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To buy or not to buy. Pod Go.


Vics53
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Greetings to all! New guy here. Well, an old guy actually, 67 to be precise! I've been checking out many video's regarding the Pod Go and am most impressed with what I'm hearing.

 

A little background. I've been playing bass at my church since 2009 but have mainly been on guitar since 2016. I am getting so tired of lugging my amp, a 2X12 cab and a pedal board around when on guitar. I'm also getting tired of doing the "pedal dance" in every song as I find it to be a big distraction. The reasons I'm considering the Pod Go are, ease of transport (oh, my aching knees would love that!), the snapshot feature (goodbye pedal dance!), the multitude of sounds and the price. I'm newly retired and have to watch my outgoing expenses. 

 

I also realize there will be quite a learning curve with this. But if I get one, I've got the time! First things first: I am NOT a computer guy by any stretch. The things that are a snap for most is a foreign language to me! Of what I understand I would have to connect the Pod Go to my laptop in order to get it going and to start diving into the workings and edits of it. My laptop is an HP 15-gt0119 (Windows 8) that I bought in 2014. Ancient technology by todays standards, no doubt. Speaker system is an Altec Lansing that I've had for many years. So for right now the big question is, would my laptop be enough to handle the Pod Go? I'd hate to get a Pod Go only to find out my laptop wouldn't do the job. As said, need to watch the pennies!

 

I have other questions but that will be later. Thanks in advance for your time and expertise. Have a good day!

 

 

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welcome aboard vics. well first good news is that you don't necessarily need  pod go edit to make your sounds on the pod go, the 95% of the stuff you can already do by tweaking the machine itself. you do will need to the software to upgrade the firmware, loading IRs (if you ever need them) and backup/restore your presets. it's pretty much it. Anyway the software is windows 7/8/10 compatible so you shouldn't have any problems, even if you are planning to use the pod go via usb as a USB audio device. 

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Good evening Cristt and thank you for your reply. Very helpful. Sounds like there's hope for me yet! I'll no doubt be watching some more tutorials online to get a better understanding of this unit before I pull the trigger. Thanks again!

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On 11/13/2020 at 3:43 PM, Vics53 said:

But if I get one, I've got the time! First things first: I am NOT a computer guy by any stretch. The things that are a snap for most is a foreign language to me! Of what I understand I would have to connect the Pod Go to my laptop in order to get it going and to start diving into the workings and edits of it. My laptop is an HP 15-gt0119 (Windows 8) that I bought in 2014. Ancient technology by todays standards, no doubt. Speaker system is an Altec Lansing that I've had for many years. So for right now the big question is, would my laptop be enough to handle the Pod Go? I'd hate to get a Pod Go only to find out my laptop wouldn't do the job. As said, need to watch the pennies!

 

I have other questions but that will be later. Thanks in advance for your time and expertise. Have a good day!

 

I'd be scared if I were you...

1) the L6 updater and firmware update of the Pod Go are ...  Rather bugged, and a TON of people get issues when updating, which crashes their devices, then they have to mess around installing other crap and retrying and retrying, so if you are not a computer guy, GOOD LUCK !!!

2) Pod Go is sadly unstable...  It can just crash on you, so during a performance, that could be embarrassing.  It's crashed on me a couple of times, but if it's for live gigs... Buyer beware...

3) How much do you enjoy tinkering?  I'd say that for me, although I do kinda like my Pod Go, if I had the chance to rebuy, I might have gone with a different product.  PG is powerful, but it's a pain in the butt to use. 

4) Its GUI are borderline m0ronic in general, it's tedious to setup using the PG itself, less tedious from PG Edit but then you can't control PG entirely from PG Edit, so you must have access to PG Edit + PG to have a sort of non-r3tarded interface...  (ex; Much more practical to edit via PG Edit, but  you can't do quite a few things from PG edit, which requires you to still have physical access to PG do those things...  So require the 2 'control interfaces' to have optimal control.  Sad that PG Edit can't do everything it should...)

