What's up everyone? I'm Ola Englund.
Welcome to Ola Testing Sh*t.
Today I'm trying out the new Spark CAB.
From Positive Grid.
So, you might have seen all these small little Spark products
being a thing for the past couple of years.
The first rendition of the Spark was a very popular smart amplifier.
It definitely made a lot of other brands go this route
of making these portable amplifiers that you can bring anywhere.
It's a market that's here to stay for sure.
And while these small things do sound pretty OK on their own,
you know, sometimes you just wanna rock out.
And hence Positive Grid released...
...released the Spark CAB.
This is a 140-watt powered cabinet
optimized for the Spark, the Spark Mini, and the Spark GO.
But obviously you can use it with other smart amps as well.
Or even use it as a full-range flat-response speaker
for any modeler if you want.
Where's the freaking cable?
Where's the cable? Oh, there it is, hello.
So, you simply connect the Spark GO, or the Spark whatever
using this small little cable
to the input and then you just go.
Very simple.
But if you're using a modeler, you can use the XLR inputs as well.
At the back you have the speaker volume, you have a Contour switch.
Which I guess is sorta like a loudness button, or something like that.
Basically scooping the mids or...
It's just my guess.
You also have a line output, and a couple of different powering options.
So, with the USB-C you can have constant power to your Spark units,
or with the DC out you can power other equipment as well.
Unfortunately, it's maximum 2.5 ampere,
so you can't power, like, your Quad Cortex.
But you still need to connect this to a power outlet.
So you might as well just connect your Quad Cortex to a power outlet as well.
I'm gonna hook all of this up, then we're gonna give it a go.
So, for this I'm using an SE Audio VR microphone.
And obviously this is not a guitar speaker,
this is more like a hifi speaker, so...
That's the reason why I'm placing the microphone a little bit outside.
You know, I wouldn't directly put it against the cloth,
because you know, there's actually not a speaker,
it's probably a bunch of speakers, because it's flat-response.
So I'm putting the microphone a little bit out.
Just so you can get the bigger picture basically.
I'm gonna use the bigger Spark for this,
but I tested both, and they both sound exactly the same, basically.
So it doesn't matter if you have the Spark GO,
or the Spark Hello, or the Spark SeeYouLater.
So I connected using this line output cable.
Alright, let's go.
I can immediately hear that it's very very bass and low-end heavy.
It's almost booming a little bit, if you understand what I'm saying.
I have the guitar at like 4 o'clock on the Spark unit.
And then I have the volume at like 1 or 2 o'clock on the Spark CAB.
Let's take another preset.
So, right now I'm trying the Contour switch.
So, this is without.
This is with.
Yes.
I'm pushing the wrong button.
That's wha-- OK.
Here we go.
This is without.
This is with.
It sounds like it's adding more loudness.
So I guess more like 200 Hz
and you know, scooping a little bit, and a little bit more high end.
But it's already--
You know, there's already a lot of that 100-200 Hz in there.
Metallica.
There's a Metallica preset.
Not too bad, actually.
You know, it sounds really good and it's pretty loud,
but it's a little woofy.
You know, it's a lot of 200 Hz.
Alright, sounds pretty good.
Clean sounds good, man.
I mean, that's the fun part about the Spark
that you can go up online
and you can basically try out someone else's preset on the fly.
It's really easy.
Just for the sake of it, I'm gonna connect my Quad Cortex into this.
And test that out.
Because obviously you don't have to use a Spark amplifier with this.
It's a full flat response full-range, full groo--
You know, it's a full-range speaker.
Flat-Response.
I mean, you should be able to basically plug in anything in there,
it's like a hifi system.
You can plug in an MP3 player, you know, your Apple... Pod.
Air--
iPod?
iPod, it's called the iPod.
You can connect your iPod in there,
and you have a stereo basically, that's what it is.
Alright, so this is the Spark CAB with the Quad Cortex.
Oh, dude, the response of that chug
it's just a little bit better than on the Spark GO, just saying.
It sounds good,
but it still has a little bit of that woofiness to it.
There's no high end.
And you know, there's a lot of low end.
In conclusion... oh, this is so serious.
Ola just sitting here and he smacks the cabinet
and it's like 'In conclusion...'
Like Ola knows what he's doing or something.
He's doing like a gear demo.
OK, my question though is who is this really for?
I mean, it sounds alright.
It gives you a good enough base level to make, you know...
to tingle your ballsack.
But it's not for a rehearsal space or a live environment.
If your band practices with an electronic drumkit,
I think this will probably be enough
you know, for that type of live rehearsal.
You know, where everything is just silent.
But my guess is that this Spark CAB
is basically for someone that's happy
with their Spark unit and just wants to be a little bit more rock n' roll.
And maybe a little bit louder.
I mean, these units, they're fun and all.
You know, sitting and playing.
You can sit at the beach and you play like...
And you know, it's fun.
But a bigger speaker, and just moving more air
is just way more satisfying.
But I think this was made for the living room.
and you know, just to have as an extra for your Spark product.
It sounds good for what it does, obviously.
You know, it doesn't sound real,
like a real amplifier and a real cabinet.
It sounds like you're playing guitar through a stereo.
But if you take that out of the equation,
you know, and you stop comparing it to the real thing,
you know, it's actually quite enjoyable to sit and play through this at home.
So there you go, that's my little demo for you right there.
Hope you enjoyed this video.
If you're unfamiliar with what I'm doing,
I'm basically Ola Englund the Swede
and I try out guitar-related gear.
And if you like my videos, maybe you can subscribe
and you can watch a couple of the rest of them.
Because there's fucking almost 2,000 of them.
Guys, thank you so much for watching.
I'm noticing now...
That the cloth on here is not--
It's not perfectly glued.
You know?
Look at that.
Down there as well.
That's what you get sometimes.