grdGo33

Using my mad Photoshopping skillz, this is how the FX loop appears to be working in actuality when it is turned on in the 3rd effects block location:

Yeah I understand how my looper pedal works, you don't have to try to explain it to me! lol I used the looper just as an example. My question has nothing to do with the looper pedal itself. It could be a distortion pedal, chorus, compressor, phaser, EQ, reverb, etc., I'm trying to figure out why the Pod Go FX Loop block doesn't seem to work as you would normally assume it to! Please reread or read the original post, even just the 1st TLDR line of the message for what I'm asking! Thanks! :p Visually:

Thanks yeah I understand how the looper works, I'm trying to figure out how the Pod Go's FX loop works!

TLDR: How does the FX Loop work relative to the other blocks? I have a looper connect to the PGO: PGO FX out -> Looper -> FX in. 1) If the FX Loop is the last element of my effect block chain, it works normally, if I put on some reverb, distortion, etc., I can record with the looper, I can hear all effects, etc., works. 2) BUT, if I move the FX Loop to the 1st block, just before the say the distortion, then it doesn't work. I'm getting totally raw guitar signal, it sounds like the FX Loop bypasses all the blocks including amp, cab, etc., so I'm not getting anything from the go with this configuration. 3) If I put it at the end just before the cab, I'm getting a loud bright harsh sound. And if I turn off the the FX loop and turn off the cab, I'm getting the exact same sound. So it's like the FX loop bypasses the cab when it's on.... So basically, from what I can gather, is that unlike all of the above pictures show, the FX loop block doesn't work like a regular block. The signal doesn't go through the block... The signal enters the block, and then seems directly routed to the output, bypassing everything that comes after it. And what is strange, is that if I record something with the looper and I turn the FX Loop off in PGO, I can still hear the looper playing the music through the monitors. So the FX Loop isn't even really turned off, it's just that the PGO is not outputting any signal from the FX Loop out, but is still processing signal from the FX Loop in. Does this make any sense? More thoughts ...

Ok I'm getting a lot of incoherence... Turned everything off, then I went back to the Akai E2 Head Rush, and I'm not getting any clipping anymore, even though as I did mention, earlier I was getting a lot of noise/clipping it with... So I really don't get it, smells like the Go maybe detects impedance at startup and sets itself up for whatever's plugged in, and if you plug in something afterwards it might not work well? That's my guess... Something cool though I noticed, which if it isn't a bug is a cool feature: If you switch patch while the looper is looping, the Go is smart enough to keep the effects loop as the last bit of the chain (the same spot it was when you started looping), and then even if it shows the effects loop say before the amp, it still works as if it was last... So basically, you're getting the 'correct' looper sound instead of the Go moving the effects loop before the amp and distorting it... BUT, you cannot disable it via the Pod Go footswitches, if you try to do so, it will cut out the Guitar in sound, and not the looper... And if the effect loop was off by default, it will show as off but actually be on, and if pressed, switch will light up, but it will mute your guitar and the FX loop will still be on and your looper will keep looping... (Trail settings for FX loop? Maybe!) So much confusion... [edit] ok just figured out something. The footswitch to disable the FX loop doesn't disable the 'entire' FX loop, just the FX loop OUT. The IN is always active no matter if FX Loop is on/off.

OK it seems to be a level issue... When I reduce the effect out volume by a lot (ex -6dB), which is barely audible, the clipping goes away. Test1: Guitar -> Looper -> Go Effect in (last effect in chain), it works fine, there is no clipping, but the volume is about the same as the above -6dB for effects loop out, which is barely audible... Test2: Guitar -> Go -> effects loop out -> looper -> Guitar Amp guitar In. Works fine, no clipping So basically seems to be an issue with the Pod Go effect in. It seems to be able to output a 'loud' signal, but when it goes back in through its own effects loop, it will clip. But, it's with a louder signal than you'd get with just a regular guitar, even with active PUs... Anybody else getting the same? I was thinking that I could also likely reproduce the issue by just using a patch cable (cable from/to effect loop in/out), but I don't get the issue with a patch cable. So it seems to be a combination of guitar pedal + Go... So I'm guessing it's an impedance issue with the Pedal + PGo, but only with higher levels?

