It's amazing how many guitarists hide how they get their sound from others. But you go, here it is, Close up, Exactly as I have it... Amazing, thank you.
Thanks for doing the demo with a mic. Most of the reviews use the DI into a computer which totally defeats the purpose in showing how it sounds in the room. Really appreciate that! The tone is pretty spot on btw!
With Rising Force, his sound on Odyssey is my favorite, powerful and aggressive. Love his use of phaser and wah pedal as extra noises for solo intros in Dreaming and Hold On. His Steeler and Alcatrazz sound is really good too.
Ah! Finally, the perfect review on the Spark Mini I've been looking for, even after I bought the damn thing 2.5 years ago! I honestly had given up on this thing, but having come across your video and showcasing its potential for approximating Yngwie's sound, I am inspired to keep my Spark mini. If it's good enough for you, it's good enough for me! I'm keeping this video in my favs as reference!
As a busy older guy that just likes to jam when I can find a few minutes, the Spark 40 is the best piece of gear I've ever bought. You can just use your phone to search for nearly any tone ever created and quickly save it to a hardware button on the amp. I can just power up and sound like Kerry King, Dimebag, Mustaine, whoever. Love the thing.
I tried creating an approximation of Elmo's YJM setting on my own Spark Mini using this video as a reference. I uploaded two variants for when you want to switch back n forth from dry to reverb for when you dont want to connect to your phone. Enjoy! Spark Cloud: Elmo Karj YJM Elmo Karj YJM REVERB
I liked the positive review. I have a SPARK GO on order. I hope to take the output from the headphone jack of the GO into a larger amps and use the thing as a digital pedal. The manufacturer says it uses the same App. 😊
@@MashaT22 Elmo would do a good job. He is a teacher and could explain how to do it. There are other people out there who have made videos doing this with the Mini. However, they did not give the information as to whether the headphone plug was stereo or monophonic. I do think the sound from the GO will be much better coming from a 12" (30.48 cm) guitar amp speaker rather than the 2" (5.08 cm) GO speaker........You know - I never noticed that there don't seem to be metric speaker sizes.
@@MrPolevaulter I thought that originally too. Impedance matching transformers could help in such a case. However, it worked for those who demonstrated it. Thanks for responding.
Just bought my spark mini . And after playing a YJM Strat back and forth with a Haar Traditionell S Bought the Dutch Strat. Highly recommend to check Haar Guitars out
I tried your setting and for me, I liked YJM100 better. To me, Plexi was just lacking the edge/volume I feel it needed. I also tweaked a bit more on delay and added reverb. Could be a difference in the guitar. I am using American Strat with Dimarzio HS3. Not sure if your guitar has SD or Dimarzio pickups. Either way, I appreciate your info. Great starting point for sure.👍
Guitar is definitely make a difference but remember malmsteen did not have that 100 watt back in the day it was more like a plexi style. When people like malmsteen and Eddie Van Halen started making their signature amps their goal was to get rid of all the pedals in the front and basically use just the amp but it's just not the same without those pedals it's a different feel a different tone no matter what. I love the Eddie Van Halen and malmsteen sound back in the day because it was darker, the brown sound, richer not as bright and troubly or buzzy. Malmsteen sound today doesn't sound really close to what it used to sound like in that live 1985 album.. More like a bright Harsh sound.. it was kind of magic the way they made music back then it made them make up different songs playing that way and cranking up all the way. That's why after those albums especially yngwie the rest was pretty much garbage. Van Helen had some great stuff but the more he moved away from that old Frankenstein guitar, and that old amplifier with the variac he also used an EQ in the front of his amp that no one talks about it because those old apps had tons of bass cuz they weren't supposed to be cranked in the first place they weren't design for distortion clean and loud. The pedal in the front would strip the base out tighten up the low end.. The New amps do it inside but again doesn't sound the same.. those analog pedals just made some type of sound. Also interesting to point out that new no betancourt to this day still uses the pedal that he's always had I think it's the rat pedal or something like that you have to look it up no distortion he just used it for the tone and for the output into the amp to tighten up the low end. That's how it was done back then. Again magic
Hi Elmo, may I ask your expert opinion if this amp is good enough for daily practise for an hour in an apartment? 1: Sound is full enough 2: Switchable presets (which foot switch to buy?) 3: Good connectivity with my iPad which I rely on for my backing track. Thanks in advance.
