How did you go from "playing the POD Go" to making music?

[sominator]

Hi all,

 

I'm a long time guitar player, but new to multi-effects pedals, and have found myself tinkering with settings and micromanaging tones since getting my POD Go.

 

The variety of effects is certainly overwhelming, and I kind of like that the Express has you locked in to a handful of options that are easy to dial in and just play.  I'd like to manufacture a similar experience on the POD Go, but the process is much less organic than what I'm used to (basically analog).

 

At what point in using your POD Go (or another multi-effects pedal) did you feel like you were back to making music with it, rather than "playing the pedal"?

 

Thanks for any advice!

[cage771]

I'm a recent convert to the POD Go and, despite trying over the years, i stayed away from modelers and deep menus. However, after a few rehearsals and gigs with the POD Go, I'm quite comfortable with it. Like you, initially I found myself micromanaging and tweaking too much. I ended up trying some free patches....and then bought some packs (as well as some IRs). This made things much easier. Start with an amp/cab combo that matches what you are looking for. Dial it in like a real amp. Add effects and tweak the settings....just like a real pedal. Ignore the global high/low shelves....heck, ignore them on most patches as well. By doing this I quickly created the right patches for myself and my band. The factory presets aren't very good IMO and makes starting off a bit difficult. 

Something I found by using other peoples patches is that you discover options that you wouldn't know existed. For example, say you operate in stomp mode for your distorted rhythm tone and want a boost for a lead tone. You put a boost in a pre amp block and dial it in to taste....but it's still not working for you. Well, the button that you assigned to the boost can be used for much more than turning the boost off and on. You can assign it to any other option as well. For example, you might want to change the IR in the cab block, increase the amp channel gain, and boost the mids. Easy! Set the min/max on those parameters and assign the boost button to all of them. One button push, 8 parameters changed at once! That was a cool one to discover and keeps you from having to do the pedal dance (which I am not a fan of). Again, it's a function that I would not have known of unless I downloaded prebuilt patches.....or stumbled upon a video or forum discussion. 

[sominator]

Thanks so much for your reply, and for these tips!

 

Do you use different amps/cabs based on your use case? Or do you stick with one and just modify settings and effects?

 

On 4/21/2024 at 11:25 AM, cage771 said:

I'm a recent convert to the POD Go and, despite trying over the years, i stayed away from modelers and deep menus. However, after a few rehearsals and gigs with the POD Go, I'm quite comfortable with it. Like you, initially I found myself micromanaging and tweaking too much. I ended up trying some free patches....and then bought some packs (as well as some IRs). This made things much easier. Start with an amp/cab combo that matches what you are looking for. Dial it in like a real amp. Add effects and tweak the settings....just like a real pedal. Ignore the global high/low shelves....heck, ignore them on most patches as well. By doing this I quickly created the right patches for myself and my band. The factory presets aren't very good IMO and makes starting off a bit difficult. 

Something I found by using other peoples patches is that you discover options that you wouldn't know existed. For example, say you operate in stomp mode for your distorted rhythm tone and want a boost for a lead tone. You put a boost in a pre amp block and dial it in to taste....but it's still not working for you. Well, the button that you assigned to the boost can be used for much more than turning the boost off and on. You can assign it to any other option as well. For example, you might want to change the IR in the cab block, increase the amp channel gain, and boost the mids. Easy! Set the min/max on those parameters and assign the boost button to all of them. One button push, 8 parameters changed at once! That was a cool one to discover and keeps you from having to do the pedal dance (which I am not a fan of). Again, it's a function that I would not have known of unless I downloaded prebuilt patches.....or stumbled upon a video or forum discussion. 

 

[theElevators]

Dial in your sound and leave it alone.  Simple.  Otherwise, there's no end to the amount of things you can tweak.  Options paralysis.

[sominator]

Sounds good. Thanks for the reply!

 

On 4/21/2024 at 5:21 PM, theElevators said:

Dial in your sound and leave it alone.  Simple.  Otherwise, there's no end to the amount of things you can tweak.  Options paralysis.

