voxman55

Big plus 1! I think learning to use what you have is the key. In addition to compressors, an EQ can be used as a gain boost too. And you can change your tone completely by using different mic models in the same patch and setting different amp gain levels in snap shots or foot switches. There also comes the point where we are already far beyond where some amps and fx especially distortions sound so similar anyway, you really don't need anymore! I really don't need even more amp models....I do need additional functionality and I hope the next firmware upgrade gives greater flexibility.

I suspect @grdGo33 is pretty spot on here re resource and what the vast majority of users want. Pod Go is fundamentally a guitar MFX - Line 6 included some Bass guitar amps and cabs for those guitarists that might also play some Bass guitar. The memory in Pod Go is finite and speaking somewhat selfishly as a non-bass guitarist I personally wouldn't want to see Pod Go filled with any more Bass amps/cabs/fx that are pretty much useless to at least 95% of guitarists and could restrict the space for new guitar amp/cab/fx to be added. However, bass players are not exactly hard done by in Pod Go. Interestingly, Line 6 previously developed a bass guitar modelling pack that it sold separately for earlier generations of its MFX inc Pod HD. I think these packs have pretty much been pulled across into Pod Go which has more than this pack now anyway for bass players, all included: https://shop.line6.com/software/model-packs/ https://shop.line6.com/software/model-packs/hd-bass-pack.html Our Bass Amps Model Pack gives you total flexibility to record incredible-sounding bass tracks with your POD HD. You get two of the most ubiquitous bass amplifiers of all time, plus two cab models to round out your sound. NOTE: HD model packs are not compatible with POD Farm 2.5. However, standard model packs can be used with a computer that's been authorized with POD Farm 2.5, as well as with non-HD Line 6 devices. Required Hardware: POD HD500X POD HD Pro X POD HD 500 POD HD Pro POD HD Includes Amp Models Based on: Ampeg® SVT® Normal Ch. Ampeg® SVT® Bright Ch. GK Gallien-Kruger® 800RB Ampeg® SVT® 8x10 CAB Ampeg® SVT® 410HLF CAB

Perfectly reasonable approach - if gear doesn't meet certain core criteria that's important to you, then yes you should hold off or consider other options. The problem is that all gear has pro's and cons. For example the Mooer GE300 and Zoom G6 and G11 all missed a feature that was important to me for gigging. And that is the ability to globally kick in a wah in any patch without having to pre-program it. The Pod Go does this beautifully, and was a feature I missed in my Vox Tonelab SE & LE units. The Pod Go looper is in my opinion dreadful but as I don't need a looper I accepted that. The Mooer GE300 aluminium fascia looks nice but the poor graphics mean you can't read these on stage. it's tone capture is a 'nice to have' but wasn't essential for me. The Zoom G6 is underpowered and I don't like the Zoom menu driven approach. The G11 was ridiculously over-priced when it came out but there is much in it's functionality I like. The factory patches are dreadful though and you'd have to pretty much start from scratch when building tones. The touchscreen is a real plus and I like it's real knobs approach. but it has nowhere near the amp/cab options of the Pod Go. For me, as a gigging player, the biggest plus of Pod Go is it's Helix quality modelling in a form factor that fits what I wanted and IR capability. I wanted a MFX that was compact, light, well built with a great screen, and sufficient floor switch capability to use live inc global volume/wah switching. I also wanted good customer support (and I think Line 6 are pretty good here). The limit of only up to 4 FX wasn't ideal but I could live with it and work around it, and in that regard it at least does what my Tonelabs do. The FX loop meant I could add external pedals but it's not something I want to do as it adds weight, bulk and time to my gigging set-up/packing and I literally wanted a single unit to take & go. I mainly play classic rock & blues so I don't need complex FX chains and the ability to add FS7/8 means I can set these to kick in a patch gain boost or change an IR or cab mic or add a chorus etc in any mode, without having to tap dance between preset & stomp mode. You can't currently see FS7/8 on the screen but maybe that will come in a future upgrade. The snap shots were a bonus as I didn't have those in my Tonelabs and are still useful albeit naming and colours would help make this feature much more useful. So the trick is to do the research and focus on the most important things that are 'must haves', then consider the 'nice to haves' and then disregard the things that are 'completely not needed'.