He’s done a video on it. Said it’s probably the best practice amp in the world. And his is about the only channel on TH-cam where he isn’t being paid off by the manufacturer.
@Marcus Sullens unless someone is a gigging professional I don't see why anyone would need anything else. especially with its recording capabilites through USB interface mode
Elmo, that sound is really full, and downright Swedish!!!! Will you please continue the Swedish theme and tell us how to get the sounds of John Norum and Key Marcello. Nice work as usual Elmo, brilliant playing, I love my mini Spark plus I've been contemplating if I could put those YJM Fury pickups in my Brian May guitar.
@Elmo Karjalainen Oh, they are both guitarists from the band Europe, there is terrific footage of them both in TH-cam, back to the 80s and onward. I'm sure you've heard The Final Countdown.
Gosh! At first I thought this was about the big and mini Spark Booster pedals from TC Electronic... Always having one of these on my board (and also always on).😂😂😂 I didn't know there was a serious amp as well. 🤘🤘🤘
The Spark amp does a great job of cleaning up a cheap guitar. I had the Glary strat, which didn't sound great. Plugged it into the Spark and it sounded great.
You said guitar in your comment but considering this is a review for a guitar amp maybe you meant the best sounding amp for $243 for me the best amp that can do just about everything in a small combo amp, has 2 channels and effects built in. You want a Fender Champion 40 I just picked one up and it sounds amazing for what it is. Honestly I'm a older Marshall amp guy, but this Fender amp is the best amp priced around $200 bar none. Only thing it doesn't do great is a heavy true marshall sound but just adding a overdrive pedal up front and you'll have that too.
There is no such thing as the best sounding electric guitar. A guitar that's great for country might not be the best for metal. That being said, I have a few here: th-cam.com/video/MsEp-yPTRWo/w-d-xo.html There's also a part 1 to that video.
@@Anonymous12020 as Elmo said without knowing your style and type of music you play its hard to name a perfect guitar. However I can tell you like alot of guitarist I own plenty and my current favorite is a guitar on the cheaper side compared to my others. I own a new Charvel a sweet Jackson a few old 80's Kramers ala Eddie Van Halen my all time main axe is a Fender Strat made in Japan all custom to my specs with EMG pickups mid 80's era and I have more not worth mentioning. My current FAVORTIE guitar is the budget line Ibanez put out not to long ago an Ibanez azes40 I bought mine from a much smaller less known company and paid $263 for mine a year ago and not like this matters, but I have personally hated Ibanez for as long as I can remember for no logically reason and I can admit I was wrong because I LOVE this guitar and it does just about everything I want it too. Yngwie style YES. Blues YES. Jazz if I'm so inclined YES. Classic Rock YES. Metal YES. I think you get the point. It does it all except don't expect to use the tremolo much. It was professionally setup and plays better then anything I own except for Excalibur lol my 80's made in Japan E series Fender Strat. Also as Elmo mentioned in his video the Harley Benton guitars are really nice for the price and honestly some of them would still be good at double the price.
Elmo, my sexy spandex wearing friend, have you tried the new Spark amp? The tiny one? You should do a review.. I was thinking of getting one. My Mesa half stack is never used anymore. Thank you for your great videos!
@@MrPolevaulter I belive it is called the Spark Go. I never use my big tube amps anymore.. I want to get something small just mess around with when , I feel like playing. I can hardly wait to watch the video of the Spark Go.. I love your videos because I am a huge Malsteen, Uli and M Schenker fan. I think we come from the same school, my friend. I know longer wear spandex though because it causes me very bad rashes. Cheers Amigo!
