Advice for a noob

[EYTAdz333]

Hi all,

 

I got my pod go today and it is great going intl my DAW. I want to use it when I play live through a cab and I had 2 questions that I am hoping someone can help with.

 

1. Is there a way to bypass the physical head and cabinet so that what I am getting through the real physical cab is  basically the sound of the head and cab from the pod go?

 

2. Can anyonw suggest a heavy pre set that would go well with, say, a peavey head and a 4x12 big standard cab?

 

Sorry if these are stupid questions I am new.

 

Thank you

[voxman55]

Hi @EYTAdz333 congrats on your new Pod Go. If your head has an FX loop you can plug your Pod Go into the FX return. This will let you use your head as a power amp and bypass the preamp section. 

 

However, there's no way to bypass the cab speakers. You can still select different cab models with your Pod Go and you'll be able to get some great tonal variations.  But the tonal characteristics of your cab will mean what you are hearing won't be exactly the same as eg your Pod Go through headphones or going direct out to a PA. But I honestly wouldn't get overly hung up about this because it's no different than if you did the same with a combo. Any speakers will colour tone to some extent.

 

And there's no reason not to try your Pod Go through the normal input of your head set to a clean tone. Yes, it will be coloured by your preamp stage but you might even prefer it, and you will still get different tones with different amp models. Remember,  a lot of folk will have no fx loop in their amps anyway and this is how they have to connect their Pod Go.

 

There's no rights or wrongs here. Just experiment and go with what your ears like. 

[pengipete]

Basically - a guitar amp is two amps working one after the other - a pre-amp and then a power-amp.   You cannot bypass the power amp because that's the part that makes the sound come out of the speaker.  Also, a cab is just another way of saying "a speaker in a cabinet".   You obviously can't "bypass the cab" of your physical equipment - you have to have a speaker.  Asking to bypass the entire head and speaker/cab is like asking to use a TV but bypass the screen and its speakers.

So, you will always be using the power amp and the speaker - but you may be able to bypass the pre-amp section of the physical amp. That will get you close to what you seem to be after.   Whether or not that is possible depends on the amp itself - it will have to have at least one input that passes a signal directly to the power amp.   The most obvious would be a send/return or effects loop - you may even have something like an mp3 or line input you can use.  If not, forget it - your signal goes via the pre-amp and that's that.    If you have the necessary inputs, you should be able to bypass the pre-amp - which will generally leave you unable to tweak settings such as gain and EQ on that amp - you may also be unable to control the volume of the amp and all settings will have to be done at the pedal.   

Keep in mind that bypassing the pre-amp will remove much of the amp's character but any guitar amp will have a sound of it's own at every stage (which is why it's very common for people to tweak amps by changing valves and why swapping speakers is regarded as one of the best and quickest ways to radically alter and improve any combo or cabinet) - you will never be able to hear only the Pod Go's processed sounds through an amp designed for a guitar without that sound being "tainted" (for better or worse).  The nearest you'll come to a "transparent" amp is going to be a PA system or other non instrument specific amp - some keyboard amps may come close.  In the short term or just for home use, running from the Pod's "main" outputs to your home hi-fi or a set of powered speakers will work - be careful not to try to pump extreme frequencies out at full power and you'll be fine.

Not really sure on the second part of your question - surely you just have to try them and find the one you like.  I'm not sure it's normal to select a preset based on it working with a particular make of amp - I think you need to focus on what song or style of music you want the patch to work with and don't forget that your guitar, your pickups and your playing style is going to affect the way any patch sounds.  Short version - plug it in and listen to each patch yourself cos only you know what you are hearing.