I agree Pod Go needs these and have been an avid advocate for these and other upgrades - see my posts here and on The Gear Page. But I knew exactly what I was buying and fully understood Pod Go's limitations which I weighed carefully against it's many advantages. I knew because I read the manual and watched the Line 6 and other Pod Go videos first, before I bought. I could have opted for Helix LT but didn't want such a big, heavy unit and I hated its screen. You had the same opportunity to read the manual & watch the vids. If you buy without researching what you are buying, that's down to you, and only you - not Line 6 so I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no sympathy re your 'deal killers'.

No. FS7/8 are exactly the same as FS1 to FS6 with regards what you can do with them. I have put on Ideascale a request to see FS7/8 on screen and an option to use these as patch up/ down, which would mean that even in 6 stomp mode you can scroll through patches. Line 6 already know and have top of their list that users want Snap and multi switch naming and ability to allocate and change colours especially for snaps. We are hoping to see these in the next firmware upgrade...fingers crossed.

Paid presets - in a word, yes. Some paid presets are using stock cabs, others will use the creators favourite Impulse Responses (IR's). The problem with paying for presets is that what you hear are with the creators specific guitar/pickups and recording gear. These will never sound exactly the same with your gear and will nearly always need some tweaking accordingly. Building on @grdGo33 response re IR, an IR is actually a little more than just the sound of an amp and a mic. An impulse response (or IR) is a sonic measurement of the sound of a speaker, room or microphone in relation to a sound source. In guitar terms, this is usually your amp. After your guitar itself and the dialled-in tone of your amp, there’s a lot more that can affect your sound. The speaker type, the space you’re in (ie natural room ambience), the build of the cabinet, the microphone you’re using, the microphone’s preamp or position both relative to the distance of the mic from the speaker and its distance from the centre of the speaker. With both single and multi-speaker cabs (eg 2x12, 4x12), some IR's are recorded with several mics at the same time. The combinations are literally infinite. The idea of an impulse response is to capture all of that information in one go, so you can instantly recall that setting. This means that you can retain your preferred tone, right down to the detail of your favourite mic placement and room sound. The problem is that when you buy IR packs or even use IR's that are available free, you could find that you have literally dozens and dozens of variations of the same speaker. Eg using mic type A/B/C individually or in combination at distance 1-12", offset from the speaker central axis by 1-12". So it's a real rabbit warren and trial & error to find the ones you like best. Now, even though in Pod Go there is only a distance of mic from the speaker option but no mic 'off axis' option in Pod Go, you still get a good choice of mic types and the ability to alter high & low frequencies and to add a natural room reflection, and a good choice of cabs and speaker options. This means that you already have the ability to vary the tone from the stock cab model considerably. When you hear an IR compared to the stock cab, your immediate thought might be that the IR is much fuller sounding & bigger eg with more bottom end or 'sparkle'. But one of the reason's is the dB setting of the IR is typically set higher than the stock cab '0dB' setting of the stock speaker, so it's sound is more prominent. But here's a key 'trick' - if you raise the stock cab dB to eg +6dB there's a huge change to how the stock cab sounds and very often you can get extremely close to a third party IR of the same cab. Some IR's are better than others but there are so many free IR's around, I'd strongly recommend you try these first before deciding to buy. Because we all hear & like different things, an IR that I might rave about you might hate. Similarly, buying patches - you might think these are great but I might hate them. Remember, there are a ton of patches available free on Line 6 Custom tone (I've contributed a few myself) so there's so much to try out before spending money. Buying an IR and/or patches is therefore a lottery. Why do folk buy? Well, some IR's can be particularly good and some patches might be well crafted. But most often it's because folk want a quick fix - instant tonal gratification without having to do the work themselves. But here's the thing, if all you do is buy stuff you're not really learning about Pod Go yourself and it's that journey of discovery that you'll be missing. And there are a ton of patch building vids on Youtube to help guide you and teach you. But it's still ultimately one persons ears versus another so even a top patch designer's patches, regardless of pedigree, skill in the studio etc, might not suit you. To make the point, have a listen to the Pod Go demo NAMM 2020 by Phil Hindmarsh, and then load down the exact same patches he was using from Line 6 Custom Tone - Paul is a fab player and in the vid, his tones sound spectacular. Now load those identical patches into your Pod Go - and I guarantee they won't sound like in the vid. https://line6.com/customtone/search/?submitted=1&family=pod_go&search_term=PH Phil's skill aside, remember that this is mixed & EQ'd at the board, and your guitar, amp, speakers and even guitar cables or wireless system will be different. And everything impacts on your tone even down to the type of pick you use! And if you are a gigging player, remember that patches which might sound great in your room at home through headphones or your own home amp might sound 'meh' or even bad live in a band mix or through your gigging amp at stage volume or even if (like me) you don't use an amp and put your MFX straight through the main board/PA. And vice-a-versa ie great gigging patches might sound bad at home. And all those fine nuances as between 1" or 3" off axis etc that you might discern at home through headphones - well, & trust me here as I'm a gigging player, they go straight out the window as you'll never ever hear such differences in a live band mix. And all the reverb, delay & distortion settings that sound great at home - chances are you'll need to take everything down as in a live band mix you need tones that cut through the mix and don't sound muddy or washed out. There's a thread on this board on IR's, including posts from me with links to free IR's - so do a search and check that out to get you started on IR's. Remember, learning about tone & what your gear is capable of is a journey, and that folk selling IR's and patches want to make money. I'm not saying don't buy stuff or that there isn't some good stuff out there - but there's a lot of free options to get you started and there's no substitute for learning at least the basics yourself.

