the positive grid spark 40 was released 4 years ago and has since become one of the bestselling practice amps although a super fun and solid amp it certainly wasn’t without some quirks and now positive grit is back with the new spark 2 Amp which is the next iteration of their Flagship desktop amp with a crazy amount of updates and upgrades on board Looper bam you got it ability to play on the go with a battery pack bam you got it now these are just a few of the huge upgrades to the flagship Spark amp so in this video I’ll be taking a deeper look into the spark 2 and all its new features I’ll cover everything you need to know about this amp and we’ll also talk about the pros and cons who the amp is right for and we’ll also compare it up against all the other amps in the positive grid spark lineup so what is the spark 2 for those who have never heard of positive grids spark amps the spark 2 is a 50 W desktop practice amp and Bluetooth speaker with inbuilt amp and effects modeling so together with the accompanying app you have access to over 30 amp models and over 40 effects to create virtually any tone you would want now for those who have a spark product a lot of this isn’t new so in short the spark range work as great guitar amps but also as great home speakers for listening to your favorite tunes and together with the spark app it has some really cool and fun smart practice features that I will show you later in the video first though let’s actually dig into the spark 2 and the differences between the original spark 40 and and the spark 2 so as you can see the spark 2 is slightly bigger than its predecessor with a black grill instead of a brown one now the top panel labels have also been relocated towards the front of the amp for clearer visibility whereas on the 40 the labels were obstructed behind the knobs if viewing from front on the spark 2 is also compatible with the spark battery pack so you can take the amp and play on the go for up to 12 hours on one charge this is in line with all of positive grids on spark models which are all portable amps with the exception of the spark 40 now the battery pack is sold separately but the spark 2 does come included with the AC power supply like the spark 40 the spark 2 is a 50 W amp and the spark 40 as the name suggests is a 40 W amp the spark 2 has also addressed that boomy low end many users noticed on the spark 40 so you’re getting a much clearer and balanced sound when playing guitar and listening to music through the spark to now to improve the overall sound of the guitar tones from the amp the spark 2 also comes with the new Sonic IQ DSP found in their recent spark live amp which provides more advanced tube emulation on the back panel the spark 2 now includes stereol line out Jacks for more rounding flexibility and also a USB C port instead of a usbb on the top panel there’s now a power button instead of the switch the knob to the far left on the spark 2 is now a preset selector with up to eight onboard presets press the knob to switch between Banks A and B which each have four slots on the spark 40 this knob cycled through different amp types the music volume control that adjusts the Bluetooth audio level has also been relocated now to the main row of controls the spark 2 now comes with an improved thicker strap for carrying the amp around and this is probably more important now since the spark 2 can be used portably with a battery pack the spark 2 also features over thee air updates which is a huge bonus for people who don’t have a Mac or PC now what this means is that you can update the spark 2’s firmware without plugging it into a computer and downloading the software updates now finally the biggest upgrade to the spark 2 which I am the most excited about is the onboard Looper I cannot count the amount of times I’ve seen people request this feature on Facebook groups and forums with the existing spark range if you used a loop a pedal with your spark and recorded your loop with one tone let’s say you recorded that Loop in clean and then you change tones on your amp to something more distorted to improvise it would also change and affect the sound of your recordered Loop to that new tone and this is because all the modeling and processing of the guitar tone is done on the amp after the Looper pedal there are third party workarounds to this like the UL Looper pedal but now with the spark 2 it’s all inbuilt so you can Loop all day long now the spark 2 has two different looping mod modes the first mode is the simple Looper which is a standard Looper with overdub capabilities you can access the Looper directly on the top panel using the dedicated Looper controls or through the spark app as well the Looper top panel controls are very simple to use you have the record and overdub button push this and you’ll be given a 4bit coun in and then you can start recording your Loop there’s the play pause button to play and pause your loop after it’s been recorded the undo and redo button if you want to undo and redo any overdubs and you can also hold this button down to clear your Loop and start again and finally the tap Tempo button which you can use to set the tempo of the Loopers click let’s take a look at the simple Looper using the onboard controls [Music] if you want to adjust how many bars the onboard Looper will record you’ll need to do that through the app by default it’s set to Four Bars of your selected Tempo to change the loop length just tap on one of the settings and then you can tap Loop length and change it from there the second mode is the super fun and creative Groove Looper this mode that you’ll find in the spark app gives you hundreds of drum tracks to choose from