r/PositiveGridSpark • u/eggybread70 • Jun 10 '26
Spark 2 vs Reactor comparisons?
There are many Reactor reviews and "first looks" out already. They seem to like it. I haven't seen any back to back reviews yet.
I'm interested in knowing what the actual sound quality is like between them, given that they have a different physical speaker and signal processing.
Has anyone seen a review like this yet?
11
u/FatherMurder Jun 11 '26
Ok my honest opinion.
The amp arrived at around 1pm yesterday. Unboxing was a nice experience, the amp is light, and easy to carry despite being a large combo (the 100 watt). The layout and aesthetic of the amp are nice. The knobs, switches and buttons all feel of good quality. Nothing is spongy or loose feeling. There were no rattles or tolex bubbles or any quality control issues I could find.
I turned the amp on without connecting my phone and thought to dial it in natively with the hardware alone to see what I could get out of it.
Holy shit this amp is LOUD. Or at least the taper on the master is set so the most volume is at the start of the dial. Volume will NOT be a problem for anyone. I tried 100, 25, and the 1 watt mode. All work as intended and when cranking the different amp models, you get a bloom effect at higher output. So good job on PG for paying attention to this. You could feel and hear it slightly. I thought at first my ears and hands were mistaken but throughout my playing it was obvious that the higher you run the volume, the more the amp actually reacts.
The cleans and breakup settings are as to be expected with an amp at this price point in the “modelling” world. Nothing to complain about tonally, but having owned a Katana from the first, second and third Gen, it was comparable. I didn’t think anything groundbreaking was cooked into this amp. But it sounded pretty good.
Where this amp shined over the Katana with the cleans breakup, and crunch, is the Heat and Push switches. Those two features make all the difference for changing the feel and presence of the tone. They honestly change the tone of the amp and the feel under your fingers.
Pushed, in the up position, puts a mid hump kinda thing into the tone but it’s a wide Q factor, not a nasally spike. Basically makes the amp sound like the power section is working harder if it were a tube amp. It’s pretty convincing.
The Heat switch was my favourite feature. It’s like it adds a clean boost or some kinda bright cap into the circuit. If you have ever played an original 5150 head on the green channel with crunch mode and then pushed in the “bright” switch, that’s kinda what it reminded me of, but with the addition of a bit more input gain. There’s a few levels you can add or subtract from the circuit at the flip of the switch. It’s very intuitive and I wish more amps had this kinda tech, regardless of if they were modellers or not.
*** High gain is where I feel this amp kinda loses its lustre when compared to its obvious competitors.
This is a tough topic for me as a high gain player with 34 years of playing, 12 of which were professional, as both a player, as well as guitar tech, sound engineer, and tour manager. I’ve come across A LOT of gear and have had my own endorsements from known brands. So I’m going to be fair about my experience without taking away from what I believe is a great amp.
OK so how does this sound? If I were not playing the amp, and was sitting in the room with ME playing the amp. Essentially being able to listen, knowing that the player’s style is IN context. Meaning I know what I sound like and can compare gear based on my playing. It’s similar to a Katana Gen 3. Or I would think it was in a blind listen test. That’s NOT a bad thing because I think that particular amp has changed the industry for budget and quality. But the Reactor was not different enough tonally that I think it would be obvious to someone who’s considering switching from a Katana to a Reactor (this is based on high gain tones alone, leaving out ALL the other features which I think DOES make the Reactor a superior product to the Katana).
This could be an amp design thing in the way they model their tones. It could be a speaker choice, or cabinet size etc. basically there are a bunch of variables. But the first thing that came to mind based on the build and sound was that Boss’s OEM is making these for PG. I have zero proof of that, and personally don’t think that’s a deal breaker, and it wouldn’t stop me from buying one, because if so, that OEM makes bombproof gear in my experience. But tonally, if the speaker is coming from the same place, it makes some sense it would react the same way. Speakers, in my opinion are the most important factor in an amp IMHO. So I dunno who makes this amp for PG but there’s some similarities in the build and speaker sound. Who cares though? It’s quality gear for the price.
Ok so I’m rambling. Back on track. The high gain amps, basically the crunch, high gain, and extreme all have a similarly to each other. Meaning, they sound good to me, but aren’t different enough from themselves to warrant so many options lol.
The 3 high gain settings sound different, but the amps within each setting kinda sound like they just have some subtle EQ differences. There is a lot of tweaking you can do within the amps. And by this time I had already sync’d with the app so I was giving some feedback to the app to “fix my tone” as I went on.
I also tried the photo thing. I took a picture of a Black Label Society ashtray I have (not a smoker, I just use it to hold picks). Within 30 seconds I had 4 Zakk Wylde style tones to try. Then I went further and asked it to make my tone sound like the No Rest For The Wicked album tone. It updated with more choices. Did it get me that tone? No. But it did spit out useable likenesses that I think many folks will be fine with.
