Spark Mini (as an acoustic amp)

[lkingston]

Originally Posted by Aspiring

I actually have the micro in addition to the mighty air but haven't tried it through a speaker yet.

I found the mighty air took a lot of tweaking to get a decent sound at decent volume particularly for lower gain acoustic pickups but I also didn't like the stock presets very much.

The acoustic amp models have separate gain and volume controls. The gain control in that context works well for compensating for low output pickups.

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by lkingston

The acoustic amp models have separate gain and volume controls. The gain control in that context works well for compensating for low output pickups.

Yes

However, with my passive acoustic pickups and fingerpicking I have to come as close as possible to maximum for reasonable volume. With active pickups the volume is fine. And unfortunately my Furch Little Jane has a passive pickup (Ultratonic) which has fairly low output.(but sounds fantastic)

What I found is that if i really push both level and gain I end up with horrid clipping noises if I am not ultra careful on my dynamics or if I start strumming.

I added the rose comp compressor into the chain to act as more of a limiter to help with that.

Bass is also a fine dance and other subtleties.

With my tonedexter as a preamp I am quite happy with it but that defeats the ultra portable purpose and I might as well just take a bigger amp.

[Blueser100]

I just bought a Spark Mini a couple days ago. It hasn't arrived yet but I bought from Amazon (where it's $30 more). I didn't discover the discounted price on the company website until after the fact and when I inquired about matching the Amazon price they refused. Oddly, the amp ships directly from Positive Grid. Not a great start.

[jonfields45]

Originally Posted by jonfields45

I returned the Mighty Air. A decent Bluetooth speaker and a Mustang Micro for reverb and EQ sounded much better and louder. I suspect that combo, if the feature set meets your needs, would be competitive with the Spark Mini too.

A friend who owns the same Klipsch Groove and Mustang Micro has a Spark Mini on order. If the thread is still around when he gets it, I'll report back.

He's got both and the Groove/Mustang combo is the winner for tone.

[jwood1]

Originally Posted by jonfields45

He's got both and the Groove/Mustang combo is the winner for tone.

The Mustang Micro seems like a great little device. The ability to pair with a bluetooth speaker appears to be a fantastic combination for a travel guitar or home practice. However the Mustang Micro website makes no mention of Bluetooth output and connecting to a bluetooth speaker. I read the manual and the Bluetooth capability is only described as streaming from your smartphone or other device, i.e. receive only. The only output appears to be a headphone jack or USB-C.

The only way I can see using a bluetooth speaker is to USB to your phone, and then Bluetooth from the phone to the speaker. Or, headphone jack direct to a speaker without Bluetooth.

Can anyone who has the Mustang Micro comment?