Way back when our resident Nordic axe-god @kaspar shared a review of his Pod Go (which I understood very little of), I bookmarked it and locked it safely in the deep vaults of my brain, where I store all unthinkable scenarios
When the madman succumbed to temptation, I made a mental note of his foolish weakness, but did enquire some months later, whether he was still happy with his tomfoolery.
He was.
Hmmm…
With the passing of winter, the warmer weather and transition from trousers and boots to shorts and sandals, those seeds began to germinate. Electronic bays drifted into my fields of observation…
Last month I had a request for bed and breakfast weekend accommodation. Some quick mental arithmetic and I calculated, that should cover the cost of the experiment, so I wouldn’t actually be spending any money at all. Essentially, I could have one for free
£250 seemed like a good price to scratch an itch that wasn’t going away by itself, esp it appears in pristine condition and I can always sell it if it doesn’t make me sound like Kaspar.
Anyway, to bring it back to the title, I bid you all adieu, as I make my way down this rabbit hole with my trusty axe.
I’m not coming out till I find what I’m looking for
I read your story twice. Now I’m confused as well. What is it you are looking for? And how will you know when you’ve found it? And how deep is the rabbit hole? And how sharp is the axe? So many questions? Are you looking for answers?
Apologies Tony, I should have been clearer.
When it comes to tone, I’m kind of a one-trick-pony, on its way to the knackers’ yard.
This is my quest for the ‘holy wail’
Hey Tony I think the POD Go rabbit hole could actually come out in Oz and we’re not talking wizards.
@brianlarsen so after all that you bought it for yourself and not your lad ? I knew you’d succumb. Looks like a bargain and well worth the investment. If you need access to manual etc I can send you via mail. Might be worth getting POD Go Edit at some point, as it makes editing a lot easier.
Be interesting to know if it came with some “user” presets if it was pre-owned. Have fun with the factory FX, some are good out the box, some need tweaking. Advice always available.
Oh Brian you rock and roll devil you, that thing looks like loads of fun. I’ve just looked it up on the web to see what it is. I suspect there might be a bit of a learning curve involved . Good luck my friend. Can you finger strum minor chords while using it?
Oh man, I have the PodGo in my top three of most likely next gear purchase. I’m trying my best to stay content with my Fender GTX 40 and foot switch, but posts like this one don’t help.
If you ever make it out of the rabbit hole, I’d love to hear what you think.
Good on you fellow guitar traveler! Let yourself play around with tone and find the inspiration in there. Feels like a next level of creativity is in your future. Play on playa!
that looks like a scarily deep rabbit hole, Mr Larsen! If you undercover any fundamental principles of nature, the universe or, that ultimate mystery, the guitar, then I hope you make it back safely to the surface to share your revelations here… I will leave a candle burning in the window till then
Speaking for myself, the THR tones are decent quality, but limited in scope (similar to the Spark and some other amps, as well as just using the top panel controls on a Katana). It’s good enough for practicing and even recording perhaps 90% of the time (for me, that is; YMMV).
What these amps lack is:
a) The sheer range of effects (including individual models) that are available on more fully featured MFX systems
b) The tweakability of those effects, individual controls on an effect are limited
c) The ability to have longer chains of effects and to control the order of that chain
d) The switching/expression control, although there are now some solutions for this.
None of these are, IMO essential. And, for a lot of people, not only is this limited view more than adequate, but it’s also far more accessible than a full MFX system.
But, for some of us, these things are nice to have. And if you are trying to emulate the sound of a particular record, or are interested in being experimental with tones, then effects on something like a THR or Spark may not be quite good enough.
Some examples:
I can get a perfectly adequate chorus tone for something like “Purple Rain” on my THR. But if I want to get the tone on the Pink Floyd song “Breathe”, then the THR doesn’t really get there.
I could get a reasonably close delay setting for, say, U2’s “Pride” on the THR, but it’s a bit hit and miss (getting the tempo right is tricky) and to nail it I would really look at a multiFX system. If I want to do multiple delays, then I have no option on the THR.
I have used multifx systems for a couple of Green Day songs in the past: a pedal volume swell for “21 Guns” and a slicer for “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” which I couldn’t really achieve on the THR.
The THR also doesn’t have a Wah, pitch-shifter, or octaver, which are fun effects and are pretty useful for some songs. For instance, I recently did “Livin on a Prayer” at our local Jam session, and I used pedal wah on my GT-1 in lieu of a voice box to pretty good effect.
A frustrating thing for me on my old Spark 40 was that the tone through the speaker often needed EQ to make it sound good, but if you used the Equalizer, that prevented you from using the Modulation (e.g. tremolo, chorus, flanger, etc.) at the same time. None of the multifx systems I have used (including the Katana) have had that sort of limitation. Note that the THR doesn’t have an EQ at all other than the tone controls, but doesn’t really need one most of the time.
Well U2 never found it so have fun down your rabbit hole Brian and don’t forget (if you remember who we are) to report back your findings and to share some of the fun you have had with it.
Oooo Mr L Omg WTF You have done andmore losing your religion,
She’s only been away from home for a few days and then you do this…looking for Alice …sigh
Nice meeting you
I wish you also a lot of fun
Greetings…
Edit: I just looked it up…cough cough…I bookmarked Kasper’s post when he post it …cough
I do not need it IdonotneeditIdonotneeditIdonotneeditIdonotneeditIdonotneeditIdonotneedit IdonotneeditIdonotneeditIdonotneeditIdonotneeditIdonotneeditIdonotneeditIdonotneedit
I need it.
ahhh @brianlarsen you will be long playing with that…certainly from my perspective the best (and probably most expensive) multifx pedal I’ve bought so far. Definitely a bargain at £250 (I think was £399 when they first came out).
It is compared to many in that or slightly lower bracket very easy to get a good tone out of it. Sounds good going into an amp (ideally just the poweramp part) but better into a PA, monitors, flat response speaker. it has it’s limitations in terms of the signal chain but thats the rub for Helix level fx at this price point.
have fun 
I knew you’d succumb. Looks like a bargain and well worth the investment. If you need access to manual etc I can send you via mail. Might be worth getting POD Go Edit at some point, as it makes editing a lot easier.
that looks like a scarily deep rabbit hole, Mr Larsen! If you undercover any fundamental principles of nature, the universe or, that ultimate mystery, the guitar, then I hope you make it back safely to the surface to share your revelations here… I will leave a candle burning in the window till then 
andmore losing your religion,
…cough