Short introduction by the admin

[Richard]

I am Richard, I live in the Netherlands in the picturesque town of Gouda. I am a teacher of English and love playing guitar and bass. Grew up to the sounds of Ritchie Blackmore and Jimi Hendrix, which then got extended into all kinds of more extreme music. I have had a couple of different amps, including a Fender Cyber Deluxe and, before the Spark, a Line 6 POD XT in an Atomic Reactor 112-50.
Got the Positive Image Spark in June, and loved it. It looked like it was going to be a lot handier than the POD+Atomic combination, so I wanted to check it out quite badly! Two negative sides to it were the fact that I had to do a lot of fiddling before I got it to work the way I wanted, and the Positive Grid forum, well, I didn't like it - I found it difficult to navigate if you were only interested in the Spark, and worst of all it was full of people complaing about long delivery times. Apparently PG were not quite the perfect company, but I would have preferred a forum where users helped each other. I posted on their official forum a few times, but no replies. All the fiddling could have been prevented by a forum that worked better ;-)
So that's why I decided to start the Spark Zone forum. Hopefully with more Spark-only users, more helping hands, and a great feeling of Spark camaraderie.

Play loud!

[dhbailey52]

Thank you for starting this forum! I, too, am growing tired of the complaints about deliveries.

I've gained a lot from the helpful postings on the PG forum and am looking forward to receiving my amp soon so that I can put that knowledge to good use.

I'm a professional musician and private music teacher, mainly on woodwinds and brass but I do have some guitar and bass students. I also repair woodwind and brass instruments. My main instrument is the trumpet. I conduct a community band. I often support my violinist wife by playing guitar while she plays traditional fiddle tunes.

I look forward to making new friends on this forum!

[Richard]

Welcome!

[Shaggy]

Thanks for starting this forum.
I too get tired of all the pissing and moaning on the FB groups.
I received my Spark on Tuesday and am loving it so far.

On a side note, do you also run the Heartfield guitar/bass forum?

[Richard]

On a side note, do you also run the Heartfield guitar/bass forum?

Yes

Could you do a bit of promo on the Spark FB group plz?

[TeleZee]

Thanks Richard, I received my Spark yesterday and have not really got in to it yet.

I'm a semi-pro guitar player, playing the bar scene for the last 35 years. Purchased the Spark for a lot of different reasons. Looking forward to hearing from other users.

Un-boxed, so far so good sounds great. A little noisy with my single coils, but what isn't.

Cheers Kim

[dhbailey52]

HI Kim,

After reading your comment about single coils being noisy, I have a question for you which isn't really relevant to the forum except for my possible future guitar purchase to get with my Spark (when it arrives).

What is the advantage to single coil pickups over humbucker pickups? Since the single-coils seem to be noisy in lots of situations, do they give a tonal advantage for some types of playing? I know that strats and teles in their original design had single coil pickups but I've seen them with humbuckers, or with one humbucker and a single-coil.

I'm just curious, and if Richard doesn't think this is appropriate for this space, I'm fine with not pursuing this discussion.

[Richard]

Single coils sound brighter, is what I always read. But because I primarily play metal myself (with distortion I don't notice the difference much.

[bobl]

I just discovered this forum. I received my Spark about a month ago and am still getting to know how to use it. I see dhbailey is here. Thank you for answering the question I posted on the PG forum about jam tracks. I haven't had a chance to try the edit chord feature yet but will soon.

I have a couple Teles, a Strat, and an SG. I generally prefer the Fenders. I just had some restoration work done on the SG. It sat in its case in a closet for a long time because of problems that have now been corrected. All my guitars sound surprisingly good through the Spark.

[Guitarman007]

Belated thank you for setting up this forum. I'm always interested in learning about how other Spark owners are using their new amps.

I have been playing guitar for many years. I mostly play with friends, but I've never been in a band. I play for my own enjoyment. Nothing takes my mind off of the world's problems like strumming a guitar. My main guitar is a Fender American Standard Stratocaster. I also play a PRS Santana SE. Amazing how different each guitar sounds when using the same amp settings.

As for music styles, I love blues and classic rock. I grew up listening to guitarists like Hendrix, Clapton, and George Harrison. But the guitarist that made me want to pick up a guitar was Carlos Santana (as you can probably tell by my tone request!).

Thanks again. Nice job setting up the forum!