The Spark 2 is Finally Here! - How Does it Compare to the Original?

[@LogicalQ]

Have one wrapped as a Christmas present for my kid… so tempting to unwrap it myself and get him another one.

[@rmca11]

The self restraint is strong with this one

[@HighLifeWorkout]

I have a spark 1 (and mini). I definitely buying this

[@IgorMuller]

Through the years i've been watching this channel, mr Lee greatly progresses as a guitar player and a musician both. Моё почтение.

[@maddog7012]

Man, Lee's playing is just soo smooth..

[@ferdinandbeck9719]

Plays all the notes you're expecting

[@maddog7012]

@@ferdinandbeck9719 Playing all the notes I want to hear

[@orphanuprising]

He's not technical, but man. You can tell he's focused on that buttery smooth technique.

[@maddog7012]

@@orphanuprising you don't need to be a literary professor to write poetry...

[@ferdinandbeck9719]

@@maddog7012 exactly

[@embiggens1]

I don't have a relatively new understanding of amplifiers and pedals, but I still gravitate to my Spark. It's just so damn easy. The point is to play, and this is excellent at promoting that.

[@layol692k7]

That opening Jam was great loved it

[@belo1971]

The best practice amp…for years now ! 👍👍

[@karl-wilhelmschreitz8549]

wow!! did not expect an amp with so many options, sounds and possibilities for around 300 would ever exist in my lifetime..

[@apidyahex9213]

Captain plays like a legend these days!! his phrasing is just epic now!

[@danoliver2817]

HAVING UPGRADED TO THE SPARK 2.... I REALLY LIKE THE SOFTWARE UPDATES VIA WIRELESS DOWNLOAD, THE SPARK 1 REQUIRED TO HOOK UP TO YOUR COMPUTER TO UPDATE...... BOTH ARE EXCELLENT PRODUCTS.

[@Bastion71]

I have a Spark 40 and a Spark GO (and some "real" tube amps that are just really heavy and loud, that seldom get used anymore). I'm considering picking up the Spark 2 and handing down the Spark 40 to my son who is beginning to get into playing guitar.

[@JonnyDee123]

This is astonishing. I started playing guitar in 1972. In the days when leaning solos required slowing down a 33rpm vinyl LP to 16rpm this tech would have seemed to have been beamed in from the 25th century. It's absolutely crazy good and the Spark 2 looks almost perfect for home studio use. For the money it's extraordinary. I shall be having a word with good old Santa.

[@david_farmer]

I have a Spark 1 and don't really use it a TON, but I still do like having it. For me the major selling points of the 2 is the line outs and the battery. I might just have to pick one up!

[@BetterCallJamie]

I like how they chose Slow Dancing, there is a patch for that already setup on the Spark.

[@layol692k7]

This and a east coast guitar would be a great place to start. This spark 2 seems to me a very worthy upgrade.

[@Milehousestudios]

Such good products. I can't imagine not having some sort of Spark around the place. Every sound on demand for practice.

[@huxhuxley8404]

Also, just got my Spark 2 last week. Love it!!!

[@progrob27]

That Ibanez looks rather classy!

[@GonzaloMelo1990]

Lee is getting better and better!

[@Tee-mq2zn]

Another great demo Lee and Pete! I've got the Spark 2 and it's one of the best bits of gear I've bought in the last 30 years, very flexible and really inspiring. While the Tone Cloud has an incredible amount of dirty/distorted/metal patches there's relatively few good quality clean patches so can I suggest you make your own and upload them as you suggest at 15:26 especially as Pete really knows a good clean tone when he hears it? If you do, give them an easily identifiable Lee/Pete/Andertons name as there are literally thousands with the same name, eg, 'Lead Guitar', 'Rhythm Guitar' etc with no idea of how good they are? Cheers chaps!

[@mrakk]

I would pay to see a compilation of all of Pete's explicit comments 😂

[@golfrick007]

Spark one sounds more boxish and muffled, and two sounds more open and better.

[@mileswatkinson8135]

I have a spark mini. If i choose to go full size, I'd go for the spark 2.

[@mattswain552]

The 2 definitely sounded better to my ears, though it would be interesting to hear the "in the room" difference. Love the new additions and improvements, even the visual ones...very nice.

[@BryanMiranda96]

I tried one for a few days to see if I'd like it as a cheap alternative to the THR30II I use at work for practice and it felt like they added a lot and spent a lot of time and money adding AI features, but the sound still isn't there, it doesn't sound any better than the original did, just louder and with more features,none of which makes it sound better just make it a bigger software package

[@michaelforde4373]

The thr30ii is a super sounding amp

[@GummerNH]

I have both. The reverbs in v1 already sounded like they were coming from somewhere else, very 3d. I think I especially prefer the tweed sounds on the 1st one, but so far can’t tell the difference on other models aside from what I suspect is needing speaker break-in. That said, as someone willing/happy to gig with this in the right situation the line out and much better footswitch is worth the upgrade. Still unsure if I will hold on the the gen. 1. It’s pretty easy to make space for a good sounding amp/BT speaker… especially so small. Biggest unsolved mystery is getting the looper settings to save between sessions… it always defaults back to click; I want to keep it free.

