Search the Community

I've had my Pod Go Wireless for a few weeks now and just did my first gig with it. Here are some thoughts that I thought might interest the community. Feedback is welcome, especially if I'm off base about anything ... Note: I had been using Pod XT Live for the last dozen years or so. Really liked it, although it had its faults, but felt it was time to update. I kept expecting my XT Live to take its last breath in the middle of a big solo! Pros of the Pod Go Wireless: Huge universe of sounds possible with a small portable box. Great for me, a guitarist in a cover band, since I try to mimic the original artist's sound. Nice editor for the PC. I don't edit the sounds on the Pod directly ... seems tedious. I prefer to use the big screen on my PC. Easy to select different amps or effects boxes and drag/drop the order. The color screen/buttons on the pod and large font are good during live shows. Easy to see and control. Like the snapshot approach. Good to have different sections of songs and turn different effects on/off quickly Sounds fantastic in a live setting with the balanced output going directly to the PA Cons: The wireless dongle only charges when the Pod is turned on and uses the input plug. So you can't recharge while you're playing with a patch cord. This is very frustrating. There are no meters on the editor software. Would be very useful to see the signal levels at each stage of the preset. As it works now, I'm just guessing. Very difficult to map presets from XT Live to Pod Go. Names of amps and effects have changed as well as functionality. Spent way too many hours trying get close to the sound I liked from the XT. Using the foot switch to scroll through the banks is slow. It doesn't change immediately when you press the switch ... takes a second. This is frustrating when you're between songs and need to get to a preset right away. In the editor, when I'm working on a preset and I switch to another preset without saving, my work is lost. No warning! The wireless range seems pretty limited. Walked to the other side of the stage and the guitar cut out. The switch on the pedal too easily switches between wah and volume. I accidentally did that a couple of times during my gig without much pressure. Neutral: People have complained about the limited processing of the Pod Go... can't have more than 4 effects and no parallel processing like in the Helix. This doesn't bother me since I'm just doing basic cover songs with a full band. I can get a "plenty good enough" sound with the Pod Go.

Has anyone bought or tried the PowerTrain Stage 50 (from ValveTrain)? http://www.valvetrainamps.com/all-tube-powered-monitors/powertrain-stage-50/

Hello, Quick backstory: Had a tube amp - EVH 5150 III with a 212 Hesu cab and a pretty nice pedalboard. Sold it because I don't want to do bands and gigs for a while - I rather focus on my music, alone. So the tube amp had to go. I was either going to buy a Kemper or the Fractal, because "Line 6 can't do metal well", according to some folks on the internet, but something told me to hear it for myself. I ended up buying a Helix. I did a LOT of research before buying it though - I saw presets being made, IRs being loaded, how to mess with global settings. In less than an hour after I unpacked it I created a great modern 7 string tone (Had to use external IRs - ML Sound Lab MEGA oversize pack). It rips. This goes out to everybody who's looking for a modern-proggy-and-quiety solution. Buy the Helix. Oh, and I just want to mention that I was VERY dissapointed with it for the first 10 minutes. I was like "Did I just buy a POD FARM 2.5?". Turned out High a low cuts at IR blocks are the key. I started with 80 Hz for lows and 14k for high with my 7 string. What cut ranges do you guys recommend? I have just one question. Now i don't plan on using it anytime soon, but how the hell do I "unblock" the expression pedal? It's still, stiff. Can't move it at all. I found some kind of allen wrench. How do I proceed? Thank you! Chris

All the recent hype about the Fender Acoustasonic Telecaster motivated me to launch my "Electro-Roots Workshop" YouTube channel with a review of the Variax acoustic sounds. https://youtu.be/HyyO-1V-XLQ Much obliged!

Check it out :) it still has awesome features that hold up today imo

Hi all, I'm a Line 6 user since 1999, when I bought the first POD: I went through the red bean, the Pod XT, the Pod HD500X, and now the Helix. For this reason my review might be biased but anyways I'll start off saying that the Helix to me it's the best guitar processor available today, and it's not (mainly) about the sound. I've been a touring guitarist, producer, and studio musician for almost 20 years now and I always had the need to have a great range of tones available in a conveniently portable way: for this reason when Line 6 came up with amp modeling I jumped on it without thinking. Even if I'm a Line 6 fanboy I'd say that the first processor that actually got me to the point of not carrying an actual amp around at all times in the studio was the HD500X (it was good enough-ish), but even then I could tell the difference with my hands even more than with my ears. Enters the Helix. The tone quality you can get out of that thing is superb, right there at the top with the other big modelers on the market (I checked them out myself and they're all beautiful machines in their own respect) in terms of both sound and "tactile" feeling. That's all I will say about the sound. What made the difference big time for me are the "side" features: user experience, audio interface, midi control, variax integration, desktop patch editor. From the second i plugged it in my computer usb port everything worked as I expected to, the setup has been a breeze, and the routing made complete sense. The same afternoon I got it I've been able in just a few hours to setup both my live AND studio setup: main monitors, "boombox" monitors, record without latency the processed and the reamping tracks all without a single glitch, in a super smooth workflow that needed me to look at the manual no more than a couple of times. And more: I've been able to setup a patch with which I control all my live set, including a laptop with sequences, guitar patch switching with program changes, a processed microphone, and various snapshots..all neatly labelled for clarity to control everything with my feet, without a single hiccup or dropout in sound, and it all worked as expected!! The Helix has been an absolute joy to program, it has become the command center of my setup both in the studio and on stage, and it has exceeded all my expectations in terms of functionality and ease of use. I can carry it around in a backpack and it even sounds excellent.. Negative point? I wish the included USB stick were larger. I'll close this fanboy review saying that the Helix gave me the same feeling of amazement I got when I demoed the very first Pod in a shop in NYC almost 20 years ago, the same excitement that got me to write this review, something I actually never do. Looking forward for the plugin version, keep up the great job Line 6.

