Can the Line6 PodGo compete with the Helix? Big Shootout! Part 4/5 

As a previous Helix owner and now a Pod Go owner, I can say that the Go is everything I need and more for my home studio. The Helix was overkill and I was more intimidated by the madness available to me that I never needed. The Pod Go delivers the same sounds with a much easier interface. I've yet to run out of DSP (I don't make insane patches), and I pocketed a ton of cash from the sale of my Helix. Win win for me. Thanks for the video.

You WILL hear a difference if you tell your brain to hear the difference.

This was perfect. Really appreciate the work that went into this. For a rig to play when the rest of my family is asleep you just saved me $1100 bucks. Thank you!

Weight 1:18 Price 2:20 Overview/Specs 2:59 *SOUND COMPARISON* Clean POD 12:33 Clean Helix 13:36 OD POD 14:48 OD Helix 15:30 More gain POD 16:20 More gain Helix 17:09 Even more gain POD 18:08 Even more gain Helix 19:19 Lead POD 20:35 Lead Helix 21:29 Quick comparison (clean) 22:48 Quick comparison (OD) 23:52 Quick comparison (more gain) 24:34 Quick comparison (even more gain) 25:23 Quick comparison (lead) 26:34 The funny bald guy's 2 cents 27:28

I am Japanese. Many Japanese people say POD Go is far worse than Helix. I think because they see only its name and not the sound. the Japanese tend to think products' name or spec TOO important. sorry my English may bad😭

I am enjoying this series immensely!

By far you Sir have broken the myth about podGo and Helix. You have just made my day. Thanks

Great sound on this preset... got me thinking along the way too. I have been looking at this thing the wrong way, its not as simple as people think, it takes time to pull a tone this sweet out of that little box but by golly its in there for the taking if you expend a little xtra effort. Ty again

The design and looking for the Helix is very cool as well as makes players feel professional when using, playing it on the stage. On the other hand, the POD GO looks more for home practicing or small gigs. But! They both sound amazing.

Great demo and video, I had a helix lt, and found it too confusing! Ive ordered a Pod Go and I cannot tell the difference, and the simplicity is a bonus for me

As always awesome and honest review. You are killing it Hennig! 👌🔥

Great video as always. Thanks for all the great information!

man. I was thrilled to hear you say EXACTLY what I think about these 2 units. New subscriber here based on your Truthful honest opinions..your average garage band guy or dive club gig doesn't need all that Helix delivers...I truly hope your review helps Go sales..and that players who couldn't afford helix can enjoy some of the same beauty its brother. Has to offer in sounds ..thanks dude Rock On

U have the most thorough comparison of the two units on RU-vid to date imho. Well done!

Thanks, great advice, and strait forward info!!!

Man, you are giving the people what we WANT

Fantastic review! And couldn't hear any difference between the 2 of them

This definitely helped me feel secure in a Pod Go purchase as opposed to dropping so much $$$ on a Helix.

thank you for the deep down review and comparisons. I was't sure, that the POD Go is worth to buy, but now i know it is. I do not have the budget to by the Helix, so i was looking for budget and now i am buying POD GO!

Animals at the end are the BEST! :-) Well, I'm falling more and more in love with the POD :-) Gracias hermano \o/

Hey Henning, watching your videos quite a while now and this 'Pod Go' series is the most sophisticating in terms of direct gear compaision, yet. I'm really impressed by the format you choose focusing on the direct comparision between the two devices blendend directly. And I must insist that the sound on youtube are quite comparable for both devices, but please consider the compression and equing taking place on playback. For those people heading just for the sound the price difference is a decision-maker. Nevertheless, given the opportunity to play all three devices (HX Stomp, HX Floor, Pod Go) in dierct comparision, I could want to say that there is quite a difference. At most the the feeling while playing although I could not argue why (brighter eq, some milliseconds on responsivness). For all other people trying to make a decision on the Line6 series for pure home recording. My advice would be go with the HX Stomp. Reason being is the better integration to semi-pro setup, the better Software and at least the HX update policy. For myself I must admit I'm really impressed with the HX Stomp in my HomeStudio Setup in regards of recording quality (Processed/ReAmp and Di) as well as the ease of use putting this thing under my desk and controll it via App or Midi.

Thank you so much, fantastic review.

Great review, thank you for the job ;), the difference is negligible, a question arises, can I plug directly into the Imac and listen through the speakers without the need for external monitors?

What a fantastic video. Thank you so much for helping me with my decision! I'm old school but I think I'm gonna make the switch.

Love your work!

Been watching since part 1. I like the introduction music.

that intercut section definetly took a while, great vid indeed !!

