RickDeck3030

I know this is an old thread, but can I just ask one question as I've seen conflicting information. Is the POD Go supply center negative just like all standard 'Boss' power supplies? Reason I ask is I have seen people saying the need a polarity reversing cable - which would be in accurate as the Boss standard is center negative. I think the conversion cables are needed as the L6 plug is a slightly different size - the pin is larger than a Boss. So you can use the L6 PSU to power Boss pedals (or any other), but you can't use a Boss PSU to power Pod Go without a converter. Is this correct? Reason I ask is that I am looking at a pedal that needs 400mA standard Boss jack, so was wondering if the POD Go supply can power it.

I really don't see that as an important area of development. The factory presets are just starting points to show case a particular amp and a selection of effects. They are usually created by 3rd party players like John Cordy, Jason Sedites etc. Just like a real physical amp or pedal you select the settings to your liking. When I first got PG, I went through the presets and found half-dozen I like and played around with those. Then I just created my own presets with the amps I liked and added pedals, delays, reverb etc around them. So I don't see this as an area that needs work by Line 6 for now.

Thanks @voxman55 I just found your replies in other threads (I'd not searched for 'tonesuck' before) - but thanks for repeating it. I thought it was just me or I was imagining it. I knew it wasn't true bypass, I know that it's having to be converted several times A to D and D to A at least once, which has to affect the tone slightly. Just couldn't find much mention of it. I'll try a buffered pedal - I don't have one, but was looking for a couple things anyway. I wanted to use the PG so that I didn't need to use discrete pedals as it seems a waste as I have my pick of delays, chorus etc in PG. Also need a tuner - which is even more of a waste as the PG one is absolutely fine. I thought this may be a global settings problem - unfortunately I don't believe there is a global volume control, but I can fix that on the preset - that's no issue. Thanks for the help.

I know this has been asked many times, but I can't quite find what I'm looking for. Most threads on this subject seem to go off on a tangent about not using PoDGo amp/cab into an amp. Just to be clear I'm not trying to do that. I want to purely use it as FX into my Fender clean channel. As a background, I use POD Go as a practice environment with headphones (I have my presets for that). I also like playing through my Fender amp - I have this set just how I like it, I like the sound, and am not trying to use PG amp/cab to make it sound different. What I've done is create an FX only preset specifically to replicate pedals to then go into the front of the amp (with no colouring). I'm going into the front of the amp for now - when it's working nicely, I will then use the FX loop for chorus, delay etc. Preset is Heir Apparent > 70's Chorus > Adriatic Delay > EQ > Amp Out (note amp and cabs are bypassed). The issue I have is that as soon as I add the PG into the signal chain, the amp sound becomes flat and seems to lose some push. I have it set to just breakup when I dig in, this works fine without the PG, but when the PG is added it doesn't breakup as easily. This is just plain PG, with all blocks bypassed. It feels like it is dropping volume when added. I've tried various global settings nothing changes this unless I select Line level (which I know is wrong). I thought the correct setting was Amp Out set to Instrument - this should be unity gain for the PG. I have the PG vol control set to Main Out - so the volume knob will have no affect on the Amp out signal. I also believe that the global hi/low pass and Eq don't affect amp out - is this correct? I want to get the basic sound right before getting the individual FX working correctly (but I already have those settings in PG anyway). Any advice on this?

There are a couple ways of doing this. I've used both when I wanted to look at interesting Helix presets. Download the files and open it in a text editor. Any text editor will work. Preset files are actually JSON files - don't worry about it being a computer language - when you open the file you will quickly see the block sections and figure the settings. You have to remember that Helix offers far more capabilities so you can use this as a way to get a flavour. Use an online viewer such as https://dbagchee.github.io/helix-preset-viewer/ This has limitations as I don't believe it allows viewing of snapshots (which can be quite a limitation as most people selling presets use snapshots). The other thing I would say, is that personally I've not purchased presets, I have download a few to see how a particular thing was done such as snapshots or allocating different parameters to a footswitch. This is a learning exercise rather than trying to get a quick tone. I would then spend time building your own presets from scratch. This is by far the best way to get the tone you want. Spend time selecting different amps - don't just click them strum a couple chords and move on. Instead select 3 or 4 ones that you've either played or think you will like as you've heard them. Then spend time tweaking them so you get to understand what they offer. You've find that you probably end up with a short list of ones that you like. Then build presets around them adding OD, reverb, and other effects. I'm new to PodGo but have found this to be the best way to get it working for me. It sounds like a lot of time, and it can be, but it should prove a better route. BTW - John Cordy has a good preset library for POD Go which is about £3 - sounds cheap, but he's not really trying to make money from his presets - these would be a good place to look as well.

