Spark Amp Presets for blues tones

Maybe SRV used a Spark ?

@Richard_close2u afraid to ask but lots off topic waffle here that could be stripped out. TIA. :slightly_frowning_face:

Hi @wdperkins and @Michael_K73,

I dusted off my Spark40 to see if I could make a tone that I liked - not really. :slight_smile:
There is a muddiness that I just cannot seem to eliminate. However, here is what I did:

Tube Drive → Lux Verb → BassEQ → chamber Reverb

tube drive: Overdrive about 5.5, level 6.0, tone 5.0 - this was for a relatively hot HB neck pickup
amp: gain 4.7, bass 0, mid 8.6, treble 6.2, volume 8.0
EQ: 50Hz 0, 120Hz 3.0, 400Hz -8.0, 800Hz -4.2, 4.5kHz 4.4, 10kHz 0
reverb: level 0.9, damping 8.0, low cut 10, hi cut 10, time 1.6, dwell 0.5

Note the negative signs in the EQ settings.

My goal was to reduce the muddy sound and get the string higher harmonics to stand out a lot more. I also set the gain on the amp and volume on my guitar about 5, then reduced it until I had a little distortion when playing strings 3 and 4 fretted together on the 2nd fret. you could probably use the overdrive pedal level and gain for this instead, but you do want to balance the amp breakup and the pedal breakup to sound nice together and happen at a good play level. I backed off on the reverb partly because of my room and partly because reverb seemed to enhance the muddy sound I was trying to reduce. – OH, and I also preferred the amp pointed away from me. It was at my feet, pointed at a wall maybe 8 feet away with a table and magazine rack to bounce off of.

good luck.

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Thanks Seq :slight_smile: Will give your suggestions a shot. The Spark 40 is quite famous for that extra bass :frowning:

I am giving the new Spark 2 a shot though – it just came in today as a matter of fact. Folks are saying it’s much improved. We’ll see. I’m still really bad at creating tones. Almost feels like it’s an art all to itself at times.

Thanks for the luck! I will need it :wink:

-M

yes, but look at that odd EQ shape. not what I expected!! I initially had the bass rolled off, but found I wanted to drive out what amounts to the open thin strings!. my ear didn’t suggest that to me until I moved those frequencies. I also found I preferred the bass EQ tone range over the other one. also curious.

It pretty much is. You just need to fiddle with your gear enough that you know what each knob does. I hadn’t fiddled with the Spark in 2 years, so it was a bit of trial and error again.

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I set up everything to your specs, and loaded up to the Tone cloud.

My user name is: Michael K73

Named it: Blim Seq blues

@wdperkins

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Thank you. I’ll download it today.

Thanks! Looking forward to trying it.

My 2 arrived a couple days ago. Evaluating it against my Yamaha THR30II to decide which to keep.

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I haven’t looked at what changed in the Spark40-2. If they cleaned up the mud, then you can probably start to center the equalization a lot. begin with the BassEQ, start to move it toward all zeros, then move to the amp - probably put some bass back in and see where the mid wants to land for your guitar and ear.

When I tuned this, it was my SG, but I never liked the sound, so I switched it out for the Tremonti SE which is louder and not as much sparkle on the pickups. You will want to fiddle a little just for your own guitar if nothing else.

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I can’t speak directly to Spark amp settings or presets, but I can speak to downloading presets. You will be better served in the long run by building your own presets from scratch. I suggest starting with trying to approximate the tone of a player that you really like – the player that gives you this burning desire to play the blues in the first place.

Rise to the challenge of getting a tone like your hero or discovering a tone that you really like. This will help you develop your ears, get you started with learning what your amp can do, and put you on the path of finding your voice on the instrument.

Hint: A Fender amp sim ('65 twin reverb if you’ve got it) with a little bit of dirt and some delay/reverb is a good place to start.

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I agree it’s a skill set to eventually explore, but kinda have my hands busy with Blim right now :slight_smile:

oh!! By “dirt” do you mean more gain or compression or something. I think Justin has mentioned just a bit of “crutch,” but not too much so it sounds like rock.

:slight_smile:
-M

right - you can add a bit of distortion - “gain” in guitarist speak, but you should also be able to play 4 strings at a time without it sounding too noisy. This was my comment above about getting a slight distortion playing strings 3 and 4. you can hear it as an added tone to the two strings ringing, but just barely.

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No sir, the time to work on your tone is now and always. A thin and tinny tone is not good for you or any one in ear shot (this includes small children and pets). Go “fat” or go home. The sooner you can get there the better.

Dirt can be any number of things: Overdrive, distortion, fuzz, and/or a bit of break up with a tube amp. Dealer’s choice. Dialing back on the tone knobs on the guit and amp can go a long way as well. My favorite dirt pedal is a Rat clone (just sayin’).

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crunch

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Sorry for my typo :wink: