Been watching and waiting for this but haven't yet pulled the trigger. $179 is the pre-order price with a saving of $50usd plus Australia tax when it launches. Pre-orders start delivering in late May.
Thoughts appreciated as I'm still on the fence on this.
I ordered one last night. Review look good. Just hope it doesn't suck
Yeah but I reckon he was paid to promo. Need some truely independent reviews not just marketing stuff. Unfortunately nothing really exists yet
I agree. Less of a review. More of an infomercial.
lol Darrell Braun is a terrible reviewer. I hate that he didn't properly demo the small speakers, that's what I'm most curious about before committing!
But, DOES IT CHUGG!
Lets see what Ola can do.
When I was looking at buying a 50w amp, I was considering a Fender, a Voz and a Marshall. As soon as I saw Ola's video on the Marshall Code 50, I ordered what was probably the last one in Australia @ 18 months ago.
I haven't used one, I think this would probably be decent amp, if you can swallow spending this $$ on such a small amp. Its fun to experiemt with different effects. I suggest if you don't have a reason to get something so tiny, get the bigger one tho!
I bought a Blackstar Debut 10E for someone else second hand for $70 recently and was surprised how 'big' it sounded, and how decent/usable the built in overdrive and delay was. Little amps have gotten better the past few years. So I can recommend those little Blackstar amps for app-free fun.
The Lekato / Ammoon headphone amp is a great inexpensive piece of kit too, at under $50, just use with any speaker/s.
I actually want a tiny amp that runs off battery with effects. Was considering the little Marshall but seems like a plastic toy. But is much cheaper so possibly still on the cards. Main reason is to play at night without waking the kids and without using headphones.
Guessing a Roland Micro Cube is still too big? 😅
They're more expensive. I like the idea of the amp/effects modelling as well. If there's a cheap option with effects then I'm keen to know
@BewareOfThe Dog: Yeah I had one of those cheap iRig devices which worked well back in the day when phones had headphone jacks! But I think they needed headphones as well. I have some other cheapo USB guitar interface that I tried on my phone/tablet but still required me to use headphones. Maybe I'll just get some cheapo unpowered speaker to run off the interface and Gaffa tape it all together like a Frankenstein.
If only there was a cheap device I could use on my Android phone/tablet or my iPad and have it output on the device speakers…
@10101010101: I think I had my Galaxy working using a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter. But I have a Boss ME80 NuX MFX, IKMultimedia Pedalboard, plus Amplitube and Guitar Rig on my my Macbook Pro or PC(s).
I only have 3 pedals
A Mid80s rare Ibanez Tube Screamer
A Behringer Tuner
A Donner Mini Chorus
I sold all my Boss Pedals in the early 2000s to pay for a car repair. :(
For night play you should look at the Nux MP3 Pro. Built in rechargeable battery, lots of modelling amps, effects and cabs to choose from. Flexible signal chain, output to headphones or feed output to an aux in on amp. Record or stream, add backing tracks, built in drum machine. An amazingly feature packed practice device.
The headphone amp is branded as Donner as well. So Donner, Lekato or Ammoon. Local ebay stock is Lekato. All the same unit. It has effects, cabinet sims and a simple PC app. If you like rock/metal tones, watch Kayla Kent's youtube review of it titled 'Pantera, Megadeth, Metallica on a $45 mini amp?'
Cool thanks. Will take a look
Was also contemplating
Laney MINI Series - Battery Powered Guitar Amplifier with Smartphone Interface - 3W - Lionheart Edition, MINI-LION https://amzn.asia/d/by2DLDY which is half the price of the Positive Grid and has modelling via a phone with a headphone jack
That might be good, check some reviews. The best thing about the headphone amp is you can use any speakers with a 3.5mm jack, a bluetooth speaker, portable speakers, pc speakers, small bookshelf, etc. An old Anker Soundcore, a UE Megaboom, a Logitech 2.1 set, or what ever you already have will likely give you a decent sound. I ran mine thru some decent bookshelf speakers and it sounded pretty great for the $$, as Kayla's vid demonstrates.
