A lot of modeled equipment has been offered: one ramp, six compressors, 14 drive pedals, 39 Ampère, 13 EQ units, six delays and nine reverb. Most of these have countless options. It is not nearly as overwhelming as a package such as Amplitube for PCs and Macs, but it is still many things.
To run it all, Positive Grid has strengthened the computing power of the Spark series. The company told me that the digital signal processing has doubled since the original spark declaration, making “smoother transitions between tones, richer effects and an extensive memory for presets and loops”. The system runs on an M7 chip “that has been specially developed for extensive processing power and precise tone reproduction”, and the extra power has enabled the positive grid to work more complex models on devices, which improves their pre-amplifier and amplifier modeling.
Despite the DSP increase, the results here simply do not compare with the kind of scary-hurry tube amplifier and securities simulations that you can perform on a computer or a much more expensive hardware modeling installation. I could never get clean and “edge of falling apart” to sound something other than artificial, although some of the distortion sounds were pretty good. Balm and delays also sounded solid.
But the Spark 2 was not really designed for recording of studio quality and positive grid is frank about this. The models performed on Spark 2 are inspired by the company's computer work, but they are “optimized for an all-in-one, mobile-friendly playing experience”, I was told. The Spark 2 is intended for “practice, jamming and basic recording”, and those who are looking for “control of studio level and complex setups” must look for something else.
This follows with my experience. In comparison with an ordinary amplifier, the Spark 2 is crazy. When testing the unit I would drag it between rooms without a second thought, looking for a place to play that a member of my family would not annoy. (Headphones? Never!) Thanks to the optional battery I didn't even have to connect it. It was a simple, fun way to get some electric guitar without using a screen or a computer, and the sound could fill an entire room. Compared to the weight and hassle of moving a “real” amplifier, this felt easily.
