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Pod GO sounds bad


GibsonStudio
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After months of waiting I finally managed to get a Pod GO - I am so disappointed in it. All the medium to high gain amp models sound really lifeless and muffled. I tried for hours and could not get any usable rock or metal tones. 

 

I normally run my Pod into 2 studio monitors but also tried the GO with 3 different pairs of headphones - all sounded bad. Tried a factory reset. Tried downloading some patches. Tried a Strat, Les Paul with humbuckers and Les Paul with P90s. All sounded bad. I'm seriously wondering if the retail units have different hardware to the demo units - all the demos on YouTube sound great. My 10 year old Pod X3 sounds great. The Pod GO, terrible.

 

It's currently boxed up and will be dropped off at the post office later to go back for a refund. I can't see how I have a broken unit as digital things tend to be 100% OK or completely broken.

 

Any ideas why it could sound so bad? (not my playing :)) Everything else about the Pod GO (UI, layout, controls) is really, really good, but at the end of the day, the sound is the most important thing.

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It sounds like something isn’t right. Muffled isn’t a term I really ever hear applied to the HX modeling. It be some sort of hardware issue. I have I occasionally seen people have that sort of thing happen with the Helix over the years. There’s no differences between the demo units and stock units as far as the design, but it’s always possible to have some sort of unique hardware issue. Obviously, if you’re hearing demos where it sounds really good, it’s capable of making those sounds.

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10 hours ago, GibsonStudio said:

My 10 year old Pod X3 sounds great. The Pod GO, terrible.

 

Something is wrong! Although the X3 is a nice sounding unit, the POD Go should eat it for lunch :) 

 

10 hours ago, GibsonStudio said:

I'm seriously wondering if the retail units have different hardware to the demo units -

 

Don't let a good conspiracy get in the way of the facts :) The units you see in demos, is the same hardware you have in your hands! 

 

10 hours ago, GibsonStudio said:

Any ideas why it could sound so bad?

 

Did you accidentally use the AMP out instead of the main outputs? If that isn't it.... I suspect you have a faulty unit based on your description Most people complain about Helix FIZZ, not muffled tones! 

 

10 hours ago, GibsonStudio said:

Tried downloading some patches. 

 

Did you try creating one of your own? 

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10 hours ago, GibsonStudio said:

I normally run my Pod into 2 studio monitors but also tried the GO with 3 different pairs of headphones - all sounded bad.

 

Got any sound sample or anything?  It didn't sound great for me also on headphones, but sounds great with headphone out to amp & stereo speakers.  There's plenty of examples on youtube where it doesn't sound bad, so if yours sound muffled, very definitely something wrong on your end, or if it's really the unit, then I guess it's possible you got a defective unit...   It should sound 100% like the full blown helix...

 

 

Do you have a presence dial or other config issue with your monitors?  Are you getting anything like the above or is your setup sounding stupidly bad in comparison?

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20 hours ago, grdGo33 said:

Are you getting anything like the above or is your setup sounding stupidly bad in comparison?

No, it does not sound like that - I would be happy with that sound.

 

21 hours ago, codamedia said:

Did you try creating one of your own?

Yes - I started new patches and tried all the amp models.

 

21 hours ago, codamedia said:

Did you accidentally use the AMP out instead of the main outputs?

No, I didn't try the amp out at all. I tried headphones in the headphone out, and connected my monitors (Yamaha HS5) to the Pod GO main outs.

 

The GO has gone back now. I am planning to get down to my local music shop (PMT Oxford) when they have the GO in stock and try another unit. I've been really looking forward to the GO since it was shown at NAMM - I am gutted right now. Hopefully I did just have a duff one. If I manage to try another unit and it does indeed sound like the YouTube demos it will be an instant buy. Line 6 really have done a fantastic job with the form-factor and UI.

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  • 1 year later...

I have the same issue. I got my POD GO yesterday and I can't get it to sound anything but....broken. The overdrive and distortion all sounds very unnatural when the sound decays. Like all the amps have a bad tube or a broken speaker. All of them!? I've tried it with two different guitars and many presets. My own, the defaults and ones I downloaded. Same exact rig that I've been plugging a POD 2.0 into for years. And it sounded MUCH better. I have a Helix floor at my studio, so I know how to build presets and what things SHOULD sound like. And this aint' it!

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1 hour ago, Teerexness said:

I have the same issue. I got my POD GO yesterday and I can't get it to sound anything but....broken. The overdrive and distortion all sounds very unnatural when the sound decays. Like all the amps have a bad tube or a broken speaker. All of them!? I've tried it with two different guitars and many presets. My own, the defaults and ones I downloaded. Same exact rig that I've been plugging a POD 2.0 into for years. And it sounded MUCH better. I have a Helix floor at my studio, so I know how to build presets and what things SHOULD sound like. And this aint' it!

