Currently borrowing a Sparks off a friend with a view to swapping it for some gear of mine.
Have got it running post my Simplifier (which has effects in front and in its loop) pre my CXM1978 (then out to my interface).
Had thought it would be good there as a multi purpose device adding a bit of grit (there is an h90 in the fx loop which is sometimes too pristine), taking advantage of the synth chip (without it losing too much by going through a cab sim), and also lots of envelope and lforelated fun.
Have tried following the manual instructions for a âtransparentâ state, but itâs not transparent, itâs got quite a fizzy top end.
Any suggestions?
Hi @VictoryGin1984 - thanks for posting!
If you are not using the internal synth, then the button combo to clear out all effects is very effective and does sound transparent, with a flat frequency response from 20Hz - 20 kHz.
If you are using the internal synth (which it sounds like youâre referring to), then clearing out the effects will leave you with the raw sound of the synth oscillators. The synth is inspired by the C64 SID chip - the oscillators are pretty gritty and textured, and you might hear a âfizzly top endâ as youâve mentioned.
Try using the low-pass filter on Sparks to roll off the top end. You can exit the synth controls to edit any of the normal controls on Sparks, then re-enter the synth layer. Once you find a sound you like using as a starting point you can save it into a preset for easy recall.
This demo from Doug Hansen at 12:41 does a really great job of showing how the synth controls and the other controls on Sparks can interact.
Thanks for your reply.
Sorry, Iâve not been clear in my initial message. Whilst my signal chain placement was influenced by wanting to use the synth post cab sim, I was actually struggling to get a transparent guitar tone using the âtransparent stateâ instructions in the manual.
When I try to do it, it seems to be adding some gain and taking off some of the level as the bypass/non bypass tones are noticeably different, particularly when playing chords.
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The factory default setting for Sparks has a clean boost at the front end before running into the drive and filter sections.
Itâs possible your setup is overdriving the front end.
Have you tried using the line level option? This pads the input and gives more headroom, less gain, and less distortion.
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RTFM remains undefeated!
Thanks Jaak, I hadnât got as far as the input levels section, that seems to have resolved the issue.
Excellent work on Sparks BTW. Itâs barely believable how much youâve fit in this, and the whole LFO and ENV mapping functionality is so well implemented.
Many thanks.
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Oops - totally steered that the wrong way, haha. Glad you got it sorted!
Woohoo!
Itâs definitely in the manual but a little buried in the final pages. I think if we referred to it as âlow gainâ mode instead of line level it might have seemed like a useful thing for guitar players to try too.
No worries, the video you linked is actually really great, so Iâm glad you took it that direction!
