So my main rig consists of the Helix Floor. I eventually picked that version because I actually do need more footswitches than what the smaller units provides (I want easy access to my 6 main tones, laid out in front of me at all times with no “page switching” needed) and, as it turns out, I actually also do need the additional processing power. Also my main setup is with a real tube head, running it in 4cm, so I needed a Helix version that had the capabilities of switching amp channel.
The PodGo cannot switch amp channel - neither through midi out or through a 1/4" jack. It can be used in a 4cm setup, as long as what you use is a single-channel amp (or if you’re ok with manually switching amp channel through a separate footswitch). But for this reason I solely use the PodGo for pure modelling tones, and therefore I’ll also compare it to my pure modelling preset on the big Helix.
I’ll first, in broad strokes, describe my preset/requirements from the big Helix, and then go on to explain how close I can get to that with the PodGo. My Helix Floor is currently at our rehearsal room, so I cannot show a screenshot from the real PC editor for that one… but I’ll show the preset in Helix Native, which looks almost the same. The signal path/routing is the exact same at least, so it’ll do fine.
As I said in my previous post, I heavily rely on snapshots within a single “master” preset. So within a single preset I need the following 4 main tones; “Clean”, “Crunch” (light distortion, “Drive” (more heavy rhythm) and “Lead”.
My preset for that looks like this;
Let me briefly explain; The big Helix has 2 CPU cores, each core (1 and 2) can run two 'paths" called A and B.
The signal starts at the circle labeled “Host” (it would be “Guitar In” on the hardware). It then follows the top most line, through a bunch of blocks, before I’m routing it to core number 2, signal path “A”. Core 2 runs a couple of blocks before I split it out into some parallel processing of reverb and delay. This is a trick I like to use. By running delay and reverb in parallel (instead of putting reverb after delay, which is common on a pedal board) I get the delays to be much clearer, because only the “core amp tone” gets reverb applied, not each delay repeat. When the paths merge back together I can then mix how much of each signal I want in the final output.
You can also see I use two amp head blocks. This is because in the Helix world an amp model is always single channel. If they provide models for, for example, both the purple and red channel of a Revv amp… then they’ll do that by giving you two amp blocks. And as you can perhaps recall, using snapshots you can NOT add/change a block… but you CAN enable/disable them. So in this setup the first amp block is a “Fender Deluxe Vib” amp model, which I use for clean and crunch tones, and the second amp block is a “Revv Generator Red” which I use for more heavy stuff and Leads. The snapshots are set up such that only ONE of the amps is enabled at the same time.
Going over the total signal chain then;
Guitar input (which has a noise gate built in) → Compressor → Chorus → OD1 → OD2 → Fender Amp → Revv Amp → 2nd Noise gate → (split) reverb/delay setup → Final EQ → Out…
And, again, using snapshots I control which of these blocks are active at the same time and how the parameters are set.
In the screenshot I’ve selected the Revv amp head, and you can see it’s parameters below. Those parameters with a small camera icon, and where the value is in square brackets, are parameters I’ve set up for per-snapshot values… all the rest are global to the preset and the same in all tones.
Ok, so I bought the PodGo to get as close as possible to the above… so I can now finally begin to describe how close I got 
But as long as you guys are happy with what you have, then you (probably) don’t need anything new, right? 
). But still, even on my iPhone “in the room” tone I think the Helix modelling tones sounds great. Good enough that I’m happy practicing with them at least 
“Listen to me: Do not go into the light Stop where you are. Turn away from it.”