to use in your Loop creation so we’ll jump into the groove Looper first I need to add a drum beat so I’ll tap add drum you can choose from hundreds of drum beats here to audition them just press the play button if you like a drum beat you can also favorite it by tapping the star button I’m going to add this one here now all we need to do is record our Loop [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] h [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] whilst we’re in the app I’ll just quickly run you through how the spark app works and the key features now the spark 2 comes with eight inbuilt presets but if you really want to find tune your guitar tone you need to dive into the spark app now in the tone panel you’ll be able to see your signal chain moving left to right now each effect in the chain can be turned on or off by swiping it up or down to browse through different gear options for your signal chain simply double tap the effect or amp and you’ll be given a list of over 30 amps and 40 effects to choose from and in the app you can fine tune the parameters of your gear by sliding your finger up and down on the setting now with all these amps and effects at your disposal you can achieve pretty much any tone that you’re after and if you’re happy with the tone you can save it to your app for future reference or save it to your amp into one of the eight presets if you want some inspiration or ideas you can also jump into the tone Cloud where other users share and upload their favorite presets so here you can see there’s a Metallica One a d Straits one bend the fend you can search by different artists or keywords so the tone cloud is a really cool feature now over on the music panel you’ll find all the fun jamming features we’ve already covered the Looper so let’s check out the smart jam with smart Jam you can create a backing track for your own core progression in an instant play your cord progression and the app will do the rest if you want something really quick you can also check out quick Jam which are a whole bunch of grooves and backings in a bunch of different styles you can adjust the tempo and key of these to your liking as well the next smart feature is Auto chords you can jam along with your favorite tracks and the app will analyze the music in real time to show you the chords whilst it plays from the amp use the search button and it will scrape YouTube to give you results tap on a song to play and auto cords will show you what it thinks the song chords are now this is a cool feature however I will say that it’s not 100% perfect so use it more like a Rough Guide I would always recommend players to use their own ear and not always take what AI say say is Truth where this does come in handy though is that you can Loop certain sections of a song like let’s say there’s four bars which are giving you trouble you can Loop that again and again to practice along to and that’s something that I really like finally the last main feature on the app and a new addition released alongside the spark 2 is spark AI here you can give the app a prompt about a tone you want and the app will generate a few tones for you to sample so let’s take a look at this so we’ll jump into the spark AI Tab and just type in a prompt so let’s look for a clean and Atmospheric tone hit enter and it’s going to give you a bunch of options we can preview them by just pressing the play [Music] button and if you want to reload some more options you just press this reload button and it’ll give you some updated options let’s try another Prime [Music] [Music] again I think this is a really cool feature but it is in beta stages and it’s not perfect I would say it’s really great to help you with a starting point but I do think it’s really important as a player to be able to understand how to craft and create your own Tunes from scratch so that’s it for the spark app now I’ll be comparing the new spark 2 against the other Sparks in posit grids lineup now recorded through the line out or USB interface all these amps will sound more or less the same since it’s all digitally processed the spark 2 and the spark live however have more advanced dsps so they’re a little bit more Dynamic than the others however what most players want to know is how the amp will sound in their room I’m going to place a couple of room Marks here and will’ll use the exact same tone patch on each amp hopefully this will give you the best indication of how each amp will sound in your space [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] w [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so now let’s run through a brief sidebyside spec comparison of all the spark amps we have the spark go we have the spark mini the spark for 40 the spark 2 and the spark live all of these amps are compatible with the free Spark app which allow you to fine-tune your tones access smart Jam Auto cords and access to the free tone Cloud they all have the same 33 amp models and 43 effects available to use but the spark 2 and the spark live have an upgraded DSP for improved response they also all function as Bluetooth speakers when you’re not using them as guitar amps so you can listen to your favorite music and you can also do that whilst you’re playing guitar too of course now in terms of power the spark go is a 5w amp with one 2in speaker and a passive radiator the mini is a 10 W amp with two 2-in speakers and a passive radiator the original spark is a 40 W amp with two 4in speakers the spark 2 is a 50 W amp with two 4in angled speakers and the spark live is a 150 watt amp with two 1-in tweeters two 6 and 1/2 in woofers and two reflex ports in terms of portability the go and the mini