Hi everyone! I'm new here but definitely not new to Line 6 as I have used their gear extensively for the past 15 years or so. I got my brand new Helix a few days ago and I am very happy with it! I made a video for my YouTube channel in which I give my initial impressions, show off some sounds (in a full mix, bass included) and I also talk a bit about using IR's with the Helix. I hope you enjoy this video, I sure had a blast making it. I'll be doing way more Helix videos in the future so if you are interested in seeing more please hit subscribe. If you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them all. Cheers! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYv_oCBCQ2M

I received my first guitar (ever) this past July: JTV-89F (2013 model). I wanted it for a lot of reasons. Sadly I'm in the process of sending this particular (manufactured in Korea - hopefully better quality control in the future) production, back for a replacement. This particular guitar production shipping date to online-shop from Yamaha Europe: March 2015 EDIT1(2015-08-27): the exact shipping date of the batch of 4 of these to the shop I bought it from, is 23 March 2015: (need to be logged in possibly to view the zoomin evidence) This one I will label #1; it's returned. And another 3 as well; 2 from different batches. All the others I returned back to the shop, I did for different reasons. I won't reference the serial numbers, for privacy reasons, and perhaps it's better that the factory in Korea gets a common improvement request and even higher quality (a lot of good work was put in each one, I'm sorry about the issues as well) instead of possibly firing someone. At the bottom I referenced that I will post about them later. EDIT2(2015-09-01): zoomin evidence Dropbox-hosted for public-viewing: First connectivity issue (mild compared to other related issues): EDIT1(2015-08-27): -Why is Workbench HD seeing my JTV-89F as Tyler Variax (JTV-69)? EDIT2(2015-09-01): referenced the screen-snippets of the Workbench HD Connected Guitar detection popup: Then with the generally recommended FW update from v2.10 (in the guitar shipped) to v2.21, a sound issue started occasionally to occur, and that (combined with the aforementioned guitar partial detection) stopped my trust in this particular one right in its tracks. I tried reproducing the main problematic sound issue, while trying to capture it in a recording, but it wasn't as easy as while it happened otherwise much more often. I got tired of trying to capture more examples of the issue, but I think I've managed a basic demonstration: https://soundcloud.com/zenbalancer/sets/my-1st-line-6-jtv-89f-faulty-korean-manufacturer-2-possible-sound-issues-reproduced/s-CUDl2 (let me know if the link doesn't work) As for the general Model Tuning, there is some uncertainty going on as well in terms of what the note is being heard/measured. Not sure whether it's a general thing, or a brand, or settings things. But I will paste my crude mobile-notes just to have it here for now: tuning testing (korg tmr-50 (440hz (425hz matches fhfx in some cases) + fhfx v1.10): factory default string tuning (not good, but after retuning, it turned not to be the major source of ambiguation). magnetic: 6 5 4 3 2 1 string# #1 pickup: confirmed bridge humbucker/both singlecoils, allothers confirmedbefore noting. e a d g b e #2 2nd bridge pickup single coil e a d g b e #3 all on e a d g b e #4 2n neck pickup single coil e a d g b e #5 neck pickup humbucker/both single coils e a d g b e models: t-model: model tuning #1-5: b e a d g(Flat/f# korg) b(+other strings left, sometimes ecpecially when noise gate is off: weird effect because of harmonics when #6 left free, also especially when afterwards going up until #4,out oftune has nothing todo with it) standard #1-5: e a c(#?/dFlat?fhfx) e a e dropD #1-5: g b d g b d(g with#6free/mixes with others as well, but #6 harmonic coresonance most audible:korg) 1/2 down #1-5: d g d g b d drop Db #1-5: d a d g(Flat/f# korg) a d 1 down #1-5: d a d g a d drop c #1-5: d g c f a d m3 down#1-5: c#(dFlat fhfx) g#(aFlat) c#(dFlat) f#(gFlat) bFlat eFlat( ;free #6 loud harmonic byproduct) drop b #1-5: eFlat aFlat(g# korg) dFlat(c#) gFlat(f#) bFlat eFlat M3 down #1-5: d a d g b e(free#6 harmonic interference) drop Bb #1-5: e a d g b e baritone #1-5: e a d g b e EDIT1(2015-08-27): the ambiguity aside for later, update: -Why is Workbench HD seeing my JTV-89F as Tyler Variax (JTV-69)? At least, that's how those seemed to me, but now it seems there is also a matter of the wrong Alternate Tuning associated with the JTV-69, but with the labels/nob of the JTV-89(F) (checked the specs). Although I specifically downloaded and loaded up the v2.21 firmware from the JTV, it wouldn't make the difference since these seem to be the same file for all recent JTVs. I've double checked that in the download section; there is no specific JTV model drop-down-menu-item or the like. At least this part is definitely reversed; are Model and Standard. But the following doesn't fit that 'reversing theory': Since Standard reversed (switched with the one before last/Baritone) would be Drop Bb/flat on the JTV-89(F) and that doesn't start with an E. Is it a JTV-69 one position? I'm confused. But this situation is not the norm. This is some cluster mess I was never responsible for; and luckily not mine anymore. I will post a separate thread for each of the returned guitars, to keep some overview, since this thread has already a number of, even though interesting, digressions. Also to keep any feedback with the associated guitar/thread, rather than everything mixed in one thread. EDIT2(2015-09-01): On second thought, I'll dedicate a single Thread/Topic for those returned guitars, and use standalone posts for each instead within that Thread/Topic.