Guitar Pedals / General Guitar + Amp Thread • Page 27

Anyone have any hands on experience with this bad boy?

 

I did a deep dive into desktop amps recently. I ended up dismissing the Spark for two main reasons that were deal killers for me personally. If these don't worry you, then definitely a great product. The smaller one is supposed to be pretty cool too.
1) It's not wireless, I really wanted something that could grab and go without needing a wall plug (Boss Katana, Yamaha TH series).
2) Many people complain about the speakers being very bass heavy. Apparently it takes lot of tweaking to get it workable and then the headphone sound vs. speaker is completely different. At first I thought this was normal internet negativity with guitar gurus finding something to complain about, but then watching videos from people that actually LIKE the amp all say it's true made me hesitate.

 

Thanks for the response! This is going to be a practice/bedroom amp for me so the non-wireless thing is not a deal breaker for me...I'm about ready to pull the trigger on the Spark but the bass/headphone thing you mentioned does have me slightly worried.

 

Yeah, I couldn't talk myself out of wireless haha It was a me thing for sure.

I'd watch reviews and see what you think. Depending on your guitar, it may not be a thing you notice at all honestly. Or get it from Amazon with a great return policy ya know.

 

I've got a Spark and it does produce a good amount of a bass for an amp of this type, but then a lot of them hardly produce any. I had a THR5 for years before the Spark and the Spark sounds far better in a room. Not sure what the headphone issue is people are mentioning. I play mine through headphones some of the time and it doesn't sound exactly like the speaker/cabinet does, but then I wouldn't expect it to.

My assumption is that the cabinet of the Spark is intended to make it sound more like a real amp (something other small amps often don't do so much, they're more like guitar hifi), which means that the presets sound different through headphones in the same way that switching from your head and cab to your head and an IR box would. I basically never play my actual amp at home these days because the Spark is much easier to use at home, that and it's just a lot of fun.

I will say that the app and connectivity have some tiresome problems. The app works fine, but has some fairly lumpy moments too. Not being able to do a new preset wizard (rather than having to pick an old one, copy it and then totally rework it) is annoyingly carried over from the desktop software. The Spotify connectivity is also wonky, as it seems to try to default to Youtube videos instead of just streaming from Spotify, which is bizarre. However, since you can connect to it as a bluetooth speaker anyway, you can just run whatever music player you want from your phone and it will go through the Spark.

I've had mine for 3 years now and even bought the footswitch for it, which opens things up a whole lot. It's not perfect by any means, but it's very good at what it does.

 

Thank you for that!

I just got the new Tom Delonge strat and I'm basically looking for a new practice amp. Leaning towards the Spark but I think I may get this 1 watt Marshall (M-DSL1CR-U) since all I'm really looking to do right now is re-learn a bunch of blink songs on this new guitar, haha. Thinking I'll get the Marshall used first and get the Spark down the line to mess around with tones.

 

I have a DSL1, its a lot of fun, kinda toylike, but its got a good sound, especially into a bigger speaker.

1 watt is still really loud for home playing, I keep mine on the .1 watt setting pretty much all the time

That said, i got a helix recently and haven’t touched the dsl once since. If i was shopping for a home jam set up, id defo go helix

 

Same - granted i almost always play through headphones at home and the hx stomp i got is a bit pricier than some of the practice amps. It just sounds so good

 

What Helix would you recommend if I'm just looking to play in my bedroom and not piss off my neighbors?

 

Im not a line 6 rep, but from what i understand the amp modeling is the same from the cheapest iteration to the nicest, so if yr just looking for a high gain rock sound, I imagine the stomp or whatever the cheapest helix is will get the job done. I’ve only used mine with headphones so far, but if you’re going into monitors with it, you’ll have a lot more decible flexibility than turning up a tube amp

The helix marshall modeling sounds shockingly better than the dsl1 to me, and the dual rec model (which may or may not be a part of the cheaper versions i dunno) can get a really nice Enema sound.

Blink uses modelers live now, i dunno what brand, but if you wanna hear an in use helix example, this new Everclear live record is all helix:

Also Im putting this record out, so def pre order like 10 copies

 

i have the helix lt. dustin from thrice uses them in the studio. personally, to me, they sound like dogshit live and they lack a certain “3d” quality to them when just playing at home with headphones. obviously through mixing and studio stuff you can get it to sound the same. but yeah if you aren’t doing anything too serious with it and just looking to goof off silently, they’re great.

 

Did you have any issues with the bridge or neck? Been seeing a lot of people complaining about it on YouTube. I want one sooo bad but I can’t justify the price. Plus I just recently bought a cheap Squier mustang for my kids and myself to play around on. And my tele just sits there

 

I really want a Stomp, feels like it scratches so many itches for me...

 

For a while they had a deal where if you bought the stomp you got HX Native free. That made it worth the purchase for me

 

I don't even know what that is haha, now I gotta look it up!

 

I think it’s their modeling software, right?

 

yeah its like their DAW plugin, with no processing block limits. basically lets you record your dry signal and apply any effects to it after the fact, and has no limitations (outside your computer's processing power) on combinations of amps/effects/cabs/IRs/etc

 

How does it sound? I have a Fractal FM3 but I like the idea of something in the box for editing stuff while I travel. Plus just having additional re-amp options.

 

I'll be honest - I don't feel like I have good enough ears to say how much better/worse it sounds than other options. But I will say I feel more satisfied with my tone on the HX stuff and being able to emulate tones for covers and things like that.

 

I really like the amp emulation, distortions, and tremolo, but the Helix delays, modulations, and wah don’t excite me much at all. I haven’t popped the hood much tho, im sure they’re amazing

and the expression pedal sucks, i don’t like the feel at all

 

No neck or bridge issues, I ordered early on from Sweetwater and they were great. The truss rod channel hole was a little misshapen but that doesn't bother me. I brought it to a local shop for a setup/re-string with Ernie Ball and I was good to go. Now just need to get a practice amp!

 

haha i kinda disagree - the delays and reverbs are strymon level, to me, but the dirt pedals stink and i always use the sends for my own overdrives

 

I did a bad thing...

 

Turns out the bad thing was a massive win in terms of taking a punt. I absolutely love it. By far my most versatile guitar. I wish I'd made the effort to get my hands on a G&L sooner.

On a totally different topic, I know a bunch of you guys have made parts casters or done a lot of modding. With Fender necks and bodies, how easy is it to chop and change? My first "proper" guitar is a Mexican standard fat strat from like 20 years ago and I'm probably going to do some more changes to it to reduce it to a single pickup (a wide range humbucker :D) creature, but one of the things which lets it down is that the neck isn't all that. Does it tend to be difficult to stick an American neck onto a MIM body?

 

It's cool that you're considering building a bass guitar cab. Based on what you've found, the open E string on bass is indeed around 41Hz, and you'll want a cab that can handle those low frequencies.
When it comes to driver and tweeter combinations, it's important to find components that can reproduce the full range of bass frequencies while also handling the higher harmonics. A crossover point around 4000Hz should be a good starting point to separate the bass frequencies from the higher ones.
And hey, I get it—sometimes building something yourself is just as satisfying as playing the music. If you're into musical instruments, you might want to check out the bouzouki instrument.