@samwyze: Thanks for the suggestion. Ended up buying the Lekato headphone amp multi effects unit from eBay. I previously bought a $19 rechargeable portable karaoke machine with Bluetooth and line in support which I'll use via the headphone out jack on the Lekato. Gives me a cheap $60ish setup which hopefully will keep me entertained. $120 saved for now which is good for me. Sure I don't get app controlled modelling but may look to buy an old iPhone or iPod touch and use it with Amplitude or one of those types of apps (or even just Garage band)
Can this be used for bass
Yes, also acoustic. But Bass and Acoustic options are limited compared to Electric guitars.
@julz I think I'll get one - I had a Spark Mini, which I returned as I didn't need a second amp, but the Spark app and variety of pedals was great. I was also impressed with the sound from the small speakers.
I can see myself plugging in an electric and some headphones and playing guitar on the couch without disturbing my baby at night. I wouldn't expect much from this amp though, but when you consider the other small practice amps around 1 - 5 watts are around $150 and don't have any effects, this is a great option.
Tried a few of these practice/portable amps and yet to find one that sounds as good as a Yamaha THR.
Didn't know this existed but damn it's expensive! I'm noob and I think my guitar was sub $200 (Squire HSS of some sort that I traded my bass guitar for).
Yamaha THR is a lot bigger and heavier than these.
My friend has the Yamaha and the full-size spark and likes the yamaha more. he just plays guitar though, mostly country style/clean stuff.
Damn - that beats the NUX MP3 headphone amp (but the MP2 can be had for ~$120ish)
I have the full-size Spark amp and I use it for bass guitar as a practice amp at home. I also have the Airstep BT footswitch for the amp (which is great however not the focus of this post) i've posted about it before on here but cant find the post.
heres the cliff notes:
Its a very, very good emulator of tones, to the point that anything you put into it comes out sounding like the amp settings want it to. this can be good and bad. maybe its just bass-use thing, but I have a few very different instruments and with a fuzz pedal on it can all sound the same, losing the nuance of how the pedal would interact with the guitars pickups. for example, a gibson thunderbird (humbuckers) vs a rickenbacker 4003 (single coils) doesnt really sound that different despite both instruments varying wildly in sound when plugged into the physical version of the same fuzz pedal.
clean tones for bass are good and plentiful, the guitar/bass EQ pedals they released help clean up the tone a lot and remove the generous low-end tuning from the default tone if you need to. Clean does let more of the instruments natural voice through vs the above.
app works well. can be hard to dial in some of the effects pedals with nuance that you might find with real pedals (I tend to go all or nothing with a lot of them) Jimi Hendrix gear is an IAP! Bass has 4 amps and a handful of pedals in each slot. this is definitely targeted at electric guitarists firsts.
the bigger versions work as an audio interface for recording which is very handy. can also connect to an ipad/iphone for garage band with the appropriate adapter. windows needs some drivers installed to get it lag-free.
overall I am happy with it as the interface and practice amp were the two reasons I bought it. if I had to buy a practice amp today, I would rather a 50-100W bass-specific combo amp as we are not under covid restrictions so i dont need to use garage band to write music with the band remotely. the two smaller speakers dont really fill the room that well and im left a bit underwhelmed in the effects/amp selection in the Spark offering.
Contemplating of getting the Airstep BT footswitch, is it worth it? I've heard there's a bit of lag when switching channels? More inclined with Airstep rather than Spark's own footswitch as it has 5 foot switch and supports looper.
yeah I like it. cant connect a phone and the airstep at the same time, so once you get your presets dialled in its pretty good for switching.
I have mine on the 4 presets w/drive on/off switch and im happy with it that way as I dont really use the other effects much.
We have the regular Spark amp, hooked up to a 18v Ryobi one+ batt that makes it an awesome wireless speaker/AMP. Doesn't look pretty, but now we have yet another use for all our one+ batts.
Did you have to hack the wires to make it work?
I have the 40w Spark amp as well with Battery attached at the back to make it portable. Very happy with it but still tempted to get this for night practice.
![[Pre Order] Spark Go Portable Guitar Amp/Modeller/Interface A$179 Delivered @ Positive Grid](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/73/765773.jpg?h=896b3fe9)
looks pretty damn neat doesnt it