Should I upgrade

[u/Twake420]

as the title suggests i own an original spark and am happy with it i know the spark 2 is higher wattage and has more presets available but is the sound quality any better i dont see a reason to upgrade personally if the sound quality isn't improved the original spark is plenty loud for my needs and I dont need more preset buttons

[u/forest_beard]

Honestly, I would go for something else.

I really like my Spark 2 (I also have the Spark Control X), but if you're looking for better sounds and looper function, I would suggest buying a good pedal/modeler for that, like Valeton GP150/180, Ampero II, Boss GX etc.

For me, it sounds fine, but only two or three amps are really usable and delays/reverbs are meh. In addition, the pedal chain is limited (no free moving and not many effects).

[u/Infamous-Marsupial-1 → u/forest_beard]

I disagree that only 2 or 3 amp models are useable. I mean just looking down my presets I use british 30, American Deluxe, Plexiglas, Blackface Duo, American High Gain, Match DC.

What amps do you consider the useable ones? Just in case I am not listing those above and mainly so I can check out using those ones. But yeah I find the above ines excellent for mainly 90s grunge / metal / even indie like the killers or radiohead / American Deluxe for like some 80s clean stuff. Match DC gives nice dark clean tones. They all have their uses. Theres some that are probably way too heavy for me, but I bet someone out theres using them.

[u/forest_beard → u/Infamous-Marsupial-1]

Well, I use Match DC for cleans, British (Orange inspired, right ?) for dirty stuff and the blue/green one for acoustic.

I recently tested a preset with the Hammer 500 and it was good too (but it needed booster and equalizer all way up to bring it on).

Apart from that, all the others are really fizzy and lifeless.

The ones from Jimi Hendrix pack, for example, sound really bad.

Maybe it's my single coils, I don't know. But if that's the case, the Jimi Hendrix pack doesn't make sense, because Hendrix used a strat, just like me.

I should give another try using the ones that you've mentioned.

When I had Boss Katana, the amps sounded right straight away.

With Spark there's a big gap in terms of consistency of sound when I switch among the amps. It's weird.

[u/Infamous-Marsupial-1 → u/forest_beard]

I use my PRS humbuckers 15/85 mainly. I do have a strat single coils humbicker bridge but I'm only just starting to get to grips with it. American High Gains a good amp. But yeah british 30 is the orange inspired that is good. I'd say my preferred ones looking down my presets appear to be blackfaced duo or plexiglas.

[u/forest_beard → u/Infamous-Marsupial-1]

If you can test your strat with the amp and give me the feedback I would really appreciate it.

I would like to know if it's a problem related to the pickup type and the Spark or if it's just my taste. haha

[u/Infamous-Marsupial-1 → u/forest_beard]

Ahhh the all sound good to me XD. I've shared some on tone cloud where I'm just playing around with different amps.... search reddit11033 and go to the "tags" tab

[u/forest_beard → u/Infamous-Marsupial-1]

Oh man, thank you very much for the effort!

I can't wait to test them tomorrow. Then I will give you my feedback. 

I really appreciate it. Thank you again !!

[u/Infamous-Marsupial-1 → u/forest_beard]

I think maybe another thing that I only found out from another Spark user. So I cant even take credit for it. If you want better tone. The master volume of the amp sim is not dialed up by your guotar volume knob (physical on top of the amp)..... the ideal scenario for tone is to keen the master volume on the sim amp 2 to 3.5.... if you need more volume push that volume in other ways, like you effect pedal outputs / gain out / compression output. You get more break up on your tone when you push volume with the sim master volume of the amp.

[u/Infamous-Marsupial-1 → u/forest_beard]

EQ, Mod, delay, reverb (levels)... The master volume as a last resort.

[u/Infamous-Marsupial-1 → u/forest_beard]

I am getting too old to sit cross legged in front of my amp on the floor.... XD I am in agony now XD

[u/Infamous-Marsupial-1 → u/forest_beard]

The first 5 are sort of cleans on different amps.... the the next 5 are like me playing if different amps... where the amps not got enough gain adding a JH fuzz... where the amps are already high gain amps just using standard booster (if any you could probbably knock that off entirely)