My Spark experience has been mostly positive
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I am one of the lucky ones I guess. I ordered my Spark on May 27th. I was willing to wait the 6 months because it seemed like a ground breaking product. I am happy to say that I received the amp about a week ago. After playing around with it a little I can see the value in it. After you spend a little time to get to know the unit you can see a lot of possibilities. And I will say this about Positive Grid. They communicated well with me. i have had a couple of glitches working the unit that were mostly user error. They responded to all of my inquiries within 48 hours. That is good service in my book. I am happy that I bought the unit. I am sure it is not for everybody but if you want to reduce the amount of gear you have (loopers and pedals) in your practice area, then this is a great way to do it. Also with smart jam you can compose ideas and learn other artists songs in short order. Right now I give it a 9 out of 10. I hope in the coming months I can make that a 10.
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@jim-lampe Thanks for your glowing report on the Spark Amp and on the PG customer service. I'm very happy that your experience has been positive and that you are very much loving the amp. I am hopeful that I will have the same experience with the amp.
As a person who ordered almost two weeks before you and have at least two more weeks to wait before it might get shipped to me (my tracking page says "will ship between August 12 and August 20" while the response I got from customer service said "late August or early September") my experience with PG customer service has been the opposite of yours. And knowing that others who live within a half-hour of me have ordered after I did but have already received their amps while for some reason PG has seen fit to pass over my order does nothing to help me feel better about the experience.
I know the amp is a good thing and I ordered one for much the same reason you did -- to get rid of pedal clutter, to have something convenient (I already have a battery unit ordered and received to power the Spark when I'm not near an outlet). I also ordered one so that I can recommend it to my guitar students and their parents as an inexpensive way to experience and experiment with various amplifiers and effects pedals.
Sadly based on my customer service experience I can't recommend to anybody to purchase something from PG.
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@dhbailey Wow this shipping is all over the place. A lot of folks who order in Feb are still waiting. My amp is still sitting in Ca, I just contacted the customer support they are looking into it.
I have to wonder if a new shipping partner is shipping new orders. The place in Ca really mess things up.
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@david-1 Someone in the Spark Amp Owners Club at facebook suggested that PG may have realized that those of us who have waited long times (some way longer than me!) are already angry and nothing's going to make us un-angry. So they're rushing the amps out to new customers so that there will be lots of great reviews and great comments on how wonderful PG's customer service is. And they'll get the amps to us with older orders whenever there's a lull in new orders for our region. I would hate to think that's true, but it would explain a lot!
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I ordered in May. Haven't even recieved a tracking number. Two message to support. No Response. Only the order confirmation and the mass july 1 email of "In transit". Maybe I will get this thing by Aug 12 2022.
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@dhbailey I would not pay attention on what you saw on facebook.
Just got an update from Fedex.. PG logistics team got hold of the shipping people in Ca. Fedex just pick up the amp, it was just scan. Still waiting on the case be scan.
Did you get hold of customer service yet?
If not try this form: https://help.positivegrid.com/hc/en-us/requests/new
If you have a shipping number, provide them that number. Those were generated when the amps arrived in Ca.
You can get the shipping number from Fedex, you will need to create an account. I log into my Fedex account to see if any shipping labels that have been generated for my address. When you set up a fedex account use the same shipping address where the Spark should be ship to.
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@david-1 That's my whole point -- even though I ordered in mid-May, and even though I, too, got the "in transit" message on July 1 and also got the "local distribution" message on July 16 as well as the "will ship before July 31" message, I do not have a tracking number. I've only got the tracking page saying my amp will ship by Aug. 12 - Aug. 20 and the message from customer service saying "by late August or early September." If I had a tracking number I would be contacting the shipping company FedEx or UPS. And I've got no response from my inquiries after that "late August or early September" which I've sent to that customer service form. Just have to wait and hope that this most recent shipping estimate isn't another lie.
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@dhbailey Hope it is not another false estimate. They did print my shipping label twice in the system. One on the June 29 the other June 14. The distribution warehouse in Ca do not know what they are doing. If you do not see anything by the estimate shipping date I would contact customer service again via the form link in my last comment.
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@dhbailey Let me clarify one thing. When I say my experience with PG customer service has been great so far, I am not referring to anything to do with shipping or logistics. I am talking about support for the product itself. You have every reason to be frustrated. Personally I never expected to see this amp until October or November so getting it now was a pleasant surprise. I hope you receive yours soon and it as enjoyable to you as mine is to me. Good luck to you and David. Best regards.
JL
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@dhbailey DH. What type of battery pack did you buy? I may want to look into that.
JL
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@jim-lampe This is what I ordered: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DN0KBXU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
POWERADD Pilot Pro 32000mAh Power Bank Dual USB Port 4.5A (9V-20V DC Output) with Digital LCD Display for Smartphones, Tablets, Pocket PC, Notebook, Chromebook, Macbook and More
There is a less expensive 28000mAh version for under $100.
By my calculations, 32000mAh translates to 32 amp-hours, so if the Spark is drawing 2.4 amps, that's just about 14 hours of playing time between charges. Not that I'll ever be playing for that much time, but if I want to go camping and sit and enjoy playing, I'll be able to make it through a weekend on one charge.
It comes with a few different connectors, one of which is 5.5mmx2.5mm which is what others have reported to work with the Spark. I know that the "official" connector size is 5.5mmx2.1mm but if there's a problem I'll find a different connector that will just pop onto what I have.
My amp is supposed to be here next Tuesday, so I'll be able to check it out and report back.
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@dhbailey I forgot to add that I actually have gotten a tracking number and have checked and UPS actually have the package in their possession, so I finally believe it will really get here!
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@dhbailey Thanks for the info. You are very thorough and I appreciate the expertise. Let me know what you think of the amp once you get it. I must say the more I use it the more I like it so I hope you will have the same experience. It does what it say's it does and it does it well.
JL
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@jim-lampe My brother and I both ordered on Monday August 3rd, Mine arrived Aug 7th and his is arriving today the 10th. I am in California and he's in NC. Been positive for me so far but it's concerning the delay/backlog they have.
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@sarawson Update: Ok, I guess I have a package coming tomorrow. Although it seems a bit fishy. UPS says the package is only 7 lbs. The PG website says the amp is 11.4 lbs.. So maybe I am getting an amp. Maybe I'm getting a box of rocks. Maybe its the money they took when I ordered the thing all wrapped up in a box with a bow on top. Who knows?
PG customer support did finally respond to my first email... A week later. All it said was here is your tracking number.
Might be shear speculation, but I don't think I would have gotten any notification, response, or anything shipped had I not sent two messages to PG and commented in this forum. Guess I am just glad something has happened. -
@sarawson UPS says my package is only 7 lbs also. Too heavy for the bag, too light for the amp. My hope is that they simply entered the weight incorrectly and we're both getting the amp today. I'll post here what shows up in my box. I plan on recording on video my opening of the box so that if there isn't an amp in the box I'll be able to prove that it wasn't there when I opened it.
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@dhbailey I am hoping they mean 7 kg instead of 7 Lbs. Although I have rarely ever seen UPS's weight number be off. That is what dictates shipping cost.
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@sarawson doing the conversion from 7kg to lbs makes the package seem to be the correct weight to be the amp. My fingers are crossed!
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@dhbailey I hope we both get some good news and all goes well in the next day or two. Here's to you.
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@jim-lampe I ordered mine on the 24th of may and arrived 31st July, no email, tracking number nothing it just showed up one day unexpected, glad I was home. On the pg website it’s still saying ordered ? Maybe they’ll send another amp lol, I’m still waiting for the bag.
