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Gear Curiosities: Line 6 POD GO - Helix in Cheaper Clothing!
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- Published on Mar 28, 2023 veröffentlicht
- Today in Plague Scythe Studios, I embark on my longest Gear Curiosity yet with Line 6's newest budget tier modeling device, the POD GO!
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Listen to Siderum: siderum.bandcamp.com/releases
Time Savers:
0:00:00 - Intro
0:02:43 - A Little Context
0:08:19 - POD HD vs POD GO
0:13:08 - Does POD GO Sound Better?
0:14:50 - POD GO Physical Overview
0:19:23 - Amp Out Demo
0:20:05 - Physical Tour Continued
0:26:09 - Signal Chain Walkthrough & Restrictions
0:30:02 - Custom Presets Demo
0:34:07 - Realtime Preset Creation
0:42:02 - POD GO's Sound Signature: It's a Thing
0:43:11 - The Good: FX Modeling
0:45:54 - FX Heavy Preset Demos
0:50:05 - 4 Cable Method Demo
0:51:07 - The Iffy - Amp Modeling
0:59:46 - Amplifier Model Demos
1:05:01 - The Bad: Cabinet Modeling
1:08:03 - POD GO Cab Models vs Equivalent Impulse Responses
1:12:13 - Wrap It Up 
Music
I picked up a Pod Go back in September to replace my 10-year-old Floor Pod Plus. I had generally gone ampless over the past few years, using the Floor Pod live and in the studio, after getting tired of dragging a half stack or my Evil Twin around. If I want to run a speaker cab I run the Pod Go into the effects in of my Evil Twin. The Pod Go gives me all the horsepower I need for shows or recording, with more amp/cab choices than I would ever need. The biggest complaint I've heard in reviews is a lack of routing options but I don't need to run complicated signal paths. Is the Pod Go a Boogie Triple Crown? Nope. Does it offer killer tones for 1/4 of the price of a Helix or Kemper? Yep. If you like spending tons of money and spending all day programming get one of those. If you want killer tone and simplicity, get a Pod Go.
Thanks for the video and all the best from the Bay Area!
MK
I'm SO glad that Line 6 stopped doing that weird "Secret Menus" thing. I used to work at a Sam Ash store forever ago and we had the Pod Pro Rack. It sounded ok-ish....nothing amazing.
The Manager of our Guitar Department was actually being recruited by Line 6 to possibly step into a role doing product demos, training and sales. He got back from a training session and helped me dial in some tones on the Pod Pro Rack. It sounded AMAZING!
He was doing these crazy combinations of holding buttons, waiting for flashing lights, scrolling through menus none of us knew about and, I sh*t you not, he was able to get one of the most crushing Guitar Tones I've heard to this day. It was so on the nose for what I was trying to dial in that I bought the unit on the spot with my Employee Discount.
I finished my shift, raced home, plugged in the unit expecting to hear that God Tone and only heard the typical Line 6 crap tones. Turns out, he forgot to hit Save. We tried for HOURS to replicate his wizardry to no avail. I wound up returning the unit later that week.
He couldn't replicate that tone to save his life. It was infuriating. Not only was my personal tone lost forever but we had been selling these super expensive units to Customers not knowing there we heaps and heaps of options hidden from the public.
there no such thing as perfect tone just for in the moment if that context makes sense the perfect tone always changes
A helix with training wheels I love mine. It's my first line 6 device and I'm really impressed.
Hands down the best in depth gear reviewer around. Your engineering education gives you a unique method of appraising gear. Good work you fluffy nerd.
Out of all the reviews that I've seen on Clip-Share, a lot, you got the best sounds out of the podgo. Even a lot of your pod hd sounds were good. I dig some of the lo-fi qualities that it spits out for some things. Very cool. The Podgo definitely has some insane sounding hi-fi effects in it.
Over one hour's worth of a deep dive and some sick riffs! Love hearing those Death riffs during the demos
haha that was the only thing I did not like!
