NAD: Positive Grid Spark 40

[11top]

Mine’s scheduled to arrive mid-August.

 

[Dave32]

I ordered mine July 11th. Got a email today that said it will ship by July 31st. We will see. LOL.

 

[vchizzle]

I’ve always thought the positive grid iPhone/iPad app blew away any of the competition in terms of sounding “real” and responding like an amp. I used to use it to warm up at a gig or on the drive there. Not surprised they’ve come out with something like this that sound good and has multiple uses. Can’t say I’m super interested in this, but at the price it seems like a nice tool to have.

 

[Craig Bennett]

Update. Mine was scheduled for mid-August delivery. Received it yesterday. Positive Grid has swung the other way on over promising. I got an email from Fedex on Monday, so I knew it was coming. Positive Grid sent me an email the day it arrived.

It is a very nice amplifier for the cost. Connects effortlessly with my iPad and so far it has been a lot of fun playing along with my Apple music songs and jamming in general. The modeling is good. I have their Bias FX2 and I think the amp is as good if not a little better. It is a lot better than the Line 6 Amplifi amp. That amp's bluetooth disconnected a lot and does not compare in sound quality. The Spark has a very good sound for its size.

 

[Rich5150]

I had ordered one in January, It arrived a couple of weeks ago. Was I happy about the wait no, was I gonna complain about it nah wouldn't have done anything anyway better to just forget about it and wait till it got here. I have to say its a killer little practice amp, I need to dig into it more but I was diggin the tones I was getting out of it.

 

[Roy]

Ordered one 27 July, arrived today 6 August. Looks like Positive Grids supply chain is working.

 

[Straight_six]

Looks like a great practice/recording amp for the $224 free shipping/no tax it's still selling for. I couldn't resist and just ordered one myself.

 

[11top]

I have had mine for 2 days, and I have to say I’m disappointed so far. The clean tones are acceptable, but the preset gain channels sound very muddy to me. Also, I have an IPhone 8 and my ITunes connect through the Bluetooth ok, but I’m having all kinds of trouble with the app. It takes repeated attempts to connect my phone with the unit before it finally does. Also, I can’t log in, and I can’t get my account to accept a password change.

I would return it if it were simple.

 

[Straight_six]

I have had mine for 2 days, and I have to say I’m disappointed so far. The clean tones are acceptable, but the preset gain channels sound very muddy to me. Also, I have an IPhone 8 and my ITunes connect through the Bluetooth ok, but I’m having all kinds of trouble with the app. It takes repeated attempts to connect my phone with the unit before it finally does. Also, I can’t log in, and I can’t get my account to accept a password change.

I would return it if it were simple.

Well that sucks, sorry to hear that. FYI they are still selling at good prices on Reverb so if you list yours now you should be able to get what you paid for it if not a little more.

 

[Roy]

I’m thinking their Bluetooth doesn’t support older standards. My iPhone X connects fine, but my 2012 MacBook Pro can’t even discover the Spark (I had to use a stereo cable, which did work). I haven’t tried the USB yet.
One comment, it is hard to work the amp controls using the iPhone because of the size. IMO the app is aimed more at tablets.

 

[pac90]

I have had mine for 2 days, and I have to say I’m disappointed so far. The clean tones are acceptable, but the preset gain channels sound very muddy to me. Also, I have an IPhone 8 and my ITunes connect through the Bluetooth ok, but I’m having all kinds of trouble with the app. It takes repeated attempts to connect my phone with the unit before it finally does. Also, I can’t log in, and I can’t get my account to accept a password change.

I would return it if it were simple.

Oh oh... I have one on order too, but to be honest if it sounds good streaming and clean then that will do me fine, half the time its just going to be a radio & music player

 

[11top]

One comment, it is hard to work the amp controls using the iPhone because of the size. IMO the app is aimed more at tablets.

In the ad, they picture it with a phone.

 

[Roy]

In the ad, they picture it with a phone.

It does work on my iPhone X.

It’s just the knobs are about 1/16 to 3/32 diameter and you have about a region 1/16 around the knob for your finger to control the knob. On a tablet the I’m assuming (hoping) that the sizes would be larger allowing more area to place your finger making using the controls easier.

Also on the phone, the app only supports portrait mode.

I’ll admit I’ve been debating on investing in a tablet. Not an easy decision as I was one of the suckers who bought the original iPad only to have it unsupported too quickly (Apple basically froze the feature set and only added new features to new models).

 

[Straight_six]

I just received mine yesterday. I haven't really had a chance to get into all the features yet but it seems like a good sounding fun little amp and I haven't had any issues with the bluetooth connectivity

 

[pac90]

Mine came in too, the online reviews are spot on about it being very bassy, have the bass all the way off

Early days but like the chords in song app and play along backing track stuff, fun practice amp, I'll keep it

 

[alantig]

Monday.

 

[Straight_six]

Yeah this thing is a absolute blast to fool around with and tweak tones. I'm floored that 2 little 4" speakers can sound this good, not only for guitar but with music too! I know I'm still in the honeymoon phase but for the money I spent on this thing I consider it an absolute steal.

 

[Straight_six]

It's 7 days later now and I'm still astonished everytime I turn this thing on. The honeymoon phase is far from over for me. I have a newer Samsung phone but so far I haven't had a single bluetooth connectivity issue. And not only does it sound great with my guitars but it also sounds fantastic when streaming music via bluetooth. IMO this was a steal at the $224 that it cost me.

 

[ScottR]

I have had mine for 2 days, and I have to say I’m disappointed so far. The clean tones are acceptable, but the preset gain channels sound very muddy to me. Also, I have an IPhone 8 and my ITunes connect through the Bluetooth ok, but I’m having all kinds of trouble with the app. It takes repeated attempts to connect my phone with the unit before it finally does. Also, I can’t log in, and I can’t get my account to accept a password change.

I would return it if it were simple.

Man I hate to hear about the issues you're having. I was seriously considering one. However, with all the negative stuff I'm hearing about not only order fullfilment, but now the app issues, I think I'm gonna hold off until they have a firmware update or something and finally get their sh!t together ( if that's even possible). Such a shame. It's a great concept, but I'm totally turned off now. Hope they eventually work out all the kinks my man.

 

[11top]

Man I hate to hear about the issues you're having. I was seriously considering one. However, with all the negative stuff I'm hearing about not only order fullfilment, but now the app issues, I think I'm gonna hold off until they have a firmware update or something and finally get their sh!t together ( if that's even possible). Such a shame. It's a great concept, but I'm totally turned off now. Hope they eventually work out all the kinks my man.

I’m still not very impressed by the tones either. I’ll probably end up selling mine.

And it just dawned on me they never sent the bag.