 

So given 4 & 5, don't expect the PG setup to be easy and pleasant.  Ex; if you want to compare cabs with PG, you have to select cab, scroll through 45 amps to select another one, you then have to select the mic, the distance of the mic, blablabla, and then you play your guitar, was it better before?  So to check, you have to select cab, scroll through 45 amps to select another one, you then have to re-select the mic, the distance of the mic, blablabla.  And that process took like 5 minutes.  PAIN IN THE 4SS.  And there's 60+ cabs, 15 mics, distance can be from 1 foot to 10 feet...  GOOD LUCK WRAPPING YOUR HEAD AROUND THAT!

 

So yeah, with 3 and 4 being the biggest annoyances, if I had the chance to redo my PG purchase, I probably wouldn't buy it again.  I'd probably buy or check out one of these simpler units.  But if you're a twiddler and a fiddler, and want max control over everything, and tweak your tone at the max, then PG likely wins.  But below likely better for being simpler and just getting a great tone out of the box, without days or weeks of learning and fiddling...

 

- Boss Katana.  More limited than PG, but I'm wasting too much time tinkering with PG than playing.  In your case the head version might be a good choice.

- Yamaha THR or THX something... Basically size of a amp head, probably lighter, has built in speakers, lots of different sounds, what I'd probably buy instead of PG

- Positive Grid Spark $250, small, light, good sound it seems, likely simpler and more usable and user friendly than PG ..

- probably others, but these come to mind..

 

I think the above 3 could plug to PA, but I'd do more research for live gigging... Of course if you have to switch patches during gigging that wouldn't work, unless they have foot stomps or whatever, which adds to price, so then I would likely have to check out other pedal board unit, unfortunately, can't say I've done much research of the competition L6 PGo, so maybe it is still the best unit in the price range....  And if it is indeed the only one that can do everything it does, well, no choice... lol  But Boss has a few GT100 and ME-80, anyway...  https://guitar.com/guides/best-multi-effects-pedals-for-guitarists/

 

Overall, I'd say my experience with PG has been a bit negative.  Too many issues.  Too many GUI & user experience absurdities which are inexcusable in 2020... Like 1st year college student programming garbage that shouldn't have made it to production, etc.ect.  PITA to 'work' with the unit..

 

Good thing:  Well it's Helix quality effects...   If you can setup a few patches you like and just play guitar instead of tinkering with the unit and posting in the forums to be able to use the darn thing, PG is for you... But thinking of my last month of guitar, there's been way too much time and energy lost on stup!d L6 PG sh!t that I'd likely not buy it again.

 

5) I'd also add that more than a few people have noticed the PG killing amp tone.  Ex:  Turn off all effects, and the PG ruins the tone of the guitar, sounds worse than directly in amp...  So bit disappointing

 

So yeah, thinking... Maybe the PG is the 'best' at $450.  Probably.  Before buying, some claimed L6 interfaces were the best, so that why I went with it, so in some sense, if I'm frustrated with PG, I can't even begin to imagine how bad the others must be... Also this was rather negative, but just at least be aware of this before purchasing!  And at worse if you're having issues with software and whatnot, pick a place where you have a good return policy.  But hopefully, won't have such issues!

 

 

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21 hours ago, grdGo33 said:

 

I'd be scared if I were you...

1) the L6 updater and firmware update of the Pod Go are ...  Rather bugged, and a TON of people get issues when updating, which crashes their devices, then they have to mess around installing other crap and retrying and retrying, so if you are not a computer guy, GOOD LUCK !!!

2) Pod Go is sadly unstable...  It can just crash on you, so during a performance, that could be embarrassing.  It's crashed on me a couple of times, but if it's for live gigs... Buyer beware...

3) How much do you enjoy tinkering?  I'd say that for me, although I do kinda like my Pod Go, if I had the chance to rebuy, I might have gone with a different product.  PG is powerful, but it's a pain in the butt to use. 

4) Its GUI are borderline m0ronic in general, it's tedious to setup using the PG itself, less tedious from PG Edit but then you can't control PG entirely from PG Edit, so you must have access to PG Edit + PG to have a sort of non-r3tarded interface...  (ex; Much more practical to edit via PG Edit, but  you can't do quite a few things from PG edit, which requires you to still have physical access to PG do those things...  So require the 2 'control interfaces' to have optimal control.  Sad that PG Edit can't do everything it should...)