Dude, I had the HD500 and for what it was, it was pretty cool. I'm looking at this POD Go specifically for my live acoustic gigs. It's all-in-one and simplifies things.
Bro...you're a genius. Awesome Review! I'm going for it. Been looking at other vids but yours is so comprehensive....not going for the Helix 6...this one is for me.
A great review, entertaining and informative. This helps me a lot in deciding between these lower mid price units. Cabs and IR's make a huge difference.
Great video. Don’t know if it was out when this was released but they do actually have a great VH4 emulation in there now of channels 3 and 4, and they worked with REVV and have modeled the Red and Purple channels of the Generator, which in real life is the halfway point between a Peavey 5150 and a Dual Recto(have played 5150’s for 12 years exclusively), so those kinda make up for those areas. Overall I agree, but I mainly use real amps(Peavey 5150/6505) and just use the Helix for FX and as a clean preamp, but for fly dates, having a handful of amps I can dial in a great tone with is more than enough. Besides, my bandmates are running Fractals and even though they sound great, if they break down, you’re screwed. The Helix has a USB stick that can hold your presets on so if something happens to mine, I’ll go to GC, Sam Ash, or any store that carries a Helix, load my presets and continue touring. Besides, cab impulses make just as much as a difference as swapping the head. If I was strictly using Modelers, I’d get a Quad Cortex, but for me, the Helix is fine
I’m not a big fan of the stock cabs but having the right IRs really bring some of the amps to life
@Andrew Cramer You can indeed. I've had both of those units.
@Your Friendly Neighborhood Musician you can dual cab on the hx stomp and helix rack/floor unit if I’m not mistaken
Actually. Not being able to do the stereo/dual cab block is quite limiting. The best results on Helux always came from mixing mics and cabs.
The stock cabs are a little bit underrated. They can be great with tweaking.
Ryan, Thank you for detailing the features of the POD GO, amazing, and to the point. Simply Awesome
Man, you just keep nailing it. Great work to close the year! Thanks!
Got mine when it came out...
Pro guitarists don't need 10k options either... 1 great tone... head heart and hands.
Do agree with some points... I actually now got to a point where I’m 100% happy with my Helix sound, it took me a while of tweaking and trying different IR’s to match the tone of the Rectifier because this model is just WAY more mid rangy, and because as you said, you NEED IRs, I do have the full Helix Floor and I’m really happy with it. But hey, everyone has their own taste and preferences, and that’s great 😁
So many iconic riffs in this I love it man
Ziltoid is a personal fav of mine too. Good to see you again Ryan, thanks for breaking down the Line 6 confusion!!!
The thing for me is when I think of POD I don't think of Helix technology so in a way I would feel better about this product if they called it 'Helix GO' or something nice channel bro!
Maybe my ears have been in the HD world too long, but many of those HD amps i preferred over the GO. Of course programming and ease of use is hands down to the GO. Great video!
Thanks! For those early 2010 uber-processed metal tones, I honestly prefer the sound of the HD (with the metal pack).
Pod Go is cool as hell and sounds just as good as a Helix but I'll keep my Helix and would replace. It's a beast of a control center for your rig.
Was thinking of getting the Mooer impulse response pedal and then realized the go could do all that with a ton of other stuff too. Gonna digest this video later 🤔
I really like the Pod Go. I think it's fantastic for a beginner to intermediate player. It lets a beginner play with tons of pedals, learn what they really love, then they can upgrade to real pedals and what nots. But for a small all-in-one carry and go, it's great! I do agree about the IRs. The lack of good IR is the only drawback to this little wonder. Great review!
Upgrade to real pedals? I upgraded my real pedals to the pod. Had a whole board with ten different pedals. If one wire messed up the whole board was toast. Pod go has made everything for a gigging musician a breeze. Just gotta make sure you turn the amp models off when plugging into some real ones
I stuck with my pod-xt-live floorboard for about as long as I could and made the switch to the pod-go. For well over a decade, I balked at the price tags that Fractal started. The price of pod-go is that of a switch from the pod-xt-live.
