Line 6 POD Go vs HeadRush MX-5 - Which Should You Buy?

[@BenRowlandsMusic]

🎸 Line 6 POD Go Ultimate Guide and Headrush MX-5 Ultimate Guide - www.benrowlandsmusic.com/ ✅ USE CODE - 'COMP10' for 10% OFF these Ultimate Guides at Checkout!

[@MrAquatoad]

MX5 owner here. I’ve never used a preset in a live environment. Why? Because it’s so easy to make your own with your own gear, on the fly. You’re not limited at all. If you’re watching That Pedal Show and they’re gushing over a wet dry setup, you can give it a go. As mentioned in a comment below I also use it for my acoustic with a custom IR. Easy. I use it live at church and the scene mode is enough. Sounds are completely adequate and intuitive to work with. Completely recommend! Three things that I don’t love: 1 looper triggers on release not press. I’m learning but bad at it. 2 the tuner is only fair 3 if you use delay a lot you’ll wish for a dedicated tap tempo foot switch. You can make one of the three a tap temp and even offload a switch to the toe switch of the expression. But I’ll admit I’ve looked at midi switches. So far not a big enough issue to pull the trigger. I suspect the pod go is for the person who likes to tweak the modeling under the hood to get a great sound, and the mx5 is for the person who wants to tweak signal chain and only have the controls you’d find on the stomp box or amp, not worry about underlying modeling parameters like sag. I’m the later guy, and I’m happy with the sound and feel.

[@MrAquatoad]

Update: new firmware 2.4 fixed the looper and tuner! Released today.

[@midfieldcrisis]

Great video. Thank you. I use the MX5 for live rock/country music. This is a great unit for a "3 rig guy" - 1) clean fender, 2) dirty Marshall, 3) overdriven Marshall. I have a regular, overdriven and lead scene for each rig and play blistering country and hard rock- I'm in heaven and my back doesn't hurt from dragging my Marshall cords and pedals around anymore. I know several people that have fallen down the rabbit hole of twerking hundreds of tones and rigs, but why? Maybe for studio use? My main complaint about the MX5 is that you don't get that tube interplay between player and amp, resulting natural feedback, and that cleaner sound when you gently roll off your volume at the guitar. But now I carry all my gear in a small suitcase, plug in to the PA and sound 95% as good! The tone of the MX5 in the video sounds more like the actual amp (good or bad).

[@rustymac40]

Agree 100 percent! It's nice being able to simplify your gig setup and still be at 95 percent. My first gig was in 1989 and carrying half stack amps with pedals galore was a nightmare...at least I was younger then so didn't care.

[@davidebenhaezer7152]

Good review 👍👍 yes i agree if you say that all MX5 Preset sucks, but if you built it from scratch you will get a great tone. I've compared Pod Go and MX5, IMHO MX5 still a winner for me. Why dont you also compare MX5 to HX Stomp? Maybe its gonna be fair Comparison. Cheers from Indonesia

[@jorvten360]

The pod go lost every caregory , clean, crunch, higain agains the mx5 on andertons channel. Those guys are trustful and you can hear it 1:1. I have no idea why all these podgo quad cortex fanboys are ignoring it. My mx 5 will arrive tomorrow, could not hold back on a deal 100 euros off new at my dealer here in Germany.

[@johanndaart7326]

Line 6 always had a good headphone out, that supported high impedance monitor headphones. I think POD GO big jack headphone output is its advantage.

[@cmcg5788]

Thanks for the comparison, Ben! I've got the MX-5 and am happy enough with it. It doesn't take up too much real estate, is flexible and easy to tweak. I added a small 4-button midi footswitch controller so that I could activate my most used fx live, much like the pedals on my old pedal board that this has replaced for gigging out. I run my Martin acoustic with a K&K into the MX-5 and then out to my HeadRush LooperBoard and on to my PA. I considered the Line 6 Pod Go, but I wanted the signal chain flexibility of the MX-5 and the smaller size, especially since I use the LooperBoard, which is a beast, plus it was $100 less. Judging purely on sound alone, I much prefer my stand alone stomp boxes (eg. I've yet to hear a digital model of a tremolo that can touch my EHX pulsar :>), but they take up too much space to gig with.

[@isaiahfurrow7414]

Have you tried adding a few analog pedals to the MX5, things that the HR effects just don't approximate well enough...? I'm curious about that as I am fairly new and trying to decide between an MX5, or buying my first couple pedals and something to power them... My current amp doesn't have an FX loop, so I would need to input into the front end of the amp only, and really want to add a looper for practicing stuff...

[@cmcg5788]

Hi, Isaiah. No, I haven't yet, but am still planning on it someday. If you're quite new to the wonderful world of guitar FX, I would suggest maybe buying a few stand alone pedals to find out how each effect is supposed to work. Maybe some sort of dirt pedal, a delay, and maybe a modulation pedal (chorus, phase, flange, tremolo, etc). While I'm sure you could learn your way around a multi-fx, it can still be pretty complex, parameter wise. It's usually a lot easier to tweak a stand alone pedal and see how things interact with each other and come up with a sound you like. Just my $.02 Good luck!@@isaiahfurrow7414

[@KKMDStyle]

I like your comparison videos very much. Always comprehensive.

[@BenRowlandsMusic]

Thanks Michael!