[@brandonnewman9290]

I use my Spark 1 pretty religiously for room practice and jamming. It isn't terrible by any means. Of course I still have some gripes but I can't be sold on a Spark 2 without a couple of things that needed to be addressed. I'm glad they incorporated a looper with some drums.. that's great. However, still no separation of mod from EQ.. like come on.. I'm not expecting 20 wet fx but at least separate the mod from EQ at a minimum.... The spark AI is actually available for Spark 1 and I am just not impressed with the tones.. gonna take a while of learning to get some good sounding tones by default. Of course tweaking a couple that the AI generates yields good results. Without even hearing the Spark 2 in person I can't really pull the trigger yet.. Hopefully PG listens to these gripes and makes some improvements.

[@BetterCallJamie]

Everytime you play that Police riff, you should have a clip to the Miku Pedal from back in the day with Lee & Rob.

[@graemegourley7616]

I bought myself one of these and I enjoy it. But I do find that a lot of the higher gain stuff sounds a bit phoney... And if you use it as a Bluetooth speaker, it is just massively bassy.

[@rmca11]

Would like to see a head-to-head with the Nux Mighty Space!

[@7712025]

Looks like it is still sounds like it is placed behind the heavy curtain… tried first version, event replaced the speakers but finally sold it… stays happily with THR II…

[@j.rozman7016]

I guess I will still be waiting for Yamaha THR III Combo! :)

[@dannyheath8876]

Pete step your game up ! Lee is catching up 😂

[@hoisin75]

Home studio shootout: Spark 2, Neural DSP Nano Cortex, TONEX or the Universal Audio UAFX Enigmatic '82 Overdrive Special Pedal...or other?

[@MattZildjian]

It's unfortunate that the factory presets were just terrible sounds to begin with during the spark 1 v 2 comparison at 36:00

[@_Uh_Oh_]

I almost bought the Spark 1* but got the Katana Mini instead - which then broke after 1 week!!!! Kinda put me off the newer mini amps now and I grabbed a Roland Micro Cube on eBay which has been bloody awesome. (*totally missed out some of my comment)

[@insane.seagull]

Nux might air is fantastic

[@scottbaker1991]

It would be nice if boss would add this stuff to the katana pc software. I guess that won't happen since they are the #1 seller.

[@ZenoIV]

Pete must use Quantise a lot on his DAW.

[@leovan83]

I don’t understand how Positive Grid, Yamaha and Boss haven’t done 2 very important things - disclaimer: important to me 1) Wireless! Except for Boss which I believe has one model and it’s very expensive… none of these practice/desktop amps have a wireless system built in. 2) Again, I’m 100% not sure but I believe these amps either have a rechargeable battery pack or use actual AA batteries… instead of having a built in rechargeable battery using a USB-C connection. I mentioned all of that because amazingly, for a very long time, NUX has 2 options: a small but loud model (Mighty Air) and a bigger, louder 30 watt version (Mighty Space). Both are wireless and you get a transmitter and the amp has the receiver built into it. Both are rechargeable via a USB-C port in the back so literally, you can charge them with a cellphone charger. The bigger one, Mighty Space, has a looper as well and you also get a footswitch to control it. Most importantly, both have amazing tones as they’re actually amp modellers as well, you have 7 presets which you can control with an amazing app that allows you to upload IRs and finally, a LOT of effects and these are quite amazing too. Just saying, I’ve played the Spark side to side with my Mighty Space and mine sounded better in every sense - not to mention that it’s wireless and rechargeable via USB-C.

[@visualdragon]

Just guessing on the internal battery question but including internal lithium batteries in the device will definitely change shipping requirements. At the very least it will require the warning labelling. This is probably minor compared to... Having the battery built-in means you need to have a charging circuit built into the amp even with USB-C to control charge rate/prevent over-charging etc. Then they need circuitry to also charge via mains for those that don't want to charge using USB and only charge from USB if it's not plugged in. If the amp already has mains power, do you even need the USB charging capability? None of this is hard and the technology already exists, but it does increase the cost and parts count of the device. How many more units would they sell with this feature vs. the cost of implementation? It might not be justified.

[@MattZildjian]

all I want to know is... will the spark 2 replace your Yamaha THR in the office? :)

[@patrickhopkinson1851]

Sounds like a good riposte to the NUX Mighty Space.

[@darrencunningham4782]

I wonder can you load loops into it ?

[@AndreasKingMedia]

I feel like with amps like these you guys should be just using a 'room' mic a meter or two in front of it instead of setting it up as you would a traditional guitar amp. That way you can give a much more accurate sound to what people buying the amp are going to get. No one is going to close mic these to record into a daw or anything like that

[@NickWebbSax]

How well does the smart jam pick up with extended chords? If you added a 7/9/11/13/whatever, would it be able to incorporate that sound into a backing?

[@huxhuxley8404]

Love the G-Shock, Pete!