As for other competitors, the stereo effects loop was the key to my choice. If you bring a Zoom MS70-CDR in to the effects loop, you get 10 extra blocks (4 + 6) without resorting to the hack (which only gets you a couple more blocks).
Being able to operate the unit from the unit -- that is, without extra software -- is critical ... mostly because the software option will die off long before the unit will die off (try finding JDK1.4 to run the edit software for the pod-xt-live). No thanks to Microsoft, of course (or Sun/Oracle).
Remember: there is no greater impact on tone than practice!
The Line 6 Saga continues. Pretty stoked for this one 🍻
Super knowledgeable - I’m into learning about gear and you my brother know this gear!!!
Thank you for sharing quality info.
Pretty cool little unit, but there are free and cheap VSTs that sound less flat dynamically for home use(mostly due to the stock cab sims). For gigging, it's reasonably competitive at this price
I strongly suggest that you give the line 6 power cab or power cab plus a try I was going to get a pod go a few months ago however when I got to the store about 2 hours drive away they hadn’t gotten their shipment so I went ahead and bought the HX Stomp and I have to say that I am in love with the switch from a tube half stack to digital modeling.... I was using the power amp section of an old bass amp I have and for Christmas My Father got me the power cab and comparing it to the effects loop of a small combo amp and a regular frdr speaker the difference and quality of the power cab is out of this world I am honestly shocked at how good the sound is and for that reason I believe that the line 6 power cab and power cab plus is worth it’s own episode of gear curiosity
Love this I bought a wireless …it’s charging as I rest from work and watch this very informative video …nice work …I’m die hard line 6 since the 1st pod, flextones, spider v240, spider v60 mk2 …great work
If you had to choose between 1 tube amp or a modeler platform what would you choose. I just moved from OLD modeling to a synergy syn1 and I feel the syn1 system is AMAZING. But I haven’t tried any newer modelers other than amplitube plug ins. The feel of the syn1 is SO much better.
Hi, to emulate spk you need 2 things. One is IR and the second is BR (band response) because every speaker has resonant frequency and band-pass range. IR without BR has no chance to sound like real speaker so you nee to eq your IR to introduce weight for certain frequency to be compute with IR graph accurately to be reacting like real thing. If not alone external IR will produce too harsh sound compare to internal cabinet emulation but you know that because of your observation. Cheers!
As a HX advocate I'm looking forward to receiving mine. All I hope for is that it's a HX a built in expression oedal.
Dude, love your videos. I heard riffs from Dying Fetus, Carcass, Behemoth, Amon Amarth, and other cool bands.
I don't like the 2204, it doesn't sound like a Marshall to me without heavy EQing. However...both REVV amps are top notch, they did a great job on them. I have the very old bean and decided to pull it out the other day, I was surprised how similar these units still sound lol.
Its cool for the price, just not really the best choice for high gain imo. Best video on this unit anywhere.
Great review man. Although isn’t comparing stock cabs with no early reflections etc to impulse responses a bit like comparing apples to oranges?
There is a hack that you can do by exporting a preset onto your computer and using notepad + you can delete a few things and you can turn your volume, wah, effects loop or any combination of all three into useable pedal combinations. There is a You Tube video out there that shows how to do this. I have one preset that lets me have 7 effects on top of Eq with amp modeling and cab turned off so i'm just getting the clean sound of the power amp section leaving me more DSP for effects.
Right now I own a Blackstar ID:100TVP head and a 4x12 cabinet, an overkill since I only use it at home. For practicing I use some VST plugins and a audio interface. So I am searching for a good amp modeling solution, the most bang for the buck under 500€. Thanks for your review! This pedal board is lacking some things I am hoping to get (a tone capture function for instance). Some other pedal boards I consider are:
-Mooer GE250 (or even a GE300 if I can stretch my budget a little)
-Hotone Ampero
Do you have any experience with those?
The Mooer stuff is good but for a bit more money i'd take the Line 6.
That cab demo was smokin' hot. Frickin' nice dude! Happy new year Ryan, :) \M/
Did you try using the amp out to power amp and cab... and then the stereo out to two stereo pair cabs? Tri stereo ala Lukather and his Mesa rig from 30 years ago?