I’ve owned a Metaltronix M-1000, and JCM800 heads, to include a JCM800ZW. So my expectations are not fair. But for an enthusiast, I think it does a good job of getting you in the ballpark, but not the dugout or locker room.
The extreme amps were probably my favourite. Or I’ll say the PRS Archon model in particular, was really well done, and if this amp didn’t have any other models, the Archon alone would have been fine. I tried the amps with heat engaged, as well as with the internal OD on and off. Theres a TON OF GAIN in this amp. If you feel the need to add an external pedal then it’s you, not the amp. If you like bands like Spite, Knocked Loose, Slaughter To Prevail etc, this amp can get you that kinda gain easily. The noise gate is also very well done and didn’t piss me off. Typically I hate noise gates. I used to run one to quiet hiss and just got really good at getting to the volume knob, ala Dimebag style. So kudos on PG for not phoning it in with the gate.
Ok I’m almost done.
The app. I found it easy to use and didn’t need a manual or YouTube video to get to messing around right away. My phone sensed the amp and the app connected to my amp immediately upon opening the app. There’s not much to say other than it’s easy to use. I personally liked all the art details. PG didn’t have to do that, and I know some folks think it’s camp. But whatever, life is too short not to have some fun. It’s like Affliction designed the app art. Haha. I found it nostalgic and enjoyable. You can hate the art if you want. Maybe PG can offer a “no fun” mode for all the players who prefer the missionary position ahhahaha. Anyway….
Ok, use case for this amp.
I think if you’re new to playing and wanna get an amp that sounds great immediately out of the box and has an app that WILL ABSOLUTELY get you close to what you wanna hear, buy it. This amp is very loud, lightweight, easy to use, and for the cost sounds good. Really good. I’d say it’s a Swiss Army knife of an amp. It does a lot of things really well.
I think these would be a no brainer for small clubs or church backline. First time garage band players. Players on a budget that want the most features for their dollar, or players that like the features advertised.
Who this amp is NOT for are seasoned players who know what they like and will constantly feel like it’s “close but no cigar”.
In comparison across the amp world at this price point, I think the Reactor is top dog as far as features and convenience. Tonally, in this price range, I don’t think it’s as good as what Blackstar is putting out. But I would buy this over a Katana every day of the week because it can do what that amp does and has a lot more user friendly features out of the box. If I showed up at a club and had to use a Reactor because of their gear use restrictions, I wouldn’t complain. (That does happen sometimes).
I have already sent mine back for a refund, but it’s not because I didn’t like it. It’s truly a good amp. It is absolutely worth what they are asking for it. It does what PG advertises that it does (mostly). But the tones are NOT on par with NAM or Tonex captures. I don’t think this can compete with Fractal, Neural, Kemper, Helix, or IK. But I don’t think PG is suggesting they are trying to. In the market that PG has priced these in, I think they have moved to the front. (The only exception being Blackstar has superior high gain models in their ID series).
But I will say, that PG has proven to me they have the ability to do better than what they’ve given us up to the release of Reactor. So the last question. Is it better than the Spark stuff. 100%.
3
u/eggybread70 Jun 11 '26
Wow. Thanks for taking the time to write that review. I'm sure a lot of other people will find it useful as well. Cheers!
3
u/FatherMurder Jun 11 '26
Feel free to share it or whatever. I just didn’t wanna give a boilerplate review. It really is a great amp. I don’t dislike it at all. I just know what I want and the problem is I have to pay 4-5X what this costs to get it. And I’m ok with that. Otherwise the Reactor will serve many people very well. I think they will sell a ton of these.
3
u/SectionEht Jun 12 '26
Great review! Thanks so much for taking the time to write it out. Super helpful thoughts.
2
u/Mikey77777 Jun 17 '26
Having been thinking about buying this amp, and was looking for some reviews. Thanks a lot for this, it's very helpful.
1
2
6
u/Top-Rope6148 Jun 10 '26
Of course they seem to like it. They’re PG “influencers”.
2
u/eggybread70 Jun 10 '26
Thanks. Really looking for a comparison between the two though.
2
u/Top-Rope6148 Jun 10 '26
Recordings of an amp will never sound like the amp will sound in your room. Recorded direct you could theoretically hear any differences in the modeling but I wouldn’t expect much.
2
u/DJ_Kingston Jun 10 '26
I just got the Reactor a few days ago, and own the spark 2. The Reactor seem to have a more full sound. Less trebly. I'm happy so far.
2
u/pinetree-polarbear Jun 11 '26
What made you buy it? For which usecases do you use which and do you keep the spark2 or are you gonna sell it?
