By David Gedge
POSITIVE GRID'S SMART JAM
Tony Iommi Gibson SG
Big Buzz Spark
Spark Guitar Amplifier and App
One of the most buzzed products to
arrive at Winter NAMM is the Spark Guitar
Amplifier and app. Parent company Positive
Grid says it is now shipping to Early Bird
supporters.
Spark offers real-time Smart Jam accom-
paniment, Auto Chord detection, and intu-
itive practice features for professional players
and beginners alike. Spark also functions as a
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full-range, 40-Watt combo amp. It features
dozens of tone-shaping options plus tone
matched amps and effects built on the com-
pany's BIAS engine.
Spark also offers an Auto Chord
Recognition app that provides easy access to
platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and Apple
Music to analyze and display chords for mil-
lions of songs in real-time. Its easy-to-use con-
trols let players slow down the song’s tempo
or loop a difficult section to practice. With
Smart Jam Technology, the Spark amp and
2020
app work together to learn the player’s style
and feel, and then automatically generate a
bass and drum accompaniment track.
With its BIAS Tone Engine, Spark offers
clean tones, crunchy chords, or leads for elec-
tric guitar using its full-featured amp and
multi-effects engine that provide virtual tube
amps and effects.
With
Positive
Grid’s
ToneCloud
Community, players can connect the Spark
app to iOS or Android mobile devices and get
access to Positive Grid’s ToneCloud that fea-
tures 10,000 tones.
The speaker design features two custom-
designed speakers, and a tuned bass-reflex
port are engineered to provide deep, full-
sounding basses and crystal-clear highs for
every style of music.
With Voice Control, the Spark app
responds to a variety of voice commands to
stream a song or a backing track, ask for a vir-
tual band to follow the user’s playing, and
more.
Spark’s Amp includes onboard bass, mid
and treble tone stack controls, dedicated
knobs for a mod, delay and reverb effects, a
built-in tuner, and tap tempo, plus four user-
presets.
Other features include Bluetooth connec-
tivity for streaming music in hi-def audio via
the Spark app, a USB interface, and PreSonus
Studio One Prime recording software for free,
allowing players to get started right out of the
box. Spark can be used with electric guitar,
bass, and acoustic guitar. A discount for
Spark is now available. To learn more, or to
order (MSRP is $299) now, go to www.posi-
tivegrid.com – discounts are available for
early bird buyers at presstime.
Standing Ovation
Ovation Custom Shop opens in CT
For fans of their roundback design
acoustic guitars, this is good news. And
their new made in America guitar, Ovation
Guitars announced the opening of their new
“Ovation Custom Shop” in New Hartford,
Connecticut. The facility features a small
team of dedicated luthiers and technicians
who have a truly specialized focus: custom-
made, USA built Ovation guitars. These
craftsmen have well over 100 years of com-
bined Ovation-specific expertise. Utilizing
their unique cumulative knowledge, cutting-
edge technologies, and the most sophisticated
construction techniques available, the result-
ing Ovation and Adamas guitars offer a play-
ing and performance experience that is com-
pletely off the charts.
Ovation General Manager Rick Hall told
IE "The luthiers in New Harford represent the
‘best-of-the-best.’” The first products to come
out of the Ovation Custom Shop are a limited
run of the sought-after Adamas 1687GTs and
Adamas 2087GTs.
Also located in this New Hartford shop is
the new “Ovation Workbench.” Customers
with Ovation and Adamas guitars that need
repairs, set-ups, or updating can get fully
authorized repair work. Instruments can be
shipped to/from the Ovation Workbench,
and all associated costs can be discussed
before any work takes place. Details are on
the Ovation Workbench section of the web-
site. To find out more about the Ovation
Custom Shop, Ovation Workbench, and all
things about the resurrected all new Ovation,
visit www.ovationguitars.com
.