[@ChrisDeJuanMusic]

Great comparison video Ben, very helpful! I currently use the PodGo as the centre piece of my pedal board and am very happy with it! I use the stereo effects loop to hook up all my other pedals. The fact that it has an Amp Out jack is very useful on stage, allowing to send a none-emulated mono signal to a stage amp whiles simultaneously sending an emulated signal via the main outputs to the front of house PA. The only thing I miss on the Podgo, which the MX5 does have, is a dedicated Aux, in which is very handy to run backing tracks for example. I also believe the looper in the MX5 is superior, allowing you to store loops. Anyway, for the price, I'm thinking of getting a MX5 too, and hooking up to the PodGo through the stereo effects loop... either that or just saving up for the Helix! Maybe wait until a new version of the Helix with a touch screen comes out!? That would be the bomb! :) Thanks again

[@blastofo]

Outstanding comparison! Concise yet has all the important info.

[@limitededition1053]

Pod Go all the way. It has much easier functionality for on stage with stomp mode etc and sounds great. Touch screens are not such a great idea for these devices as they can be fiddly and unreliable. Give me tactile knobs any day.

[@MegaAndyGG]

But what about home use and studio??

[@limitededition1053]

@@MegaAndyGG They are both great for home and studio as you have plenty of time to set up what you need and don't need to use your feet to quickly add chorus or overdrive like on stage.

[@TipsOnTheFly]

the lack of footswitch expansion is kind of offset by the midi capability, you can add a midi controller like the FCB1010 giving you technically the same functionality as headrush's big sister, the pedalboard. I loved the comparison and It was hard for me to choose between the two, but I ended up deciding on the mx5. :)

[@MattyVicious1]

You still using it?

[@kalanterry7508]

Who actually uses the presets for any amp modeler

[@notstask]

do you think the pod go wireless is worth it just for home use? Or should I get the mx5

[@matthewearl9824]

You don't even mention that the reason there's such a big price difference is that the processor on the headrush is way superior over the Pod. It is actually near the quad cortex

[@b1ch0f30]

Thanks so much! I appreciate!.

[@Beemn633]

I have the opp to trade my PodGo for the MX-5. I like the idea of touch screen, but then will be giving up the PodGo software…it’s nice to plug in and adjust all parameters on the Mac - I don’t see the MX-5 having similar software. But, I play bass, so I’m not going crazy on FX chain. I do like the smaller form factor and I have 2 FRFR 108s, so keeping it in the family may be nice…and the PodGo will go to others used to Line 6 line. I’d use Aux for practicing too. Great info - thanks!

[@RickyMontijo]

Wow, chopped off the hair! Looking sharp bro👍

[@BenRowlandsMusic]

Thanks Ricky!

[@AngelMartinez-qs3cf]

What do you think of the Headrush Prime?

[@adonis_daily1]

Hey Ben are you excited for the RC 600? Can’t wait myself!

[@dreamimagination3893]

I hv line 6 pod go and am very happy amezing sound quality

[@judahbernstein7056]

Promo code not working

[@sheerheartattack6701]

I have the PG and a PGW Super happy with both. Thank you for the comparison

[@ryant3600]

Who really uses presets that come with any of these? I've never heard any that are spot on are great.. They're more of a template to get started building rigs with.

[@elb64x2]

GAP?

[@LoLenthusiastsince2012]

Hi! what is your say about the new boss rc-600?

[@ivanbalashov468]

Idk, it's a super easy choice for me due to touchscreen, which is an instant put off.

[@starluxstudio619]

The touchscreen seems pretty bad ass to me. Works great!

[@williambebeau1506]

Before I even get all the way through the video lemme' quick just say, that new haircut be lookin' seriously fresh on you, my guy! Looks great! ^_^ ... alright, back to the video now. Haha! XD

[@BenRowlandsMusic]

Haha thanks William! Been enjoying the new style! Hope you like the video more to come, I’m back for 2022!

[@94SexyStang]

I just hate Line 6....I've had bad experiences with them in the past!

[@reyad5410]

can any of these be an alternative of acoustic guitar pedalboard ?

[@MrAquatoad]

Yes. I use the mx5 with my acoustic and electric. Specifically the acoustic is a small body with a baggs lyric pickup. I’ve loaded in an acoustic IR to take out some of the boxiness (it was stupid easy) plus some eq and compression. Has really improved my live sound.

[@pacomacman]

You cannot simply buy the wireless adapter separately. How do you charge it? The POD Go standard doesn’t have a built in receiver.

[@starluxstudio619]

If the receiver you buy is rechargeable you can definitely recharge it 😉

[@toliskoskinas]

Wait, wait. You “don’t have instant access because of the touch screen (MX5) vs the knobs on the Pod” ? You actually compare an (even slow responding -taking your word for it) touch screen with a pot ? Oh man, Steve Jobs would literally have a word on your opinion 😂😂😂😂

[@-_AjB_-]

How come you've gone from posting 2 vids a week to one a month?

[@williambebeau1506]

Man actually runs a secondary channel of him reviewing other various types of tech outside of the realm of just strictly music gear. It's no question that Ben clearly has some pretty good production values when it comes to video editing, just imagine trying to tackle that amount of work for two channels.

[@BenRowlandsMusic]

Thanks William! Yeah I’ve been busy with the Tech Channel. And there hasn’t been enough new music products to make videos on. Still waiting for the BOSS RC-600 and RC-505mkii to arrive on store shelves!

[@jamessmithurst6011]

I wouldn't buy either! I'd buy the Valeton GP-200 or the Hotone Ampero.😄

[@notstask]

get the mx5, its a lot better than the ampero

[@wonderz_808]

@@notstask why?

[@felixsuarez3940]

Yea why😮😮

[@ahighervibe4086]

GLASSES!

[@jamesstrong8309]

I keep hearing people say Mx5 sounds and reacts better I guess I must have gotten a bad one because my Pod Go blows it away, it sounds way more open and real to me maybe I am missing something but I have not been impressed with the MX5 at all.

[@Amiga1200_Juicer]

BOSS

[@ziborkazo563]

Bravo