableton Live, I have a Push 2, some physical intruments like an Arturia Minifreak etc. I'm honestly in awe of the power of software. The tools are just so good now.
It's really neat to see people who play live instruments get to be part of the party. You can obviously spend a ton of money on music gear still, but that fact that you don't have to and can still get such great results in your bedroom is super fun.
I'm dabbling with trying to get more hands on and away from my computer. Not going to go full DAWless, but I am building a modular synth rig so I can twiddle knobs and try things without a screen. And man, for anyone complaining that this amp is too expensive, do not look into modular synthesis.
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Is that functionality similar to Band-in-a-Box? Had that a long time ago on my old 68k Macs, but never got around to updating after the PPC transition. (I see it's still going though!)
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Thanks for that, yeah he's already got a Sansamp of some sort, a couple of them actually.
Despite that, he sometimes does bring his big head/cab combo and either mics it up or has a direct out, can't recall which. I know he's on channel 6 in my mix
Our guitarist has gone from heads/cabs, to combo amps, to an analog flyrig, through Helix and Axefx of various models. I thought at first he might get some guff from sound engineers (when we don't use our PA), but they seem happy.
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Crazy, this is the exact Amp I've been looking at lately, mostly based on a recommendation from Milehouse Studios.
Happy to see it reviews positively, I'll move it up my wishlist.
Happy to see it reviews positively, I'll move it up my wishlist.
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Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Unless you're dealing with something actually vintage, or a modern boutique handwired model, the vast majority of modern and near-modern tube amps are still largely PCB-based, with surface-mount components and all the fun that entails. So unless your repair amounts to swapping tubes or replacing one of the handful (if you're lucky) of through-hole mounted components, you're probably not going to have any better a time with repairs than with a solid-state amp.
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It's so fun to read about all these amazing toys. Still in living memory for me, the first DSPs for guitars had too much latency and the sounds weren't any good, either.
We figured out the knobs thing back then, too. My Prophet V was a hell of a lot more fun to tweak vs my sister's DX7 - which had some better sounds, but no controls.
These days, I only have acoustic instruments. I think the Martin and the Taylor have pickups but I've never replaced the 9v batteries. Someone made fun of me a few years ago, plugged in but it just crackled.
Well seasoned spruce and phosphor bronze ftw!
Gearheads, keep on it!
We figured out the knobs thing back then, too. My Prophet V was a hell of a lot more fun to tweak vs my sister's DX7 - which had some better sounds, but no controls.
These days, I only have acoustic instruments. I think the Martin and the Taylor have pickups but I've never replaced the 9v batteries. Someone made fun of me a few years ago, plugged in but it just crackled.
Well seasoned spruce and phosphor bronze ftw!
Gearheads, keep on it!
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This is much better now. Once iLok has synced, UA (and other) modules will continue to work, whether online or offline.
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Yeah; it's essentially Band-in-a-Box rolled in to a full-featured DAW. And while the Follow feature is limited to "Smart" instruments and keyboard, the keyboard has a bunch of MIDI soundfonts including electric and accoustic guitars that have reasonable chord and strum patterns when used. And you can use it to set the chording and then manipulate the score (manually or via scripting) after the fact.
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I'm the exact opposite (other than live, see below). "Grew up" with analog tape, rack-mount outboard gear, non-automated consoles and (eventually) a bunch of hardware midi gear.
I don't really miss any of it. The convenience factor of "in the box" is quite literally like magic to me. No more patch changes, sysex, sample loading, midi channel juggling, multitimbral modes and so on (IF you do what we did and have sessions driven by sequencers, and don't just record each synth as audio--though of course you can mix and match approaches.)
As far as subs, there are still a metric ton of plugins that don't require them. That could change in the future, who knows.
Live, I just won't go to Mainstage despite all the plugins I own that sound fantastic. IMO they are better than my keyboards sonically...but my hardware keyboards are purpose-made, and sound more than good enough for live. I have to worry about pesky things like patch leveling in a band situation, so using a bunch of plugins loses appeal. I need a quick way to transpose (my main band tunes down a half step). I need less different "engines" to check for mono vs stereo--I run stereo when I can, mono when I must. Even running multiple keyboards can be a PITA with these things. I have used an ipad to run B-3X in a pinch when I wasn't happy with the organ sounds in my rig and it sounded crazy good...but also had a few glitches in the year I used it that annoyed me mightily. But I digress, this is an amp thread after all!
One thing is for sure--all gear these days both hardware and software is freaking amazing. Our PA is so light and quick to set up, same with the lights. With in-ear monitors I hear everything (in stereo!) clear as a bell without destroying my ears. Until tracks (booo!) or AI come to take us all off the stage, it's a golden age. Mind you, I didn't mention musician pay as I'm trying to stay positive
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