I have both and apart from a few modulation pedals my patches are setup the same. My signal chains are very simple anyway so it is easy to get both sounding the same. My Helix is now for full studio use...my PodGo for live. Love them both

This has gotta be one of the best comparisons I've heard. Truly honest and to the point. Specially at 10:19 Thank you for this one! How about the LT then vs pod go? Cheers from Montreal!

Could you release your POD GO presets? That lead setting you have going is unreal I love it!

This is nice. Please more do videos about the pod go

unbiased info 🤘😎 great job

Zero difference in tones from my perspective. I don't need all the complexity and additional I/O of the Helix. Going to give the PodGo a go before Line 6 decides to go and raise the price!

Excellent review:) The gearhead in me says Helix the cool thinking guy in me says I really don't need the Helix the Go will be sufficient for my needs:) Only one thing that I actually could use on the Helix is the Variax interface.

I say this as a Helix Rack user: I must say, in the high gain/lead tests, I heard a little more mid presence from the POD Go.

Parabéns !!! Excelente vídeo

Very informative! Thanks.

I agree w a lot of the comments...the helix may possess a tad of a smidge of a scoche more detailed low end/higher fidelity sound? Onstage, NOONE would tell the difference, EVER.

Does the pod go offer acoustic simulation sounds like the new update of the Helix? If I can get that this go would be a buy. Great reviews and you play awesome plus I love your cats. Peace from CT. US.

excellent work

Great video as always. QUESTION: Is the Pod Go good for recording directly into a DAW? I am looking for something that sound's really great with many amp sounds for recording. I would trust your input (no pun intended!).....Thanks. Philip NYC Area

wonder how these will compare with the Fractal FM3

Good job using a looper to remove yourself from the equation! It's not a fair comparison unless you use a looper. I always greatly appreciate your reviews!

Great video!! Subscribed!

This is a great vid, one think to note is there is also the option of getting the Helix LT, which is cheaper and has a bit less I/O but all the processing is the same as the top Helix. Also I heard minor difference mostly with high gain but cleaner tones sounded about the same through my monitors and headphones.

Good explanation man!

One day I'll be ready for something like the Helix. I think the Pod Go Wireless is my place to start in this brave new world of all-in-ones.

I have the Line6 HX FX and have a Mooer preamp live (for amp modelling and IR's etc) in the loop of the HX FX, which I use as a control centre to control the Preamp by midi.. The Mooer pre amp live also tone captures brilliantly. You can do genuinely brilliant things with the HX FX and the Mooer pre amp live in combination. Add all this to the Boss Katana 2x12 I plug it all into, and I think I am pretty much done with buying gear forever.

Great video

Very similar to me!!! I have been playing for 35 years and have had all the different high gain tube amps and now being alot older and don't want to pay or have to lug around a 4 by 12 this pod go is a great sounding very close in tones to the way far more expensive helix I'll go with the GO!!! LOL

Im just wondering if I could just get by with plugging it in power slot and plugging my guitar and headphones in. Chase that's all I want, I don't want an amp or pedals

I so appreciate your starkly honest review and demo of this product. Plus I know that you are a very good producer so I trust that what is coming through my studio monitors is going to be as true as I'm going to get on RU-vid. I will likely never be able to afford a Helix, plus my needs have always been minimal. All I need is 2 great sounding channels (clean and dirty) and basic effects: overdrive, chorus, tremolo, delay and reverb (all in mono) and occasionally be able to drop the pitch (Does Pod Go do that?). I realize that some guitarists have much more complex needs. For them there's the Helix.

really cool explanations....

The Pod Go does have midi..with the USB..but you won't probably need it. It also can be just used as an effects unit with 4 cable method. It even has presets already set up for 4 cable..Also just buy a couple of cheap trs to xlr and direct to house..pretty cool for the price.

Here's a question that I'm guessing most home-recording folks will ask - when USB'd to your computer for recording, can you balance the mix between the POD signal, and the monitored signal from your DAW? I always find that one is louder than the other, and cannot figure out how to get a balance between them for recording.

Great video! For my ears, Pod Go sounds better than the Helix on the clean on every example here. I have a Kemper Powerrack but I want to get a light weight option for small gigs. I tried Headhush and Fractal, really did not like it. But I decided to get the Pod Go (Helix Go?!) after watch you here.

I got a HX stomp to replace my HD Bean. While it sounds better, I still use the bean as a bass di and vocal pre lol.

It's the tonewood, I mean the materical that the expression pedal is made out of that's absorbing certain frequencies, maybe if you road-wear it, it'll "open up"... sounds identical

Thank u so much !

Same algorithms. Same sound.

