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These Go to 11 - The Guitar Amp Thread


dcbc

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My Spark arrived!!  This little amp is LOUD.    I need to mess with it and I haven't done shit with the iPad.  Great for $200.


Nice! How long did it take to get it?

Also for the Katana Bros: this guy is kind of a doofus but I really like this setting on my 100W combo.


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On 5/5/2020 at 8:51 PM, tigol said:

My Spark arrived!!  This little amp is LOUD.    I need to mess with it and I haven't done shit with the iPad.  Great for $200.

Congrats, please post updates as you get into the different features :D

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5 minutes ago, Buzzrock said:

I’m intrigued, but the wait time is brutal. 5-6 months.

Yes, I've been reading the comments under the ads for those things for nearly 3 months now and I couldn't pull the trigger until there is steady production.

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On 5/13/2020 at 11:11 AM, Napoleon said:

Yes, I've been reading the comments under the ads for those things for nearly 3 months now and I couldn't pull the trigger until there is steady production.

Yeah, the early purchases seem to have essentially been funding R&D like a kickstarter campaign — but without full disclosure to the consumer.  I like positive grid software, but not sure I want to reward a company that’s going to treat their customers like that.  Also makes me wonder how healthy they are and if they’ll be around to support it over the life of the amp.  If it lives up to its hype, I’ll probably get off my high horse and pick one up.

Edited by Goredho
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12 hours ago, Goredho said:

Yeah, the early purchases seem to have essentially been funding R&D like a kickstarter campaign — but without full disclosure to the consumer.  I like positive grid software, but not sure I want to reward a company that’s going to treat their customers like that.  Also makes me wonder how healthy they are and if they’ll be around to support it over the life of the amp.  If it lives up to its hype, I’ll probably get off my high horse and pick one up.

I think that COVID had a lot to do with production issues of things coming out of China.

Also, don't know if this was a Kickstarter thing, but Kickstarter/Indiegogo don't "sell" items, what they do is "offer rewards" if you fund their company. There is a possibility that the rewards are never fulfilled, but usually they are... just way behind schedule. Again, I don't know how this was done.

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I understand it’s not the same thing, but it’s close and shady enough for me to be severely disappointed in a company that I previously enthusiastically supported and evangelized for.  

These Sparks were promised before the 2019 holidays with a lot of marketing hype well before coronavirus came into play.  The only logical explanation is that they had a target release date to coincide with the 2019 holidays, it became apparent they would not have a product to demo let alone sell and came up with their marketing campaign and presale “bargain” offer to capitalize on holiday shopping without having any idea when they could make good on their offer.  That’s a drastic decision.  To sacrifice consumer loyalty and long term profit in such a productless money grab is something I would only consider if the alternative meant the company wouldn’t make it to a 2020 holiday shopping season otherwise.

Ita great that they are finally upholding their end of the bargain, but it’s severely negatively affected my perception of them as a company I want to consume from.  Ymmv.

Edited by Goredho
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  • 5 weeks later...

The last time I got my Blues Jr III out was to sell it. Then I plugged my Telecaster into it and decided I couldnt live without it.

That's been a few years. I just got it out again because I was thinking of taking it to Texas to have there. This time I plugged a Gretsch into it. Not sure the last time I had so much fun jamming electric alone. Came up with 2 new riff idea's and inspired to write some more.

Fuck. Now I don't know if I should take it or keep it here.

Rulz



e035b12379c033710ff6febed389c039.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

Did not buy the Boss Katana I said I probably would about 3 or 4 months ago. 

Bought a used Fender Mustang 1 v2...

...but sold that today and then picked up my Positive Grid SPARK amp that I ordered 8 days ago (8/2). Some people have been waiting 100+ days to even 200+ for their SPARK pre-order. I feel a little guilty. 

67981D97-FFF5-4A8E-A1D6-6D3985FBFA2B.jpeg

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On 5/16/2020 at 8:56 AM, Goredho said:

I understand it’s not the same thing, but it’s close and shady enough for me to be severely disappointed in a company that I previously enthusiastically supported and evangelized for.  

These Sparks were promised before the 2019 holidays with a lot of marketing hype well before coronavirus came into play.  The only logical explanation is that they had a target release date to coincide with the 2019 holidays, it became apparent they would not have a product to demo let alone sell and came up with their marketing campaign and presale “bargain” offer to capitalize on holiday shopping without having any idea when they could make good on their offer.  That’s a drastic decision.  To sacrifice consumer loyalty and long term profit in such a productless money grab is something I would only consider if the alternative meant the company wouldn’t make it to a 2020 holiday shopping season otherwise.

Ita great that they are finally upholding their end of the bargain, but it’s severely negatively affected my perception of them as a company I want to consume from.  Ymmv.

Fool me once......

 

7C9093E5-78D9-4CD2-B59B-FE8A60F3A070_4_5005_c.jpeg

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1 hour ago, Napoleon said:

Did not buy the Boss Katana I said I probably would about 3 or 4 months ago. 

