IS SPARK A SCAM ?
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I waited 180 days for mine. Its clearly not a scam. Just slow.
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They're legit. I ordered Feb.16 and it just came in today.(July 24)
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So the Spark delivery problems are back. New orders are showing expected dispatch date 60-65 business days - that's over 3 months. Im now at the end of the 20-25 BDs that it was showing when I ordered on 4 Dec. Two shipping dates on the tracker have been and gone without any helpful information from PG despite much chasing (they said it had been dispatched, but the delivery company tracker says it has been booked on their system on 18 Dec but never collected.) Now they've closed the ticket and wont respond at all. The supposed "rapid response team" email address that PG pushed on Facebook (but isn't mentioned on PG's own site) hasn't responded.
So much for Calvin Abel's CEO letter from July:
"From here on out, I promise to do everything within our power to keep you 100% informed." / "We are revamping our order tracking system and customer service team to make it easier for you to track your order, and to be more responsive to you when you have questions so that we can reply in a timely manner." Clearly not happening: I've had zero accurate information since ordering.
"Some customers received tracking numbers many weeks prior to their amp's delivery. Tracking numbers were automatically generated the moment our warehouse received a shipping order. We are working to improve the process to ensure tracking numbers are not created until they are in fact scanned and in the shipping process." That looks exactly like what just happened to me.
"We are doubling the warranty on Spark to Two Years as a thank you for your support." Hasn't happened - its still 1 year.
To add insult to injury, they're still advertising them as "in stock" with a different promotion every few weeks: not once since I ordered has there not been a promotion (which is not legal in some countries.) There is still an issue with amps not working properly once they are received due to non-grounded power supplies. Social media is plastered with unhappy customers again.
This is not a viable long-term business plan and at some point I fear the company will fold, leaving customers without software support or tones. The issues is that they are taking customers' cash up front not to fund that order, or even the batch before that: they are relying on more orders coming in to be able to build the commitments they have now. There's surely a limit to how many people in the World are willing to wait 3 months or more for a practice amp which might not even work properly when they get it. That is basically a pyramid scheme, and pyramid schemes have a habit of ending badly.
The good news is that if you do receive a Spark you'll get tones equal to any amp costing £100 more: just take advantage of the company's hype and sell it as "new" on e-bay. They are in such short supply that they are going for a lot more than the new price, and you can buy something from a supplier that might be around for a while to support it.
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Ive just had a notification that my current order has been updated and when looking at the order it’s been dispatched and Yodel are awaiting its arrival in their hands for delivery in a few days.
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@kain-harkins said in IS SPARK A SCAM ?:
when looking at the order it’s been dispatched and Yodel are awaiting its arrival in their hands
Congrats! When did you order / what country are you in?
Im not sure I understand though - either its been dispatched (then it is with Yodel) or it hasn't. They told me mine had been dispatched on 18the December but it still hasn't been, according to the GLS tracking number.
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@robd the UK and ordered on the 23rd December
Mind you Yodel haven’t said they’ve got it yet. They’ve just said it’s on it way to them but Yodel have it in their system at least.
I’d add a screenshot but I’m not sure how to do it.
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Today they are telling me "Despite that the package has been handed to GLS, it looks like there's no further action from their end and we've already have our warehouse look into the situation. There're also a couple of other orders in the same situation and we're doing everything we can to make sure the packages are being processed properly." How does that possibly make sense? Either the courier has it (both physically and on their system) or they don't. If its not on their system it may as well not exist.
This is truly a disaster of a company.
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@robd I wouldn’t accept nothing further they can do. I assume GLS has a process that means they’ll have to wait a certain amount of time to investigate the missing package(s) and if that turns up then it’ll be between GLS and PG to sort the mess out. I know that’s no constellation to yourself but they’ll just keep blaming each other until they’ve done what they need to do. I had this recently with DHL transporting an item from the states to the UK for me. It was nearly a month before the tracking updated and dhl had already told me to contact the seller to get them to investigate instead of me and as soon as they got in contact the item suddenly updated on DHL’s site and I had the delivery about a week later. This pandemic is causing massive problems with postage that normally would be a straightforward but the amount of stuff being ordered worldwide is larger than normal because everywhere is on lockdown.