Bit confused... I'm using the effects loop for a looper, and with some patches, there is some clipping noise when going through the effects loop and looper... Ex: 1) I go to patch one, activate the effects loop, record a phrase though the looper, all is fine. 2) I switch patch, play a bit, sounds fine. 3) I activate the effects loop, the looper plays fine. 4) I play, but now I'm getting some clipping noise (not from the looper, but from the current guitar/patch sound) when the effects loop is active... At first I thought it had to do with levels, but even lowering the Go's effects loop out volume so that it's really not loud, I'm still getting the clipping... And it seems to do so only with some patches... My effects loop is the last effect of the Go's chain. I even tried with another Looper (Have an ammoon and an Akai), and the akai seemed much worse than the ammoon; the ammoon sounds fine with some patches, but clips with others. The akai seemed to clip much worse for more patches from what I can recall... Thanks! :\

Ha! Ok interesting! So looper engaged, then to switch; hit mode twice, then select the other patch, then hit mode again to be back to your pedal board, and you can hit the dub/record of the looper to be back to your looper. Hmm.. Not the most practical vs using an external looper but not so bad, thanks!

I'm currently using my Go's effect loop to use a "ammoon AP-09 Nano Loop", think I picked it up a couple yars back from from aliexpress at like US $30 shipped, and I set it up in effects loop as the last block of my Go, seems to work fairly well. Not sure why, but another looper of mine doesn't work as well (akai) as its playback seems to clip. But anyway, if you're interested in a looper and aren't using your Go's effect loop, might be worth to pick one up! (cheap, tiny and works great!). Or, if you're outputting to guitar cab, amp, etc., you could just set your looper between the Go & it, but I'm using headphone out to audio speakers so not really an option for me, I think...

Are you bypassing the Go's cab section? If not, don't forget that the Go doesn't try to sound 'good' through your guitar Cab. What it does, is simulate a microphone + guitar cab, and it will output that sound. So if you output to studio monitors, it will not sound like if it was played through a guitar cab (not as a "good sounding amp in a room", it isn't trying to do that either), but as the mic would have recorded a cab's output. So it'll sound a like a guitar on a recording, but it's not emulating just "a guitar cab". If you're using a cab, you'd be better off to go through, as you said, your guitar in and go through your 'real' amp/cab. When you're using your effects loop in, you're just, basically, playing 'directly' through your guitar speaker; and should be getting your own 'guitar cab sound'. If your guitar cab was a 'perfect' speaker, it should sound as good as the youtube videos. But, you're playing emulated cab+mic through your guitar cab, not something intended, or not exactly something Go is trying to do. I think it's similar to using Go's headphone out to amp mp3/cd in input, to me sounded quite poor, to quote myself from another thread: TLDR. Guitar -> Go -> Amp effect in = Go simulated cab -> simulated mic -> out of real cab. <-- not optimal. Think it's better to turn off Go's simulated cab & mic and just use your real cab. Also, for the Katana, I'm not sure if there's any wizardry at the amp/speaker level, like if the amp section of the Katana (pre effects loop out) already tweaks the sound for its own power amp section & driver. Because reading back my TLDR, guitar -> Go (cab bypassed) -> amp effects in, should not sound any worse than the Katana's own amp section (anything before the effects loop out) if the Go's cab section is bypassed...

What are you trying to use off the Mustang? The Amp section is a bit pointless as it's a set block on the Go, you cannot change it to something else so it's essentially 'free'. Well not sure if it works exactly as it says in the manual, but if it does, that would be quite limiting... A few thoughts: 4 cable method 1a) You could use your amp's distortion as a distortion pedal / boost, plus compressor or other pre-amp effects. You wouldn't be able to use your amp's reverb/delay/others as these would be pre PGo amp, but you could save 1-2 blocks for boost/distortion/compressor with this; effects before the Go Amp section. 1b) Use the amp's amp modeling instead of the Go, this opens up using more effects from the Mustang as if you're not using the Go's amp/cab, you'll be able to use other effects after your Mustang's... But you wouldn't be using your Go's amp section, which would kinda defeat the point of the Go IMHO... (here the Go would be 'last' in the chain) Guitar to Go to Amp guitar in: 2) You'd get to use your full Go (without cab) 4 blocks, and then use the Mustang's for reverb/delay/phaser, etc., anything at the end. But then you do not get to use your Mustang's amp section, which should be fine I think since the Go's should be better... Latter is probably the simplest and most practical to use. But... The Go's reverb & other effects are really great, so you might be missing out by not using the Go's effects and instead using the Mustang's... Anyway, I'd try to use it this way first, just use 100% of the Go and ignore your amp effects. You could plug to Amp effects in to bypass everything. Then just get used to the Go effects and all, and then you'll see if your 4 blocks really aren't enough for you, and you'll have a better idea of what effects you want to use at once, and then you'll be able to choose the method most optimal for your specific needs. There's quite a few options!

