PodGo users? (or HXFX, Helix users?)

S

sideshowsmitty

Member
I bought a PodGo about a month ago. I've been real impressed with the sounds (especially for the money) and wanted to know what others thought? I still need an amp behind me, and use my Marshall Mini Jubilee/2x12 and use the PodGo as my pedalboard which has made my load in a little easier since it took the place of my pedalboard, (smaller) cable bag, (everything fits in the Gator bag I bought) and backup amp up since I can get through a gig if my Marshall ever goes down. I bring it to practice and run it straight through the pa which is much easier than bringing an amp. It has a lot of the same sounds as the Helix, but is smaller and doesn't have as many hookup options and features which I never used anyway. I still feel you can't beat a real amp, but for the money (half the price of the Helix) this thing is pretty cool. The effects sound pretty damn good. None of the people in the clubs we play are going to hear the difference between the Line6 phase and a real script mod. Their Minotaur is an awesome overdrive that pushes my Marshall real well. Anyway...getting long winded here...just wanted to know if anyone else is using one of these, and if so how are you using it? Direct? Through an amp as your pedalboard? 4 cable method? Have you bought any IRs and if so, are they that much better than the cabinet options that come with the PG? We did 27 gigs in 2021 and have 19 on the books so far this year with more coming. I'm looking forward to really dialing this thing in more. Thanks for reading.
 
I don’t have a pod go, but have a stomp and hx effects. The hx effects is run 4cm with my amp and also handles channel switching. I run the stomp as a stand alone unit. The built in cabs are ok, but I get much better sounds using IRs.
 
Will Onyx said:
I don’t have a pod go, but have a stomp and hx effects. The hx effects is run 4cm with my amp and also handles channel switching. I run the stomp as a stand alone unit. The built in cabs are ok, but I get much better sounds using IRs.
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Thanks Will. Do you have any IR cabs you can recommend? I aslo have an HX Effects that I use but the Pod Go took its place since I can use the expression pedal for wah/vol, and the tuner seems to be a little better than the one on the HX. (? to me anyway) Lots of people prefer the Fractal, Kemper, and Quad Cortex, but once your used to the LIne 6 stuff its pretty easy to dial in sounds with the web interface so I'm sticking with them. Although the new Boss GX 100 looks pretty cool.
 
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I have an HX Stomp and have loaded it with Ownhammer and Celestion IRs. Much better than the stock cabs. The stock cabs are alright, but IRs really take the models to a different level, IMO. I particularly like OH impulses. Celestions are cool, but OH's have more depth and heft to them.

I run either direct through headphones if I'm practicing at home, or through a little Mooer 20W tube poweramp and through a Krank cab with a Celestion Gold if I'm jamming with other people. Either way, sounds great.
 
Most IRs I have are free ones I’ve grabbed here and there whenever available. There’s a guy named Jay Mitchell on TGP who makes and gives away some nice ones from time to time. He had a fender one that is one of my faves.
 
I have an LT. Would have definitely gone for the pod go out the hx stomp had those been on the market when I made the purchase. Getting some good 3rd party IR's made a world of difference. I bought some from ownhammer, but there are plenty of other good ones out there. Lately I've only been using it into a SD power stage 170 into a 2x12 though- obviously the ir isn't a factor when using an actual cab.
 
Have the Pod Go & the Helix LT. Love both. 4CM only through real amps.

I use it as my pedalboard. Replaced my 'real pedalboard' for a bit. It gave me way more options & flexibility with my in-front FX (OD, wah, chorus, etc.) and FX loop FX without having to purchase and try out other pedals.

Pod Go is a great little unit, but it needs a buffer pedal before going into it from the guitar. Don't know why they skimped on that, but you can hear the difference: no buffer = a little damped/blanket. With the buffer = clarity is back.

I moved up to the Helix LT b/c I loved the Pod Go so much; got a crazy deal on a new one from Sweetwater. I don't need more than what it provides, so I didn't see the need for the Floor. No buffer is needed on the LT.

Dual Pitch is my favorite effect; gives me that Van Haggar tune detune pretty well. Teemah is my favorite OD.

Can't speak to the amps or IRs.
 
I started with an Hx stomp and ended up getting a Helix LT. I use an ownhammer Mesa V30 IR for most things. My bass player uses my old stomp now and we both go direct. Load in and set up is now much faster and the audience would never know the difference. I will say it doesn't sound 100% as good as my old Mesa mark v or mini jubilee, but it gets me 90% the for most things. I use a ev pa speaker for a monitor and the bass player uses in ears. We are all pretty happy with this set up.
 
I knew that the POD GO was limited to 4 user selected effects in any given preset (due to CPU limitations).