Great thing!!! Wonderful for recording.
Great review I really appreciate your honesty I was detecting that trademark plastiki not quite there tone that I've experienced with all line 6 modelers I was hoping this would be different but it's not thanks
Im thinking about going pod go route with laney lfr212 and foh from laneys xlr output. That way i will get stage volume and foh without spliting paths before ir sim. Whatcha think about that?
Very nice review...I just got mine and the tones are pretty good but there's a delay when you stomp between presets. Do you know how to correct his issue?
As far as I know, it can be done only by using snapshots instead of presets. Don't know whether this issue exists in Helix LT/Floor.
What a fantastic review. Compared to the competition at this price what would you recommend?
Thank you! Amplifire, Mooer GE-250, and Nux ME-30 are all serious competitors for either a similar or significantly less cost. Some don't have the sheer quantity of effects and amp models, but that doesn't bear much meaning when only a third of what Line 6 has to offer really stands out to me anyway.
Way late to this... had chameleon, Voodoo Valve, pod xt live, Pod HD 500x , now podgo... as bang for the buck as it gets...compact, easy to program, tons of options... yes the Revv is awesome... but the 5150 is gold... especially with a hiwatt 4x12
I might get one of these just to let bandmates use when they only own real amps but we (I) wanna run direct.
the amalgomation of great riffs keeps me coming to your channel ... especially mastodon
Can you alter the impedance of your audio interface to be closer to that of the pod go?
I don't even listen to heavy music and I love this channel lmao
Been waiting for this one!
Great that you’re back, it’s been too long. Glad to see you looking well.
I came here to hear the tones, and found myself singing:
Fallen from grace cause I been away too long
Leaving you behind with my lonesome song
Now I'm lost in oblivion
Got a good deal on a mooer ge200 second hand. Probably should have spent a little more for a pod go after watching this.
Pod go does sound brighter but that's not always a good thing. Imho some tones are better in the hd while others are better in the go. Now the hd is darker sounding until you add a 5 band eq after the amp then it cleans up the mud.
Agreed. I was surprised at how fizzy and unpleasant the mids/highs of some of the Pod Go amps sounded and would probably not bother upgrading from an HD if I had one.
Sounds plenty good enough for live use, and really damn goodwith the right IRs. But I/O is a bit too limited, and god dammit line6 give us a standalone power amp model already! Even the big helix doesn't have one, which means using it as multi-fx and cab sim for use with a real amp it's so damn limited! I've got a midi capable engl, in my head i want a rig with just one multi FX floor unit that splits off a cab and power amp emulated signal to FoH, does all the FX i want, and controls my amp via midi. But that's apparenlty super freaking difficult...
@Cole Lewis how so? i just need a basic 6L6 and a basic EL34 poweramp sim with a presence knob, like what's on the mooer radar, or something like an on board version of the TPA1. doesn't need to be the poweramp part of any particular amp model they make.
@givemeajackson Ah I see. The reason companies dont do that is it makes it far easier to copy their algorithms
@Cole Lewis i don't mean an actual poweramp, i mean a poweramp model inside the helix. so you can run a real preamp into the helix and simulate a poweramp before the IR loader for a direct PA signal. preamp straight into IR doesn't sound as good as preamp into poweramp sim into IR.
Thats what the line 6 vetta was and line 6 spider HD etc. Those amps dont sell nearly as much as their multi effects did so that trend died.
I agree. What the fuck.
This was amazing. Thank you so much
Maybe POD in nature because of the single signal chain vs. HELIX/HX dual signal chain, cabs, etc...?
Very nicely done
BASS player here, processing power, ZOOM B1XFOUR has the same problem, for 222 CAD with hi-capacity rechargeable batteries, good budget multi effects with amps and cab sims.
what amp modelers do find that have good sag and response?
