Line 6 Pod GO User Review and Opinion

[WarpCanada]

So the Line6 PodGO is like a baby brother of the famous and expensive Line6 HELIX and HX STOMP and HX EFFECTS Units.  I bought one when it first came out, and (spoiler alert) I absolutely love it to bits.

It's basically a somewhat DSP-power-limited version of the Helix, and unlike the HX Effects, the amp models are still INCLUDED in PodGo.


What do you lose over buying the HELIX:
   - NO Variax VDI port.   (If you never plan to buy a variax, no big deal. I actually do plan to buy a variax some day, but when I do, I'll probably also buy a Helix Floor unit)
   - NO MIDI ports.
   - Fewer input and output ports, but at least there is one send/return loop.
   - NO flexible routing of effects, parallel effects and wet/dry dual chain setups are NOT directly possible.
   - A few of the reverbs and delays are exclusive to Helix due to its higher DSP power.
   - Fewer possible simultaneous effects running all at once.

What you still get:
    - The effects on PodGo are the exact same quality as the effects of the same name on Helix.
    - A fixed linear stombox layout which you can reorder and set up in whatever order you like.
    - Dozens of Amp models to choose from. Turn any One of them on, or you can run with it off.  The amp model can't be replaced with an extra delay.
    - One cab sim which can be on or off, and which can be set to any of the built in cab simulations, or you can load your own impulse responses.
    - A lot of great delays, reverbs, and choruses.
    - Looper pedal built in
    - Excellent EQ options built in
    - Excellent noise gate built in.
    - Acceptable quality boosts and drive sounds.
    - Direct to your PC digital recording of guitars, with very good amp and cab modelling, you can even change your "virtual microphone" position and distance to affect your sound. 
    - Great sounding into an amp (via four cable method) and into headphones (or your PC DAW).


Subjective opinion time:
    - Sometimes I wish I could chain up more delays and fuzzes and modulations than you can get going simultaneously on the PodGO, but that's just because I'm a freak who loves Shoegaze and crazy destroyed guitar sounds.
     - Helix delays and reverbs sound good to me, and SOME of the high gain sounds and mid gain drive sounds seem good to me, but the Fuzz sounds on Helix sound fake as all heck to me, and the chorus sounds don't do anything for me.   Your mileage may vary. 
     - When combined with an outboard fuzz pedal, and when hooked up via four cable method into a real tube amp with an all tube preamp and a tube power section, or when combined with a good tube-preamp-but-solid-state-power-amp guitar amp, with a real fuzz pedal into a real tube preamp,  there's NOTHING you can't do with this rig.  Am I the only person who refuses to hate on modellers, but also refuses to let go of my favorite real fuzz pedal?

I play guitar for my own enjoyment, every day at home, I'm not a gigging amateur, and certainly no pro. But every day and I use this thing, plus some other discrete pedals, including a Line6 DL4 delay, an outboard looper (even though the PodGO has its own very good looper feature) pedal, a fuzz pedal, and an Ibanez tube screamer, into a Blackstar Amp.  I will probably add an outboard reverb pedal just to let me go even farther into crazy shoegaze land than I can with two simultaneous reverbs active on my PodGO, plus another outboard one.

I have a Fender '94 Twin (with Reverb) 2x12 100w amp on the way to my house, and I can't wait to try the reverbs on the PodGo into the real spring reverb tank of a big Fender tube amp.

Rating: 9.9 out of 10.  Would buy again. Fantastic deal. 
 

     

[StephenM]

I was looking at this after reading your thread start here.... I think I would really dig this alot... likely i would find many uses.... right now and for quite a while I have been using the boss Me-25 (about 150 bucks) and or the on board stuff in the Boss 1600 recorder (which for the time frame it was made are really good).  I find I actually use about about 6 of the presets on the ME-25 and the Boss I have used alot of them...  I am sure that I could spend alot of time making up some good user sets on the Boss (either one actually can).... I just don't fiddle that much...I have a few I really like and just use them... and lately, after reading up a bit about recording guitars I have been playing with my volume knobs alot lower than before... unless some leads I just want the added oomph.... but it comes with a price....pick noise in the recording!
I will have to go by guitar center sometime and test out the line 6..... after all the covid stuff dies down...