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Well true to their word Yodel delivered the amp to me this afternoon. It’s still in it’s sealed box because the Mrs was in bed as on nights tonight so no had a chance to go try it out. That and I’ve got to download some software to the laptop and hope I’ve got the suitable cables to connect the Spark to the dinosaur Sony notebook I’ve had for years.
I’ll report back if everything is ok with the first test.
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Ok I’ve got it out and had a brief play. Even with the wireless transmitters going from the amp to the guitar the sound is amazing compared to the spider jam amp I’m used to (I know it’s not much of a comparison but it’s great).
Well impressed and I haven’t even got round to connecting it to the pc or gone through the bias fx 2 software yet that’s just from downloading a Satch setting or two through the iPad.
As for noises coming from the power supply it’s quiet as a mouse and no other sounds coming from the amp apart from my rubbish playing.
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@kain-harkins The BiasFX2 software is not for the Spark other than using the Spark as a bluetooth speaker or as the audio output through USB from your computer. The BiasFX2 software does not edit any of the tones on the Spark nor does it access the same ToneCloud that the Spark app accesses. BiasFX2 is a software amp simulator, not an editor for the Spark.
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@dhbailey ok thanks for that. As I say I’m new to this so learning as I go along.
Are there any specs to be able to run the bias fx 2?
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Certainly not a scam, but appreciate I must be one of the lucky ones - ordered a few days ago on the 10th, order process was saying it would ship 11th March - I knew there has been delays with this amp so just accepted and was prepared to wait, but, it suddenly arrived just a few hours ago - guessing it depends on where you are I guess and distribution center shenanigans (Scotland here) - tell you something though, it would have been well worth the wait anyway, what a fantastic bit of kit!
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Cancel it and get your Money back.... It's highly overrated....
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@briwad I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s overrated. I’d say the support is severely lacking. It’s a great idea and I love what I’ve been able to do with mine since owning it in a limited time having no experience with anything like this.
It’s got a lot of potential but that needs backing up with the support which is what let’s it down. They need a centralised support structure that can answer customers and owners questions without delays and repetitive replies saying the same thing over and over again to different people.
To just say it’s overrated is a bit on the harsh side without evidence to support that. You’ve only made 4 posts and to make such a judgement for a company that’s relatively just started out against the big boys. You’ve got to give them time to sort the problems they encounter I mean to give an example look at all the criticism that Elon Musk has had to endure over the years. People saying he couldn’t match what NASA had done and look where he is now. Let alone the Tesla company. Do you think he should have given up as people had said his plans and ideas and products were overrated? Not that PG and Elon are the same people but they are facing the same criticism.
Just something to think about before saying it’s overrated as there’s loads of people me included that are happy with the product produced.
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Did you receive your amp? I see that your post has been up for 9 months, now. I ordered one last night, to NZ. I would expect 3 - 4 months.
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@kain-harkins I didn't say it was rubbish ... It makes a decent noise...however the "10,000 guitar tones" are pretty much entirely user generated. This makes finding a decent one a time consuming if not endless task. I could generate my own but it would ideally have to match the tones I get from my Helix HX/Koch Amp and that is more time consumption. The "playalong" chord app is hopeless and gets nowhere near Chordify..not least because I can easily read Chordify as I play and don't have to squint at the mobile phone !! My needs are entirely practical as I am constantly learning new tunes for my cover bands. The Spark is great for bedroom players but I'm afraid as a practical tool for a gigging player it doesn't cut the mustard. However I repeat ...it's not bad... and I will live in hope that Positive Grid improve the whole package, not least enabling it to be used through a PC. I would expect a chorus of Apple iPad comments at this point... I don't use Apple products sorry ! I haven't yet hooked it into my studio setup but I plan to...I'll let you know how it goes !! ;)
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@briwad said in IS SPARK A SCAM ?:
@kain-harkins I didn't say it was rubbish ... It makes a decent noise...however the "10,000 guitar tones" are pretty much entirely user generated. This makes finding a decent one a time consuming if not endless task. I could generate my own but it would ideally have to match the tones I get from my Helix HX/Koch Amp and that is more time consumption. The "playalong" chord app is hopeless and gets nowhere near Chordify..not least because I can easily read Chordify as I play and don't have to squint at the mobile phone !! My needs are entirely practical as I am constantly learning new tunes for my cover bands. The Spark is great for bedroom players but I'm afraid as a practical tool for a gigging player it doesn't cut the mustard. However I repeat ...it's not bad... and I will live in hope that Positive Grid improve the whole package, not least enabling it to be used through a PC. I would expect a chorus of Apple iPad comments at this point... I don't use Apple products sorry ! I haven't yet hooked it into my studio setup but I plan to...I'll let you know how it goes !! ;)
I never said you thought it was rubbish at all. Check your previous first line you said it was overrated and I never said that you said it was rubbish.