Bought a used Fender Mustang 1 v2...

...but sold that today and then picked up my Positive Grid SPARK amp that I ordered 8 days ago (8/2). Some people have been waiting 100+ days to even 200+ for their SPARK pre-order. I feel a little guilty. 

67981D97-FFF5-4A8E-A1D6-6D3985FBFA2B.jpeg

Congrats :).  Let us know how it works.

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43 minutes ago, Deej said:

Fender discontinued supporting the software for the Mustangs, so good call.

I knew that when I bought it for $75 back in April, but I found the instructions online and printed out the pages pertaining to my amp, which made a difference to the guy who bought the amp for $90. 🤷‍♂️

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On 5/5/2020 at 9:51 PM, tigol said:

My Spark arrived!!  This little amp is LOUD.    I need to mess with it and I haven't done shit with the iPad.  Great for $200.

I was reading that the bass on the SPARK can be overwhelming and then I saw someone who 3D printed a stand so that the amp wouldn't have something solid below it. It seems that the bass sound might be shooting down and raising the amp off of a solid surface might be better for sound.

 

 

15 hours ago, Deej said:

Fender discontinued supporting the software for the Mustangs, so good call.

 

14 hours ago, Napoleon said:

I knew that when I bought it for $75 back in April, but I found the instructions online and printed out the pages pertaining to my amp, which made a difference to the guy who bought the amp for $90. 🤷‍♂️

So here is a link to the manual for all Mustang v2 amps, no matter the number.

http://cdn2.fender.com/support/manuals/guitar_amplifiers/Mustang_I-IV_(V.2)_Advanced_Manual_Rev-A_English.pdf

image.thumb.png.b198a03001628b2cc3b55e6668d2836d.png

 

Mustang 1 v2 was the first 4 pages after the cover page. http://cdn2.fender.com/support/manuals/guitar_amplifiers/Mustang_I-IV_(V.2)_Advanced_Manual_Rev-A_English.pdf

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Problem isn’t instructions, they discontinued the Fuse software back in March. More than a few people on Reddit and forums saying it stopped working on their computers after Fender stopped support.

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1 hour ago, Deej said:

Problem isn’t instructions, they discontinued the Fuse software back in March. More than a few people on Reddit and forums saying it stopped working on their computers after Fender stopped support.

Correct. That is the far bigger problem, however understanding the basics of your Fuse-less amp is also a problem. 

I had no idea why I was getting different sounds every time I would turn the damned thing back on. 

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Did not buy the Boss Katana I said I probably would about 3 or 4 months ago. 
Bought a used Fender Mustang 1 v2...
...but sold that today and then picked up my Positive Grid SPARK amp that I ordered 8 days ago (8/2). Some people have been waiting 100+ days to even 200+ for their SPARK pre-order. I feel a little guilty. 
67981D97-FFF5-4A8E-A1D6-6D3985FBFA2B.thumb.jpeg.0fd3fc94ae33d10e3cd7627eeb6d53ba.jpeg


Did you order it from Positive Grid? If so why do you think you got it so fast?
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If they have production and fulfillment figured out, the past products I’ve used from positive grid were of good quality and value.  Some of the earlier recordings I have in the composition thread were made with positive grid’s Bias FX software which is the same amp and fx modeling engine built into the spark.

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8 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

Did you order it from Positive Grid? If so why do you think you got it so fast?

 

 

6 hours ago, Deej said:

I received an email from them this week saying if I placed an order, it would ship out the same day.

I ordered from Positive Grid on August 2 and received my amp on August 10th. 

I ordered in a small window when they actually had amp in and were using LIFO to fulfill orders. 

Now they are out of stock, but amps can be ordered for $224 (25% of list) un August 23rd. They supposedly have more on the way.

Some people who ordered before March still have not received their amps. 

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16 minutes ago, Napoleon said:

I ordered in a small window when they actually had amp in and were using LIFO to fulfill orders. 

I guess I can understand they want to get some customers out there talking that didn't have to wait months for the amps to arrive, but man, that's kind of shitting on everyone that funded their R&D back in March.

The comments to their facebook ads are a strange mix of the ecstatically overjoyed with the amp for people that have received them and vehement hatred for people that ordered a long time ago and are still waiting.

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1 hour ago, Goredho said:

I guess I can understand they want to get some customers out there talking that didn't have to wait months for the amps to arrive, but man, that's kind of shitting on everyone that funded their R&D back in March.

The comments to their facebook ads are a strange mix of the ecstatically overjoyed with the amp for people that have received them and vehement hatred for people that ordered a long time ago and are still waiting.

They also shipped them with 2 prong plugs and several people complained of a hum. Others said that if you used the gate, then there wasn't any hum.

Some people have pressed for a 3 prong plug, while other have just ordered their own from Amazon at about $20 with tax & delivery. That's what I did and my plug is supposed to arrive today. I got my amp on Monday, but I haven't even plugged it in yet. I've taken it out of the box and downloaded the app to my phone, but that's the extent of it.