 

Something sounds very wrong, as the Pod Go tones are quite frankly excellent and (up until the latest Helix v3.1 that has a slightly higher sampling rate) has exactly the same modelling. 

 

Are you on the latest v1.22 firmware?  

 

Exactly how are you using Pod Go? Headphones, powered cab, amp? If the latter, what amp and are you going through the fx return, 4 cable, or front end? If headphones, what model?

 

If Pod Go sounds that bad with everything, I can only think you must have a faulty unit particularly if you are using Helix with no problems. Go back to the store and ask them to check it, and if it is defective request a replacement. 

 

I use Pod Go with Audio Technica ATH M50x headphones, through a Headrush FRFR108 powered cab, and through the fx returns of my Laney Cub 12R 1x12 all valve combo and Mk1 Marshall 1x12 80v '8080' Valvestate.  It sounds really good through all of them and its particularly stonking through the FRFR108. 

 

I'm a live gigging player so am not a 'recording/studio' guy and the only thing I've put together was a very simple recording of a patch where, based on an idea by someone who posted a patch on Line 6 Custom Tone, a used a Soldano Clean amp model in a single patch that could cover a whole range of tones from cleans through to rock eg for a covers gig. It's not an amp model I'd have thought of using but it was an interesting experiment.  There are 4 snaps plus a chorus to kick-in.  Try the patch out in your Pod Go (https://line6.com/customtone/search/?submitted=1&family=pod_go&search_term=Soldclean+SCsnap ) - if it doesn't sound like this then there's definitely a problem somewhere.  

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, voxman55 said:

 

Something sounds very wrong, as the Pod Go tones are quite frankly excellent and (up until the latest Helix v3.1 that has a slightly higher sampling rate) has exactly the same modelling.

 

Are you on the latest v1.22 firmware?  

 

Exactly how are you using Pod Go? Headphones, powered cab, amp? If the latter, what amp and are you going through the fx return, 4 cable, or front end? If headphones, what model?

 

If Pod Go sounds that bad with everything, I can only think you must have a faulty unit particularly if you are using Helix with no problems. Go back to the store and ask them to check it, and if it is defective request a replacement. 

 

I use Pod Go with Audio Technica ATH M50x headphones, through a Headrush FRFR108 powered cab, and through the fx returns of my Laney Cub 12R 1x12 all valve combo and Mk1 Marshall 1x12 80v '8080' Valvestate.  It sounds really good through all of them and its particularly stonking through the FRFR108. 

 

I'm a live gigging player so am not a 'recording/studio' guy and the only thing I've put together was a very simple recording of a patch where, based on an idea by someone who posted a patch on Line 6 Custom Tone, a used a Soldano Clean amp model in a single patch that could cover a whole range of tones from cleans through to rock eg for a covers gig. It's not an amp model I'd have thought of using but it was an interesting experiment.  There are 4 snaps plus a chorus to kick-in.  Try the patch out in your Pod Go (https://line6.com/customtone/search/?submitted=1&family=pod_go&search_term=Soldclean+SCsnap ) - if it doesn't sound like this then there's definitely a problem somewhere.  

 

 

I'm just using the headphone out into a Midiman mixer and out to a nice set of Logitech computer speakers. Exactly the same as my POD 2.0 was, and it sounded great. On the POD GO pretty much every patch has a little or a lot of that terrible digital distortion sound when I play hard. The only way to stop this it to turn the drives and gains down so far that it sounds ridiculously weak. Also, the output EQ sounds it going through a tin can. Very artificial and metallic. Like everything is some variation of The Kink's "You Really Got Me". I'm trying to be patient, because I despised the POD HD and the Helix when I first got them also. But I don't seem to be able to edit my way into loving this little unit. The POD 2.0 it replaced sounded so much better, and that's pretty sad for a 20 year old unit.

 

Aha! It was a bad cable! No wonder. I loaded your lovely patch and it sounds perfect now. Thanks!

 

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  • 11 months later...

Also it might be useful to edit the global EQ of the Pod Go to cut out any unwanted low or high frequences. My Pod Go sounded fine from the start, so no problems, but editing the global EQ did help quite a bit with the tones I could get out of it. I got the details from this short video - I would take a note of your global EQ settings first in case you want to return to default or just create a back up using the Pod Go menu before changing the global EQ. It's just two settings your changing so it's simple.

 

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