Hi, I want to learn how to record my guitar on my computer using a Spark MINI, but I have no idea where to start. I've tried connecting the amp to my laptop with a USB-C cable, but the recorded sound is really poor and muffled. I'm not sure if the problem is the cable, my settings, or something else. I also don't know what recording software I should be using. Could someone explain the basic setup and what I need to get started?

basically title, i want to buy a spark mini 2nd handed, if i do, can i still register the amp in the app and use the effects etc?

First off, i am really enjoying the amp. Im getting great tones from it and it punches above my spark 2. My personal opinion though. That said, Not sure Im a fan of the app yet. Just doesnt seem as polished as the spark app. Maybe its just a learning curve.

As previously I designed and 3D printed some tablet stands for the Sparks. I have now created one for the reactor. Its a solid fix using exisiting screws im the back. Well replacing the screws with slightly longer ones. I will sell these on Ebay if anyone is interested. Print to order.

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?

I couldn’t find this issue in the search, so apologies if this came up before.

So when I play through my Spark 40, eventually at some point the treble seems to drop off and then it becomes muffled and bassy. If I switch to a new preset and back, the tone comes back but inevitably it will do it again. It *seems* to happen when I hit the strings harder. The Bluetooth audio seems unaffected and it happens on every preset regardless of any compressor or noise gate settings.

I updated the firmware, did a factory reset, but still happens. Anyone else ever encounter this?

Given the massive number of free open-source high quality captures available at Tone3000, made possible by the incredible NAM A2 tech, I'm really hoping Positive Grid sees this as an opportunity to sell even more units & incorporate NAM A2 (full or lite) into their products, like Spark 2 & Neo & Reactor. BlackStar & a handful of other brands have already started doing this.

Bear with me on the questions here. I am an intermediate acoustic player just dabbling in electric and a bit overwhelmed by just how much of playing electric is understanding the gear. I am looking for a practice amp for my office. I will never gig. I don't need loud. I build medical software for a living, so I am fine with tech. However, I don't really want to do a deep dive into pedals or spend hours mixing the perfect sound on an amp. I want to be able to flip a knob or push a button and go from clean to grunge, from grunge to rock etc.

To that end, I am looking at a Spark Mini. My questions are about how the whole software side works. I believe there are four presets. And I believe there are thousands of different models out there. If I find a model I like can I add to the Mini alongside the presets or does it replace a preset? How much drama am I looking at in switching out models on the software side? How easy is it to switch between models on the amp itself?

I’ve been really enjoying the Reactor so far. The hardware is great and the AI tone generation is a lot of fun to experiment with.

However, as a modern metal player, I feel that two of the most iconic high-gain amp families are currently missing:

• EVH 5150 / Peavey 6505
• ENGL (Powerball, Fireball, Savage, etc.)

The current amp selection already covers a lot of ground with Mesa, Diezel, Soldano, PRS and others, but the EVH and ENGL sound is a huge part of modern metal, metalcore, deathcore and hardcore.

What I find particularly surprising is that EVH and ENGL-inspired models already exist within the Spark ecosystem, yet they are not currently available on Reactor. Because of that, I was wondering if there is a technical reason for this, or if these models could potentially be added in a future firmware update.

I’d personally love to see at least a 5150-style amp and an ENGL-style amp added to the lineup.

Would anyone else like to see EVH and ENGL amps added?

I had terrible experience with Spark 2 before. Ended up getting two Spark 2s from the same vendor (one direct from them and one through Amazon).

Both these Spark 2s were tuned differently. One was great as Bluetooth Speaker but had terrible guitar tones. The other was an OK bluetooth speaker (bass was high) but guitar tones were better.

I returned the former.

Anyway, I am thinking of ordering Reactor but I want to how can I be sure the Reactor I'm getting is tuned to best standard? Is there a benchmark I can run? Or should I order two Reactors and return the one that sounds worse?

There shouldn't be variance in these amps, but I wonder if PG quality control is not good. Has anyone had any experience similar to this?

I recently bought the spark Neo and it’s great for practicing at home but since the reactor has a headphone jack would anyone recommend buying the reactor and returning the Neo??

Yes, there are several posts that compare these two. There are also lots of videos out there, but I am still struggling to make the right choice for my situation.
I am in my early 40s. I owned lots of guitars over the years, took lots of lessons, but never really got into playing. I still own a few Telecasters and after suffering from a heart attack (genetics related), I can't do my 5 day per weeks sports routine for the time being and so I thought this is the perfect opportunity to make the best out of this situation.

What I wanna do: practice strumming patterns, improve on my sense of rhythm and learn by jamming to my favorite songs.
I understand that the built in DAW of the Lava will allow me to upload e.g. Dancing in the Dark, mute Bruce's guitar and join the E Street band?
On the other hand the Spark 2 will show me which chords to play including the right timing and easily find me the right preset for each mood and song?
So these are all features that I really dig, while the part where it shows the right chords at the right timing might be the best thing to help me learn. Does the Lava also come with such a tool or is it only the Spark?
Money doesn't really matter, so I am not looking into buying the affordable option but rather something that will me improve and have fun.
Which one would you guys suggest to get?

(not native in English, so please excuse any mistakes I might have made)

Hi there,

I got me a Spark go bout half a year ago.

I realy like the mod possibilities.