However, since I'm never going to activate more than 4 "user selected" effects LIVE at any given time (and I
have no need for an effects loop in any of my presets) I built a master preset and deleted the effects loop.
This allows me the space to keep one additional effect "in the cue". Since I'm never going to activate more
than 4 "user selected" effects at once, it shouldn't cause a resource issue. Also, since it's only a preset,
I'm pretty sure it isn't going to be an issue. I have a background in coding and computers, but this is my
first digital modeler.

PS Some guy on Youtube called this jailbreaking! But, since it has nothing to do with modifying an OS,
and nothing to do with modifying firmware, I disagree. (If there's a problem I can simply delete the preset).

Any thoughts? Any thing I'm missing? Please, feel free to share... :)
 
sideshowsmitty said:
I bought a PodGo about a month ago. I've been real impressed with the sounds (especially for the money) and wanted to know what others thought? I still need an amp behind me, and use my Marshall Mini Jubilee/2x12 and use the PodGo as my pedalboard which has made my load in a little easier since it took the place of my pedalboard, (smaller) cable bag, (everything fits in the Gator bag I bought) and backup amp up since I can get through a gig if my Marshall ever goes down. I bring it to practice and run it straight through the pa which is much easier than bringing an amp. It has a lot of the same sounds as the Helix, but is smaller and doesn't have as many hookup options and features which I never used anyway. I still feel you can't beat a real amp, but for the money (half the price of the Helix) this thing is pretty cool. The effects sound pretty damn good. None of the people in the clubs we play are going to hear the difference between the Line6 phase and a real script mod. Their Minotaur is an awesome overdrive that pushes my Marshall real well. Anyway...getting long winded here...just wanted to know if anyone else is using one of these, and if so how are you using it? Direct? Through an amp as your pedalboard? 4 cable method? Have you bought any IRs and if so, are they that much better than the cabinet options that come with the PG? We did 27 gigs in 2021 and have 19 on the books so far this year with more coming. I'm looking forward to really dialing this thing in more. Thanks for reading.
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In my humble opinion, PodGo's internal IRs are pretty darn good, certainly better than most people think. They just require some dedicated fine tuning first (which takes time). However, I have collected multiple 3rd party Acoustic IRs and Nylon String IRs which I've used with my Martin Acoustic and my Alvarez Nylon String that sound amazing Live. I primarily run my PodGo direct into my Powered Cabinet (then run an XLR from that cabinet to the front of house. NO, I haven't tried the PodGo as a pedalboard into my Marshall in any configurtion. I'm more inclined to try my buddies HX Stomp (after turning the amp and cabs off) and patch it directly into the Marshall's Effects Loop, and see how the levels match up (and how quiet it can be?). If that works, I'll buy my own and configure my Expression Pedal as a volume/wah pedal, and use a midi switcher to change song patches, on the fly.
 
Old Guitar Player said:
I knew that the POD GO was limited to 4 user selected effects in any given preset (due to CPU limitations).

However, since I'm never going to activate more than 4 "user selected" effects LIVE at any given time (and I
have no need for an effects loop in any of my presets) I built a master preset and deleted the effects loop.
This allows me the space to keep one additional effect "in the cue". Since I'm never going to activate more
than 4 "user selected" effects at once, it shouldn't cause a resource issue. Also, since it's only a preset,
I'm pretty sure it isn't going to be an issue. I have a background in coding and computers, but this is my
first digital modeler.

PS Some guy on Youtube called this jailbreaking! But, since it has nothing to do with modifying an OS,
and nothing to do with modifying firmware, I disagree. (If there's a problem I can simply delete the preset).

Any thoughts? Any thing I'm missing? Please, feel free to share... :)
Click to expand...
The first thing I did with my PodGo when it arrived was use a text box on my computer to edit the
code from a generic preset, and create a master 5 effect preset by eliminating that effects loop.
Effectively allowing 5 effects at a time. The only downside is, using multiple giant resource effects
can cause you to run out of memory/CPU. However, It's not the end of the world. Just substitute smaller
resourced effects. It's not actual "Jail breaking" because your not modifying any firmware, or making any
permanent changes to an actual device. Your just editing the rules for a particular preset/patch.
 
Old Guitar Player said:
Really? Just curious, which small affordable modeler do you think is the best option in the $500 range?
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Boss is definitely sturdier. The GT-100 is larger, of course, the GX-100 has been on my radar though.

Hell, I paid $160 for a used RP1000 about 5 years ago that works flawlessly. I'm after a smaller footprint with better/more effects, but the RP1000 has some great effects, some so-so. And, it's now a dinosaur.
 
