NPD : Pod Go

[jimmy23cricket]

So took the plunge on one of these. Went for this over an HX Stomp as I prefer more footswitchable options for live use. Also wanted the amp sims for recording, so also ruled the HX out.

So far, its an impressive machine. Still learning, but its pretty intuitive.

[dannybuoy]

Stomp XL has been announced btw, should you yearn for parallel processing!

[jimmy23cricket]

Nah, not a massive requirement for my needs. Quite happy with the Pod....

[Skybone]

Looking forward to hearing about further forays into getting results.

 

[stewblack]

I was considering one of these, just blown a few months effects budget, but still interested. 

I shall follow your progress... 

[jimmy23cricket]

So, 3 days in and....

Ease of use - Super easy. I was pretty confident in creating patches and navigating within 20 odd minutes of getting it set up. Probably haven't found all the features yet but I would be happy using this live today if I had a gig (Ha!). The editing software is particularly useful makes patch navigation and set up even easier. 

Sound - So, this was ultimately to replace a Zoom G3n and potentially and upgrade for by B3n, so I'll mostly comparing to these 2 units. I also liked the idea of one unit for both applications. The G3n was particularly underwhelming for recording and for live sounds (IMHO). The B3n is perfect for my live use and I found marginally better for recording. The Line 6 is definitely a cut above sound wise over both Zoom units. It blows the G3n out the water on all fronts. For bass, the amp and cab sims sound good direct into a DAW and the effects are definitely of a higher quality then the Zoom. The higher DSP does mean more chain options, however if you like to have infinite tweaking options, it may not be  for you due to the pre-assigned blocks. Personally, 6 FX in a chain is more than enough even if one is pre-designated to an EQ type. I think where this unit will really start to shine is when you get into the world of Impulse Responses. 

Practical usability - Its much bigger than the Zoom units, however you can access 4 patches per bank versus the Zoom's 3. Also, the snapshot feature means each patch can be set up in 4 different ways and accessed easily. So in effect, each bank could be of 16 patches. That's plenty for live use I think! I've pretty much ignored the expression pedal so far, so the value of that is yet to prove itself. The stomp mode on this is also much easier and quicker to use then on the Zoom.

I'm currently trying to get my head around IR's. I'll report back once I delve into that black hole.

[stewblack]

Great stuff. Thank you. 

[KingPrawn]

On 19/02/2021 at 13:12, jimmy23cricket said:

So, 3 days in and....

Ease of use - Super easy. I was pretty confident in creating patches and navigating within 20 odd minutes of getting it set up. Probably haven't found all the features yet but I would be happy using this live today if I had a gig (Ha!). The editing software is particularly useful makes patch navigation and set up even easier. 

Sound - So, this was ultimately to replace a Zoom G3n and potentially and upgrade for by B3n, so I'll mostly comparing to these 2 units. I also liked the idea of one unit for both applications. The G3n was particularly underwhelming for recording and for live sounds (IMHO). The B3n is perfect for my live use and I found marginally better for recording. The Line 6 is definitely a cut above sound wise over both Zoom units. It blows the G3n out the water on all fronts. For bass, the amp and cab sims sound good direct into a DAW and the effects are definitely of a higher quality then the Zoom. The higher DSP does mean more chain options, however if you like to have infinite tweaking options, it may not be  for you due to the pre-assigned blocks. Personally, 6 FX in a chain is more than enough even if one is pre-designated to an EQ type. I think where this unit will really start to shine is when you get into the world of Impulse Responses. 

Practical usability - Its much bigger than the Zoom units, however you can access 4 patches per bank versus the Zoom's 3. Also, the snapshot feature means each patch can be set up in 4 different ways and accessed easily. So in effect, each bank could be of 16 patches. That's plenty for live use I think! I've pretty much ignored the expression pedal so far, so the value of that is yet to prove itself. The stomp mode on this is also much easier and quicker to use then on the Zoom.

I'm currently trying to get my head around IR's. I'll report back once I delve into that black hole.

Keep it coming im intrested!

[jimmy23cricket]

On 16/06/2021 at 16:05, KingPrawn said:

Keep it coming im intrested!

Well, what can I say! 

