The Positive Grid Spark was one of the unarguable entries on our list of the Greatest Gear of the 21st Century. It wowed in its original format, quickly dominating the smart amp space. We’ve since had the Spark 2, Spark Mini, Spark LIVE and even Spark Neo Core headphones taking the concept into new forms of all shapes and sizes. However, Steve Vai maintains good things come in small packages...
To say Positive Grid’s Spark Mini is essential to Vai would be an understatement. “I carry one in my luggage at all times,” he says. “I have one for my dressing room and one on the bus. Before every show, I use it to warm up, and I’ve even used it in the studio directly into my DAW.”
“Virtually every guitar-player friend of mine that I gifted one to is over the moon with it,” he says. “They write me all the time and tell me how much they love it… even people I didn’t think I’d ever hear from.”
“It takes the headache out of having to fiddle with page after page of digital controls,” Vai says. ”Every time I go to plug into my Spark Mini Vai, it feels like Christmas. As soon as I received it, I knew it was going to be useful. I just didn’t realize how useful and indispensable it’d become.”
What’s your history as far as this class of amp goes?
Ever since mini-cassette recorders were being used – before tiny amps for guitars were even a thing – I’d check out virtually everything that was coming out. First there were small amps, but they were still too big and clumsy to throw in your luggage.
Eventually, those novel little cigarette-pack-size amps started to emerge, but they were horrible sounding. Then, a category of portable guitar headphone amps and multi-effects units started to become popular in the mid-Nineties and 2000s, when digital signal processing got small and cheap enough to put into a pocket-sized box.
The original Korg Pandora PX1 came out around 1995. It was a palm-sized digital multi-effects processor with amp modeling and a headphone output.
When did things start to change, leading to the Mini class of amps?
Other companies such as Korg, Line 6, Zoom, Tascam, Boss/Roland, Vox and Yamaha started creating these pocket guitar processors, and I used many of these. A lot of them had the ability to load tracks to play along with.
The challenges were that you had to use headphones, they could be a bit complicated to use and edit, and they always seemed to be missing something “real” in the tone; a lot of latency and thin tone was just something you tolerated. The tones were very digitized-sounding. So none of these pocket rockets were ideal, but it was what was available at the time.
Once I tried the Spark Mini, the light bulb went [on]. It was perfect for me. It’s small enough to take virtually anywhere – you just plug and play – and it sounds real right out of the little speaker. It has four instant presets, which is all I really needed; it has jam tracks, and you can upload anything to it. It has an aux-in, so you can plug any backing-tracks player into it.
Where does the app fit in?
It’s real. It’s such a well-received device because it’s so easy to use and travel with
The app allows for virtually endless combinations of amps, cabinets, microphones, effects, and so on. It has a headphone input when I don’t want to disturb anyone. And the AI function blew me away! You can describe the kind of sound you’re looking for, and it pulls from its plethora of digital delights to create a tone that is its idea of what your description sounds like.
How did the Mini Vai happen?
I reached out to Positive Grid and started a relationship with them to create a signature Spark Mini Vai that has various accoutrements that reflect my workflow and aesthetic.
Why do you feel the Mini is worthy of being on this list?
It’s real. It’s such a well-received device because it’s so easy to use and travel with. You can dig into it, and it responds like an amp usually does. If I didn’t have it, at this point, I’d probably just warm up without anything, because I’m done with those little pocket boxes. And none of the other smaller amps, that are not quite as small, have a sound I can hang with.
- Find out more at Positive Grid
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
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