.

[Jarick]

1. Budget $500-$750
2. Live only, for recording will use presets built into DAW
3. Both P.A. speakers and guitar amps
4. Not really a lot, just basics like delay, reverb, chorus, phaser, auto-wah and tremelo
5. Not at first maybe after using it awhile

I’d start with the pod go. QC would probably be best match for you but three times your budget.

 

[JiveTurkey]

No matter what, if you are someone that wants to dial things in for 5 minutes with no modeling experience through whatever random speaker; you have laying around and expect instant gratification from factory preses; you aren't going to be happy with anything.

 

[Aleksi]

The IK anticonsumerdia patented Toan Seks pedal is worth a look, I think. The software blows, however. Just bring your own effects and go find that needle in a haystack profile/toan model/capture you love.

 

[mbenigni]

Not really, but remember that modelers are not just about the amp sounds. There is also the effects and hardware (meaning I/O) in addition that all contribute to the final price. For your situation, based on the information you supplied, I would think that a Pod Go would work quite well for you.

I’m not the OP. I’m leaning toward recommending POD Go here in light of the OP’s budget, and straightforward effects requirements.

 

[JCW308]

No. I have both. There is a difference but it’s at cork-sniffing level. Once you’ve got effects going and it’s going through an amp or PA there’s no real difference.

I also have both. The HX Stomp wins over POD GO 100% of the time sound-wise. There's a huge difference.

 

[came the rain]

HX Stomp has better upsampling than the Pod Go.

Aka as squirrel removal.

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

HX Stomp has better upsampling than the Pod Go.

Aka as squirrel removal.

Ah, yeah. Forgot about this. Then, having never heard a PodGo before (but having heard Helix before and after the oversampling update), I will say there is a noticeable sound difference, but still leagues beyond Logic stock guitar presets. For someone that is super averse to editing stuff, 6 knobs and 6 parameters in view at a time seems like a bigger deal than oversampling, but who knows.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

For someone that is super averse to editing stuff, 6 knobs and 6 parameters in view at a time seems like a bigger deal than oversampling, but who knows.

I think this is the clincher in the Stomp vs Pod Go debate for OP along with the bigger screen and visual details.

 

[la szum]

I don't do "advice." My experience is no one ever listens, and people always have
their mind made up (at least 90% of people) beforehand anyways.



That said, there are great platforms at virtually EVERY price point. Hard to go wrong.

 

[OneEng]

1. Budget $500-$750
2. Live only, for recording will use presets built into DAW
3. Both P.A. speakers and guitar amps
4. Not really a lot, just basics like delay, reverb, chorus, phaser, auto-wah and tremelo
5. Not at first maybe after using it awhile

Great information.

What I would recommend a Kemper Stage Used (~ $1100) as my first choice.

1. Hands down the best real tube tone for the types of amps you are used to
2. Has independent outputs for the PA and for your monitor
3. Great gigging capabilities all around for a pelthora of reasons
4. VERY easy for a traditional tube amp player to understand quickly

Additionally, if you don't like it, you can very likely sell it at or near the price you paid for it.

Honestly, for live gigging (which is what I do too) there isn't anything out there that is better IMO. I have tried them all.

Here are my counter thoughts to all other recommendations:

• Why not the new Kemper Player? At $750.00 new, it is nearly at the price of a used Kemper Stage which has way more capability. The player doesn't have enough buttons to be a good gigging partner.
• Why not a Fractal FM3 or FM9? While it is absolutely possible to get great low gain sounds out of these products, it isn't easy for an old tube player to get there. Additionally, the FM3 is again, just too few buttons to be a decent gig partner. Also, they are a fairly expensive solution in comparison.
• Why not Helix HX Stomp XL? Delay time between patches makes this solution unacceptable for live IMO. Yes, you can avoid the delay by simply making a bigger patch and taking parts in and out of it; however, you need to know how to do this (it isn't that simple), you are limited in processing on this platform which makes it even harder, and the Helix doesn't have the same sound quality for the amps you are used to as the Kemper or Fractal units.
• Why not the quad cortex? First and foremost, the buttons are TOO CLOSE TOGETHER for gigging. It isn't as good a solution for live as the Kemper stage either. It is also not an easy unit to learn IMO.

Be careful of the different recommendations given as some people like to gig (like you and I), some people like to plunk around in the basement and control things with their fingers, and some like to record. Additionally, there seems to be a good percentage of people using modeling/capture units who highly prioritize lots of effect processing over raw tube tone.

The Kemper is also built like a tank and was obviously designed for nightly gigging.

 

[la szum]

 

[Mongillo19]

Thanks this is really helpful. In searching for Kempers, I saw that Kempers were called "profilers", and other brands were called "modelers". What are the major differences between profilers and modelers? Can a modeler do most of what a profiler can, and vice versa? A short synopsis is fine as I probly don't have the experience to understand a complex in depth explanation.
Cheers,
Magoo

Kemper is a profiler. There isn't a profiler or modeler version of it.

