Should I buy a Positive Grid Spark?

I was looking for a small amp with built in effects for travelling and for readily moving around the house, so the Positive Grid range came up on my radar pretty quickly. I eventually settled for the Spark Mini at the end of last year and have had some time to sit with it. So what have I found great about this amp?

One of the things that I really like about the Spark Mini is that user amp profiles are uploaded to the app and voted on by users, with the highest rated rising to the top – this way I find that I am constantly finding tones that suit the application that I need it for.

Some of the main positives of the Spark Mini for me have been:

• Bluetooth is super accessible (I’m on Android) – The Spark Mini shows up immediately on my devices list and rarely is there an issue with connectivity.
• Massive range of amps and effects through the Positive Grid app
• Weighs maybe a kilogram, so it can go with you anywhere, from a coffee table to sitting in the back of the car jamming while you wait.
• Quick and simple USB-C charging – no external batteries.
• Headphone, speaker out and Aux in.

I have yet to give the Smart Jam and backing tracks a really good go yet, but they definitely show some promise from what I have experienced of them. The Instant chords feature is also great, bring up a Youtube video of a song and it will show you the chords to play along to.

When I went online to a few forums I saw that a few people said that the felt that the speaker was a bit ‘tinny’ or that they couldn’t crank a lot of sound from the amp. I want to push back on this and say that I didn’t feel that the amp had tinny qualities (especially when used with gain), but I also have to ask what these users are expecting from an amp that is tiny in it’s dimensions. Of course you aren’t going to have a wall of sound from the Spark Mini and if you bought it for that I think you have been sorely mistaken.

Other products that I considered when looking to buy were the Yamaha THR series (too expensive), the Katana Air (already own a Katana) and the Fender Mustang Micro (headphone out only).

Overall, if you are looking for a product to jam with, to try out new tones, or to break out of a guitar funk, then I would highly recommend checking out the Spark Series.