 

So given 4 & 5, don't expect the PG setup to be easy and pleasant.  Ex; if you want to compare cabs with PG, you have to select cab, scroll through 45 amps to select another one, you then have to select the mic, the distance of the mic, blablabla, and then you play your guitar, was it better before?  So to check, you have to select cab, scroll through 45 amps to select another one, you then have to re-select the mic, the distance of the mic, blablabla.  And that process took like 5 minutes.  PAIN IN THE 4SS.  And there's 60+ cabs, 15 mics, distance can be from 1 foot to 10 feet...  GOOD LUCK WRAPPING YOUR HEAD AROUND THAT!

 

So yeah, with 3 and 4 being the biggest annoyances, if I had the chance to redo my PG purchase, I probably wouldn't buy it again.  I'd probably buy or check out one of these simpler units.  But if you're a twiddler and a fiddler, and want max control over everything, and tweak your tone at the max, then PG likely wins.  But below likely better for being simpler and just getting a great tone out of the box, without days or weeks of learning and fiddling...

 

- Boss Katana.  More limited than PG, but I'm wasting too much time tinkering with PG than playing.  In your case the head version might be a good choice.

- Yamaha THR or THX something... Basically size of a amp head, probably lighter, has built in speakers, lots of different sounds, what I'd probably buy instead of PG

- Positive Grid Spark $250, small, light, good sound it seems, likely simpler and more usable and user friendly than PG ..

- probably others, but these come to mind..

 

I think the above 3 could plug to PA, but I'd do more research for live gigging... Of course if you have to switch patches during gigging that wouldn't work, unless they have foot stomps or whatever, which adds to price, so then I would likely have to check out other pedal board unit, unfortunately, can't say I've done much research of the competition L6 PGo, so maybe it is still the best unit in the price range....  And if it is indeed the only one that can do everything it does, well, no choice... lol  But Boss has a few GT100 and ME-80, anyway...  https://guitar.com/guides/best-multi-effects-pedals-for-guitarists/

 

Overall, I'd say my experience with PG has been a bit negative.  Too many issues.  Too many GUI & user experience absurdities which are inexcusable in 2020... Like 1st year college student programming garbage that shouldn't have made it to production, etc.ect.  PITA to 'work' with the unit..

 

Good thing:  Well it's Helix quality effects...   If you can setup a few patches you like and just play guitar instead of tinkering with the unit and posting in the forums to be able to use the darn thing, PG is for you... But thinking of my last month of guitar, there's been way too much time and energy lost on stup!d L6 PG sh!t that I'd likely not buy it again.

 

5) I'd also add that more than a few people have noticed the PG killing amp tone.  Ex:  Turn off all effects, and the PG ruins the tone of the guitar, sounds worse than directly in amp...  So bit disappointing

 

So yeah, thinking... Maybe the PG is the 'best' at $450.  Probably.  Before buying, some claimed L6 interfaces were the best, so that why I went with it, so in some sense, if I'm frustrated with PG, I can't even begin to imagine how bad the others must be... Also this was rather negative, but just at least be aware of this before purchasing!  And at worse if you're having issues with software and whatnot, pick a place where you have a good return policy.  But hopefully, won't have such issues!

 

 

Quote

 

Hmm, doesn't sound to appealing after reading all you said. Don't like the idea that it can suddenly just crash on you. Trying to process to much information at one time?  But something new appeared on the horizon. Just found out the church I play at just purchased a Kemper profiler for us guitar players to use. (We only use one electric guitar player at a time).  I've never tried one out and have no idea what to expect. But it would now be crazy for me to dish out money without giving the Kemper a fair shot. I may love it and I may hate it. Safe to say there will be a learning curve with this, so I know it won't be an overnight thing. Thanks for taking the time for explaining all to me.

 

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@Vics53

please bear in mind that grdGo33 has always been very critical, since day one, to line6 pod go, especially about the interface. And pretty much he's the only one complaining.

The pod go is really easy to use, say 8.5/10, if not more. You can watch one of the Line 6 youtube tutorial videos or other tons from common users. It's not tedious. And you don't need to have pod go edit at all (apart from the things I've already written). And as for the cab swap example he's mentioning, that is totally crap...you only need to select the cab block and scroll the cabs, and you instantly hear how the cab sounds, while you are browsing them. You DO NOT NEED to select mic and distance UNLESS YOU WANT TO DO THAT, all the mic and distances are already set for you to a typical suitable value. And that is true for all the other blocks.