As for the 10,000 guitar tones yes Positive Grid have probably been able to get close to if not bang on with some of the tones but the tone cloud is what it says somewhere for everyone to upload their interpretations of their favourite guitar tones. If it doesn’t match what you are expecting then make your own and upload them that’s what others have done.
I’ve not had any need to use the play along chord thing as yet as I’m only scratching the surface but come on how old is the spark and it’s abilities? I mean Microsoft didn’t get windows right the first time and still to this day are constantly improving the systems with updates every so often so you can’t expect it to be perfect being so young. Remember this isn’t a big manufacturer who’s had years of experience this is a fledgling company who are only starting to find their feet. You’ve got to give them a chance to fix the little problems that appear.
As for being a bedroom setup I agree that’s why it’s called a practise amp and not a gigging amp. It’s main function is to be a practice tool not a gigging tool as yes it’s supposed to be a 40 watt output but if you bought it in the hope you could gig with it then you’ve bought it for the wrong reasons.
I’m for giving it a chance and seeing what has promised to be a good thing that a few tweaks in code could sort out.
And as for all the apple comments I’m an apple user and although I don’t like the Android way it’s setup I know it suits some people. Now I don’t know if it’s compatible with the android tablets or not as I don’t use them myself but maybe if they don’t you could suggest the idea to the relevant people as a suggestion. But I can’t see them being able to cater for all the different types and brands of tablets that run Android. That’s the beauty of the apple stuff it’s just a bigger version of what you get with their phones and hence is more user friendly overall in my opinion.
And I’m yet to use the standard bias fx2 program I’ve got but I’m sure there will be problems with that that’ll need ironing out.
I’ve come from using a Line 6 spider jam and not knowing how to get the best out of that because of incomprehensible instructions and coming from a company that has a stable footing in the market you’d have thought they’d have had better instructions available for those who are getting in their feet with equipment they’ve never used before. I much prefer the interface that the Spark provides because it’s structure is easily set out and the application is easy to follow for a 40+ yr old who’s only just entering into this cross compatible system which is a far cry from what I’ve used in the past which when I was young was a basic amp that if you wanted any effects you had to fork out shed loads of money for pedals and different amps to get different sounds.
Let’s not argue over the faults but encourage PG to fix them by giving positive suggestions so they can learn from everyone’s experience both new and old guitar players who might have more technical knowledge that some. I mean I’ve seen some groups on Facebook who are delving into making their own pedals so they can control the unit with their feet as opposed to their hands to select settings. And I’m in awe of them as I wouldn’t know where to start when it comes to modifications.
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@briwad It is NOT made to be a gigging guitar amp when it is CLEARLY presented and marketed as a desk top practice amp and THAT is how it should be judged? Why do you make the statement "as a gigging amp it doesn't cut the mustard" when it was never designed nor marketed to do so? It ranks right up there at the top with DESKTOP PRACTICE AMPS.
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@stinger0625 The phrase I used was "for a gigging player it doesn;t cut the mustard" I wouldn't dream of gigging the amp!
As a practice amp for a gigging guitarist it promises a lot but I'm afraid that for me it doesn't quite get there.
I'll wait patiently for the upgrades. Fingers crossed they'll address the issues and improve it as they review the critical feedback. In the meantime I'll stick with Chordify :)