Check out my review of the Spark Mini: th-cam.com/video/L3mN2M8ajYc/w-d-xo.html
It's amazing how many guitarists hide how they get their sound from others. But you go, here it is, Close up, Exactly as I have it... Amazing, thank you.
Thanks!
Thanks for doing the demo with a mic. Most of the reviews use the DI into a computer which totally defeats the purpose in showing how it sounds in the room. Really appreciate that!
The tone is pretty spot on btw!
Thanks!
With Rising Force, his sound on Odyssey is my favorite, powerful and aggressive. Love his use of phaser and wah pedal as extra noises for solo intros in Dreaming and Hold On. His Steeler and Alcatrazz sound is really good too.
I'll have to try this out when my Spark MINI arrives! Thanks Elmo. 🙂
Good to see the Sparks getting some love.
Excellent practise amps. 👍
They sure are.
Ah!
Finally, the perfect review on the Spark Mini I've been looking for, even after I bought the damn thing 2.5 years ago!
I honestly had given up on this thing, but having come across your video and showcasing its potential for approximating Yngwie's sound, I am inspired to keep my Spark mini.
If it's good enough for you, it's good enough for me!
I'm keeping this video in my favs as reference!
Cheers :)
Elmo..I learn a lot of good things from watching your videos, think your conclusions of stuff you test are honest and fair. Thanks !
Cheers 😊
As a busy older guy that just likes to jam when I can find a few minutes, the Spark 40 is the best piece of gear I've ever bought. You can just use your phone to search for nearly any tone ever created and quickly save it to a hardware button on the amp. I can just power up and sound like Kerry King, Dimebag, Mustaine, whoever. Love the thing.
Me too! I have two tube amps, buy for good tone at bedroom volume, the spark is amazing!
i use a Rouge Mini Amp. its does well here in the house and doesn't bother the neighbors. Nice video Elmo.
Thanks :)
Your English accent and pronunciation is great for someone who speaks a Scandinavian language. 👌🤟. Rock on bro.
Thanks :)
I tried creating an approximation of Elmo's YJM setting on my own Spark Mini using this video as a reference.
I uploaded two variants for when you want to switch back n forth from dry to reverb for when you dont want to connect to your phone.
Enjoy!
Spark Cloud:
Elmo Karj YJM
Elmo Karj YJM REVERB
Wow, that Perpetual sound and playing is spot on! 👊🤘🔥🎸
Astonishing . ⭐️🎸⭐️ I want to buy the Spark 40 . I only have a Clapton Strat probably won't sound like Yngwie . 😅
I liked the positive review. I have a SPARK GO on order. I hope to take the output from the headphone jack of the GO into a larger amps and use the thing as a digital pedal. The manufacturer says it uses the same App. 😊
I wonder if that works. Maybe Elmo can test that out wi to his Mini? If it works on a Mini, it should work on the Go.
@@MashaT22 Elmo would do a good job. He is a teacher and could explain how to do it. There are other people out there who have made videos doing this with the Mini. However, they did not give the information as to whether the headphone plug was stereo or monophonic. I do think the sound from the GO will be much better coming from a 12" (30.48 cm) guitar amp speaker rather than the 2" (5.08 cm) GO speaker........You know - I never noticed that there don't seem to be metric speaker sizes.
Interesting idea. There might be problems with impedance and such though.
@@MrPolevaulter I thought that originally too. Impedance matching transformers could help in such a case. However, it worked for those who demonstrated it. Thanks for responding.
Just bought my spark mini . And after playing a YJM Strat back and forth with a Haar Traditionell S Bought the Dutch Strat. Highly recommend to check Haar Guitars out
Thanks for going over this amp.
Excellent stuff Elmo, excellent stuff.
Cheers!
Awesome Elmo Welmo Malmsteen Karjalainen You Rock😊
Tackar :)
Thanks for the review Elmo ✌️❤️
Cheers!