So 3 and 4 of his points are completely...pointless.

Number 1 point either, you don't have to be a tech. 95% of the problems are because people don't do the installation properly. That is essentially, installing the software without pod go being connected, and connect the pod go right after, to a usb port (not usb hub).

Number 2: is pretty much solved with firmware upgrade, but is true someone is experiencing some blocks anyway here.

 

So If you have a kemper at hand it is a very good maching and very good sounding unit, but a totally different beast, and really not as easy as the pod go.

So, good luck...

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Thanks Cristt. I'm going to do more research with the Pod Go. Right now at church all I need for tones is pretty much what most need. A clean sound, a semi-dirty sound, a distorted tone and the ability to boost all if needed. Got a Strymon Blue Sky and a Flashbackx4 delay also. As said before, my main gripe is doing the pedal dance and many times I've hit the wrong thing due to trying to change so much at once, including moving the guitars toggle switch. That's where the snap shot feature sounds nice. 

 

So if I got one I would hope I could get the desired tones and effects "fairly quick." Yes, there would be a learning curve and that's understood.

Once the main tones/effects are established for my immediate needs  it would then be nice to say "okay, let's see what else this thing can do." So it would be first things first. Thanks again for your input. Much appreciated.

 

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27 minutes ago, Vics53 said:

Thanks Cristt. I'm going to do more research with the Pod Go. Right now at church all I need for tones is pretty much what most need. A clean sound, a semi-dirty sound, a distorted tone and the ability to boost all if needed. Got a Strymon Blue Sky and a Flashbackx4 delay also. As said before, my main gripe is doing the pedal dance and many times I've hit the wrong thing due to trying to change so much at once, including moving the guitars toggle switch. That's where the snap shot feature sounds nice. 

 

So if I got one I would hope I could get the desired tones and effects "fairly quick." Yes, there would be a learning curve and that's understood.

Once the main tones/effects are established for my immediate needs  it would then be nice to say "okay, let's see what else this thing can do." So it would be first things first. Thanks again for your input. Much appreciated.

 

 

For your basic needs you wouldn't even need to use snapshots. You may just go with presets, so you'd have 4 presets buttons right at your feet with the ability to do clean, semi-dirt, distorted, and another "bonus" one. And for your boost needs you might use the volume pedal: if you don't do volume swells and stuff like that, just move it at the end of the signal chain (to have a proper volume boost, not gain/distortion boost) and set it to be like 80% volume at heel position, and 100% volume for toe. So if you leave the pedal at heel position by default, there you have your boost solution.

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I disagree with grdGo33 comments about the Pod Go.  I'm 64 and have had many multi-effects pedals over the years.  The Pod Go is the easiest multi-effects pedal that I have every used. I have not had any crashes and find the Pod Go easy to use.  As others have said read the manual.  Also they are lots of videos on how to use the Pod Go on YouTube.  If you get a Pod Go you might want to consider getting a Headrush FRFR-108.  It can replace your amp and is a lot lighter than an amp. Anyway just my two cents.

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Thanks Cristt and Marhil for the additional advice. If it's just a matter of tweaking some current presets to get what I need in each song then it just may be worth looking into.

 

Last Sunday for example in the first song, I started off with a clean tone, a specific reverb and a specific delay. For the songs chorus, the delay gets switched to another setting, the reverb goes off, I go from clean to semi-dirty and I move my guitars toggle switch. Then it's back to what I originally started with. Of course other songs have other needs but it still means a lot of dancing. This is where i was thinking (as I understand it) where the snap shot mode would come in handy. Go from one group (clean amp, specific delay and reverb) to the next group of setting with just pressing one switch instead of three. As said, I am going to check out more tutorials and as suggested, read the manual.

 

Thanks again for your time.

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3 hours ago, cristt said:

And as for the cab swap example he's mentioning, that is totally crap...you only need to select the cab block and scroll the cabs, and you instantly hear how the cab sounds, while you are browsing them. You DO NOT NEED to select mic and distance UNLESS YOU WANT TO DO THAT, all the mic and distances are already set for you to a typical suitable value. And that is true for all the other blocks.

