Scuba, you know my journey as you've been a part of this thread for a long time. I dipped my toe in the digital water a few times and never liked the results I got. Oh, I would like it temporarily, but it just seemed like the digital stuff I played with was fatiguing. I never really got a tone that just worked.
I didn't have high expectations for the Pod Go. I was under the impression that it was in the same vein as a Zoom B3, which I had already owned. But I ordered one...because hey...that's been my MO for several years. I like trying new things. I bought it used and knew I could unload it fairly quickly if I didn't like it and not lose much money. I reached out to some guitar player friends that I knew used Helix gear. They just gushed about it. One of my friends said he sold all his gear except the Helix. He told me the massive amount of money he had in pedals and how selling it all more than paid for the Helix and put money in his pocket back in his pocket. He no longer uses a mic'd cab....just goes direct running an amp and cab sim.
So the other motivator was my board. It was big, heavy, and expensive. I constantly worried about dropping it, or something going wrong with a tube (unlikely I know). I also had to inspect every knob on it when I took it out of the case in the event one got bumped during transport. The RNDI only worked if phantom power was applied, so I had to carry a spare passive DI just in case...which was even more weight. It was just very cumbersome and I had been using my baby board since it weighed a fraction of what the big board weighted. I didn't feel like I lost much in tone going to the smaller board, especially in the mix. By the time you factor in the PA, the room, the people in the room, the rest of the band, etc....no one...even me...was going to notice.
So I looked at the Pod Go...and it checked all the boxes. It has a volume pedal. It has a DI (yes, you have to use a cable...but that's honestly not a big deal). It has compressors. It has fuzz/distortion. It has an FX loop. It has USB for recording OR for re-amping. It has expansion capability to add another pedal or buttons. It has on-the-fly re-ordering of where the "pedals" go. It has the ability to reset your entire board with the click of a button. It has no patch cables. It requires no fancy power supply (other than the one provided). It doesn't require phantom power. Nearly every function can be assigned a control and changed on the fly.
BUT....
Does it sound good??
I opened the box, dialed up a bass preset, hit a few notes, tweaked a few settings.....and my jaw dropped. I tried more stuff. It sounded good. Even the tube "feel" you get when you dig in is there. You can even dial in tube "hiss" if you desire...yes...you can actually dial in the hiss and hum from a power section. Why you'd want that I'll never know, but you can do it. It's in there. But surely the compressors will sound like crap. Nope...the LA-2A compressor is really good. Nice fat tone. Well, the amp sim will suck. Nope...they don't. Surely the cab sims will suck all the low end out....well...some do...but I loaded up some IRs and they are fantastic. The EQs are incredibly powerful...you can even use a full parametric EQ and adjust Q and all. It's crazy.
I played it back to back with my very expensive pedal rig....and I actually preferred the Pod Go. It sounded better to me. Maybe it's the fact that it's a $400 all in one 5lb (if that) rig that has all digital controls which do nothing if the unit is off...no worry about bumping controls or putting stickers or marks on them.
I took a day off and didn't play it....plugged back in. The new had worn off...and I'm not excited about the new gear...surely it will sound like crap. Nope...jaw dropped again. I dialed up some B15 Motown goodness and played along to some tunes and got goosebumps. THAT is the tone. Wow!! It truly sounds like a B15. Dial up an SVT...ooooh yeah...there is that SVT clank. It's in there.
SO..long story short....what do I like about the tube rig? The tube rig was cool. It looked cool, it was old school tech and it sounded great. Other than that...I didn't really enjoy anything else about it. It was expensive and heavy and I truly fretted over damaging it or getting it stolen. If someone steals the POD Go, I order another one and restore my back up...I'm back in business!
What do I like about the Pod Go? Everything. Honestly. The only thing I think I'd change is the desktop software. It's a little sub par in my opinion. I mean, it works...but the UI isn't the best in the world. They now have a Pod Go Wireless...that has a built in wireless receiver that is controlled via the software. Damn, I wish I'd have known that...that would be bad ass. It also charges the module that plugs into the guitar.
At the end of the day, I don't feel like I'm giving up anything with the digital rig. It's like digital cameras. When they first came out, people used them because the convenience offset the miserable quality of the pictures. But now, digital cameras are better than their film equivalents. I believe we have reached that point with modeling, or are very darn close to it. There is simply no reason to carry around multiple thousands of dollars worth of heavy gear anymore. That would be like still using a rotary phone.
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