HXfx user. It’s my “Swiss army knife” in most situations. I have some presets built with gain pedals to usb in front of amps, I have some built with time based stuff that I use in the loop of my Kemper. I’ve got a “just-in-case” preset with ir’s loaded in case I have to go to FOH in an emergency. The HXFX is a great pedal, fantastic sounds, easy interface, and solves a lot of problems for me.

I’ve got Ownhammer and Celestion IR’s. I bought a bundle from OH, waaaaaay better than stock IR’s.
 
napalmdeath said:
Boss is definitely sturdier. The GT-100 is larger, of course, the GX-100 has been on my radar though.

Hell, I paid $160 for a used RP1000 about 5 years ago that works flawlessly. I'm after a smaller footprint with better/more effects, but the RP1000 has some great effects, some so-so. And, it's now a dinosaur.
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In the early 80's a good friend of mine (Jay Sessum) built me 2 pedalboards, which I used until I officially retired in 2000.
When I started playing again 10+ years later the Line 6 stuff seemed impressive and affordable. That's how I became a fan.
Funny, 3 of the pedals on my SESSUM pedalboards were made by Boss. I'll have to check out the GX-100 next time I'm out!

Sessum Pedalboard 1980.jpg
At a band rehearsal in 1981. My SESSUM pedalboard resting in it's flight case.
(Please excuse the Peavey Bandit, I'd borrowed my Keyboard players amp that day)
Note: Jay Sessum was Debbie Boone's band leader and bass player.
 
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I got a helix rack and the foot controller. I use a real amp for shows and band practice and the helix is effects/channel switching since i just have two channels. But it also acts as an interface, a looper, etc when needed. I don't think the amp models are the best in the modeler world but it's very intuitive for me to use compared to Axe fx, which I've also owned many times. There are some good models in there though you just gotta play with them a little bit more than you might on Axe FX
 
Strangely, I think my Pod Go sounds slightly better in 4CM than my HX Stomp XL,
but the Pod Go isn't a midi controller, so it's basically either an FX or FOH unit.

Also, when we had Bass auditions for my band, we used the Pod Go as a Bass pre-amp into a poweramp and 4x10 cab.
It sounded great and really full.

I run my HX Stomp XL in front of my Diezel VHX with my band.
I also like having backup FOH patches on my HX Stomp XL in case my amp ever has a problem live.
It's a pretty small backup. (I used to bring an extra amp)
 
FLUXX said:
Strangely, I think my Pod Go sounds slightly better in 4CM than my HX Stomp XL,
but the Pod Go isn't a midi controller, so it's basically either an FX or FOH unit.

Also, when we had Bass auditions for my band, we used the Pod Go as a Bass pre-amp into a poweramp and 4x10 cab.
It sounded great and really full.

I run my HX Stomp XL in front of my Diezel VHX with my band.
I also like having backup FOH patches on my HX Stomp XL in case my amp ever has a problem live.
It's a pretty small backup. (I used to bring an extra amp)
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Isn't the HX basically a Helix without a Built-in Expression pedal & the bells and whistles, 1/5th the size
and 1/3rd the cost? I'm looking very seriously at the HXStomp XL, as both an insert for my Effects loop,
and as a standalone rig, for fly dates. I LOVE tubes and my Marshall, but I've been told that through
the front of the House, a properly configured an HX Stomp (with the right IR) can sound VERY GOOD!

ALSO, I haven't kept up with MIDI. Could I use some type of floor MIDI footswitch to change presets on an
HX Stomp if I patch it directly thru my amps Effects Loop? I know the HX will accept an expression pedal.
 
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Old Guitar Player said:
Isn't the HX basically a Helix without a Built-in Expression pedal & the bells and whistles, 1/5th the size
and 1/3rd the cost? I'm looking very seriously at the HXStomp XL, as both an insert for my Effects loop,
and as a standalone rig, for fly dates. I LOVE tubes and my Marshall, but I've been told that through
the front of the House, a properly configured an HX Stomp (with the right IR) can sound VERY GOOD!

ALSO, I haven't kept up with MIDI. Could I use some type of floor MIDI footswitch to change presets on an
HX Stomp if I patch it directly thru my amps Effects Loop? I know the HX will accept an expression pedal.
Click to expand...
Yes it it, basically a smaller package Helix.

I use a Voodoo Labs Ground Control Pro to control my HX and my Diezel VHX at the same time.
I have the Mission Line 6 Expression pedal on my pedalboard next to my GCP.
I run a TRS cable from the expression pedal to the HX.
I have the HX on top of my amp.
I run a midi cable from the GCP Midi Out to the HX Midi In, then HX Midi Out/Thru to my VHX. Works seamlessly and keeps setup simple.

If you were just running the HX and the expression, it would be an easy setup.
I had a chance to set up my FOH patches in my HX today straight to the PA,
and it sounds amazing to my ears.
 
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