Whether you want to turn the cab on or off depends purely on what you prefer tonally. It's a complete misconception to assume that just because you're going through real amp speakers that you have to turn cab models off. They provide additional tonal versatility that you can't get from the amp itself. Experiment and see what you like. I prefer the tones with the cab. A 4x12 cab model makes e.g. my Marshall models sound bigger, fuller and with more bottom end than e.g. a real 1x12 or 2x12 cab. Just go by your ears.

Yes, PG Edit is way better. But if you are at a gig or rehearsal, or somewhere with no computer, you have to use Pod Go directly. It would have been cool if they had given it blue tooth capability and a phone app - but sadly, no.

There are no rules or rights and wrongs here...different folk use different approaches. Try each way and just see what you prefer.

Yes, of course you can use Pod Go in front of your amp and it has a specific amp out for this.

We are all waiting for the next firmware upgrade. Snapshot and footswitch naming and colour choices are top of Line 6s to do list so we just have to wait. Meantime, see my thread 're Ideascale, and go through and vote for everything you want ...there are duplicate idea submissions so please search 'Pod Go' and vote for everything you want even if duplicated.

Interesting - is that a per patch setting, or is it global for all snapshots in all patches?

Go to snap shot e.g. SS1 where you want the wah active, select wah on, and save patch. Then repeat as needed in each snapshot e.g. SS2 but save the patch after each SS change before moving to the next.

Sure, I appreciate that, and respect your opinion - but I'd still be interested to see what he comes back with as I just can't see it being a mechanical fault. I've seen this problem before and it was a settings issue where there were conflicting assignments as between the wah & volume. I'd also like to check he's not using any external pedal and there's perhaps a polarity reversal happening. Probably no other pedals, but worth just checking.

I think that's a heck of a jump to make on virtually no information and before the poor guy has even had a chance to clarify. Is he using the latest firmware? Early versions had a glitch on a section of patches. Almost certainly this is either an assignment and/ or settings mix up, or if it is happening on all patches it could be a global setting or a software glitch which might require reinstalling software. The chances of this behaviour being hardware with a component failure is very, very unlikely.

Sounds like an assignment mix-up. Is it on all patches or just one patch you're modifying? If the latter, easiest fix is to copy the default volume & wah block from a 'New' patch over to the patch you're having problems with, and the default settings will be back in your patch.

The other thing you could do is to add two momentary switches in FS7/8. The advantage of setting up a clean or distortion boost with these (and you can use them for anything, the same as FS1-6) is that you can kick in a boost IN ANY MODE ie you don't need to switch in stomp mode. You can't unfortunately see FS7/8 in the window and most of these switches don't have a LED indicator to show on/off, but if you have gigging patches and you know FS7 is your clean boost and FS8 is your distortion boost in each of your gigging patches, you know its the same for each. Saves having to foot dance between stomp and patch mode. I use 2 Bespeco VM20 non-latching switches. Solid, inexpensive, and big enough to 'hit' at a gig (unlike some small 2 button pedals). Connect via a single stereo to 2 x mono Y cable. See the manual for set-up in Pod Go.