are powered with an inbuilt lithium ion battery the 40 needs to be plugged into AC power and finally the spark 2 and the spark live can be powered with AC or on Theo using the optional spark battery pack all the amps in the lineup are single input amps with the exception of the spark live that has four input channels all of the amps are compatible with the spark control X pedal as well for onboard presets the spark go mini and 40 feature four on on board presets whereas the spark 2 and the live allow you to save up to eight customizable presets in terms of Loopers the spark 2 is the only one with an inbuilt Looper and ability to use the creative Groove Looper in the spark app so with all of this in mind what situation is each amp best for now the go with this incredibly compact size is the amp I turn to if I’m traveling and I’m short on Space it’s really so Compact and can fit into any gig bag or guitar Cas even into a pocket so if you need an amp on the go to scratch the itch and you don’t need that big sound this is the one for you there are no tone and effect controls on the amp though so without the app you’re only able to cycle through your presets and can’t adjust your tone on the fly without the app now the go is great but naturally due to its size it’s not exactly room filling sound so that’s where the mini steps in as another Super portable and rechargeable option but with Superior Clarity in power to the spark go now the size is a little bigger though so it will fit into a backpack but probably not into any guitar cases this is the amp that I like to use around the house if I want to play in different rooms or use it as just a Bluetooth speaker similar to the go there’s only onboard presets and no physical knobs to tweak your tone on the go without connecting to the spark app now the original spark 40 takes the power and the volume to that next level and it can crank a lot more than the mini but but having said that I feel that the sound Clarity is a bit woy and boomy On The Low End other than that it’s a great desktop air but it does require an AC adapter so it’s more suited for a home studio or desk setup in addition it’s got the physical knobs on the top panel so that you can easily dial in a tone without having to dive into the spark app and I think this is Handy for a lot of folks now the spark 2 is a big upgrade from the 40 and by all accounts it beats the 40 in every single way it’s the only one that features an inbuilt Loop as well so that solves that frustrating issue that you’ll find if you use a Looper pedal with any of the other spark amps with the addition of this Looper the spark 2 becomes the ultimate desktop practice amp in my eyes and the best amp in this lineup if you want a versatile potentially portable loud and fun desktop amp for your home or studio it’ also be suitable for a small live venue too in my opinion now finally the spark live is the only spark amp that features multiple input options with four channels it’s got that 150 WS of power too so the live is the one that’s built for performing musicians who might have a microphone and a guitar and keys in one setup and for those who might be playing in a full band setting so finally let’s finish with the pros and cons of this amp now as far as Pros go there’s so much to like about this amp they’ve taken every weakness that the spark 40 had all the negative feedback and all those wish lists that you used users spoke about in online forums and they pretty much addressed all of them with the spark 2 so in a way I’m not too sure how they’ll actually improve on the spark 2 in the future as they’ve got pretty much everything you need for a great practice amp in one product now with the inclusion of that Looper I still think there’s a market and use case for all the other spark amps and traditional amps of course but as far as desktop amps go this is a really great deal so let’s talk about the down sides of the spark 2 now I’ve said so many good things about the amp it might seem like it’s perfect but uh one thing I didn’t like is that they have removed the amp selection knob that was originally found on the spark 40 with this knob you could manually choose from different amp types without having to jump into the spark app the spark 2 maintains all the physical knob controls for the amp EQ and adjusts the mod delay and Reverb levels but there’s no way to actually change the amp type without connecting to the spark app their tradeoff is that you now have eight onboard presets so if you’re happy with those then that’s great however if you want to just quickly turn it on and dial in an amp tone on the fly without the app it’s a little bit more difficult and I feel like this defeats a purpose of providing those physical controls in the first place since the amp model you use is probably the most important aspect of a guitar signal chain and the resulting tone now this isn’t a deal breaker of course and there is a workaround you can simply just save your favorite amps onto a few different presets and just sort of memorize where each one is but it is really clear you won’t get the most out of this amp unless you use the app in order to tweak your tones and all that the app is really great though it’s simple to use and very intuitive but yeah that would be one of the biggest negatives that I see is that they’ve removed that amp selection knob from the spark 2 but again not a massive deal so that’s everything I think there is to know about the spark 2 if you want to find out more about the spark 2 I’ll leave links in the description thanks and I’ll see you guys next time on guitar already hero cheers
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