I tried your setting and for me, I liked YJM100 better. To me, Plexi was just lacking the edge/volume I feel it needed. I also tweaked a bit more on delay and added reverb. Could be a difference in the guitar. I am using American Strat with Dimarzio HS3. Not sure if your guitar has SD or Dimarzio pickups. Either way, I appreciate your info. Great starting point for sure.👍
Guitar is definitely make a difference but remember malmsteen did not have that 100 watt back in the day it was more like a plexi style. When people like malmsteen and Eddie Van Halen started making their signature amps their goal was to get rid of all the pedals in the front and basically use just the amp but it's just not the same without those pedals it's a different feel a different tone no matter what. I love the Eddie Van Halen and malmsteen sound back in the day because it was darker, the brown sound, richer not as bright and troubly or buzzy. Malmsteen sound today doesn't sound really close to what it used to sound like in that live 1985 album.. More like a bright Harsh sound.. it was kind of magic the way they made music back then it made them make up different songs playing that way and cranking up all the way. That's why after those albums especially yngwie the rest was pretty much garbage. Van Helen had some great stuff but the more he moved away from that old Frankenstein guitar, and that old amplifier with the variac he also used an EQ in the front of his amp that no one talks about it because those old apps had tons of bass cuz they weren't supposed to be cranked in the first place they weren't design for distortion clean and loud. The pedal in the front would strip the base out tighten up the low end.. The New amps do it inside but again doesn't sound the same.. those analog pedals just made some type of sound.
Also interesting to point out that new no betancourt to this day still uses the pedal that he's always had I think it's the rat pedal or something like that you have to look it up no distortion he just used it for the tone and for the output into the amp to tighten up the low end.
That's how it was done back then. Again magic
Yup, the yellow OD is quite good on the Spark app
Sure is
Hi Elmo, may I ask your expert opinion if this amp is good enough for daily practise for an hour in an apartment?
1: Sound is full enough
2: Switchable presets (which foot switch to buy?)
3: Good connectivity with my iPad which I rely on for my backing track.
Thanks in advance.
He’s done a video on it. Said it’s probably the best practice amp in the world. And his is about the only channel on TH-cam where he isn’t being paid off by the manufacturer.
@Marcus Sullens unless someone is a gigging professional I don't see why anyone would need anything else. especially with its recording capabilites through USB interface mode
It's great, but not sure about the footswitch.
Nice sound, pretty much close!
damn i like that sound with the drive off
Elmo, that sound is really full, and downright Swedish!!!! Will you please continue the Swedish theme and tell us how to get the sounds of John Norum and Key Marcello. Nice work as usual Elmo, brilliant playing, I love my mini Spark plus I've been contemplating if I could put those YJM Fury pickups in my Brian May guitar.
I would if I could, but I'm no John Norum expert, and not sure I know enough about Kee either. Sorry.
@Elmo Karjalainen Oh, they are both guitarists from the band Europe, there is terrific footage of them both in TH-cam, back to the 80s and onward. I'm sure you've heard The Final Countdown.
Brilliant! Superb playing! Thank you 👍👍👍
Cheers!
great video and olaying as allways elmo, tonebridge is a great free app with some great yngwie pedals
Gosh! At first I thought this was about the big and mini Spark Booster pedals from TC Electronic... Always having one of these on my board (and also always on).😂😂😂
I didn't know there was a serious amp as well. 🤘🤘🤘
😊👍
After this review - imagine a wall of these tiny amps on Malmsteen's stage!
🤣
Hey Elmo, am looking for a new amp to have for home and small gig use, am having a budget around 300$ what do you recomend??
Hard to say. Depends on your needs in terms of genre of music, how loud your drummer is, and versatility.
@@MrPolevaulter Yeh, I play mostly rock, and blues, i like high gain and reverb so it's hard to choose
I like to have the option to have many choises on the amp. make my own sound with many controls, like the spark but like a gig amp
I dont know if valve is the thing but like a champion 40, or marhall mg50gfx
I liked the Fender Mustang LT25. Maybe the 50 version of that. Or maybe Marshall MG. Not sure about that one though.
