Read our full thoughts on the new SPARK EDGE Portable 4-channel Smart Amp & PA System from Positive Grid.
OVERVIEW
So, what are we looking at here, exactly? If you’re familiar with the SPARK family of offerings from Positive Grid, the new SPARK EDGE will be familiar in look and feel but offer some features the typical practice amp doesn’t deliver. For starters, it features 4-channels, a smart app to control everything and a killer built-in looper for live performance capabilities. In short, it’s kind of the perfect all-in-one busking tool, recording amp, and even small-format band PA for intimate gigs and house concerts.
We’ve been hands-on for a few weeks now and wanted to give our initial impressions here. So, without further ado…
BUILD QUALITY
We’re no strangers to the Positive Grid lineup, and we’re happy to report that the cabinet/chassis the new SPARK EDGE is housed in is solid as a rock. Even though it’s fairly lightweight (you can carry it around easily by the rubberized handle with just one hand), it’s incredible durable and rugged feeling, and all the tactile controls feel solid, with no wiggle or play in the knobs or that typical cheap plastic feeling you get from lower quality front-panel controls.
Everything is housed in a nice black, hardened plastic with a little light pebbled texturing to it, and the grill that covers the main speaker is a nice, thick-mesh design that’ll prevent any accidental damage to the cone itself. It is removable, though, so you can swap it with custom designs if you want to go that route…
Basically, this unit is built to be lugged around, thrown around in the back of a car or tour van, and set up in any sort of indoor or outdoor climate. It handles the rain, extreme heat and of course the abuses of the road. Which is why we keyed in earlier on this being perhaps the most perfect, compact unit for today’s on-the-go busking musicians, guitarists who need an easy (and lightweight) solution for impromptu jams and rehearsals, or even for full bands who need a last-minute solution for that basement party gig where they’ll need to provide their own sound.
FEATURES
As we alluded to, there are inputs here for guitars, obviously, Bluetooth connectivity for backing tracks (great for performing singer/songwriters who may not be able to bring a full band to, say, a coffeehouse gig), vocal inputs for dynamic mics, and stereo line inputs which are super handy for your synths, drum machines and even outboard gear or mixers. The USB-C port handles audio and data transfers, an onboard 5-pin DIN MIDI input for control of the amp’s features via external MIDI commands, there’s a power port if you’re running on mains (though we exclusively used battery power, another testament to the EDGE’s portable nature and capabilities) and BEST OF ALL! There are line OUTPUTS, which means you can take the band’s sound running through the PA, or even just your guitar sound that’s been dialed in and run it out into your computer’s audio interface for super-easy recording purposes.
Love the sound you’ve tweaked? Cool, now you can capture it in your DAW without having to mic up a cab – less gear, less hassle and way simpler and time-effective.
And you get a built-in tuner, so you can effectively take that pedal out of your chain and save some space on the floor.
THE APP & FOOTSWITCH CONTROLS
Also available are the smartphone app (pretty integral to the experience, really) which allows full control over the unit, including fx and pedal sequencing, the AI commands which basically allow you to say what sound you want, and have it called up almost instantly through the ever-evolving Artificial Intelligence built-in, and there’s also the existing CONTROL X footswitch which allows you to choose fx on the fly or control presets like a standard guitar pedal (we’ve got to mention that this is fully-mappable and customizable to your needs, and is built just as solidly as the SPARK EDGE itself, with a matching enclosure so it feels like a cohesive design ecosystem – nice touch from Positive Grid’s industrial design team).
The app, though we usually bemoan them, is actually fairly simple to use and straightforward if you’ve ever used something similar before. Heck, even if you haven’t it’s just as easy to master as any other app you can think of, so dialing in tones, saving and editing presets, mixing the band, downloading other tones from the cloud, tuning up your instruments, engaging the looper and even interacting with AI prompts is easy.
Speaking of the AI, it does get the job done almost 90% of the time. Want a glassy, smooth jazz tone for your guitar? All you gotta do is ask. Want a more stadium-rock lead sound? Again, use the prompt and tell it what you want for your guitar sound, it’s surprisingly spot-on most of the time with the options it provides. Just click on one of the returned results and see (well, hear) it for yourself. We were super skeptical at first, just because so much in the AI space has been a lot of hype with a lot of wonky results, but this exceeded our expectations and having talked further with the Positive Grid team, seems like it should only get better with time.
So, if you haven’t even thought of giving AI a shot to shape your tone, play around with it. It may save you a lot of time and tweaking signal paths when it comes to nailing to sound that’s in your head.
Lastly, let’s touch upon the full-band aspect of this. Since it’s being marketing as a PA, the ability to control the mix on the fly, without the need for a sound person, is especially welcome. A mixer view enables you to control the band’s sound with your fingertips, alongside all the other controls like amp selection, fx selection and controls and even a super useful built in video recording mode which will sync with your SPARK’s processed sound. This will be especially useful for vertical reels on your social channels where you need to capture great audio to accompany the clip, and your iPhone’s built-in mic just ain’t cutting it.
LOOPER
The looper is great, and again would be a killer app for solo performers who employ live backing tracks to play over. Even better is adding in drumbeats to perform alongside, either for practice, live shows or recording scenarios. Not too much to say or find fault with; again it’s easy to engage and interact with, and you can avoid the dreaded “footswitch shuffle” we’ve all come to despise when it comes to more complex styles of loop pedals that have come and gone. You get a full minute of record time, which should be enough to satisfy even the most die-hard creatives out there.
FX SELECTION AND PEDALBOARD BUILDING
This is one of the things that Positive Grid does incredibly well, and if you’ve seen some of the recent videos we’ve shared, you’ll know how easy it is to choose the virtual amp sims and fx pedals you want in the app, and instantly get the sound you’re after. There’s a library of tens of thousands of tones from other users in the cloud, too, so you’ll likely never be at a loss for additional creative inspiration.
SOUND QUALITY AND VOLUME
All of the above doesn’t really matter if it doesn’t sound great, right? Which is why we’re delighted to report that not only does the SPARK EDGE sound fantastic, but it’s LOUD too without the dreaded solid-state clipping or harshness other small-format amps deliver. Rather, the more you push it, the more it almost has a natural roll off like you’d expect in a valve-amp, or at least a valve/SS combo. Digital and solid state “practice amps” of yore really gave us ear fatigue, and couldn’t handle anything approaching a loud volumes convincingly without extremely painful high frequencies, especially. But this nails it. It truly does.
Whatever the technology behind their new “Sonic IQ” is, it provides really crisp highs and tight lows at any volume, which means you CAN gig with this, record with it, practice with it and busk outside and get great sound (and convincing spread) no matter the situation. Plus you can leave your heavy tube amp in the rehearsal room and give your back a break for once.
We ran electric guitars, a variety of synthesizers and drum machines, vocal mics and auxiliary sources through the PA, both solo’d and as part of a mix, and were never let down by volume or low-end flabbiness in the mix. Nothing was lost or buried, and mixing the elements themselves was intuitive and immediate.
For those who prefer an old-school approach and are using this more as a simple small guitar amp than PA, you’ve still got your standard tactile EQ knobs on the panel, so you can treat it like a standard amp, if that’s your wish. But we urge you to dig deeper, because there’s so much more to explore here, especially all the amplifier types and fx that come standard.
For complete details, we recommend you check out https://www.positivegrid.com/products/spark-edge and watch some of the videos we’ve embedded here.
PROS:
super portable, good battery life, great sound quality, great app integration and AI commands, amazing selection of tones and tweakability, rugged and attractive design, lots of practical applications for solo artists, working guitarists and even small bands.
CONS:
none