Yeah, I gotta agree with you regarding the amp modelling- its good but there's just something about it that doesn't feel right. I find the Atomic Amplifire and even Overloud THu to respond more realistically to pick attack and so forth. I wonder why they just can't nail it down after all these years and all the r and d they've devoted to it?
Also your point about the 'interesting' choice of amps modelled is a good one- there's a million Marshall's and derivatives, but one rectifier of which we have no idea which? One 5150?
This has for a long time pissed me off about Helix. Fractal has a small team but is forever churning out heaps of models and updates of which sound better, and yet the juggernaut that is line6/yamaha release maybe 2 a year? And we get maybe 3 or 4 amps in that time?
And to think I liquidated my entire tube amp set-up (Framus Cobra, Recitifier, 6505) a few years back for their modelling... ended up buying an Ironheart to have that itch scratched because lord knows helix don't do it.
@Adam Devo Yet thousands of working musicians earn a living with Line 6 products.
Watching that Almighty Mark IV you have if I were a Helix I´d shit my pants...Nice video like always and happy new year (sorry my english needs to be polished)
Hey dude, would love to see an in depth review of the IK Rig AXE I/O interface from you. I love your demos and trust your opinion and would love to see an honest review of that, everything i see seems so bought.....
Man, I plan to buy digital amp and fx for the first time, I need your preference, which one would you more prefer.. Pod Go or HX Stomp? For the best sound quality.
Buy the best one you can afford!
Those two are going to sound identical as far as amp and effects quality is concerned - the differences come down to connectivity, form factor, and how the modeling "blocks" are arranged.
yes ryan ... back on youtube ... hope to see you more regular
I hope so too man! I'm working on returning to a more normal work-life-music balance within the next couple of months.
Love those Death riffs
I think it's a really good device all in all.
Cab sims on Helix in general isn't as good as I thought it would be, but at least it has IRs.
Gotta say that 1:08:00 I liked all of the Pod's cabs more than the IR's you used, and I tought they sounded great.
My rule is- for live, use what ever sounds good enough, the crowed won't notice.
For recordins- use the best you can use.
Line 6 seems to get everything right in their products but cabinet modelling. Their factory IRs are poo poo.
I still want to see your helix bean idea to fruition though...
Nicely done, I'm subscribing
Amazing vid....Question, im a semi-pro Guitar player, old-school 80's hair metal guy. I am purchasing a Ceriatone KK with Molecular Overdrive channel. I use OD, Delay, Verb maybe some chorus. I would like an amp switchable pedal. Do i get just a small switcher with 4 Great pedals or do i spend 1700 on a product that i will use 3 effects? Thoughts.
Thank you! It depends on how capable you want each pedal or block to be. If you stick with one setting for each one, an affordable loop switcher and some one trick pony pedals will do everything you want. If you want a bunch of different drive or delay sounds easily accessible at the press of a switch, thats where a multifx unit usually wins. I prefer to stick with pedals with a particular "character" when using real tubes, those that are harder to replicate with a modeler. For a generic Tube Screamer or room reverb though, the POD GO is fine at that.
So, I must be tone deaf...As far as the cabinet models compared to the IRs I think the stock cabinets sound MUCH better. I also own the Zoom G11 and the Zoom G6 and I feel the same about those cabinet and IRs. Personally I think the whole IR thing is just a new way for guitarist to feel like they have created their very own cool sounds and also it's a another revenue source for software creators. But I might be "biased" because I've only been a guitarist for 40 years...lol. IRs sound thin and brittle to me !!!
Great review, this or the Mooer ge 300?
watching preset creation (34min), you really can't judge the sound by the stock settings, the amps for instance will come alive with the right mic, cab, tweaking, etc.
would you get this or the hx stomp
Hey man, love your channel. Could you please help me tho? I'd like to run 2 amps. One for cleans, then switch to the other for the broots. Lol. Is an A B Y pedal the best/ cheapest option, or is there something better??
@Plague Scythe Studios they are two seperate half stacks. Jet city 50 on a Marshall 4x12 with veteran 30 and creambacks, and other stack is FRYETTE deliverance into mesa 4x12
Are they both combo amps or individual stacks? If so, an ABY would probably be the easiest solution. If you want to run two tube heads into a single cabinet though, you're going to need some more gear to make it work.