Think the same thing happened to me while editing a patch, seemed like the volume slowly went away, just became softer and softer over a few minutes (1-2 minutes?), and at one point I couldn't figure out why I was getting basically no distortion vs what I had a few minutes ago and I hadn't really changed anything which could have affected it... But I think it came back after switching the patch, or I just closed the thing and went to do something else... Can't really recall as it happened like a week ago.

And btw you can't switch blocks, so if your block 1 Dst and block 2 is OD that would work, you can turn on/off effects with snapshots. But you can't change a block from distortion to OD or whathever, you can only change parameters (ex; drive = 6 vs 2) or turn effects on/off.

Check your amp out source setting, looks like you're using "pre cab/IR" instead of "Main out".

Just in case this might help someone. Basically, should have been evident, but the 'best' way to plug in basically any amp without effects loop such as the Spider or whatever, is simply to bypass the POD Go's cab block and plug to guitar in, that way you're using the amp's cab instead of a simulated cab. Sure, you're losing out on the cab block of the Go, but honestly, just messing a bit with the cabs and the L6 Spider, I'd recommend that. If you want to use a Go with a Spider, I'd put the drive to 0, the low/mids/treble to noon, no reverb & delay (unless you're planning to use Spider's reverb/delay to save on PGO Blocks), and completely forget that the cab block of the Go exists. If you want, create a 'base' preset for all the L6 Spider's amp models with 0 drive & all, and that gives your different 'cab' settings. It would have been nice to have a totally neutral sound out of the Spider, but since you're basically getting 9 cabs with a L6 Spider 3 (forget anything metal/insane, even 0 distortion = too much distortion), you're bound to find one which will sound decent with whatever you're trying to do. Just playing a bit with the Go's amps + L6 Spider, honestly, it's better than I first thought. It really does sound quite bad when you add the Go's Cab section + Spider's amp/cab, but bypassing the Go's cab, it's decent. Probably better than the aux, plus saves you the headache of cab+mic+distance, which given that the Go is already soo complex, is a big plus. Then you can migrate to monitors and use the cabs later on, when you're familiar with the Go & want to improve your sound, but short term, probably your best bet.

Just to be sure... Did you just switch to your user presets? Or do you still see your own presets, but the factory presets are all gone? The 1st time you save a user preset it switches to users, then you need to switch back to factory to see the list of factory presets...

Have you checked these ones out? These are the ones which just come first to mind for high gain, excluding those you've already mentioned, but likely more than a few others! Derailed Ingrid Based on: Trainwreck Circuits® Express Placater Dirty Based on: Friedman® BE-100 Archetype Lead Based on: Paul Reed Smith® Archon® ANGL Meteor Based on: ENGL® Fireball 100 Solo Based on: Soldano SLO-100 Revv Gen Red Based on: Gain 2 channel of the Revv® Line 6 Badonk Based on: Line 6 Original inspired by the original Cutting through the mix is often more a function of EQ rather than 'amp' itself, but yeah gain also might impact.. https://reverb.com/news/5-ways-to-cut-through-the-mix So use the EQ! Also are you choosing your cab and mic + placement? The default cabs/mics aren't the greatest imho, to get a good feel about the amps, you're better off setting up your Go not to automatically switch cab when you change amps. That way you can get familiar with cab + mic, and then get familiar with each of the amps. Otherwise when changing amps it changes cab/mic & you then can't hear the amp vs cab/mic if you get what I mean, and imho you'll hear more of the amp/mic than amp itself... I'm guessing that you're also using a distortion pedal or boost? Many have an effect on the FR (frequency response) so choosing the 'right' distortion pedal might help you cut through! Also choosing the correct mic + cab would also certainly help cutting through the mix; many of the 4x amps have a 'rounder' FR, some of the 2x or 1x speakers being more mid-focused might also help you cut through! And don't also forget that you can change the 'sag' and other cab/amps params to make the sound tighter however you might want to tweak. (likely mentioned in vid below). But yeah, you should have plenty of high gain amps in Go! Also I just stumbled in this, might help! (haven't watch it yet myself)