The more I've thought about this, the more odd I find Line 6's perspective on Pod Go, and it's apparent intransigence to give customers more flexibility to see DSP usage, have more user blocks, and allow the fixed amp/cab block to be released. So, I thought I'd put this from the perspective of a story of a supermarket customer, shopping for food. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin: A shopping tale Once upon a time, there was a supermarket customer (me! lol) I have a £10 voucher (my DSP allowance) with ‘happy store’ to do my daily shop. I had to pay a one off entry fee (cost of buying Pod Go) to be a Happy Store (Line 6) customer, but I like the shop. It’s local, friendly, comfortable, has a great display layout of its food that makes everything really easy to see, and has everything I need that I want to eat. And there’s some good news because the shop tells me that in addition to my £10 allowance it will give me some basic ‘essential’ freebies. These are kind of like the cute little portions you get in an in-flight meal, and all together aren't worth enough to buy even a chocolate bar, but hey, these are free: An individual bread roll (I can choose granary, plain, soft, crusty etc) - EQ A pat of butter (I can choose salted, unsalted, the make etc) Volume pedal A sachet of milk (I can choose full fat, semi-skimmed, skimmed, oatmilk) Wah A single sachet/bag of a hot drink (I can choose coffee, a teabag, hot chocolate, malt drink or a cup-a-soup) FX loop A clean up wipe noisegate But out of my £10 I have to buy: 1. a meat item, but I can only have 1 Amp model 2. a vegetable item, but I can only have one cab model But after that I can then go to the aisles and choose from any of the following categories, but I can’t have more than 4 items (FX) in total. · Soft drink · Wine · Pudding · Pasta · Biscuits · Fresh fruit · Dairy products · Bakery product So, I wander around and choose the following: Meat – rump steak Veg – mixed veg Bakery product – a pain au chocolate Dairy product – a pack of cheddar cheese Biscuits – Ritz crackers Pudding - Sticky toffee pudding So, I go to the checkout and the conversation goes like this Terribly sorry, but it comes to more than £10. OK, so what do I need to get rid of? What was the last item you bought? Sticky toffee pudding! Well try putting that back or try changing it for something else from the pudding range, or don’t have a pudding and buy something else But I like sticky toffee pudding – and when I went to the aisles, there were no prices (ie no DSP cost indicators) - so I don't know how much it is and what might be a cheaper pudding? Yes, that's because we don’t think you need to know the prices because it could confuse and distract you from choosing what you want to eat But you are stopping me from choosing what I want because I can’t have the sticky toffee pudding!? OK, well you CAN have your sticky toffee pudding put only if you put something else back or change something else to an item that's cheaper by enough, so that you don't go over your £10 voucher But how do I know what to think about putting back or swapping unless you tell me how much everything costs? You have a £10 allowance. We think if you knew the prices it would ruin your shopping experience with us Yes I know that there's a £10 limit, but that doesn’t help me! What would help me is to know how much you are charging me for the food items I choose. Look, your competitor shop across the road shows its food prices! Oh, well if you’re not happy shopping here, you should go to the other shop but their food quality isn’t as good and we give you more options. But then I'd have to pay another entry fee and whilst they have some good offers and lines, you offer lines that they don't. Look, there’s a man on the corner (Benvesco's DSP usage charts for PG, Helix etc)) who has worked out your prices and he’s showing them for people to see. Oh is there? Well, he’s nothing to do with us but fine, go and see his price list But I shouldn’t have to go round the corner to look through a long price list each time I want to check a price. You should be telling me – this is your store, your food, and I’m your customer! Why won’t you tell me your prices? Because we don’t want it to influence your decision on what to buy Look we’ve been there and you are influencing me, you always tell me when I'm over-spending