We’re fast approaching Labor Day weekend, which means some big opportunities for guitarists to save money. One mega reduction I just spotted is a $60 price cut on the Positive Grid Spark Neo Core, one of the best silent practice solutions available for guitarists.
That works out as a huge 38% discount, which is a significant chunk of change on a product that was only released last year. It’s not wireless, so you need to plug a guitar cable into it, but I’ve found it’s one of the most immediate ways to practice your guitar chops.
I’ve been hands-on with the Spark Neo Core, and I found the build quality to be excellent, with a rugged rubber coating on the outside of it. The ear cushions are really comfortable for long playing sessions, and although they’re on the heavier side versus a pair of studio headphones, the generous cushioning in the headband makes up for it.
As there’s no wireless connectivity, they’re super easy to use. Just plug your guitar cable into the headphones themselves, then pop the other end into your guitar’s output jack, and you’re ready to rock. You can go fully wireless with the Positive Grid Spark Neo, but they’re considerably more expensive, and that’s before you take into account the latest discount.
Wearing them takes some getting used to because you have a cable physically plugged into them, and I did spend some time finding the perfect routing for the cable. Once that was done, I was flying, and I could concentrate on just playing my guitar.
You can use them without the smartphone app, as there are four hardware presets accessible via buttons on the side of the headphones themselves. To get the most out of these, it is definitely worth diving into the app and sculpting your perfect tones using the 33 amp and 43 effects models the Spark companion app gives you.
It means you can create pretty much any tone you think of, whether you play rock, blues, metal, or anything else, and the quality of the sounds is top-notch. It’s also a really immersive experience because of the closed-back design of the headphones, which reject all but the loudest external noises.