[@PeteLonsdale77]

"Knob over on the left" Hope you weren't talking about Pete 😅

[@Idontlikethisever]

Sadly spark2 has quality control issues. Playing louder low tones can I guess in some make the speaker sound like something is loose inside. I got my first replaced and sadly the new one has the same problem.

[@genenery9315]

Do the clean amp models get dirty when you crank up the gain now? On the first one, you had to use a drive pedal to get the clean amp models to break up. Not good amp modeling in my book.

[@bauman921]

are you guys ever going to review the katana gen 3 artist series? you said in your gen 3 video you were going to and that you would do a comparison video and here we are months later and nothing

[@dcflake5645]

Just came from the Steve Vai demo. Hes a slightly better guitarist than The Captain but id be hard pressed to say which id prefer to hear play

[@logangrzesiek8749]

I saw Vai and Satch play recently. By about half way through Vai's set, I was ready for Joe. Would definitely take Captain jams over most of Vai's music.

[@fender4brad]

Super cool amps, love them when I travel. At home it gets dusty, dialed in tube amp with a couple overdrives kills any digital amp. The ear bud generation doesn’t seem to understand the true. Feel is way different. Death of real amps and sound systems with power and speakers?

[@commissioner1969]

Whats different. It's DEARER

[@jjdubois6101]

Did they fix the horrible boomy bass response? Seems they did!

[@andertons]

Yes... you could just watch the video & you'd know ;)

[@scottbaker1991]

Could he have searched for the ac/dc and john mayer songs on youtube and then have the cords for those?

[@sknerd5434]

It only needs a wah pedal. Positive grid we need a wah pedal!

[@chico1367]

Oh hello there

[@MarkRCorriga]

Can you use this with a Google Pixel phone? Can you use it with WINDOWS computer?

[@floppytnarwal1641]

My brother has just picked up the spark 2, he has a pixel phone and the app works fine

[@davva360]

I do think it sounds better than the original Spark with less bass. I got it because i wanted the looper built in as i use it as a living room amp and want something inconspicuous out there with minimal wires. I sold my old one for $170 so upgrading did not cost all that much.

[@sethmccollum7101]

That PRs tele is way too expensive for what it is, I couldn’t believe the price point they hit when they came out, with painted finishes and the stained finishes being basic solid pieces instead of some flame tops or something should be at most 2 k

[@finalrevivalband]

I gave up waiting for that amp and asked for my money back, and bought a marshall... Way better!

[@dannipm]

Using the prompting wrong… except from that good stuff.

[@yvandewever6518]

For me the 2 sounded really bassy and muffled. I prefer the spark mini. Sorry ;-)

[@DcsDux]

16:00 "Mama I'm comin' home" is by Ozzy (Zakk played for him) and was referenced by Weird Al in the song "the night Santa went crazy"

[@66javi66]

In the comparison Spark 1 sounds Better for me :(

[@vansongs]

Wow! It sounds just like my Spark Go! Mind you I am listening on a Spark Go as a bluetooth speaker/quiet amp this early am on Vancouver Island. I switched to my stereo speakers and the Spark 2 was way more stereo sounding than 1 during the Mayer bit. Blues arc sounded sharper, better on 1. Weird.

[@georgenowik7421]

I love this. I love everything about the accessibility that this creates for new players or street musicians. It's a technological marvel. The part I do not love is that it has a finite shelf life because of how app dependent it is. App support isn't forever. It could be quite a long time. But there's a half-life component that tick-tocks to an eventual brick. That's not necessarily something that should eliminate it as a viable current option and full disclosure I purchased one because it'll be perfect for the family right now. Ten years from now? Who can say.

[@13coyote13]

Soon A.I. will take over and we won't need show hosts or musicians for that matter.

[@angellovesjazz]

I might sell my katana and get this. This must be a sign to downsize lol

[@musicmore5169]

Starting to Wonder if anyone actually wins any of these KZbin giveaways................ because I don't know anyone who's won or won myself 💔👍💯🤘🧬🔥🎸

[@andertons]

Someone wins every 10,000 new subs - we announce this on socials. We have over 900,000 subscribers so the chances of you knowing the person who wins I'm guessing is pretty small!!

[@michaelforde4373]

Too many items now even a new yahama transacoustic with a looper,

[@steelcitytbirds]

Sorry, Katana.

[@mitchelljarvis2010]

Lee is quite professional delivering these videos, but please get rid of the clown! 🤡

[@fawkesandhound]

😂😂 guess who is the video producer??

[@HEXiT_]

simple answer, they are very good. but is landfill in 5 years due to poor software support. the same fate as every other amp that needs an app. and thats the thing.. the app. its gathering information and they are selling it. making you a product in there inventory. so no. not so good.

[@DAVEBLISS2007]

That PRS guitar looks rubbish and ugly, sound pretty poor too. SPARK NEEDS TO OFFER BATTERY UPGRADE PACKAGE FOR ORIGINAL MODELS.

[@narrowonflow]

6:07 8=======D