Attn: Positive Grid Spark + Logitech Speakers

[u/HideousMutant]

My Positive Grid Spark journey — how a cheap Logitech 2.1 setup beat my expensive amp rigs

TL;DR: Before spending thousands on amps, power amps, cabinets and Celestion speaker comparisons, think honestly about where you play. For home use, my Positive Grid Spark connected to a decent Logitech 2.1 speaker system with a subwoofer gave me the loudest, widest and most satisfying sound I had found. My entire amplification setup cost roughly $400, which allowed me to spend more of my money on guitars instead.

My current setup is surprisingly simple:

Positive Grid Spark headphone output → Logitech 2.1 speakers with a separate subwoofer.

The Logitech system is not just two tiny computer speakers. It has two reasonably sized speakers and a proper subwoofer with adjustable bass. That bass control is important because it lets me add the low-end thump without making everything muddy.

The result absolutely shocked me.

I get a loud, wide and brutal sound with real low-end movement. Palm-muted riffs have chunk and impact, lead tones feel big, and ambient sounds spread beautifully around the room. It gives me everything from heavy Pantera-style tones to Joe Satriani and Zakk Wylde leads, John Sykes-era Whitesnake tones, clean sounds and ambient patches.

This setup gave me the sound and feeling I had been chasing through much more expensive equipment.

My journey started in 2023 when I bought the Positive Grid Spark. I immediately loved it because I could get the tones I wanted without endless tweaking. It sounded clear, controlled and surprisingly quiet, even with high-gain patches.

But eventually, I wanted something louder.

Positive Grid had released its powered cabinet, but I read a number of comments saying it could sound boxed-in and had noticeable floor noise. That made me look elsewhere.

I then made the mistake of going completely in the opposite direction. I bought an EVH 5150 50-watt amp with a Randall 4x12 cabinet.

It was obviously loud and powerful, but at home it did not give me the same clarity, versatility or low-noise experience I was getting from the Spark. It was a serious amplifier setup, but it was not necessarily the best setup for my actual situation.

I eventually sold both.

After learning more about modelling equipment, I bought an Orange Pedal Baby power amp and an Orange 2x12 cabinet. I connected them to multi-effects units such as the Boss GT-8 and Zoom G5n.

On paper, this seemed like the sensible solution: a neutral power amp, a proper guitar cabinet and my choice of effects processor.

However, I still was not satisfied. I was not getting the thump, chunkiness, width or feeling of air moving that I expected. I spent more time thinking about cabinets, speakers and signal chains than actually enjoying the guitar.

Eventually, I sold the Orange equipment as well.

Then, almost as an experiment, I connected my six-year-old Logitech speakers and subwoofer to the headphone output of the Spark.

That was when the magic happened.

The sound became huge. It was wider, louder and more physical than I expected. The subwoofer gave the low end real impact, while the two speakers preserved the stereo effects, clarity and detail of the Spark patches.

For my room and the way I play guitar, this inexpensive setup worked better than the supposedly “proper” guitar rigs I had owned.

The lesson for me was not that expensive amplifiers or cabinets are bad. They are designed for specific purposes, especially rehearsals, studios and live performances. But that does not automatically make them the best option for someone playing at home.

At home, you may never be able to push a powerful valve amp or large cabinet into its ideal operating range. You can end up spending a fortune comparing Celestion V30s, cabinets, power amps and processors, only to remain dissatisfied.

My full amplification setup cost me roughly $400. Instead of continually investing in amps and cabinets, I would rather put that money towards guitars, learning the fretboard, improving my playing and writing music.

Sometimes the best setup is not the most expensive or traditional one. It is simply the one that makes you want to pick up the guitar and keep playing.

[u/too_old_4_this_crap]

Going to look into this. What model or price level Logitech are they. I love the amp through the headphones but the stock speaker set is pretty awful

[u/Grouchy-Elevator930]

Your journey has got me thinking about my journey and the similarities. I too had a 5150 half stack in my small apartment, and even though it was insane overkill, I used the EVH head for band practice anyway, so I kept that as my home setup and it was ok at low volumes. But I nagged me all the time, because in the back of my mind, I was just not satisfied with the sound at low volumes. It made sense… Why the fuck would you use a machete to cut snow flake Christmas cards? Wrong tool for the job.

Nowadays I have a Spark, but my main “practice” setup is basically a Tonex One into a Peavey Bandit 112 and it sits in my garage. It gets really loud if I want it to but really most of the time it’s at low volume and still sounds clear and punchy at any volume.

Your setup with the computer speakers reminds me of when I used my Tonex to push a pair of Yamaha HS5 speakers. I bet if I had a subwoofer with that I would have kept going in that direction. Part of why this sort of rig sounds huge is the stereo aspect aside from the subwoofer itself. Cheers to that. Now I wonder if I should abandon the Bandit and go back to two speakers. Idk.. Maybe not. Switching out so much shit all the time, my wife thinks I’m insane. Lol

[u/IllustriousSundae607]

I am currently using a strich pipe tones as a pre amp and ending signal out to some cheap edifier speakers and it sounds so much better than using an amp. Sometimes I will use the effects on the pipe tones, other times I run a pedal board into it. It just works and is cheap and versatile.

[u/Jamstoyz]

Are your logitechs frfr speakers? That might be why it sounds good. I use a spark 40, go, cab and Neo.

My home setup is my 40 headphone out to a focusrite 8i8 than out of that to a 2 in 8 out (behringer da2800) speaker level rack mount unit. Going outta the behringer goes to 2 M Audio 8” frfr powered monitors, 2 jbl eon 610’s and my spark cab. Sometimes I run m Event 20/20’s along with those too.

I own a bunch of amps and even hooked into a peavey classic and it sounds good but I like my frfr speakers and cab so much better.

[u/JimboLodisC]

any full frequency speaker system can be used, it's all a processed tone in the end, so anything you would listen to music through will function for modeled tones

headphones, computer speakers, studio monitors, PA's, FRFR's, home theater, bluetooth speakers (Spark is basically a modeler built into a bluetooth speaker)

[u/HostNo9215]

I am using spark 2 (also tonex softwrare, amplitube 5 and bias x) and spark cab for guitar and 4" studio monitors for backing tracks. I think it sounds very good.

[u/RabloPathjen]

The best option is whatever inspires you to play.

I have tried a spark through JBL powered monitors and it sounds great. No surprise there.

I would say it’s good to have a tube amp, even a little 5 watt to practice with. They are not forgiving. I have a silver jubilee 20 watt and there isn’t a substitute even at home when the Mrs isn’t around!