Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

Line 6 POD Go Wireless Review

line 6 pod go wireless

Gateway to Helix, or a wireless wonderland of tone?

Dynamite price for the number of effects and amps. Wireless performance is solid. Visually appealing and effective interface.

Polycarbonate chassis might not be most road-worthy. Not enough power for some advanced DSP-intensive effects.

Line 6 POD Go Wireless
line6.com

4.5
3.5
4
4

I fondly remember the first-gen POD from Line 6. It didn't look like anything else. And it was packed with way more features and effects than my novice's sense of tone could comprehend. It had amp models based on units I'd only read about and offered a fantastic portable and quiet solution to practicing. Heck, Pete Anderson even used a pair of them on stage as recently as 2014 when we caught up with him for a Rig Rundown. And if it's good enough for Mr. Anderson...


Fast forward to the newly released POD Go Wireless. It shares a lot of digital DNA with company's newer flagship Helix processors. The interface is intuitive with effective visual representations of every part of the virtual signal chain. With a wireless unit this might be one of the best accessibly priced digital processors around.

I've Got a Blank Space Where My Board Should Be

One of the primary benefits of any good digital modeler, profiler is the ability to better understand how each element of your chain interacts with your gear. The POD Go takes a bit of the guesswork out by automatically placing a few components on your virtual board but leaves a lots of potential for experimentation.

When you load up a blank preset it starts with wah, volume, effects loop, amp, cab, and EQ blocks. The four open spots (two before the amp and two at the end of the chain) are available for gain effects, modulation, reverb, delay, or any of the additional 206 effects that come loaded with the unit. (Line 6 regularly offers free amp, cab, and effects updates). Although a few elements always remain in place, the remaining slots can be rearranged with ease.

I love the phasers and effected delays so much that I designed a board with four of them just to see how much syrupy oscillation I could drum up.

Even Better Than the Real Thing?

The POD Go Wireless offers a total of 10 "blocks" (the amp, cab, and effects elements that make up a signal chain). That should cover the needs of most players the POD Go Wireless is designed for. The unit itself is not quite as road-rugged and portable as the HX Stomp, but the built-in treadle and easy setup are huge advantages. In terms of DSP power, the POD Go has a little less processing power that the HX Stomp and slightly less than half the power of a full Helix Floor model. It's missing a few of the more DSP-intensive effects in the Helix line, like the dynamic hall reverb and the recent polyphonic additions, but that doesn't mean there are loads of very good-to-excellent sounds at your disposal.

I A/B-ed a few of the effects with my HX Stomp and found nearly all of them to be excellent equivalents. And after experimenting with the stock cabs and a few free impulse responses I found online (there is a sizable online community of IR creators), I felt I could match nearly any tone I could get out of my Helix Stomp. The POD Go Wireless's range of available amps are impressive—with accurate Fender, Vox, Marshall, Dumble, Revv, and Orange models along with original Line 6 designs. When it comes to effects, the modulation and delay sections are where I feel the POD Go really shines. I love the phasers and effected delays so much that I designed a board with four of them just to see how much syrupy oscillation I could drum up.

line 6 pod go wireless inputs

Obviously, the main difference between the POD Go Wireless and the standard POD Go is the addition of a G10 wireless unit. After plugging the included dongle into the guitar input of the POD Go Wireless, the unit and the guitar paired almost instantly. I'd rank it as one of the most pain-free wireless setups I've experienced. And as expected, the G10 was rock solid. (All of the sound clips for this review were recorded with the G10).

The Verdict

Line 6 has established the Helix ecosystem as a pro-level sound-creation environment for players that favor the flexibility of a digital setup. Does the POD Go Wireless match the Helix's performance power? Not quite. But it comes impressively close—particularly for the price. It gives you access to some of Helix's very best tones, offers numerous I/O options, a well-designed, intuitive interface, and a handy treadle. It's not quite as sturdy as the Helix units, and if you're looking for a rig more suited to regular road abuse, the HX Stomp is likely more your jam. But overall, the POD Go is one of the best entry-level multi-effects units in existence, and the inclusion of the G10 wireless makes it an even greater value. And even though my nostalgic side would love to see a retro kidney-bean version, the POD Go Wireless represents real progress, and an evolution of basically great and practical tone-creation tool.