 

[cage771]

On 4/21/2024 at 4:26 PM, sominator said:

Thanks so much for your reply, and for these tips!

 

Do you use different amps/cabs based on your use case? Or do you stick with one and just modify settings and effects?

 

 

It all depends on the song. Most of the time I stick with one amp/cab and dial amp gain up and down....along with my guitar volume controls (or the volume pedal on the Go). Same with effects and settings. However, there are certain songs that I need a spanky clean tone for ("Float On" by Modest Mouse for example) so that gets it own patch. Acoustic songs also have their own patches and such. Three patches in stomp mode cover everything that I need. However, if I were in a Pink Floyd tribute band, I would probably create a bank of patches for each album with each patch being setup a bit different per song. So it really comes down to how you want to use the Go. 

There was a great thread over on The Gear Page forum discussing how to approach all modelers. Basically, it comes down to determining where you want to go. Say you want a Metallica sound. Well, a Vox amp won't really get you there. It can with some help....but why try when you grab a Mesa with a Mesa cab (or JCM800 with Marshall cab if you want the earlier sounds)? As with any rig, figure out your foundation and then work from there. And remember, just because you have access to all of the effects doesn't mean you need any of them.    

[sominator]

These are really helpful recommendations. Thank you so much for taking the time!

 

On 4/21/2024 at 7:14 PM, cage771 said:

It all depends on the song. Most of the time I stick with one amp/cab and dial amp gain up and down....along with my guitar volume controls (or the volume pedal on the Go). Same with effects and settings. However, there are certain songs that I need a spanky clean tone for ("Float On" by Modest Mouse for example) so that gets it own patch. Acoustic songs also have their own patches and such. Three patches in stomp mode cover everything that I need. However, if I were in a Pink Floyd tribute band, I would probably create a bank of patches for each album with each patch being setup a bit different per song. So it really comes down to how you want to use the Go. 

There was a great thread over on The Gear Page forum discussing how to approach all modelers. Basically, it comes down to determining where you want to go. Say you want a Metallica sound. Well, a Vox amp won't really get you there. It can with some help....but why try when you grab a Mesa with a Mesa cab (or JCM800 with Marshall cab if you want the earlier sounds)? As with any rig, figure out your foundation and then work from there. And remember, just because you have access to all of the effects doesn't mean you need any of them.    

 

[cage771]

On 4/22/2024 at 2:03 PM, sominator said:

These are really helpful recommendations. Thank you so much for taking the time!

 

 

Anytime! Always happy to share what I've figured out or learned from others. Just remember to keep it simple. Get your foundation amp tone and volume settled and move on from there. As I said, think about where you want to go. 

And remember as well, a button in stomp mode can be so much more than an on/off control. Well.....when you get to that point.

[TG-F]

Had mine for about 9 months and I've basically now settled on a single patch for guitar, with 4 snapshot variations within it. To my mind, the appeal of the Pod Go (and probably all modellers) is that it's an all-under-one-roof solution that plumbs straight in the PA, with no humping heavy gear around up and down flights of stairs. Sound guys love it. It's quick, efficient and sounds more than good enough. It really comes into its own when playing bass as there's nothing more disruptive to a good onstage sound than a thundering great bass rig pounding away. So yeah - for me the depth of the menu is great, but once you've found your sound, lock it in and forget about it :-)

[sominator]

Awesome! That sounds ideal--thanks for your reply!

 

On 4/24/2024 at 2:55 AM, TG-F said:

Had mine for about 9 months and I've basically now settled on a single patch for guitar, with 4 snapshot variations within it. To my mind, the appeal of the Pod Go (and probably all modellers) is that it's an all-under-one-roof solution that plumbs straight in the PA, with no humping heavy gear around up and down flights of stairs. Sound guys love it. It's quick, efficient and sounds more than good enough. It really comes into its own when playing bass as there's nothing more disruptive to a good onstage sound than a thundering great bass rig pounding away. So yeah - for me the depth of the menu is great, but once you've found your sound, lock it in and forget about it :-)