Pod Go vs Headrush

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
Been looking at the headrush, now the new line 6 pod go is looking kinda nice too

I get the headrush uses some 11r technology, and I enjoy mine, it still plays well and does most of what I need, other than being easily portable. I am not worried about having the newest and greatest ( at the end of the day, how many way can you copy a Fender blues jr ?)

line 6 I have been very happy with their customer service on other products, avid not so much

I also know the reality, I will probably use 4 signal chains at most 90% of the time, the other stuff will be more esoteric in usage

any thoughts ?
 

ervjohns

Blues Junior
The Headrush is more portable for one thing, and hopefully they are more committed to their product than Avid is with the 11 Rack. I am using mine without the Editor or a connection to the computer because hell will freeze over before Avid releases new drivers for the MAC.
The Fractal Audio Axe FX III is more of a direct replacement for the 11 Rack, but about 10x more expensive.
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
The Headrush is more portable for one thing, and hopefully they are more committed to their product than Avid is with the 11 Rack. I am using mine without the Editor or a connection to the computer because hell will freeze over before Avid releases new drivers for the MAC.
The Fractal Audio Axe FX III is more of a direct replacement for the 11 Rack, but about 10x more expensive.
since you are using the headrush, is there a delay if you hit a change in the middle of the song. When I write, I dont want my solo to just be louder, I like to make it its own sound
 

dan5150

Shredding the Blues
I would say the Headrush and the POD Go are about the same portability wise, with GO a little smaller.

As you know the HR will sound more like your 11R, just maybe a little more "Hi-Fi" since they increased the resolution of the models. The HR also allows you to load IR's which has a huge impact on your tones.

I am pretty sure the POD Go is more like an HD500, tone wise with some Helix level features, including IR's.
 

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
I was referring to my 11R, don't have the Headrush, @mark Dyson has one

I've not done much with mine, alas; just some experiments with famous amp sounds, no fancy mid-song switching or anything like that. I know the Helix has a half-second delay when you change patches (based on reading forum posts on gear boards) but can't speak to how fast the changes are on the HR.
 

dan5150

Shredding the Blues
Every modeler will have some delay when switching full patches. This is because a patch change requires the DSP to be fully reloaded with the new patch.
Modern modelers work around this via use of "snapshots" or "scenes", which is turning on/off different amps, effects, settings changes, etc with a single button all within the same patch.
 

Crossroads

Thump the Bottom
Here's what the Line 6 dude posted on TGP

Geeked out with Brandon N. (head DSP genius and system architect) yesterday. In the interest of 100% full disclosure, I should add a couple items to the caveats list:

Given the same block flow, POD Go should sound identical to Helix/HX, with the following caveats:
  • The three effects with the biggest DSP hit were omitted (Tone Sovereign, Clawthorn Drive, Cosmos Echo)
    • This likely means that any future models that are similar size or larger (like polyshifters) will also be omitted
  • Distortions, pitch/synth, and dynamics blocks are mono only
  • All other effects are stereo only
  • Delay time is cut in half (4s mono/2s stereo vs. Helix/HX's 8s mono/4s stereo)
  • Looper time is less than half (40s mono/20s stereo vs. Helix/HX's 120s mono/60s stereo)
  • Variable analog impedance removed (fixed at 1M Ohm)
  • Guitar In's dynamic range specs in at, I believe, ~112-113dB (still higher than many flagships) vs. HX/Helix's 123dB
  • NEW: POD Go's models are already fully optimized, meaning they likely will not receive future improvements that affect DSP usage. (Tweaks? Sure. Extra math? Probably not.) In the latest Helix/HX firmware, models have not yet been fully optimized, meaning we reserve the right to continue improving them in future updates. So although the models are identical as of this writing (optimization has zero sonic impact), they MAY not be 100% identical in the future
  • NEW: POD Go's latency is a tiny bit higher than HX Stomp and HX Effects but a tiny bit lower than Helix Floor/Rack/LT (since it has one DSP). Still way faster than many other products and gobs faster than desktop solutions
 

sdbrit68

Student Of The Blues
Here's what the Line 6 dude posted on TGP

Geeked out with Brandon N. (head DSP genius and system architect) yesterday. In the interest of 100% full disclosure, I should add a couple items to the caveats list:

Given the same block flow, POD Go should sound identical to Helix/HX, with the following caveats:
  • The three effects with the biggest DSP hit were omitted (Tone Sovereign, Clawthorn Drive, Cosmos Echo)
    • This likely means that any future models that are similar size or larger (like polyshifters) will also be omitted
  • Distortions, pitch/synth, and dynamics blocks are mono only
  • All other effects are stereo only
  • Delay time is cut in half (4s mono/2s stereo vs. Helix/HX's 8s mono/4s stereo)
  • Looper time is less than half (40s mono/20s stereo vs. Helix/HX's 120s mono/60s stereo)
  • Variable analog impedance removed (fixed at 1M Ohm)
  • Guitar In's dynamic range specs in at, I believe, ~112-113dB (still higher than many flagships) vs. HX/Helix's 123dB
  • NEW: POD Go's models are already fully optimized, meaning they likely will not receive future improvements that affect DSP usage. (Tweaks? Sure. Extra math? Probably not.) In the latest Helix/HX firmware, models have not yet been fully optimized, meaning we reserve the right to continue improving them in future updates. So although the models are identical as of this writing (optimization has zero sonic impact), they MAY not be 100% identical in the future
  • NEW: POD Go's latency is a tiny bit higher than HX Stomp and HX Effects but a tiny bit lower than Helix Floor/Rack/LT (since it has one DSP). Still way faster than many other products and gobs faster than desktop solutions

very cool thanks
 
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