 

I think you didn't understand my point.  The  microphone arguably does a bigger difference than the cab, same for distance.  The cab in itself is maybe 20% of the sound.  If you use the same Mic & distance on two different cabs, it will very likely sound closer than if you use two different microphones at different distances with the same cab.

 

So if you want to compare CABs, you need to use the same mic and the same distance.  So that means you have to ALSO choose the same mic and same distance.  And both mic & distance are 'lost' if  you switch cab.  So you DO need to select them manually, every time.  Otherwise, you're comparing apples and oranges; totally useless comparison.

 

Quote

please bear in mind that grdGo33 has always been very critical, since day one, to line6 pod go, especially about the interface. And pretty much he's the only one complaining.

 

Not really true for the "since day 1".  As I remember, I was quite positive at the start, started a bunch of threads about amps, cabs, effects, etc., but the more I used the unit the more I encountered issues and annoyances and the more my opinion of PGEdit & PGo itself changed.

 

Plus, even if I was the only one to complain (lol), that would not mean that the complaints are invalid.  It's like gastronomy, because McDonalds fanboys do not complain about the quality of the food, it does not mean that the food is of great quality and flawless, and that the complaints of 1 guy would be invalid.  In my case, having a background as a software engineer, I can hopefully pickup on a few things the average guitar player doesn't pick up on, when it concerns GUIs & software.

 

Quote

Number 1 point either, you don't have to be a tech. 95% of the problems are because people don't do the installation properly.

 

Now that's crap.  I followed 100% the instructions, and it crapped out on me.  Bricked my unit.  Happened to many others also:

There's likely others, but firmware issues have been recurrent, and I 100% guarantee you it's not user error.
 

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The Pod Go is the easiest multi-effects pedal that I have every used.

 

Yeah to be clear, if you're going to use PGo superficially or just use its simple features, it's simple.

 

But the issue arises when you're trying to use the more advanced options;

- Configuring snapshots

- Configuring "Quick Controller Assignments"

- Trying to figure out why the FX Loops clips the signal or why does your looper through FX loop continues playing even if you turn off the FX Loop.

 

Or just different annoyances:

- Why doesn't Go use grids, instead of having to scroll through lists of 100 amps, 60 cabs,  50 effects,  etc.

- If you've assigned to a foot switch multiple values, why can't you control the on/off state from PG Edit

- As I said, being unable to set a mic & distance and simply switching cabs (changes the mic & distance if you change cabs)

- etc.,

 

But again.  With simpler units, say you want 'the brown sound', you select the brown amp and voila.  With Go, some amps have 20 settings.  The Bias of the tubes, the BiasX of the tubes, the hum, ripple, sag ... !  Master + channel volume, because the Master influences the amp's distortion behavior.   Do you really need all those values?  Or Is choosing 1 amp, having a drive settings is good enough, if the amp/drive sounds great?

 

Same thing for Cabs + mics + distance...  Is that a plus for you, or would simply selecting an IR or "Marshall Cab 1" would be good enough?  Do you really need all this added 'Helix' complexity?  Of course, you don't have to use it all.  But if you don't use it, maybe other units are better...  It's a super powerful, but complex unit.  Do you really need 50 cabs, 100 amps, 8 different tremolos (each with different settings), 8 flangers, 8 chorusses, etc.?  Again, each with their own different settings, sounds, etc...  It all adds to complexity.   Sure, you can choose a chorus and use it, and it's simple.  But if you buy the complex PGo, and there's 8 choruses, do you want to know how they all sound, how they work, etc.?  Because if so...   That's a lot more complex than another unit with less stuff & less settings for each...

 

So sure, it's easy to use superficially, but if you really want to use the unit for its features, and understand everything, it's a lot more complex than other units.  A  LOT more. 

 

Base usability isn't bad per se.  I guess it's pretty good to just set some blocks & change some values.  But advanced features become tedious & could have been made much better...  But they're still usable.  It's a bit like old sh!t computer systems; where you can become proficient using idiosyncratic & counter intuitive systems.  If you know how it works, maybe once you're used to it it's not so bad.  But it could have been a lot more optimal, intuitive, etc.

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