[WarpCanada]

It's worth getting, I think, ONLY if you think of it as a virtual pedal board, and at least build your signal chain up from nothing.

The problem with multi effect units, all of them, boss, zoom, and line6, and all others is that when you didn't build the chain of effects up yourself, you will find that the results are out of your control.

Allow me to use an analogy.   Imagine that I like to take a daily walk.  I find that my daily walk would be more exciting if I wear a nice vest, and that vest has lots of pockets.   Every day when I go out on my walk, I add another thing that I may need. A small pair of binoculars, for looking at birds.   A bunch of plastic bags so that I can leave parks cleaner than I found them, and pick up dog poo.  Over several months, I add more and more things to my walking "daily carry" list, until by the end, I look something a Navy Seal in tactical gear.  Now imagine that I decide to save other people the effort of building up a similarly absurd and over the top daily carry items list for themselves, and instead I package up all those items in a "Starter Kit" that you can buy on Amazon for $99.99. 

That is what a multi-effects pedal is, in effect.   Its a kit of things that worked for someone else, with some guitar you don't own, with some amp you don't own, to make some sound they liked, that won't be the same sound when you plug your guitar into it, and then plug that into your amp, and then play your material, with your fingers and your brain operating the show.  Furthermore, you are likely to feel bewildered and slightly absurd while trying to do so.

So the thing to do then is to forget the Starter Kit, the presets, or if you do choose to use the presets, the Starter Kits,  start by turning EVERYTHING off, putting your guitar on neck pickup, or whatever one is your favorite, your volume all the way up, tone all the way up, amp dialed back to home positions everywhere, and then bringing in one element on at a time. There's a switch to turn EQ off? Turn it off.  There's a switch to turn the distortion off? Turn that off.  Boost off. Everything off.  Now bring the items in one at a time, and dial them in so that the sound is NOT TERRIBLE.

Once you begin to view everything from the frame that everything you add may, at any point, through no fault of its own, and no fault of the nice people who made your unit, completely ruining your sound, then you will have your own first preset, based on a factory preset.

If every sound every multi effect unit makes sounds AWESOME TO YOU, then your experience and mine are different, which is OKAY, but if every multi effect preset sounds trash to you (as it does to me), then the "one tweak at a time" method as above, instead of "pile on everything at once" method (using presets) is the way to go.

And then there's the fact that multi effects are always going to sound trash if you put them into the front end of an amp.  Multi-effect modelling pedals should be wired into your amp via a four cable method, or else, multi-effect modelling pedals could be used into an FRFR (basically a PA built for guitarists).

There are just so many paths to failure with multi-effects, it's why most pro guitarists, probably 80%, don't like multi effect boards, and prefer discrete pedal boards.  I would say, that's their right, and they're NOT WRONG.   Multi-effect pedals are like swiss army knives. Just cos it has 80 blades on it doesn't make it 80x better than a regular single blade knife, and in fact, if I had a bear coming at me, I'll take a single 10" hunting knife any day over any swiss army nonsense.

[StephenM]

Warren, that is some great insight right there....and well said... I suppose that I do love the Boss BR1600 presets, at least some of them but......BUT there is no wah pedal or volume pedal sooo.... and the ME-25 There are probably 3 I do like alot so yes.... I think you are right.... I need to completely rethink the way I use it....
and down the road I may try to budget the line 6 in

[WarpCanada]

My first multi effect was a Zoom 505, which had a very old very bad effect DSP system, much less effective than the ones in Boss units, and much much less realistic than Line6.

But even with the Zoom 505, it was possible with any given guitar and amp to get at least a few useful sounds out of it.

I think it helps a LOT to start out with discrete separate pedals, good ones, because they train your ears and your mind, to get good sounds.

Anyone who has never owned, for instance, a Tube Screamer, or an Analog bucket brigade delay pedal, I'd say, go get one of those first, and train yourself how to use one pedal.

Once you can make great sounds with one or two discrete pedals, you'll have a reference in your head, for getting pretty good sounds of anything.