Ihmee hyvii saundeja tosta pikku purkista saa😮..johtuuko se sit siitä.ku mestari nii kova kepittää🤟👍🎸
Kiitos 😊
Suena muy bien
A good job 👍 Especially considering that fact you ain't a big fan of apps 😂
Haha :D
Can you plek your own guitar? I wanna try it!
Not at the moment. Not even sure where to have it done here.
@@MrPolevaulter you rock thanks for responding. A true TH-camr!
Could you try this with a cheap SSS strat, same amp settings just change the guitar.
Maybe at some point. Won't make a huge difference though. Just be a bit brighter.
The Spark amp does a great job of cleaning up a cheap guitar. I had the Glary strat, which didn't sound great. Plugged it into the Spark and it sounded great.
Yngwie J. Malmsteen... don't forget the J... so we don't get him confused with all the other Yngwie Malmsteen's out there...
Haha :D
The J stands for Johan 💙💛
😊🎸
:)
First one ☝
:)
Really cool. I think I've said before that you might actually be better than Yngwie. Sacrilege!?
Haha 🤣 Thanks 😊
I have 243 dollar want the best sounding electric guitar just tell me one name and I will buy it love your content love from India
You said guitar in your comment but considering this is a review for a guitar amp maybe you meant the best sounding amp for $243 for me the best amp that can do just about everything in a small combo amp, has 2 channels and effects built in. You want a Fender Champion 40 I just picked one up and it sounds amazing for what it is. Honestly I'm a older Marshall amp guy, but this Fender amp is the best amp priced around $200 bar none. Only thing it doesn't do great is a heavy true marshall sound but just adding a overdrive pedal up front and you'll have that too.
@@joerogansghost7402No I was asking about a good guitar for $243
There is no such thing as the best sounding electric guitar. A guitar that's great for country might not be the best for metal. That being said, I have a few here: th-cam.com/video/MsEp-yPTRWo/w-d-xo.html
There's also a part 1 to that video.
@@Anonymous12020 as Elmo said without knowing your style and type of music you play its hard to name a perfect guitar. However I can tell you like alot of guitarist I own plenty and my current favorite is a guitar on the cheaper side compared to my others. I own a new Charvel a sweet Jackson a few old 80's Kramers ala Eddie Van Halen my all time main axe is a Fender Strat made in Japan all custom to my specs with EMG pickups mid 80's era and I have more not worth mentioning. My current FAVORTIE guitar is the budget line Ibanez put out not to long ago an Ibanez azes40 I bought mine from a much smaller less known company and paid $263 for mine a year ago and not like this matters, but I have personally hated Ibanez for as long as I can remember for no logically reason and I can admit I was wrong because I LOVE this guitar and it does just about everything I want it too. Yngwie style YES. Blues YES. Jazz if I'm so inclined YES. Classic Rock YES. Metal YES. I think you get the point. It does it all except don't expect to use the tremolo much. It was professionally setup and plays better then anything I own except for Excalibur lol my 80's made in Japan E series Fender Strat. Also as Elmo mentioned in his video the Harley Benton guitars are really nice for the price and honestly some of them would still be good at double the price.
Next video: How to get the Yngwie Malmsteen Sound using only Donuts
Haha :D
Elmo, my sexy spandex wearing friend, have you tried the new Spark amp? The tiny one? You should do a review.. I was thinking of getting one. My Mesa half stack is never used anymore. Thank you for your great videos!
I've ordered one. Still waiting.
@@MrPolevaulter I belive it is called the Spark Go. I never use my big tube amps anymore.. I want to get something small just mess around with when , I feel like playing. I can hardly wait to watch the video of the Spark Go.. I love your videos because I am a huge Malsteen, Uli and M Schenker fan. I think we come from the same school, my friend. I know longer wear spandex though because it causes me very bad rashes. Cheers Amigo!
Sounds way to dark..
Fair enough. You can get it brighter.
Brilliant marketing scheme!
That Bonsai amp is so cute😅
Have you saved it on tone cloud?
@MrPolevaulter
Yeah.
That's my little go to amp for farting around at home. Still amazes me the sounds you can get from it.
Indeed