In general, profile units mean they play static profiles of a particular amp (or amp and cab) at that one setting. You have the bass mid treble options but they are more like post EQ and don't react how the amp would react if you mess with the EQ (think of how amps like Mesa where increasing treble kinda increases gain)

Modelers model the amp and do their best to recreate every bit of it. The pro of a modeler is that you can edit the parameters and ideally they react like you were messing with the real amp

I prefer modelers because searching/paying for profiles can be a timesink....think of IRs on steroids lol

 

[came the rain]

1. Budget $500-$750
2. Live only, for recording will use presets built into DAW

What I would recommend a Kemper Stage Used (~ $1100) as my first choice.

Be careful of the different recommendations given as some people like to gig (like you and I), some people like to plunk around in the basement and control things with their fingers, and some like to record.

Note #1. Budget.

 

[three_eyed_otter]

It's so weird how there are numerous demonstrations of the original POD variations, defeating the Cab, & adding a modern IR & it sounds great, but the PODGO is often viewed as some inferior modeler...It definitely has limitations, but it has the HX/HELIX cab update & most of the amps as well. It fits the budget & will deliver the immediacy of the modeler experience.

Have a good one,

3EO

 

[ragingplatypi]

Let us know what you wind up choosing. It’s nice to have sites like this to use as a reference/support to get up and running. A lot of questions you might have may have already been addressed here or at TGP.

 

[Moe45673]

Again, I reiterate: Boss me-90.

The Line 6 Pod Go I found to be great. Bu way too many choices; so many models of so many amp's and pedals, all with different names, pedals, and buttons/knobs/switches/etc. All of them don't even work the same; sometimes bias-x on an amp would increase the dynamics, and sometimes it would smooth it out like a compressor. Or dirt pedals like the teemah, it literally has one option that's a switch ( like a pickup selector on a strat) and the options to set it are "top, middle, bottom". FWIW, this models the gen3 Timmy which had that switch, but L6 documentation won't tell you that. Elbow grease will. It will also tell you what "top/middle/bottom" settings do for the switch.

So as a modeller, the pod go is not that hard to setup a signal chain. But I was spending ridiculous amounts of time figuring out what certain amp's and pedals do. Oh, and also the legacy effects - I don't know what a chandler tubedriver sounds like, and I don't know the quirks of the Helix vs legacy model of it. That's fine for one pedal, but here a ton of them

Boss, OTOH, they're like "tubescreamer, rat, muff, our overdrive, our better overdrive". And all of them have the same knobs that do the same thing to each effect. Sweet. For example, I own a Rat2 so I know the filter knob works backwards from the regular "tone" knob. But I don't need it to on my modeller, and Boss doesn't model the behavior of the knob "accurately";they model it consistently with the other models. Yes please

 

[MindCrime]

It's so weird how there are numerous demonstrations of the original POD variations, defeating the Cab, & adding a modern IR & it sounds great, but the PODGO is often viewed as some inferior modeler...It definitely has limitations, but it has the HX/HELIX cab update & most of the amps as well. It fits the budget & will deliver the immediacy of the modeler experience.

Have a good one,

3EO

I TOTALLY agree with @3EO . I have & use a L6 PG. I also have an HX Stomp & a Helix LT. But the PG is small, light and really sounds good.
I have read stories about guys gigging with a PG for a few years and it delivered !

The YT videos that convinced me in the first place were videos by John Cordy, Paul Hindmarsh (with L6) and Richie Castellano (with
Blue Oyster Cult).
These were the players that convinced me the PG was worth a look !

So many people dismiss/reject the PG. Either they never owned one OR they just couldn't get it dialed in. So...they wrote it off.

@maguchi - For your budget...take a close look at the L6 PodGo.

 

[Jarick]

I think that's where you'll need to start digging in and possibly trying stuff in stores or pick up and bring home.

I personally didn't like the sound of the Boss modeling. I had the GT-1000 and couldn't get it to work for me. Same with the Boss Katana...after the initial NGD excitement, didn't do anything for me.

While I haven't tried the Pod Go, I've got the HX Stomp and it sounds good without much tweaking, both amps and effects. The Pod Go seems like a streamlined version of the HX and gets really good praise. The HX Stomp XL would give you more buttons too but the Pod Go has the bigger screen and seems more like a grab and go all in one unit.

 

[came the rain]

Facts are the Helix, Helix LT, and both versions of the HX Stomp have superior upsampling to the POD Go. That’s not an opinion. There’s a reason Line 6 improved it when they could, Some people notice the difference.

Whether the upsampling improvement matters is in the realm of opinion….

 

[the-trooper]

Helix doesn't have the same sound quality for the amps you are used to as the Kemper or Fractal

Blind test has entered the chat