The Mick Ronson Cry Baby Wah, meticulously recreated from his own pedal, offers fixed-wah tones with a custom inductor for a unique sound.

Read MoreShow less

What if you could have the best of both—or multiple—worlds? Our columnist investigates.

This column is a fun and educational thought experiment: What if I took inspiration from the well-known Fender amps out there, combined the best from them, and applied a few of my own twists? After all, this is how amps developed. I read somewhere that ā€œFender made the first Marshall, and Marshall made the first reissue Fender.ā€ It's funny, because it's true: The Marshall JTM45 was based on the narrow-panel tweed Fender Bassman 5F6-A.

Read MoreShow less

Over the decades with Hüsker Dü, Sugar, and solo, Bob Mould has earned a reputation for visceral performances.

Photo by Mike White

The 15th studio album from the legendary alt-rocker and former Hüsker Dü singer and 6-stringer is a rhythm-guitar record, and a play in three acts, inspired by sweaty, spilled-beer community connection.

Bob Mould wrote his last album, Blue Heart, as a protest record, ahead of the 2020 American election. As a basic rule, protest music works best when it's shared and experienced communally, where it can percolate and manifest in new, exciting disruptions. But 2020 wasn’t exactly a great year for gathering together.

Read MoreShow less

Reader: Federico Novelli
Hometown: Genoa, Italy
Guitar: The Italian Hybrid

Reader Federico Novelli constructed this hybrid guitar from three layers of pine, courtesy of some old shelves he had laying around.

Through a momentary flash, an amateur Italian luthier envisioned a hybrid design that borrowed elements from his favorite models.

A few years ago, at the beginning of Covid, an idea for a new guitar flashed through my mind. It was a semi-acoustic model with both magnetic and piezo pickups that were mounted on a soundboard that could resonate. It was a nice idea, but I also had to think about how to make it in my tiny cellar without many power tools and using old solid-wood shelves I had available.

I have been playing guitar for 50 years, and I also dabble in luthiery for fun. I have owned a classical guitar, an acoustic guitar, and a Stratocaster, but a jazz guitar was missing from the list. I wanted something that would have more versatility, so the idea of a hybrid semi-acoustic guitar was born.

I started to sketch something on computer-aided design (CAD) software, thinking of a hollowbody design without a center block or sides that needed to be hot-worked with a bending machine. I thought of a construction made of three layers of solid pine wood, individually worked and then glued together in layers, with a single-cutaway body and a glued-in neck.

For the soundboard and back, I used a piece of ash and hand-cut it with a Japanese saw to the proper thickness, so I had two sheets to fit together. Next, I sanded the soundboard and bottom using two striker profiles as sleds and an aluminum box covered in sandpaper to achieve a uniform 3 mm thickness. A huge amount of work, but it didn't cost anything.

ā€œIt was a nice idea, but I also had to think about how to make it in my tiny cellar without many electric tools and out of old solid-wood shelves I had available.ā€

The soundboard has simplified X-bracing, a soundhole with a rosewood edge profile, and an acoustic-style rosewood bridge. For the neck, I used a piece of old furniture with straight grain, shaped it to a Les Paul profile, and added a single-action truss rod. The only new purchase: a cheap Chinese rosewood fretboard.

Then, there was lots of sanding. I worked up to 400-grit, added filler, primer, and transparent nitro varnish, worked the sandpaper up to 1,500-grit, and finally polished.

Our reader and his ā€œItalian job.ā€

For electronics, I used a Tonerider alnico 2 humbucker pickup and a piezo undersaddle pickup, combined with a modified Shadow preamp that also includes a magnetic pickup input, so you can mix the two sources on a single output. I also installed a bypass switch for power on/off and a direct passive output.

I have to say that I am proud and moderately satisfied both aesthetically and with the sounds it produces, which range from jazz to acoustic and even gypsy jazz. However, I think I will replace the electronics and piezo with Fishman hardware in the future.

Read MoreShow less