[64Guitars]

I suppose that I do love the Boss BR1600 presets, at least some of them but......BUT there is no wah pedal or volume pedal

Yes there is. Well, there's an EXP PEDAL jack on the back. You just have to get an expression pedal to plug into it. I have a Roland EV-5 expression pedal for my BR-864. It's a bit overpriced but there are some cheaper pedals you can get that will work just as well.

The BR-1600 includes 5 Wah types for you to choose from. Each of them can be controlled by the expression pedal.

CRY WAH	This models the sound of the CRY BABY wah pedal popular in the `70s.
VO WAH	This models the sound of the VOX V846.
FAT	This a wah sound featuring a bold tone.
LIGHT	This wah has a refined sound with no unusual characteristics.
7STRING	Wah featuring a broader range of variations for the seven-string guitar.

And the expression pedal can also be used as a volume pedal in any patch that's based on one of the following algorithms:

• COSM OD GUITAR AMP
• ACOUSTIC SIM
• BASS SIM
• COSM COMP GUITAR AMP
• BASS MULTI
• COSM BASS AMP
• COSM COMP BASS AMP
• VOCAL MULTI
• VOICE TRANSFORMER
• COSM VOCAL COMP
• STEREO MULTI

But an expression pedal can be used for more than just wah and volume. You can also use it with the Vibrato effect to control the depth of the vibrato. And you can use it with the Pitch Shifter effect to vary the pitch (like a DigiTech Whammy for the price of a cheap expression pedal).

Of course, the BR-1600 isn't the only BR that can use an expression pedal. I think every owner of a BR-8, BR-600, BR-800, BR-864, BR-900, BR-1180, BR-1200, or BR1600 should treat themselves to an expression pedal to get the most from their BR's effects.

[StephenM]

64 Guitars....thank you for that.... I will have to go find one of those pedals....because I don't plan on getting rid of either of my BR's .... they are very versatile machines... Have you found any bass sounds in there you liked?  I am not too crazy about those but I haven't done what Warren suggested to try and build my own, which you can do...

[64Guitars]

Have you found any bass sounds in there you liked?  I am not too crazy about those but I haven't done what Warren suggested to try and build my own, which you can do...

I don't recall which effects I've used with my bass. Possibly one of the bass amp models, or maybe nothing at all. Definitely not any of the preset patches.

You should definitely learn to adjust the effect settings. It's easy to do. If you only ever use the preset patches without adjusting the settings, it's a bit like buying a pedalboard and never touching any of its controls. Then when you get tired of the sound of that pedalboard, you go to the store and buy a new pedalboard (preset patch) to get some new sounds. That would be a foolish waste because you could easily get an infinite number of new sounds on your existing pedalboard by simply turning the control knobs on the pedals. It's the same with a BR. Each patch is based on an effects algorithm which determines which effects are available and the order in which they're patched. So you can think of an algorithm as a virtual pedalboard. And each effect in the algorithm has its own set of controls, just as an individual effect pedal would on a pedalboard.

For example, on page 85 of the BR-1600 manual, we can see that the COSM OD GUITAR AMP algorithm has the following effects in this order:

• COSM Overdrive/Distortion
• COSM PreAmp & Speaker
• Equalizer/Wah
• Noise Suppressor
• Foot Volume
• FX
• Delay
• Chorus

It's like plugging your guitar into a fuzz pedal, then plugging that into a guitar amp with the amp's effects send going to a wah pedal, then a noise suppressor pedal, then a volume pedal, then some other effect (a Uni-Vibe, for example), then to a delay pedal, and finally to a chorus pedal, then back to the effects return of the amp. Each of these pedals has an on/off stomp switch plus a few controls.

You can set the Equalizer/Wah effect to be either a 4-band equalizer or a wah pedal, but obviously not both at the same time.

FX is a big one. It can be set to any one of the following effects:

• Compressor
• Limiter
• Acoustic Guitar Simulator
• Pickup Simulator
• Tremolo
• Slow Gear
• Defretter
• Phaser
• Flanger
• Pitch Shifter
• 2x2 Chorus
• Pan
• Vibrato
• Uni-V
• Short Delay
• Humanizer
• Ring Modulator
• Sub Equalizer

Each effect in an algorithm has an on/off setting. This is equivalent to the on/off stomp button on a real effects pedal. You can dial up any preset patch and switch the individual effects in that patch on or off, just as you'd switch individual pedals on your pedalboard on or off. So, for example, if you find a preset that you like the tone of but you don't like the delay in that preset, simply switch the delay off. Alternatively, you could reduce the "Effect Level" parameter of the delay effect so that you still have some delay but it's more subtle.

