I find the overall sound very bass heavy.....anyone else?
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I also found the sound somewhat bass heavy, but the bigger issue for me was a pronounced rolloff at higher frequencies. So as an experiment, I changed the drivers for drivers with the same power handling and physical form purported to have a frequency response to 20kHz (single drivers, but with a tuned voice coil and secondary coaxial cone). Based on testing before replacing the grille, I also placed a foam plug in the bass reflex port to tame the boominess in the bass (some hi-fi speakers come with similar plugs to allow reflex port tuning).
What a difference! The sound has really come alive when using the Spark as a full range (Bluetooth) speaker - nice top end, and controlled but still deep bass sounds... very balanced. I'm now very happy with it. I will say that I still find the sound quite directional, and to really appreciate the new high frequencies it's helpful to tilt the amp up if it's below ear level - but this is not unique to the Spark and is not hard to arrange.
I just don't think the standard drivers are well equipped to handle higher audio frequencies. I was looking at fitting tweeters but this would be quite a pain given the lack of real estate in the enclosure, so decided to experiment with this first.
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@jstenlake
I also have new drivers coming. I made a separate post about it. I've plugged the bassport as well and will add a little polyfil.https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00RC3Z9H2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
(found on Parts Express but purchased from the AMZ)This is what I have coming in this Wednesday. What did you use.
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@jstenlake I am planning on going down that road as well. Mind sharing the drivers you used? I am also considering putting in a speaker out to see what I can get out of a 12" cabinet.
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@wellestad; @madmarcus1960; - I used Visaton FR10s (#2020 - 4 Ohm version). Quite an inexpensive speaker (like the originals I suspect) but designed for extended top end response.
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@rguilmette1 said in I find the overall sound very bass heavy.....anyone else?:
I hope there is a fix for the muddy sound through a firmware update. I find it hard to believe that all those youtubers that received their Spark Amps in advance to review didn't mention this incredibly obvious bass heavy issue. Even a telecaster sounds muddy.
I’m thinking the same thing. Maybe there is something wrong with ours? Wouldn’t more people be talking about this if they all sounded like our amps do? My unit sounds super bass filled if I run YouTube through it as well (And you can’t adjust that), so it’s not my guitar.
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@emmongi Some people prefer bassier music to more treble sounding music. I know when I was younger, the first thing I would do with a new amplifier for my stereo system or on a new transister radio if it had those controls would be to turn the bass up higher. Listening to streaming music through the Spark I can see why some people feel the bass sound is too much. I enjoy it, so if PG does do something about it I hope that they will somehow build in more controls in the app so that we can control the bass/treble settings of our streaming music.
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...hmm, it is a bass reflex cabinet right? and done very well.. maybe too good? I like it.. but if you wanted to (possibly cancelling warranty) you could try removing the back thereby defeating this "too much bass" sound. and ruining a great amp
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@zorak3d - there's another back behind the back.
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I plugged the SEND of the effects loop of my little Johnson practice Amp into the Spark. No hum, any guitar, any setting. Now it's better than Stereo.
Doing this also eliminated the "boominess". TheTelecaster now sounds like a Telecaster again. -
...yeah, it's kinda like playing my pedal thorough my house stereo... Gonna check some car speakers, put an ext speaker socket on the back, take the strap off and give it some tilt legs...
...but first, need to plug my ol' rp150 into it!!! -
Checking the Facebook Spark user groups some are removing the front grill and covering the sound port located between the speakers. They then return the front grill. Some cover the port with duct tape others are using cut foam disks. One post mentioned partially blocking the sound port with a piece of foam. Posted results claimed a less muddy, less bass heavy sound. Has anyone here tried it with improved results? I play at super low volume and don’t mind the low frequencies after I turn the bass nearly off, and treble way up.
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@rexlarsenphoto - I also put a foam disc in the Bass port. I only noticed a slight reduction in "boominess". But it was better.
The big change for me happened when I plugged the guitar into another small Amp that has an effects loop, then ran the SEND of that Amp into the Spark. I now have a full range of options, from muddy to thin ice.
Edit: I forgot to mention that I first tried going through my old Boss GT-10 guitar effects processor. That produced a complete disintegration of the treble, like broken glass. -
See my thread about changing speakers. https://forum.positivegrid.com/topic/4523/anyone-know-the-impedance-of-the-4-speakers/17
This made a huge difference IMHO. $45 for the 2 speakers and block the bass port
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I was intrigued by one of the owner comments (was it you?) that patching the effects loop output of another small practice amp to the Spark's input made the Telecaster sound like a Telecaster again. It’s as if the Spark, when left on its own to apply its firmware algorithms is low frequency biased. However, by patching in another source it takes those algorithms out of play (defers) to the input source. Odd. I just cant sort out how that would be.
Trying my Taylor today using the two acoustic presets PG provides to see how that goes. The guitar has an inherently bright tonality so I'm hoping it doesn't come out sounding like a Mexican Guitaron (four string accoustic bass). Regardless, given the multitude of comments here I feel as if there’s a consensus that the Spark amp frequency defaults need to be flattened, accentuate the bass frequencies less. I'm hoping that could be accommodated with a firmware update
If it could be addressed with a firmware update that would be great. Regardless I'd suggest they add a good equalizer pedal to the standard pedal set. I’d also suggest that any added equalizer pedal not “count” against the number of effect pedals just as the noise gate does not. @dhbailey, bud I copy your comments about enjoying bass and I would hope that if the amp were flattened out that an EQ pedal would allow you to get the sound you like so much.
My immediate question is EQ placement, "should any added EQ pedal be placed at the beginning of the signal or the end?" There’s a Tim Pierce Youtube vid about EQ pedals. He feels it’s the single most important effect a guitarist can have. Given his credentials I’m inclined to think the man knows what he’s talking about.
Keoki
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I pulled the front cover off( it's held with velcro) and put duct tape over the bass port. really tightened things up to my ear. and is an easy, non-invasive change
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Wil wonders never cease? 👍!! Good ol’ duct tape, who knew it had bass attenuation characteristics? Nothin like EQ in a roll...😉
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I built a huge 12 inch subwoofer years ago out of concrete sonotube and as part of the design I added speaker batting to the inside of the sonotube. My understanding is without that, you wind up with a muddy sort of sound instead of having nice, tight bass. The spark doesn't have has no speaker batting and is just a hard surface MDF inside. Seems like it would be easy enough to add, wouldn't be that difficult, and shouldn't cost much at all. I tried using the Spark as a bluetooth speaker for music and it was just too boomy for my taste, but hopefully with some tweaks it will be much improved. Not expecting audiophile quality, just decent, non-boomy sound.If
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So I swapped one of the speakers with the one above from Amazon and taped the bass port with 2 layers of duct tape. Not sure which helped the most, but the boomy/muffled sound has been greatly reduced. I might replace the other speaker at some point later, and perhaps try some speaker damping material. I think if that was done, it might be possible to unblock the bass port and restore some of the bass without having the muddiness but it would probably take some experimenting to get just right. Regardless, at least it's not annoying the way it is.
So after listening to some music on the amp for a while, I made a hole about the size of my index finger in the duct tape and got just enough of the bass back without adding a ton of boominess. (I realize this is very non-scientific and subject to a ton of opinion, but it does sound better to my ears. That or I just got use to it, which is totally possible.)
YMMV
It's just such a shame that such a cool product could be made so much better with some minor acoustic changes.
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Yes, I also find it bass heavy... particularly if I have it on the floor, which makes sense. Unfortunately, that's the most convenient place for me to put it in my office. Didn't seem so bad when it was at shoulder height.