but you're giving me no information to try and understand what my selected shopping costs, and what alternatives cost, so you're not putting me in a place where I can make informed decisions! You’re not exactly being helpful here are you, but OK I’ll take a guess and swap the sticky toffee pudding for a crème caramel Ah that’s good you’re now under your total £10 limit. Great, so how much was my shop? Under £10 Yes I know that, but how much change do I have? We keep the change! But what if there’s enough left over to buy something else I’d like? Tough I'm afraid, you can only have up to four items on top of your meat, veg & ‘freebies’ OK, but tomorrow I don’t want meat & veg – I’m giving meat up for a few days (I just want to use FX when going through my real tube amp). So can I choose some more of the other items if I don’t buy any meat? No, you have to buy meat – but you can choose some cheaper meat so you’ll have more to spend on the other 4 items, but you still can’t have more than 4 other items So how do I know what meat is the cheapest? Oh, I forgot – you won’t tell me the prices. But even if I found that out from the man on the corner (and I just saw, its sausages), I DON’T WANT ANY MEAT! I might do in a few days, but not tomorrow. Why can’t I choose? Because we don’t think you’re able to make those type of choices. We think most of our ‘Happy Shop’ customers will always want meat, and if we gave them choice, it would confuse them. You can opt not to put the meat and veg in your basket, but we'll still charge you for them anyway. But why can’t I have more than 4 other items? Because there’s more chance you’ll go over your £10 allowance, and we don’t want you to get upset when we have to tell you this more often. But if you put prices on your food and as I put items in my basket you had a little counter telling me the total cost as I go, I’d be able to choose my food items and know that when I came to the checkout, I was within my £10 voucher! That way, you wouldn’t have to send me away to tell me to change something, I wouldn’t get stressed out, I could do my shopping way quicker, and everyone would be happy! As I said, we think it’s a bad idea for our customers to be confused by prices and choosing more than 4 items. We want you to choose food based on what you want, not the price. You might be an exception, but Happy Shop customers are generally very simple folk, and they want us to help them keep things simple But you’re not helping to keep things simple; what's causing the confusion is you’re making it complicated and being secretive by not telling your customers the prices and letting them choose!? Ah, if you’re a bit more savvy than our other customers, we have another shop which is our Ultra Happy Shop store (Line 6 Helix Floor/Helix LT). This offers a much bigger selection, you can choose whatever you want, and have as many items as you want up to £20! OK, but I’ve seen that store. The one off entry fee is much more expensive than I’m paying here. Also, I don’t like it. There are too many aisles and too many things I just don’t want or need, the store is too big and my shopping would take too long, and I don’t like how it displays its food, which isn't as nicely presented as Happy Store. Also, it’s baskets are too big and heavy for what I need. I also don't need £20 of food - I'm very happy with my £10 voucher - I just want to get the most value from it and your reasons for not helping me to do this make no sense! it feels like you're trying to push me to become a customer of your more expensive 'Ultra Happy Shop' when I can't afford it, and don't need or want it. Well, those are your choices with us I'm afraid But don't you listen to your existing customers and what they want? Well, you can submit your ideas in our suggestion box (Line 6 IdeaScale) and we look at these, but we're not making any guarantees of what we might take notice of. OK, so where's the suggestion box? Ah, it's not here and we don't openly advertise it but if you ask some of our other customers, they should be able to point you! You're not exactly making this easy, are you! So – what do you think of the customer service from Happy Store?! Because that's Line 6's take on Pod Go! So if you want Line 6 to bring in these changes and improve your shopping experience, please vote on the Ideascale links in the OP thread!