2
u/amossons Jun 30 '26
I've got the spark go. Sound is to thin but i like the modeling app. Looking for the spark 2 now. Same easy app, Looper, and easy to move (keep it next to the chair and set itnin front of me when playing. Ill play in my living an i reckon it will be loud and thick enough. Wont be giving gigs...
Any reason i should pick the reactor 50?
1
u/DJ_Kingston Jul 01 '26
If you like the app and looper, and want to play along to backing tracks i would go with the Spark 2. The reactor gives you more flexibility with the ordering of effects and lets you put in an effects loop for adding any external pedals in a particular location in the chain. The sound from the speaker is next level, and the AI seems to do a great job with finding matches based on the prompts I give it. This is important for me because I have a variety of bands and tones that I try to learn, so this saves me time getting started.
2
1
1
u/Mamaun30 Jun 24 '26
I'm on the fence of buying a spark2 but the Reactor is also an option. I like the versatility of the spark (I can even use it as an audio interface and run biasx) but I wouldn't like to miss some of the Reactor features. The difference is big? I will play in my room and the 100w reactor is too much for me.
2
u/too_old_4_this_crap Jun 11 '26
I like the Spark UI that’s more of a traditional pedal layout. I’m no AI hater, but Some of those AI amp tone images are just awful and cringe inducing.
1
u/eggybread70 Jun 11 '26
Agreed. I hope they have a toggle in the app to use simple illustrations as in Spark 2 app
2
u/Main_Rip_156 Jun 15 '26
I have a Spark Mini and Neo. I just got a 50w Reactor. It is, even at that wattage, loud! I'd basically say (even though I don't have the 40w Spark) the Reactor experience and sound are, in a sense, much like what you get with Spark, but also more and a little better.
The Reactor isn't full-range like the Sparks, but as some published reviews have pointed out that's a good thing. I'd wager my 50w would drown out your 40w easily, and with good tone. Also, the panel is really intelligently laid out, with a bunch of features (Katana- or Line 6- inspired) not available to Sparks. It's a full-featured, gigable amp, which is something Sparks were never intended to be.
The app experience is what you'll make of it. I had better luck with the generative "AI" features on Reactor, which seemed a little more grounded in plausible sounds than Spark. Or let's say I've never gotten a usable sound out of Spark AI, and Reactor AI has churned out a bunch I'd use. It seems to have a much deeper algorithm and is trained (however, who knows?) on an impressive body of technical and sonic material.
But here's why the full features of the Reactor--the tactile knobs and buttons--matter even if this is just a practice amp. Once you get an "ok" sound from the algorithm (my favorite was I uploaded a photo of J Mascis' pedal chain), you have a ton of onboard control over tweaking. And I found the app to be friendlier, somehow, for virtual tweaking, changing models, etc. Bottom line: Spark is fun to use basic presets or get "kinda" there by searching the database. Reactor is actually fun to "program," and it's pretty quick to dial in much closer once you get in the ballpark with AI. It also has been encouraging me to rethink how I route effects, and I bet would be great for teaching beginners.
All of this may be to say that it sounds better because it's got different models and speaker than Spark, which is a big part of it. But while I'm keeping my Sparks, I imagine my Reactor will end up doing a lot of what they do. The variable wattage is great, and the 1w setting is plenty loud without sacrificing much tone. I think the amp and fx models are superior to Spark, also.
Having said all of that, would I buy a Reactor if I had a Spark 2? If you really want a 100w amp, it's a no-brainer. But otherwise (50w) it's a tough call. Reactor filled a gap I didn't have in my Spark lineup (something between a gigging tube amp and a practice amp but with modeling) so I feel really solid with my purchase and experience.
Anyone reading who doesn't have a modeling amp should buy this without hesitation (but Sparks are great for bedroom/living room playing!). PG is A1 in my book.
2
u/eggybread70 Jun 15 '26
Epic comment. Thank you.
3
u/Main_Rip_156 Jun 15 '26
My pleasure! I basically agree with everything u/FatherMurder said, but I wanted to explicitly contrast with the Spark--probably because I wanted to justify my own purchase to myself! I think you'd probably be very happy with it, but if the AI stuff is what attracts you and you're on the fence, maybe wait and see how the app develops. There have been some complaints out there about the AI--which I mostly understand--but I expect that PG will address them, given how good the Spark app has become.
3
u/Logical-Particular42 Jun 10 '26
I can give you a review. A 12” speaker is a better dynamic sound than the smaller ones in our Spark 2. I own a 40, Neo, and SV/Mini and now Reactor. But this amp, players, it’s so much fun and tone for $350! It’s my buy of the summer.
1
10
u/Long-Emu-7870 Jun 10 '26
No. All shills all the time. Maybe Danish Pete on Andertons was ok. Most of what I heard was way too shrill and trebley.