I have a buddy with a Helix and he recommended the POD Go so I purchased a POD GO wireless last week. No way there’s enough difference in sound to justify an extra $1000, and I sure don’t need all the options of the Helix. I’m content… at the moment, haha.

Thanks 🙏🏻 I subscribed and I have a pod go on order I mostly just record on my iMac 🖥 I also own the POD HD Bean

As a pod go owner I can tell you that these tones are not achievable on the pod go Ive done almost every tweaking possible but there is a crunch compressed sound you cant get rid of. Tried to add third party IRs but the dsp couldnt handle it. This sounds pretty good studio wize and but irl the helix sounds more full and more realistic, while if you try to get the same result with the pod go it becomes thin and trebly. They sound very close but not this close in the room out of the studio

I use a stomp because it's small and I don't need an expression pedal. But I guess I would have gotten the pod go, had it been available at the time.

Hey Henning, the output sockets are labelled "Left (mono)", "Right" and "BALANCED/UNBALANCED". This suggests that you might be able to use these outputs together as balanced mono (like an XLR output) with some kind of adaptor. Maybe useful for the gig situation. Great video by the way. I'm seriously thinking about buying one of these. I have the HD500X and I just don't like how it sounds.

Great series of videos for the pod go. On the pod go there's a slight delay between stomping thru presets/patches...this is quite annoying especially playing live when you want to go from say a clean part to high gain part smoothly.. Any suggestions?

Great vid, thanks man. Subscribed! For live performance which I do, Helix has XLR out and few other important things to consider but is way overkill and $1700 is crazy. POD Go is lacking in the back with connections and front with pedal buttons , so I'm more likely to go with the Mooer GE300 or similar. Plus the Helix chain interface appears not user friendly compared to many other boards like Headrush, Zoom, Mooer, Valeton, etc.

Thanks!

I have. Pod Go and I agree; Line 6 should REALLY make better factory presets. I hated them all and made my own(also there is a very large community of Pod Go patch makers). When I said this on the Pod Go forums i was sort of ostracised. So i am glad somebody agrees with me. The Pod Go is an incredible piece of kit by the way, unbelievable for the money. Keep up the good work!

Oh and the Pod Go is incredible. I find new capabilities every time I use it. The sounds i can dial in are 1000 tones better than the garbage that's thrown together on line 6 website. Using this in conjuction with neutral archetype = never go back

Of course the more you pay the better but not enough significance to justify it. I would buy the Go and and a 1/4” male to female XLR adapter for the sound guy to direct PA it.

if the pod go had 2 or 3 more slots, imagine how many more of those they would sell. With more DSP power of course.

Which one will sound better with a POD GO, a Solid state amp or an inexpensive pair of powered monitor speakers?

Let me ask you would rather get the Stomp or the Pod Go? I guess for portability with the Stomp, to travel, you can just throw it in a gig bag. But has only 2 effect pedals maybe three. The Pod Go has a little more Bells and whistles than the stomp. Great review. Stay safe out there.

Your second lick reminds me to Lee "The Captain" ;-)

Thanks father !

Greetings. Have you run into the elsewhere discussed input impedance issue in your tests on the Pod Go. Thanks.

First of all, thanks for the A/B instant comparison, it's the only way to test anything. I hate when people say which sounds better? And there's a 5 minute jam between the sounds. Well done!!!!! Literally no difference in sound to me, they both sound great!!!

There are plenty of videos showing a massive difference in top end, however this video tends to mask that and the top end seems lacking. People say the Helix has automatic impedance detection whereas the POD GO is fixed. This was very noticeable with a single coil Fender Strat, so do you have any pedals in front of the Helix that might help balance impedance?

You must agree quite a bit looking at all the gear they have give you

Around 3:45, you state that you cannot use the pod go simply as an effects processor. Couldn’t you turn the amp and cab block off in the pod go and run it in the guitar amplifier’s effects loop?

I guess different people always hear different things. To my ears, in some of the sounds there was no difference, in a couple of them the POD sounded a little better to me, in others the Helix was superior. In the end, as he said, it comes down to what you want to use it for, and how much you're willing to spend.

Nice, did you record with a mic on Line6 FRFR cabinet or was it direct? If it was a cabinet what kind?

there's a minor harmonic richness to the Helix that isn't on the POD but it's not enough to say the pod isn't worth the money. I just got the pod and using it in 4 cable method with my amp - I assign the fx loop and the internal model amp to the same foot switch and then when I switch off the internal amp, I have my amp in the fx loop so I can switch between the two :)

Could you run the Pod Go into the power amp in on a Katana mk2 100 watt to play a small to medium size gig?

i've kinda been waiting for the pod go. when the helix and helix LT came out, they were both just out of budget for me and I just don't need two signal chains and all those ins and outs. I'd like a good sounding updated unit that lets me plug a guitar in, and usually mono out maybe stereo out on occasion and this has at least that. I'll think i'll get one of these. it does all i need it to do

Love the review! But could you elaborate on what you said @3:40: "You can't really use this just as an effects processor [...] with your amp". Why not? I can use the four cable method, bypass the preamp & cab simulation, no?