All of the parameters for each effect are described in the BR-1600 owner's manual starting on page 90. For example, the first effect in the COSM OD GUITAR AMP algorithm is COSM Overdrive/Distortion. On pages 94 and 95, we can see that the controls available for this effect are Drive, Bass, Treble and Level, just as you'd see on most fuzz pedals. Drive controls the amount of distortion and Level controls the volume. There's also a control for Type. This determines which classic fuzz pedal you want to emulate. For example, you could choose a Fuzz Face or an Ibanez Tube Screamer. There are 15 fuzz pedal models for you to choose from.

You can do so much with the BR's effects by adjusting their parameters. It's a shame that so many BR users never use this powerful and versatile feature of their BR, instead opting to only use the boring preset patches. As I said, it's like having a pedalboard with many pedals and never touching any of their controls.

For a start, every BR user should learn how to switch the individual effects in a preset on and off. Then, once you've seen how easy that is, you should explore the other settings for each effect and learn how to save your settings in a Song Patch or User Patch.

[WarpCanada]

Fantastic analogy 64Guitars and right on.

And that gets to the heart of being a Guitarist (at least my version of being one).

I have only grown when I stopped ignoring the ways in which I'm limiting myself.   Oh look, my left hand technique is terrible, I can't play this. Oh look my right hand technique is terrible.  My music reading is terrible. My knowledge of amps and guitar tone and pedals is terrible.  It was when I started to question myself, and then instead of GIVING UP, I plowed in anyways, that I made any breakthroughs I've made.

I literally am that guy who expected to plug ANY GUITAR into ANY PEDAL into ANY AMP, any WAY, and not have to adjust the heck out of all of them, and then I would give up and say "wow, I guess that I suck".  And in a way, that was true.  But in another way, the only reason I sucked at it was because I gave up without ENOUGH struggle.

I really recommend watching the documentary "It might get loud". Three amazing guitarists (The Edge,  Jack White, and none other than Jimmy Page) get together and talk guitar.

Jack White said the most interesting thing of all three of them, and he's the one I had hithertoo not paid enough attention to. He said you have to get in there and fight with the instrument, you have to end up bloody and battered, and emerge victorious.    I forget the exact words he used, but it sounded like he was encountering a living thing that resisted him.

That's been my experience.  When you bond with an instrument, and you feel that it responds to your touch, without a fight, did you really get anything done? Did you learn? Did you grow?

The same is true of these multi effect pedals.  They are like the space shuttle console.  Intimidating.  When guitarists make fun of people who use gear that's too complex for them to figure out, either, who is really kidding who.

I have massive respect for guitarists who have mastered the Looper Pedal,  or mastered the use of clean boost, or mastered the use of effects loops and front of amp placement of pedals.  Or mastered the various sub pages of a Boss Katana's effects, or a Boss ME pedal, or a Helix or HX Stomp or PodGO, etc.

I bet, Jack White would take a Zoom505 and instead of saying "this is trash, throw it out", he'd say "those sounds are insane, I'm making a whole album and using them".

Attitude is where a Guitarist is born. I think.

Before you buy a PodGO or ANYTHING else, learn the gear you own, inside out and backwards, and then upgrade after you've got the stuff you own begging for mercy and dying for a rest.

[StephenM]

good stuff although I would say I have never found the presets boring...man there are so many and I have used quite a few of them.... but I see exactly what you are saying... I really don't need to think about buying anything else.... I just need to dig into the mine a little more...to find the hidden gems for my guitar.... I found a really neat preset just today that I never tried it is PO32 Tremolo Twin... I am using it for a backgroud lead thing... so I will dig more into these... and I know about that book because i had to dig in there lots of times to figure out how to do anything in the box... and I am fairly good at using what i use and I do quite a bit with the BR.... but there are still alot of features I haven't tried.... hmmm... I wonder what I am missing from my wife....hmmm got me thinking now...