47:35 the funny thing is.... I had an Aunt Peggy. Rest in peace Peggy. you're missed.🙏✋✌
Sigh... still way too expensive for me with my country's currency exchange rates nowadays. Thank satan for VSTs (and piracy - yes, sue me). Even Katanas have become out of my reach.
Can’t decide on this or the Mooer ge200. Would never use this live...just for practicing and some basic recording for fun,etc.
I know that this is a 7 month old comment and all, but I bought a ge200 second hand for a decent deal. Not a bad unit for practicing, but If I could do it over I'd probably spend a little more for this or a different bigger unit.
I only wanted an fx unit to use with my iridium. Will this do it?
No amount of spin off products can fix the fact that Line 6 modeling and effects sound decidedly “meh.” I’ve never understood why people bother, considering the competition. But then again, people love low quality shit in just about every category I can think of 🤷♂️
I always felt this way about BOSS including the Katana even players I respect sound like shit through it but everyone kisses their ass
I would also easily choose a NUX MG300 over this unit. But hey, what do I know, just my personal preference:)
@J.H This is the correct answer. Buy a used amplifier and toss Leon Todd’s presets in there. Happy days
@Iuri Grangeiro atomic amplifire
What is the competion for better modeling and effects at 450 bucks?
At 55 min you start talk about amp modelings, how this one is not as good as others multifxs... Wich model has the best Marshall amp modelers at this same price range? Congrats for the video!
The god of NERDY GEAR TALK
Couple things. First thing, you can absolutely use snapshots to change the amp parameters to make a clean amp go into over drive or vice versa. You do it the same way you would when assigning footswitches on the little menu. Lastly, there are "spare blocks" presets on custom tone that get rid of the vol, wah, fx loop, and eq in favor of blank blocks. This opens up the flexibility of the unit. Does not increase dsp though.
Look at the sag, master, etc... when comparing pod hd and go
honestly couldn't you just use an outside IR loader (like people do with Pod HD rack units) somewhere in there to work around the amp out IR and foh isssue or am I thinking wrong. I mean if you HAVE to have the fx after the IR it wouldn't work, but I mean it could be something to play around with.
Ryan do you even use your old amps? I’ll take em bro
@Plague Scythe Studios love that. i'm putting your album on right now, thanks for the reply and new vid! happy new year
I think my neighbors can attest that they get regular use 😂
Sup Ryan - have good one and keep it up in 2021
The pod go rectifier sim sounds like burnt asshole! sounded good in the custom preset though
Are there enough PODs?
Loved this video. But i dont like that mutch better the Fractal's Ir's. A blend of booth would be better but i dont find any of them great.
I really like Pod Go.
Cheers from Portugal 🍺🤘🇵🇹
Blind shootout incoming ? I'm interested in how this Mesa Mark model would stand compared to Amped ML5 ...
8:37 Anyone knows the title of that song?
Great revue but I can't understand why you would expect £399 modeler to have anything more than this has. It's obviously not aimed at the professional but bedroom and pub / club players just needing basic clean, crunch and overdrive.
You can download ir and fix the problem
LOL ......guitar players. I need access to every sound possible in the universe and it better be fucking accurate. Bass players: Gimmee 4(3) fat strings , any strings, any age, any amp/cab, a tuner, and we're rockin'.....Great video , thank you.
Is it just me or do POD 2.0, XT and HD have better distortions?
Well that was short 🤘
on the sound quality, on blind tests it has been shown that the differences between modellers between them but also vs the real amp, are so small that are pretty much the same as the differences you ll get by , say, playing two different rectos or two different 800s. If by your own admission you cannot tell what is what in a blind test but when you A/B them then you hear the “line 6” sound, it is clear that your own biases hit in and have nothing to do with the actual quality. So in that sense I think you arguments on quality are invalid. Other than that great video as always!
Lol at BloozLawyur preset