I was listening to it in my car, and the pod go sounded like it had more low end, nothing major but I still go with the helix , great job on the demo

Just to be clear... the Helix actually has 4 separate signal paths, not just 2. Good video - this is clearly a 'Helix', and for most people is all they will need.

Henning: did you try inverting phase of one rocerded track into the other? Not too scientific, but maybe it surprises us with a flat line. BTW, it's still good enoughh for me.

You can split the difference and get the FM3 by Fractal. It is a beast and used can be had for 800 to 850. The sounds in it are so convincing, used the the Friedman BE100 patch and have the actual amp and the FM3 sounds better. FYI

The Helix is a tiny tiny bit quieter, maybe that’s why it doesn’t sound quite as compresses as the pod to my ears. Pod reminds me more of the lofi/low-res sound of my amplifi TT, the Helix sounds more open. However both have a slight compressed modeler sound to them which I don’t really dig, but you wouldn’t hear in a track I guess. It might also be different with another cab sim. Would love to play them back to back though.

POD Go it is! I don't need to remote into NORAD when I gig! ;)

My plan is to buy the Pod Go to replace my whole stuff. It's small and my band only plays small gigs. Two mono guitars, left/right. No fancy stereo effects or anything. The Pod should get the job done. 3rd party IRs will help with quality of sound, too. So, if I can play gigs with a clean, distortion/overdrive and a lead sound by just throwing this little device on the floor, it will keep my back healthy. I'm tired of carrying amp+cab from location to location.

I'm going to buy a Pod Go but the question is: is it good for live gigs in small/medium venues (pubs and similar)?

Very very very very close, I hear a tiny bit more dynamic range and overall fidelity in the Helix, more lows and higher highs and smoother. Im listening from some Kali monitors. But the POD Go is rad.. Now it would be cool to leave the Helix in the studio and gig with the POD Go

I really wish for the Pod Go there was a line 6 GTR connector for the varrix GTR . This could replace the Pod Hd 500 x and be a nice solution for people who can't afford the Helix LT and the Helix

I’m confused.... if I have a Marshall JVM 410 combo 100watt and I love my distorted channels. Can I not use the pod go,without the amp/cab sims and just use for mods if want?

Pod Go for the win! It sounds the exact same and the price is a no brainer.

I have a pedalboard that I use for shows made up of all individual pedals that I leave in my rehearsal space and I really wanted an all-in-one solution (that is not as pricey as the Helix) for recording at home. I bought the Pod GO to replace my HX stomp because there are 6 programmable footswitches instead of 3 but it's a bit misleading because although you get two expression pedal effects (vol. and wah) and 6 effect blocks, every preset you make will come with a wah and volume pedal, an EQ pedal and an FX loop block and YOU CANNOT DELETE ANY OF THEM! The wah and volume makes sense but I feel like EQ and an FX loop would be two of the last blocks I would need and the first ones I would sacrifice to run other blocks. An EQ is nice to have in the chain but do I need a footswitch for it? No, I would just leave it on. I like to use a compressor and reverb as well but again, things that I leave on and don't need a switch for. With the Pod Go, if it's in the chain, you HAVE to assign it to a switch. The other block they force you to have is the FX loop. This is nice if you want to run other pedals, but I would much rather have an editable block with the OPTION of an FX loop if I really wanted to expand but I don't want to be forced to have it. How many people that are using the Pod GO with the intention of adding anyway? It feels like it's supposed to be an all-in-one device. It does come with an EXP input where you could connect a third party footswitch to control more blocks but since they only give you 4 blocks (5, if you count the unremovable EQ), there's noting to control! I guess if you use snapshots this could be helpful but I just like to use stomp mode. Just wanted a VOX AC30 tone with 6 effects of my choosing. Nope. Perhaps they will add more blocks in an update but at this price point, I doubt it's possible. I do really like the size and the large display with a simplified interface and sounds just as good as my HX stomp. I guess what I'm looking for is something between the HX Stomp and the Helix LT. I've been using Line 6 gear for 20 years and I was so excited to get this as I thought it would be my all-in-one recording solution but I'll just stick with my HX Stomp and build a small board with some additional pedals. If I'm totally way off here or someone has any ideas, I would love the feedback. Great videos!