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1 hour ago, Napoleon said:

They also shipped them with 2 prong plugs and several people complained of a hum. Others said that if you used the gate, then there wasn't any hum.

Some people have pressed for a 3 prong plug, while other have just ordered their own from Amazon at about $20 with tax & delivery. That's what I did and my plug is supposed to arrive today. I got my amp on Monday, but I haven't even plugged it in yet. I've taken it out of the box and downloaded the app to my phone, but that's the extent of it.

 "Our amp sounds so authentic, we use two-prong plugs."

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
On 8/13/2020 at 2:49 PM, Napoleon said:

I ordered from Positive Grid on August 2 and received my amp on August 10th. 

I ordered in a small window when they actually had amp in and were using LIFO to fulfill orders. 

Now they are out of stock, but amps can be ordered for $224 (25% of list) un August 23rd. They supposedly have more on the way.

Some people who ordered before March still have not received their amps. 


After 2 months and 10 days, I plugged in the SPARK for the first time tonight.

In between I had a road trip to LA and back (to Dallas) and had to move. Not a lot of focus on learning to tweak the amp. Tonight I realized that there will be learning necessary.

The thing makes interesting sounds.

The "play along with a song" thing goes WAY TOOOO FAST for me at this point, so I'll need to learn how to slow it down and focus on the rhythm parts and not the leads.

It's nifty and my new Fender Player Strat is why inspired me to plug 'er in.

And that's all I have to say about that.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I'm no virtuoso, as you'll see.  But I can hear a good amp.  This is my 1973 Deluxe Reverb, worked into a nice blackface circuit and then some by the great David Allen at Allen Amps.  Its party piece is a 1967 Jensen speaker, which can't be oversold.  I made this video for a friend of mine after telling him how underrated a good ES335 is into a DR.  Unfortunately, he requested settings to compare to his (my old) 1976 Princeton Reverb.  I change to DCBC settings about half way through.  Guitar is my 1970 ES335.

 

Edited by dcbc
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9 hours ago, tbone_ said:

Great sounding amp man

Thanks.  It's been my number 1 since I bought over twenty years ago.  I've been on such a tweed kick, that it's the last of my Silverface amps.  But it's still the best.  And a birth year amp at that.

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Hey guys.  My 17 yr old has picked up the guitar this last year and is really into it.  He has an acoustic and I'd like to get him an electric for Christmas.  I'm pretty set on a Squire Tele, but am open to other suggestions.  

As for amp/headphones, I'd love to get your thoughts on reasonably priced beginner-type options.

THX.

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6 minutes ago, Rollo Tomassi said:

Hey guys.  My 17 yr old has picked up the guitar this last year and is really into it.  He has an acoustic and I'd like to get him an electric for Christmas.  I'm pretty set on a Squire Tele, but am open to other suggestions.  

As for amp/headphones, I'd love to get your thoughts on reasonably priced beginner-type options.

THX.

The Squier Classic Vibe Teles are a really nice guitar for about $400 new. 

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2 hours ago, Rollo Tomassi said:

Hey guys.  My 17 yr old has picked up the guitar this last year and is really into it.  He has an acoustic and I'd like to get him an electric for Christmas.  I'm pretty set on a Squire Tele, but am open to other suggestions.  

As for amp/headphones, I'd love to get your thoughts on reasonably priced beginner-type options.

THX.

Make sure HE is set on a Tele. What type of music does he listen to?  What kind is he playing?   

Edited by hullabelew
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Agree with the above, window shop with him at a GC and see if there is a style he likes. Is a Tele the tone and look he is wanting?  A squire HSS strat would cover a lot of ground in the $400 range. Epiphone Les Paul or SG also fall in that price zone. Kids at my son's music lesson class also seem to gravitate to Schecter. If he likes it, he will definitely play it more. 

For amps: Boss Katana-50, Roland Cube or a  Fender Mustang. Any good modeling amp will let him play around with clean and dirty tones to find his style.
 

Edited by topochico
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Thanks guys.  His guitar playing has been mostly classic rock stuff.  For some reason, he's a big Grateful Dead fan.  I understand that a strat is more versatile than a tele, but don't really understand why.  Is it the extra pickup?  What types of music would one prefer a tele versus a strat?  Sorry for all the questions.

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2 hours ago, Rollo Tomassi said:

Thanks guys.  His guitar playing has been mostly classic rock stuff.  For some reason, he's a big Grateful Dead fan.  I understand that a strat is more versatile than a tele, but don't really understand why.  Is it the extra pickup?  What types of music would one prefer a tele versus a strat?  Sorry for all the questions.

Careful with the tele route. If he's a Jerry Garcia fan, that dude was about as progressive as it gets when it comes to his guitar - a Telecaster is a blunt utilitarian product of the Cold War, and that's an entirely different charm than what Garcia went for. If you want him to stay engaged, that might mean finding something that will inspire him on a level beyond simple tone.

Disregard the above if he has like a shit load of 40-something friends he wants to impress. In that case, Telecaster would be perfect.

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