@voxman55 you mentioned options for gain staging without using distortion blocks. Do you mean using existing blocks being used such as compressor and EQ to push the front of amp into overdrive together with one OD pedal block rather than having to use multiple OD blocks? I'm not looking for heavy distortion just a creamy OD sound.

Interesting - thank you for the replies. I coming around to the idea to keep the Pod Go and use an external pedal if needed. As I said in the original message, I don't need multiple paths, lots of layered effects or multiple amps. I just wanted to have a solid, modest effects chain with a good solid amp tone. I think I probably need to spend more time getting more out of the Go. @superzult do you find that using the external drive pedal works well.? My concern with external drives was that they could 'overdrive' the POD's input causing digital clipping which would be nasty. I assume as long as the pedal's output level is within the limits then this won't happen - which would be different to how you would push a real tube amp's input stage.

Can I ask a related question about factory reset when selling a POD Go. I assume if I factory reset the POD all user information will also be erased. In other words it won't be linked to my L6 account and therefore the new user doesn't have any access to my account details etc.

I'm going to test the JSON file this weekend to see if it will do what I need. My concern is that you can easily run into DSP issues as you push the GO's limits. I am thinking that if you offload the DSP intensive blocks such as Reverb and Delay to external pedals that would make GO much more flexible. I'm looking at using the JSON to include the FX loop but allow the EQ Block to be dynamic. Then use an extern Reverb - this would then leave 5 blocks free and already have reverb, so equivalent of 6 current blocks. I'm looking at the Fender and Boss reverb pedals as suitable solutions - as it would be always on, it doesn't make sense to get the cheapest available.

@skryptus I see what you're saying. I thought POD would have enough blocks for me, but I am feeling it may be too restrictive for me. I don't ned multiple amps, and paths, but I would like some more flexibility. I saw the other thread after I posted this one. So will be interested to see what people find using the edited JSON file.

@spaceatl Thanks for the suggestion, I'll take a look at that this evening. Looks like the LT is in short supply, the shop that I purchased it from kindly said they would exchange it for me, unfortunately they're out of stock, and just been informed they're looking at 3mth lead-time. Others have them in stock though. So, maybe the HX Stomp XL is something to look at.

Hi, I've been using the POD Go for a month now and very much like it but have a couple questions (issues). I'm fairly comfortable with the interface and generally how Pod/Helix works. To get me up to speed I've used a lot of videos from Jason Sadites, Rhett Schull, Johnathon Cordy etc, all have been very useful in starting out. As an aside I have played guitar for 30+ years on and off. I've just started playing again and wanted a simple setup to just play and improve at home. The issue I have is I'm not a pedal heavy player. I like OD, Chorus, Delay and Reverb, so POD Go looked like a good solution as it had 5 blocks available. The issue I have is that the 5 blocks don't actually give you much flexibility when you take on board suggestions from users. For instance Jason always uses an LA Comp at the end of the chain, most of the presets I've liked when starting to use POD use compressors at the front or end of the chain. So I've adopted that as a template. Then you have the mandatory Eq block and you really need a Reverb otherwise it is incredibly flat. So now you're down to two blocks which even for my modest needs isn't enough. For instance I've seen suggestions of using two ODs to create better OD sounds - that eats up the two blocks and no space for a delay. The same thing would apply to adding a looper at the end of the chain - there isn't space for it except in quite a simple patch. So my main question is how do you guys get around this limitation? I've considered buying an external delay or reverb and that should get me around the issue. I have also considered returning the POD Go and exchanging for the Helix LT. That would be total overkill for me, but I plan to keep this for a fair amount of time, so an investment now keeps me happy for the next 10 years. As I said I only use this at home, it won't go outside or gigging etc. I see that Voxman uses POD Go with apparently no limitations, gigs and records happily with the setup (sorry for singling you out), so is it me expecting too much and wanting it to be 'wrapped up nicely'. I'm not expecting a solution but would be interested in your observations.