i did originally order one of these but then i changed my mind then recently i thought
okay i'll get one in order to see what all the fuss is about and answer some
questions that i couldn't find answers to so this is my b stock spark 40 modeling app
cost me just over 230 dollars here's the good and the bad for what it's worth
i know youtube doesn't need another spark review but i thought i'd throw my two cents in because
i've got the amp and i've got a youtube channel so why not first impressions are good though it
looks good it's got the right weight to it making it feel like a solid amp and the knobs are quality
and they feel good and it does pack a punch one question i couldn't find the answer to though was
how do the speakers really sound it's a small amp so you would imagine that there's going to be no
bass response right well there is and there's plenty of it it's deep and low and that's where
my first gripe comes in it is a little bit too bassy and not really tight enough on the low end
and the bass control doesn't help either maybe a firmware update in the future will help though
now the amp is plenty loud enough practicing very loud maybe not loud enough to gig with
but the volume is certainly there nice high end as well when you crank the treble and mid-range and
you're going to master volume as well so you can still use the game presets and get a good sound
at lower volumes sort of like a digital attenuator if you like you can also save four of your
favorite presets into the amp and recall them at any time just using the preset buttons
now the examples i'll play will be recorded using a mic in front of the amp rather than directing
there are plenty of videos demonstrating that and i'll play a couple of tones direct in though just
in case you haven't watched any other videos on it does seem incredibly unlikely though i really
wanted to try and capture what i hear from the amp itself so let's try some of the famous song tones
the clean sounds are really good nice and chimey and when you add a little bit of gain the clean
tone will break up a little now i wish it would break up a bit more to be honest as the cleans are
really really clean they don't sound digital either but they do have a nice tone to them
and that's where the app comes in and i do understand that people require instant
results these days it's not like having a tube amp and some pedals and dialing it
all in to get the right sound or at least the sound that you love and the app also connects
to a cloud where other spark users can upload their tones including tones from famous songs
so it's so easy to dial in the song that you're learning and get that sound instantly i totally
get it you can demo the tone as well by clicking on it playing guitar so make sure that you like
it and then afterwards save it locally to your phone or ipad for instant recall and i think
there are just over 10 000 tones at the moment but it is growing daily
now imagine having instant and amazing compression an instant overdrive or high gain tone with noise
gates reverbs delays etc etc right there on your phone or ipad having said that i'm not always one
for messing about on my phone to get sounds i do prefer dialing everything in using pedals
and the amp settings and i'm not a big app fan to be honest but this one
it is simple to use it's laid out really nicely i spotted some good tones on the app
from tyler larson from music is win and also a few from steve stein as well
i think it's for guitar players who just need something quick and easy to practice with great
for beginners as well as the right sound will make you play your favorite songs and pick up the
guitar more imagine instant slash james hetfield john mayer srv rhcp and so on and that's a good
thing anything that makes you pick up the guitar and play is always a good thing and when you get
the right tone it's pretty much on you will need to tweak the volume on some of them though as they
can be a bit loud and of course you can tweak all the parameters of the amps and pedals etc couple
that with the backing track feature where the amp will listen to you playing chords and create
a backing track to play over and as i said for a certain type of guitar player it's an instant win
now it's a lot of fun to play with and it's pretty simple to use and a pretty decent sound i've heard
people say that it's a room filling sound and it really is and it all stems from the reverb
it's almost a 3d reverb sound very unique but difficult to hear on this video unfortunately
but it does make you turn your head to see where that sounds coming from it's pretty amazing and
it also has plenty of other effects and of course the link to your computer thrown in via usb that
allows it to be used as an audio interface and it has the ability to be used as a bluetooth speaker
it really does seem to have it all it will suit a beginner or someone who just wants to have fun
playing the guitar just not sure it's for me yet though but having said that it did make me pick
up my guitar and play more especially the high gain stuff it aids control when using really
distorted tones maybe i'll give it a few months and see if i still use it and of course being
the latest thing i'm sure there will be firmware updates to improve it as it progresses so cheers