Ah ok as you had quoted my steps and started with "that's basically how it works", I thought you were saying that my steps was basically how it works, not that your following paragraphs explained how it did... (I misunderstood, my bad) I edited & posted last my comment with step just so others don't get confused about the incorrect info I posted... True... True... But I know better now than to comment on how it should work, so I'll just leave it at that.

There's more than a dozen types of compressors... Saying there's "not really" any sustain pedal in the Go is silly...! https://www.sustainpunch.com/guitar-sustain-pedals/ ok bro, turns out I don't know how to PM here either... Since you had mass downvoted (7? Without even reading them all by your own admission? lol), I thought I'd also use the function to express my genuine disagreement with any of your comments as I encountered them. Didn't think you'd freak out at 2 since you handed out dislikes like candy... Now seems you've childishly downvoted a few more of my comments in retribution, but anyway, I'm not keeping score, just abide by the golden rule and we're good. (Treat others as you would like others to treat you).

Please use PMs if you want to discuss, don't hijack a random thread... FYI, I just don't agree with some of your comments...

Sorry to hear that! Hope your next one works fine... It's a good unit, for the price, I think... But it does have more than its share of issues, and can be downright infuriating to work with. (bricked units during firmware updates, bad UI (see my PG Edit thread lol), etc.) But... When it works, imho, it's great; does so much and really easy to get great tones! Btw did you say repairs? I was going to say that at least if there's an issue you can just return it under warranty; but I'd expect them just to ship you another one if there's an issue with yours... Hopefully that's what they did and you won't have to wait a long time for your repaired or replacement unit! (I'm guessing they won't repair it, maybe just test it, notice the defect and send you another one. HOPEFULLY...!)

Yeah for the record, that's definitely not how it works, the manual was correct and you always need to click on the snapshot assignment button and then on the snapshots button on the popup window for every parameter you want to change: 1) You configure your Go settings as you want: This is your base settings, normal; snapshot1 aka SS1. 2) You switch to another SS. 3) You have to click on the parameter assignment button on the left of the setting you want to change for the SS 4) You then have to click on the snapshots button on the popup dialog. 5) Only then can you modify the setting for the current snapshot. If you want to modify another setting for the current SS, each time you want to change a setting, you have to click on the parameter assignment button on the left of the setting you want to change, and then on the snapshots button on the popup dialog. Otherwise, any change you make are not just made on your current SS, it's made universally; for all the snapshots. So I'll stand with my earlier comments about how efficient/practical this 'technique' of setting snapshot is.

Sustain pedals are basically compressors (compress sound; made low volume sounds loud), and in the Go appear under 'Dynamics'. I'm really not the expert in compressors, and I've not yet explored every one in the Go in detail, but there's a lot in the Go! Searching for 'best sustainers', the MXR Dyna Comp is often recommended as a sustainer, it's the "Red Squeeze" in Go. The Xotic SP compressor comes up (ex; "Really great as a sustain!", " doubles my sustain without altering my original tone "etc.), "kinky comp" in go, etc. Just playing quickly with some of them, I really like the Rochester Comp. But yeah there's a lot of choice! https://helixhelp.com/models/ This thread has a lot of info/comments on compressors:

Welcome to L6 POD Go. https://line6.com/support/topic/56809-error-while-updating-to-firmware-111-pod-go-wont-boot-up/ tldr; Download the L6 Updater software. Boot Go in update mode (Press and hold PAGE > (page right) and then power on POD Go), then try to update with that. If it fails, unplug and close everything try again, and possibly again, and again, and again... Keep your fingers crossed!

Fine. Surely if lots of people are familiar with it and it's the easiest interface for any multi-FX device you’ve ever used, I should just have figured everything out and not posted any of those questions and shouldn't have complained, since as you say they're not going to change it. You're 100% right. Thanks again for helping me figure out how to edit the snapshots in PG Edit. Thanks for chipping in.