PodGo survey

[OmegaSlayer]

I received a PodGo survey in the mail

Very interesting and all, but, there wasn't a question that really bothers me as a user:

"What kind of expectation do you have for the future of the device?"

Because, honestly, lately, I'm feeling like a have a piece of dead hardware with that will receive maybe just a couple of updates before being ignored.

 

There's always some way to squeeze juice from every processor, but Line6 doesn't seem too interested on doing some more research on the PodGo, or, if I'm wrong, they really have bad communication with the userbase.

 

And it's incredible because this device just had 3 years on the market, so it's still new-ish, but, again, my impression is that Line6 doesn't care too much about it.

 

And...just freeing one FX space would do so so much for the users...but we have radio silence, we're contacted to know what we think, and yeah, I wanted to say what I really think

[silverhead]

This topic comes up routinely and applies to just about any modeler on the market,  not just Line 6 products. You’ve hit the nail on the head regarding the main issue: user expectations. If you buy a product because you expect it to do exactly what it now does for a reasonable period of time you will not be disappointed. Any future updates are a bonus, not something you feel entitled to. If you buy a product expecting many frequent updates for a long time you will eventually be disappointed. Line 6 has no control over your expectations, it’s up to you to decide whether and when you choose to feel disappointed.

 

Personally, I consider a piece of hardware to be dead when it stops working. Hardware that works properly and continues to do what it is advertised as being able to do is a successful and satisfying purchase to me. Any free updates (beyond bug fixes) provide value above and beyond what I paid for. 
 

It’s too bad that your expectations are leading to disappointment. The POD Go is, imho, a very solid product and has received updates that have made it better than it was when originally released. Are more updates coming? Probably, but no guarantee. Will updates eventually stop? Certainly. When? Nobody knows, not even Line 6 at this point. That’s the simple reality. How you choose to feel about it is up to you.

Actually, I’m a bit mystified as to why someone would buy a product they’re already disappointed with because it doesn’t yet do X, Y or Z which they are expecting (reasonably or not) it to be able to do someday. Doesn’t that imply you are paying too much for it today? Why do that? Isn’t it more reasonable to wait and see if the product ever meets expectations and buy it then?

 

[voxman55]

I second @silverheadpost. I have a Vox Tonelab SE from 2004 and a Vox Tonelab LE from 2007. Older tech, no upgrade options, no IR capability, but both still perform perfectly, are built like tanks with heavy duty power supplies, and still sound superb.  And these still remain my main gigging rigs because of their pure gigability. 

 

Just because something is older doesn't make it obsolete!  In fact, it's funny how older gear starts to be even better appreciated as it becomes scarcer!! 

 

The Pod Go is a cracking bit of kit. Jailbreak patch files add flexibility, and upgrades have added new amp,cab and fx models, additional flexibility with snapshot & footswitch naming and colour coding. 

 

And there ARE new updates coming. Following Helix v3.5. Line 6 is currently figuring out how to give Pod Go, in some form or other, the new cab engine.  And there's no reason to worry about further updates at least for a few years.

 

But as @silverheadrightly said, upgrades are an extra and you should only ever buy gear based on what it does out of the box and NOT what you hope it might offer in the future. 

[OmegaSlayer]

On 2/9/2023 at 1:45 PM, silverhead said:

This topic comes up routinely and applies to just about any modeler on the market,  not just Line 6 products. You’ve hit the nail on the head regarding the main issue: user expectations. If you buy a product because you expect it to do exactly what it now does for a reasonable period of time you will not be disappointed. Any future updates are a bonus, not something you feel entitled to. If you buy a product expecting many frequent updates for a long time you will eventually be disappointed. Line 6 has no control over your expectations, it’s up to you to decide whether and when you choose to feel disappointed.

 

Personally, I consider a piece of hardware to be dead when it stops working. Hardware that works properly and continues to do what it is advertised as being able to do is a successful and satisfying purchase to me. Any free updates (beyond bug fixes) provide value above and beyond what I paid for. 
 

It’s too bad that your expectations are leading to disappointment. The POD Go is, imho, a very solid product and has received updates that have made it better than it was when originally released. Are more updates coming? Probably, but no guarantee. Will updates eventually stop? Certainly. When? Nobody knows, not even Line 6 at this point. That’s the simple reality. How you choose to feel about it is up to you.

