camilovelandiamusic
Experienced
The other day I drove about 90 minutes to a gig, only to find I had left my FM9 at home. I went to a guitar center fifteen minutes away, and could only find a Line 6 POD Go to get me through the gig (not enough time to go back home and get the FM9).
I watched a couple videos on how to make a preset from scratch, and I must admit, the unit is very user friendly and I was able to get around the unit within minutes. One cool thing that I liked, was that anytime you double tapped an effect, it would enter EDIT screen for that effect. I was able to make a preset from scratch during soundcheck.
However, I could not make this unit sound good. I tried it all. It really sounds and feels terrible. Sure, given that they are priced at $499, but man!!! It literally made my insides hurt to do an entire gig with this unit. At once point, I was so frustrated I was literally ascending and descending presets during a song to see if maybe I could find something. I found some decent drive sounds, but the clean sounds were horrible. They all sounded like when you crank a narrow Q on an EQ. Just filtered, harsh, and not good.... almost like if I had a Wah pedal half engaged (which I didn't!)
I consider myself pretty good at dialing tones, and the unit was very clear and easy to get around. When I returned it at Guitar Center, the employee asked me why I was returning it, and even said "No one ever returns these units". I told him it really sounded terrible, and he couldn't believe me. He gave me my money back, but was in disbelief of my experience and almost rude. Pretty crazy!!
All that to say, I appreciate FAS and their quality. They really are above. I want to imagine that the Helix is lightyears better than the POD Go, but man.... after that experience, I'm not even curious.
I watched a couple videos on how to make a preset from scratch, and I must admit, the unit is very user friendly and I was able to get around the unit within minutes. One cool thing that I liked, was that anytime you double tapped an effect, it would enter EDIT screen for that effect. I was able to make a preset from scratch during soundcheck.
However, I could not make this unit sound good. I tried it all. It really sounds and feels terrible. Sure, given that they are priced at $499, but man!!! It literally made my insides hurt to do an entire gig with this unit. At once point, I was so frustrated I was literally ascending and descending presets during a song to see if maybe I could find something. I found some decent drive sounds, but the clean sounds were horrible. They all sounded like when you crank a narrow Q on an EQ. Just filtered, harsh, and not good.... almost like if I had a Wah pedal half engaged (which I didn't!)
I consider myself pretty good at dialing tones, and the unit was very clear and easy to get around. When I returned it at Guitar Center, the employee asked me why I was returning it, and even said "No one ever returns these units". I told him it really sounded terrible, and he couldn't believe me. He gave me my money back, but was in disbelief of my experience and almost rude. Pretty crazy!!
All that to say, I appreciate FAS and their quality. They really are above. I want to imagine that the Helix is lightyears better than the POD Go, but man.... after that experience, I'm not even curious.