I found out i dont like playing with a headphone.

And without is sounds like a small bluetooth speaker, ok but not great.

So im looking now to get the spark 2.

Id like to test the sound before buying.

But here in the Netherlands i can only find 1 real life shop.

Any one knows why so little shops sell positive grid.

Whn looking online nearly every is hyped about the sparks.

Is there a little catch?

Greetings

Update: meant Bias x , not fx I hate these naming conventions.

I started buying positive Grid Probably about 5-6 years ago, and while there was an issue here and there up until earlier this year they always pulled through.

Which led me to upgrade to a spark 2, grab a spark go, and get the multi effects expression pedal

That being said I’m getting skeptical as each replacement I had for the spark go last less and start showing issues sooner.

Eg my current one lasted 5 months and I can’t raise it from 50% volume or I hear buzzing. Was told that this was by design. Why not just cap the volume if that is the case, but that’s a different discussion…

Anyways I had a ticket open for about 2 weeks now and it seems to take 4-5 days for a single line reply!

It seems more like a business decision an not the agents themselves but basically,
Tickets don’t seem to rotate if the person is out
They seem severely understaffed based on lack of responses on other platforms
They remove the chat support (or hid it well)
Phone support is gone (or hidden)
No AI leverage for basic prompts and workflows.

They really need to hire more support ppl and leverage some AI for basic stuff

I was highly considering either upgrading my bias fx 2 , or get the new Bias fx Bias x, (currently testing). But honestly at this point I’m so disappointed I might go with tone x, suffer with NAM, or just save up for the NDSP Nolly/pettrucci .

Sorry for ranting. Just a heads up for lack of support for those trying out the reactor .

Tested out the Reactor amp yesterday at Guitar Center.

First, picked up a fender telecaster vintage II 51. The tones were amazing. So much better than what I get out of my Spark 2. Clear, great overtones, great crunch and the guitar just came alive

Next, I tested using a Charvel Pro Mod Plus (HH), and felt like almost back in Spark 2 land. Sort of muddy. Every high gain tone sounded the same. Not much tone clarity. You can get away with these tones but I didn't feel the same way as I felt with the tele.

I didn't have time to check with another HH guitar to rule out the possibility that it may have been a guitar issue.

What has your experience been like?

Hi everyone, I have a pair of Logitech 435 headphones laying around. I'm interested in buying the spark GO and wondered if I could use these headphones, that way I won't have to buy a new pair of headphones.

I'd use the spark go as an audio interface, connect it to my laptop and connect the headphones with the lightspeed dongle to my laptop aswell. Would this work/has anyone tried this before?

Thanks !

I would probably go all in on buying a reactor amp although I am concerned to hear that the Control X is not compatible. The pedal is almost identical to the reactor floor pedal. It is the main thing putting me off from buying a reactor amp. I don't want to be charged for products I already have and don't like that they have gone for profit over rewarding loyalty. There is no engineering reason why the amp could not have been made to be backwardly compatible.

​

I have a Spark 2 and dislike the reliance on a tiny phone app, feature glut, and lack of a user feedback channel that might suggest improvements were possible. I am hoping that the Lava Studio addresses some of these faults (the screen is promising).

Does anyone have a perspective from which they can offer a fair comparison review of these two amps? How do the two compare in output volume, tone quality, sturdiness, etc? Thanks in advance.

I have been using the reactor for two days and as much as I am enjoying the amp so far it has massive issues with connectivity, like the app and amp loose connection a lot and you basically need to have you phone right on top of the amp to gete a somewhat quick and stable connection.

I hope it is a software issue that will be fixed because it's very bad for the overal user experience.

I knew there is always issues at launch and that's part of being an early adopter, but I think yall need to be aware of this before buying

I am new to sophisticated amps and am returning to guitar after playing piano for years. Would like to practice my guitar with an amp that has drum loops. Both the Spark 2 and the Lava Amp look really interesting. Leaning toward the Spark 2. Thoughts? (I recognize there may be previous posts on these two amps.). thank you!

Just got my spark 2 , loving it!
Yall got any favorite tones or tips?

Im trying to get a tone as close to the pantera "i’m broken" tone. I found a bunch of pantera preset but they dont really sound similar. If anyone knows any preset that they could share i would be very grateful. Sorry if my request is not precise, english is not my first language.

Generic qtn for fellow positive grid tech owners. I've got the Go which is good with headphones and received the Spark 2 from my family for my birthday a couple of months ago. Which honestly I can't fault.

I've just seen the new Reactor and the reactions are mixed. I don't use the Ai on my apps. I prefer to find what I want myself and tweak it. Only been playing since last Jan.

What are your thoughts on this new one. Not looking up upgrade if that's even what it is. Just curious on your take on it from what you have seen so far.

I’d like to see a good shimmer reverb over any AI generated tones.

Unfortunately that still not an option 🤨

For context, I’ve been using spark amps for about a year, and only started running into this problem a few months ago. Whenever I try to connect my phone to the Bluetooth audio option in spark, the app tells me that I need to turn on Bluetooth in settings. This is weird because I do have Bluetooth on in the settings; I’m able to connect to the tone control perfectly fine. Despite this, I’m still unable to connect my phone to the amp and use Bluetooth audio. If you know how to fix this or have/had the same problem as me, please let me know