Newbie Practice Amp: Katana Mini X vs Spark Mini\40?

Gear & Tools Talk 🔊 Amplification & Effects
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Hey all. New guitarist here looking to pick up a cheap practice amp. I was originally eyeing the Boss Katana Mini X, but saw that my local shop was offering the Positive Grid Spark Mini for around the same price. I love the idea of being able to mess with various tones without having to worry about buying various pedals to get different effects. But they also have an open box of the Spark Forty for a couple bucks more.

I’m not super worried about portability, the amp is mostly just something to play with while I learn. And I don’t plan on torturing others while I figure out my instrument. Since they’re all right around the same price ($150), what would you recommend: Boss Katana Mini X, Positive Grid Spark Mini, or the Positive Grid Spark 40?

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be sure to search on forums here. Ther are LOTS of comments on each of these in several different postings:

https://community.justinguitar.com/search?q=spark

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My personal opinion (and I am likely in the minority here) is that beginners shouldn’t be worrying about chasing tone. That gets to be a huge time suck, with players spending their practice time fiddling with amp presets rather than on learning to play the guitar.

The Fender Champion II 25 watt is only about $130, has a handful of amp simulations and effects. Dial in something that sounds good to you, then leave it alone and play guitar. You really don’t need to have the same tone as the guitarist on the record for every song. Time for that later in your journey, if ever.

Again, I’m certain that many will say I’m wrong, that chasing tone is part of the fun that keeps them interested.

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If you’re not going to chase tone (yet. You will in the future…yes you will… :laughing:) i’d suggest starting with this one.
It’s a bit more expensive, but you get so much more, looking into the future.
It’s a tube amp (15/1W) with the addition of an fx loop.
It probably doesn’t mean much now, but can in the future.
For now, there’s only “sound”. No presets, no bluetooht, no nothing. Just your standard gain, volume, tone, bass, middle, treble and reverb. (built in reverb tank).
You can switch between 1W and 15W. More than enough for practice/recording sessions.

Take a look. Who knows, maybe this can be something?

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Between these, I would go for the Katana MiniX or Spark Mini.

I had a Spark 40 and was not impressed with it, but I have heard the Spark Mini is better.

I think the choice between the Katana Mini X and the Spark Mini depends on how “app focused” you are.

If you love using apps and don’t mind having to launch the app on your phone and connect it to the amp in order to control the tones on the amp, then the Spark Mini will give you a wider range of effects and amp models than the Katana Mini X.

If, on the other hand,. you like physical controls and don’t want to use an app, or if you want some effects and models but might get overwhelmed if there are too many to choose from, then the Katana Mini X is a better choice.

Note that the Katana Mini X has no app, and has a fairly limited number of amp models and effects (3 amp models and 10 effects) compared to the Spark mini (42 amp models and 50 effects)

IMO, that can be a good thing.

I can understand wanting to explore tones without having to buy extra stuff, but others have mentioned the dangers of “chasing tone” and, frankly, as a beginner, you aren’t going to know whether you want a “Marshall Super Lead 100” or a “Bogner Ecstasy 101” even before you start playing with the gain and EQ controls on the amps themselves.

And, as a newbie, if you want a delay effect, do you really want to have to audition 7 of them which, if you do it properly, would take several minutes each.

You can waste a lot of time doing that and, in practice, you won’t use 90% of them.

IMO the Katana Mini X is a good compromise: enough decent effects for a newbie (or even an experienced player) to explore and to have options for songs, but not so many that it becomes overwhelming. Plus, they are easily selected from physical controls, so you don’t have to negotiate an app all the time.

Cheers,

Keith

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@ghostbunny,
Majik has accurate points here. Both of these things were part of my decision to buy a processor with lots of models to fiddle with. You need to know if YOU enjoy experimenting or just want to play. That should be a large part of your decision.
For myself, when I am mentally tired, practicing doesn’t sound very exciting, and I enjoy selecting some model and seeing what I can do with it. As an example, taking a high-distortion metal amp model and trying to get a mildly gritty blues tone out of it. This kind of thing gets me with guitar in my lap and doing something guitar related even when I am tired. I DID learn what various amps sound like doing this and that in itself is pretty useful later in your learning.
I have about 4 settings that are my go-to settings depending on what I feel like playing. They’re saved and I don’t spend any time to set them up other than to just select the save. If you don’t want to deal with lots of knobs, this is the thing to remember you have available and should use it.
Also, I have a SPARK 40 collecting dust. I didn’t like it for the same reasons Majik didn’t like his. I only turn it on to check something (probably a forum question) and never to play through. I’d steer you away from that particular amp.

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If I were given those choices I would pick the Katana Mini X.

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Thanks all, you’ve definitely given me a few things to consider! Although I am a bit of a tech nerd and don’t mind the idea of utilizing an app, I do have a tendency to get overwhelmed when offered too many options and might wind up wasting precious guitar playing time trying to make up my mind on amp configuration.

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