You unassign the fx loop from the FS2 switch and then set the main out with a 3db increase via assignment to FS2. If you go to Line 6 Custom Tone, type in voxman55 in the search bar, and 4 of my patches will come up. Load down my 'Soldclean SCsnap' patch that has this...you'll see that FS2 has been set to a 3db boost, and you can copy the main out block and put it into any of your patches. You can of course use any FS or set FS2 to something completely different if you don't want the fx loop. I've set up FS2 this way in a 'new patch' and copied to all new patches. So when I create a new patch, it's already there.

I absolutely agree 100% with your take @grdGo33 but it's only if customers lend their support that we might be able to influence Line 6. Not sure what might be the best way to try and take this forward and am open to ideas. I'm toying with possibly doing a YouTube vid - fully respectful to Line 6 of course, but to try and see whether there's possibly a sizeable consensus here.

....Is that ideas are scattered/duplicated/shown in different ways, and i'm not sure most customers know about this, where it is, and/or appreciate this is what Line 6 looks at. If Line 6 do look at Ideascale to get a feel for what customers want, then will they identify the trends by linking common requests together? I've tried to 'put together' some of the Ideascale requests that one way or another are all saying users want more flexibility re the current fixed patch approach, and I think that goes hand in hand with helping users to better understand DSP and have information of DSP allocations with a DSP % marker for each amp/cab/fx, and a total DSP meter. Digital Igloo (Line 6) has stated that: "The short answer: POD Go wasn't designed for the type of guitarist who frequents TGP, which is why I've spent so many cycles here shouting "It's not a Helix" over and over. The long answer: DSP meters are, IMO, a terrible experience, even for Helix. We don't want our users obsessing over which amp or effect uses more or less DSP; we want them choosing what sounds best to their ears. We also want POD Go users to almost never run out of DSP; opening more blocks to maybe squeeze in an extra compressor for the 10% of users who understand dynamic DSP (decidedly not POD Go's target market)—at the risk of the other 90% hitting the wall much sooner—is a non-starter. Ease of use and predictability are key here. We have a list of things we'd still like to add to POD Go—many of which have already been requested—but neither extra blocks nor more flexible DSP allocation are on it." But I think Line 6 may be a bit 'set in their thinking' and/or may not necessarily have a clear picture of the growing demand for the Pod Go training wheels to be taken off. Common themes are: 1. Give users DSP information (the Zoom G6/G11 does this and I think the Mooer GE300 may do this too - even Helix users have asked for this!) 2. Give Pod Go 1 or 2 extra blocks. It doesn't increase DSP, but the option will give greater flexibility 3. Give the option to free-up DSP by removing the amp/cab block for those that will sometimes want to use Pod Go for pure FX Now, whilst releasing even all the EQ/wah/noisegate/volume/fx loop isn't even close to allowing a compressor, the theme of users wanting more flexibility is the issue here: The following Ideascale links refer - So, if you want these things, please vote in each one - current votes as at today's date shown in brackets: https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/POD-GO-Allow-Amp-and-Cab-IR-blocks-to-be-replaced-w-other-fx/990127-23508 (9) https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Pod-Go-Equalizer-not-be-a-fixed-block/990390-23508# (33) https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Give-Pod-Go-1-or-2-additional-user-blocks-to-maximise-DSP/1000649-23508 (16) https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/POD-GO-Function-suggestions/1001513-23508 (9) https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Pod-Go/1011679-23508 (11) https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Freedom-Pod-Go-Now!/1005827-23508 (19) https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/DSP-information/1015976-23508 (37) https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Pod-go-effects-blocks/1019288-23508 (12) https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/Free-the-bocks-in-PODGO/1024488-235 (4) And Helix users who want a DSP meter/DSP info (this is requested in loads of other ideas, but included in a big wish list): https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/DSP-Usage-meter/918997-23508 (47) https://line6.ideascale.com/a/dtd/DSP-Meter/867648-23508 (115) The only way we might be able to get Line 6 to reconsider its position is to demonstrate the demand on themes that its customers really want!

And its unclear how many users actually use the looper in Pod Go anyway. I know I don't because the looper itself is too limited, too awkward to use, and it uses up one of the 4 blocks that are already limiting enough. So I certainly wouldn't want it as a fixed block using up DSP.

You can't see them in Pod go, in Pod Go Edit, or both? Have you updated Pod Go Edit and updated Pod Go via Pod Go Edit? If so, try rebooting your computer & then open PGE

Fingers crossed, these will be in the next firmware upgrade: per post on The Gear Page 4th June 2021, response from 'Digital Igloo' (Eric Klein, the Chief Product Design Architect for Line 6) " Voxman5 said: Can't talk about what's coming (or when) and there are never any guarantees, but the three things you mentioned are among the top of the list of things we'd like to add."

My Pod Go and FRFR108 sound terrific together. What type of cable are you using to connect them? I'd recommend you dont use a regular instrument cable. The correct cable (1/4 "balanced") makes all the difference!