Actually, I’m a bit mystified as to why someone would buy a product they’re already disappointed with because it doesn’t yet do X, Y or Z which they are expecting (reasonably or not) it to be able to do someday. Doesn’t that imply you are paying too much for it today? Why do that? Isn’t it more reasonable to wait and see if the product ever meets expectations and buy it then?

 

I generally agree with you but you miss 2 points

 

The first is that the device is sold as a platform that will receive updates

 

The second is that what I lament most is that Line6 kind of disregards the product and, as a follow up, the users

No news, no communication, nothing, and it's a bit different respect to their other product lines

[silverhead]

On 2/9/2023 at 4:20 PM, OmegaSlayer said:

I generally agree with you but you miss 2 points

 

The first is that the device is sold as a platform that will receive updates

 

The second is that what I lament most is that Line6 kind of disregards the product and, as a follow up, the users

No news, no communication, nothing, and it's a bit different respect to their other product lines

Well, the POD Go has received three major updates (not just bug fixes) since it was released three years ago. I don’t think there’s any reason to feel dissatisfied about your first point. What exactly are your expectations about updates? How often, and for how long?

 

In general Line 6 plays it close to the vest for all product update announcements, not just the POD Go. Also, they tend to provide more product update information in other places (e.g.Gearpage) than here. This is a user forum and it’s nobody’s job at Line 6 to hang out here. And as voxmann55 said, another update has been promised. It will be dropped ‘soon’. Once again, user expectations about the timing of ‘soon’ can leave some users disappointed.

 

In any case, ‘nuff said. I know the above won’t satisfy you and I’m not going to debate it further. 

[voxman55]

On 2/9/2023 at 9:20 PM, OmegaSlayer said:

I generally agree with you but you miss 2 points

 

The first is that the device is sold as a platform that will receive updates

 

The second is that what I lament most is that Line6 kind of disregards the product and, as a follow up, the users

No news, no communication, nothing, and it's a bit different respect to their other product lines

 

I don't think I'm missing any point & I'm honestly struggling to see where you are coming from.

 

1. Pod Go IS getting regular updates. Every time Helix is upgraded, 'shortly' after (typically c4 mths) so is Pod Go. But no one should ever buy an MFX that out of the box doesn't meet their immediate needs as they'll just be disappointed that the upgrade they want or expect doesn't happen.  No company guarantees upgrades or their content.  Although Helix was brought out in 2015, it is a very different animal to what it offered when it first came out both from a features and sonic perspective. Pod Go, whilst not a Helix, was designed utilising Helix technology, and it continues to benefit from Helix developments where Pod Go's DSP and memory limitations permit. 

Yes of course Pod Go is more limited than Helix - no reasonable person could expect the same features and processing power from an MFX that is around a third of the price of Helix Floor and half the price of Helix LT!  And its unfair also to point to newer entrants to the market that might have more features and processing power at a not dis-similar price point, because these have typically launched products later that have been developed on the back of the Pod Go that when it was first launched was a market leader at that price point.  In fact, quite a few actually look amazingly similar to Pod Go which arguably has become a victim of its own success and has influenced competition. 

 

But rest assured both Helix and Pod Go will be around and get upgrade support for a while yet. It takes years & years to fundamentally change design and modelling architecture from the ground up. Most of the new MFX around have been developed from older technology and 'tarted up'. The latest example is the Boss GX100 that is a less powerful version of the Boss GT1000 but with a touch screen to help make up for its truly non user friendly & unintuitive UI (unless you're already very experienced with Boss units).  

 

I bought Pod Go for what it did, not what it might do. Thus every upgrade is an extra bonus.  But I also took into account Line 6's excellent customer support and it's commitment to provide it's customers with more. No other manufacturer comes close to Line 6 in this regard and customers of other non Line 6 gear would love to get the support and regular upgrades that Line 6 give.   Further, whilst no manual is perfect, the Pod Go manual is one of the clearest and easiest to read manuals that i've ever come across, and whilst the Pod Go Edit software could benefit from a few tweaks, overall it is excellent. 