A couple of months in and I can report its still a good bit of kit. I have created four sets of patches that form my main pedal board now. 1 compressed/clean, 1 driven (nice tubey growl), 1 distorted and one dry. All have options to switch in various modulation effects where needed. Most of my other pedals are now defunct. My chain is now Korg Pitchblack tuner (also acts as a killswitch) -> Pod Go-> X2 Ditto Looper (find external loopers easier to use on the fly) and that's it. Other than adding a good synth down the line, I cant think of anything that the Pod couldn't do well enough to warrant any additional options.

The tones are outstanding, I really cant complain and it suits my needs perfectly. Band has commented favourably on bass sounds...whatever that's worth 😁!

On board amp sims are good for recording too. Sound really good and are infinitely tweakable....some might say too many options actually.

Haven't quite go around to recording a dry and wet signal simultaneously yet either, but I haven't felt I needed to.

I did download some free impulse responses mostly for guitar use. The process was pretty straightforward and its been good to have some additional options. I must add that the IR's definitely added something to the guitar sound.

 

[Skybone]

So I crumbled and ordered one... fingers crossed that it'll be every bit as good as it's reputation.

 

Looking forward to playing about with the sounds.

[Skybone]

It's arrived. Had a quick play about with it, very impressed, very easy to use, and the Editor is dead easy too.

 

Fave so far is the Cali 400 Nrm & 6x10 cab. Played with a couple of effects, but mainly trying to concentrate on getting the "basic" sound sorted. Need to compare it with the HD500x and see how it fares.

 

Also, rehearsal next week, so hopefully, I'll have a few presets & snapshots sorted to try out there.

Edited July 30, 2021 by Skybone

[Skybone]

Further forays into the depths of the POD Go, still can't quite get my head around the Snapshots (especially on the Editor). Think I need to spend a bit of time looking into that.

 

Pleased that the Bass-specific drive pedals have a "Blend" function, particularly like the Ampeg Scrambler.

 

A touch frustrated with the effects options though, you can only have 3 selectable effects on each preset (the other 3 are the EQ, FX Loop & Dynamics/Compressor), and then I do like a touch of reverb, so that takes it down to 2. Still, after many years of mucking about with the HD500x, I pretty much only use a couple anyway. Time to look at copying patches and playing with the effects there...

 

Sound-wise, it's very good, though IMO, it's not a huge step up from the HD. There are more amp/cab models available (the only criticism of the HD), which gives a bit more variation. I do need to spend a bit more time playing about with it, but first impressions are very good.

 

Edit: the EQ and FX Loop are always there, you can turn them off, but you can't assign their slot to another effect. The Dynamics/Compressor are assignable, so that's 4 effects slots if you need them.

Edited August 2, 2021 by Skybone

[jimmy23cricket]

On 01/08/2021 at 10:25, Skybone said:

Further forays into the depths of the POD Go, still can't quite get my head around the Snapshots (especially on the Editor). Think I need to spend a bit of time looking into that.

 

Pleased that the Bass-specific drive pedals have a "Blend" function, particularly like the Ampeg Scrambler.

 

A touch frustrated with the effects options though, you can only have 3 selectable effects on each preset (the other 3 are the EQ, FX Loop & Dynamics/Compressor), and then I do like a touch of reverb, so that takes it down to 2. Still, after many years of mucking about with the HD500x, I pretty much only use a couple anyway. Time to look at copying patches and playing with the effects there...

 

Sound-wise, it's very good, though IMO, it's not a huge step up from the HD. There are more amp/cab models available (the only criticism of the HD), which gives a bit more variation. I do need to spend a bit more time playing about with it, but first impressions are very good.

 

Edit: the EQ and FX Loop are always there, you can turn them off, but you can't assign their slot to another effect. The Dynamics/Compressor are assignable, so that's 4 effects slots if you need them.

 

Glad its going well! 

 

Interested though. As far as designated 6 effects blocks, the EQ on mine is the only one you can't switch out. So that leaves 5 assignable blocks to any effect. Is yours also assigning one block to a compressor/dynamic?

[jimmy23cricket]

16 minutes ago, jimmy23cricket said:

 

Glad its going well! 

 

Interested though. As far as designated 6 effects blocks, the EQ on mine is the only one you can't switch out. So that leaves 5 assignable blocks to any effect. Is yours also assigning one block to a compressor/dynamic?

Erm, ignore me. Just counted again….only 5 blocks with one pre-assigned! Note to self, learn to count. 

[Skybone]

I have found some sounds I really like, easily & quickly. I just need to try and get the time for a more in depth tweaking session.

 

Must admit though, I am somewhat underwhelmed by the SVT. Absolutely loved the HD500x version, but just can't seem to get anything close with the POD Go. Saying that, the Cali 400 has definitely taken it's place.

[Skybone]

Oooh... New discovery. Found & tried the SVT 4 Pro amp. Wow, fabulous sounding sim, very pleased.

 

Had a more in depth play around with some other effects & settings. Really happy with the results, can't wait to get back into the rehearsal room and see how it sounds in a band setting.

 

It'd be nice to have a bit more selection of bass-specific dirt pedals, preferably overdrives rather than distortion or fuzz. It's great that the 3 that are there have the "blend" control. Maybe meka a few suggestions on Ideascale.

Edited August 6, 2021 by Skybone

[skidder652003]

21 hours ago, Skybone said:

Oooh... New discovery. Found & tried the SVT 4 Pro amp. Wow, fabulous sounding sim, very pleased.

 

Had a more in depth play around with some other effects & settings. Really happy with the results, can't wait to get back into the rehearsal room and see how it sounds in a band setting.

 

It'd be nice to have a bit more selection of bass-specific dirt pedals, preferably overdrives rather than distortion or fuzz. It's great that the 3 that are there have the "blend" control. Maybe meka a few suggestions on Ideascale.

This looks great. Any reason why it's cheaper than the helix stomp by about £70?

[Skybone]

The POD Go is more of a "Helix Lite", has the same model sets (less 3 effects so they say), but has reduced routing.

 

The Helix range has the ability to create parallel signal paths, where you can only have 1 signal path on the POD Go (hence having a "Blend" control on the dirt pedal models is quite important), and only 4 assignable effect blocks of the 6 (one is assigned as the FX Loop, the other is assigned as the EQ). Though saying that, having 3 or 4 effects available, as well as amp & cab models is probably more than enough for most bassists, and if you do have requirements for other effects for different songs, there's nothing stopping you copying one preset into the next slot and assigning different effects. Still haven't got my head around snapshots, but can't see much use for them for bass players. From what I can gather, they allow you to tweak the settings of the signal chain in the preset (i.e. a bit more drive, tweak the EQ, tweak the controls on the effects), but you can't add/amend/change effect blocks.

 

As with most tech, I would assume that there's probably slightly less processing power & memory in the POD Go than any of the Helix range. However, it's still a great piece of kit. The downside is that it's not cheap. If you want a great modelling multi-FX with the ability to add a parallel signal path, and not spend too much, definitely look at the HD500X, and get the HD Bass pack. Definitely keeping mine, even with the POD Go.

[Skybone]

First rehearsal with the POD Go the other night, very pleased with how it sounded, though a lot louder than I thought, had to rein it in somewhat. 

 

Made a few tweaks on the fly, dead easy.

 

Overall, very happy with it. Sounds superb.

[Skybone]

Ideascale: POD Go / Helix - More Bass Specific Models Please (ideascale.com)

[Skybone]

POD Go 1.30 Firmware update available

[horrorshowbass]

Still favouring the Pod Go over the B3N @Skybone?

Making the decision at minute between two

[Skybone]

Wow, had it for nearly 2 years already.

 

Still favouring the Pod Go? Abso-bloody-lutely. Fabulous piece of kit, love it.

 

I added the Celestion Pulse 10 IR's, and using the 4x10 model pack, can't recall which mic setup etc. but it sounds so much better than the pre-loaded Line6 cabs. Did some recording with it last year, really happy with the sounds that were captured. 

[horrorshowbass]

Awesome 

I have a zoom which I'll probably keep for drumbeats and looper etc but will look at pod go for sure

[Skybone]

I think it was @jimmy23cricket that had the B3n, not me. Used to have a B3 a long time ago (well, it feels a long time ago!).

 

Definitely preferred the Line6 devices over the Zoom, replaced the B3 with a PodXT Live, then the HD500x, now the POD Go.

 

The only criticism of the POD Go is that it is limited, small number of "free" effects blocks, no parallel signal paths, no DI XLR, limited number of bass-specific effects, etc. None of these are deal breakers IMO, and I still think it's a great piece of kit for the bass player.

 

I plug it into the "Effects Return" on my amp, so the signal is straight into the power amp section.