 

2. I'm unclear where you are coming from re customer disregard and lack of  communication.  With regards to future upgrades understandably these can't be divulged until finalised and launched. There could be bugs that need sorting, decisions re what might or might not fit etc.  Where I do have some sympathy though is regarding the Pod Go input impedance debacle that Line 6 has not been drawn in to comment on. There could however well be numerous valid reasons for this that have been discussed verbatum on the internet.  However, for anyone that wants their Pod Go modified Line 6 will provide a free 'fix', irrespective of warranty period.  

 

Have a look at the knowledge-base section to see the Pod Go upgrades and the communications support (https://line6.com/support/page/kb/pod/pod-go/).  Look on YouTube for the series of Line 6 Pod Go (own) support tutorial vids and find me one other manufacturer that does anywhere near as much.  In addition you have the Line 6 Customer Support on-line facility where a ticket can be logged for support and where they will typically get back to you in 48 hrs.

 

With regards one extra block, I've campaigned for this and although I don't agree with Line 6's rationale, I respect it is standing by its original rationale that it didn't want users disappointed with more grey-outs when selecting FX. It designed Pod Go for a certain type of user that needed a simpler approach with less fx chain requirements. 

 

But jailbreak patches now give additional flexibility anyway, so if you want more user blocks these are available.  If you joined the Gear Page, various Facebook Pod Go sites (one of which I moderate on and am a group expert) you'll see all this and have access to some good stable 'jailbreak' patches.  Because it's unofficial of course Line 6 can't advertise these, but they've actually said how surprised they were that folk hadn't sussed this out sooner!  To clarify, these are not a 'hack', are nothing to do with firmware, but are simply a variation of the JSON script file that make up a patch.  

 

In addition Digital Igloo (Eric Klein Chief Product Design Architect ) frequents various forums including the Gear Page and contributes and gives advance snippets 're forthcoming firmware upgrades albeit not blatantly. For example on 8 Jan when asked about the next Pod Go upgrade following Helix 3.5 (major cab engine upgrade) he said:

 

Speaking of that, do we have any news about the possible update?

No points for guessing, but it's a lot trickier adding [obvious thing I can't technically divulge] to POD Go. It might take a while, but it's still coming.

 

Name me one other manufacturer that shares such snippets!  

 

Finally, you have this Line 6 board that Line 6 runs, and the Line 6 Ideascale site gives customers the opportunity for customers to give feedback and request upgrades, which depending on the number of votes, Line 6 considers.  And when you register your Pod Go you'll receive regular email comms like the one that just landed in my email today, 'Pod Go helps you do you' part of the POD Go Live Series videos.  Want even more customer communication - see here:

 

Keep up to date with Line 6:

https://www.facebook.com/line6/

https://www.instagram.com/official_li...

https://twitter.com/Line6

https://blog.line6.com/ Sign up for the Line 6 Newsletter: https://line6.com

 

What more are you after?

 

Now, let's clarify a few things.  First, I don't work for or have any affiliation with Line 6 - like you, I'm just a customer.  And I'm not saying Line 6 products are necessarily the best out there - although they are generally considered to be market leaders in the field of digital modelling, obviously there's growing competition from other manufacturers such as Headrush, Boss, Ampero, Mooer etc.  But every product has pros and cons and some of these are utilising technology that is a lot older than you might think but just packaged nicely with some added bells & whistles (I believe Headrush is derived from Eleven Rack).  The trick is finding one that meets your needs at your price point.   

 

And I don't have rose tinted glasses -  I've had some disagreements with Line 6 (eg its stance on not offering 1 or 2 extra user blocks), and so have no particular 'blind' customer loyalty.  In fact I actually have more Vox gear than anything else (well, my handle is a bit of a giveaway here lol) - currently my only Line 6 gear is Pod Go and a Relay G10 although I used to have a Flextone II Plus rig.

 

But I consider myself to be a fair and reasonably savvy & informed guy and I give credit where it's due.  Line 6's reputation for customer & product support and overall customer service were a huge consideration when I bought Pod Go - and, with the odd exception, I think Line 6 has given a pretty good account of itself to date and from that perspective stands head & shoulders over other manufacturers.