There are few who make better multi-effects pedals the Line 6.
Players the world over have been using their Pod and Helix models for years now, either as an addition to their analog setup or as a fully digital mobile rig.
As a result, several submodels have popped up in the Line 6 product range, and they’re pretty damn impressive.
Two of which are the Pod Go and the HX Stomp, which, though fairly different in appearance, overlap in more ways than one.
We’re going to go beneath the surface and find out what really is the difference between these two units.
Which One Are YOU Leaning Towards?
Here’s what we’ll cover in this Line 6 Pod Go vs Line 6 HX Stomp comparison:
- Design and functionality
- Amp sounds
- Effects
- DSP capabilities
- Inputs and outputs
- Versatility
- Portability
- Price & Value For Money
- Pros & Cons
Ready? Let’s get started…
Table of Contents
Main Differences: Line 6 Pod Go and Line 6 HX Stomp
The main differences between Line 6 Pod Go and Line 6 HX Stomp are:
- The Pod Go has 8 footswitches and an expression pedal. The HX Stomp has only 3 switches.
- The Stomp is a much more compact unit.
- The Stomp has a faster DSP chip.
- The Go is better built for live performances.
- The Stomp has stereo inputs, the Go only has one mono input. The Stomp also has MIDI I/O.
- The Stomp has superior editing and routing functionality.
So when it comes down to Line 6 Pod Go vs Line 6 HX Stomp, which one should you choose? Here’s a quick overview:
- Go for Line 6 Pod Go if you’re looking for an affordable all-in-one solution with some of the best amp sounds on the market, an impressive bank of presets, and the ability to manipulate effects parameters on the fly during a live performance.
- Go for Line 6 HX Stomp if you want to access those same amp sounds, but are more interested in creating complex routing and rig setups than you are in being able to access all parameters in the live context. Also, get it if you want to integrate the Stomp into your MIDI setup.
1. Design and functionality: Line 6 Pod Go vs Line 6 HX Stomp
Design and functionality: Line 6 Pod Go
The Line 6 Pod Go is designed to be an all-in-one amp and effects unit. Basically, you can craft a huge number of presets (256, in fact), using different amp, cab, and effects modules.
More than this, the Pod Go is built to be your entire pedalboard as well. It offers 8 different footswitches for switching channels or engaging various effects, as well as a tactile expression pedal and several knobs and buttons for editing parameters.
It borrows much of the tones and tech from the Helix range, but sort of ‘dumbs it down’, to bring the experience to the budget-end of the market (the Helix floorboard is about 3x as expensive).
Design and functionality: Line 6 HX Stomp
The Line 6 HX Stomp takes a similar approach in that it is also an all-in-one unit. But here’s where it differs:
While the HX Stomp retains all of the incredible routing and programming features that the big boy Helix does, it doesn’t keep the footprint.
That is, the HX Stomp is just three footswitches and a few knobs, and amounts to not much larger than a typical effects pedal.
As such, it has a tonne more functionality as far as editing and constructing patches goes, but is more limited in its physical attributes.
Design and functionality: Bottom Line
This one’s a tie. Do you intense editing and routing capabilities, or better live performance functionality? That’s essentially what this comes down to.
Design and functionality Winner: Tie
2. Amp sounds: Line 6 Pod Go vs Line 6 HX Stomp
Amp sounds: Line 6 Pod Go
The Line 6 Pod Go has some pretty insane amp modeling capabilities.
You get more than 80 guitar and bass amp models (from the likes of Fender, Marshall, Vox, and Peavey), 39 cabinets, and 16 different mics to choose from.
It’s safe to say that these amps sound incredibly realistic, such that you can easily use the direct outputs of the Pod Go without a traditional amp and go nuts.
Amp sounds: Line 6 HX Stomp
The HX Stomp has all of the same stuff. All the same amp models, all of the same cab models, and all of the same mics and positions.
The only difference is that you’ve got a lot more room to edit the modules and routing, but as far as the sound goes, these two pedals are identical.
Amp sounds: Bottom Line
The tones available on each don’t differ, it’s simply a matter of functionality. So, another tie.
Amp sounds Winner: Tie
3. Effects: Line 6 Pod Go vs Line 6 HX Stomp
Effects Types
Both pedals offer more than 200+ effects, including 150 from the Helix range, and 77 Legacy effects patches.
You’ll have access to effects patches such as:
- Tremolo
- Flanger
- Reverb
- Chorus
- Delay
- Filter/Wah
- Harmonizer
Simultaneous Effects
With the Line6 HX Stomp, you can plugin and use up to 8 effects patches simultaneously.
The Pod Go allows for 10, but 6 of them are fixed effects, with only 4 slots able to be changed out for different effects types.
Effects: Bottom Line
The HX Stomp wins here, as although it offers fewer simultaneous effects, all 8 are fully customizable. This is a better value prop, considering most players won’t use signal chains with more than 8 effects in them anyway!
Effects Winner: Line 6 HX Stomp
4. DSP capabilities: Line 6 Pod Go vs Line 6 HX Stomp
DSP capabilities: Line 6 Pod Go
The Line 6 Pod Go uses a 400MHz SHARC DSP processor for processing your digital tones.
We won’t go into too much detail on the tech specs here. All you need to know is that faster = better.
DSP capabilities: Line 6 HX Stomp
The HX Stomp, being a slightly more upmarket unit, employs a 450MHz SHARC DSP Processor.
That’s just over 11% faster than the processor used in the Pod Go.
DSP capabilities: Bottom Line
In short, the HX Stomp has the better DSP processor, ensuring fewer calculation mistakes and affording you a few more routing and editing capabilities.
DSP capabilities Winner: Line 6 HX Stomp
5. Inputs and outputs: Line 6 Pod Go vs Line 6 HX Stomp
Inputs and outputs: Line 6 Pod Go
On the Line 6 Pod Go, you get one guitar input, and two outputs, allowing you to take advantage of its stereo effects by sending the output to two different amps.
You also get effects send and return jacks, a ¼” headphone output, and expression pedal input, and a USB port which allows for 4-in and 4-out.
Inputs and outputs: Line 6 HX Stomp
The I/O on the HX Stomp is similar but improves upon the Pod Go’s offering in a few ways.
Firstly, it has two guitar inputs, allowing you to connect a stereo source. That means you can use the HX Stomp for synths and keyboards, or in the effects loop of a stereo amp setup.
It has dedicated MIDI ports (In and Out/Thru) that allow you to connect and control MIDI devices, and a better I/O setup on the USB port (8 in, 6 out).
Inputs and outputs: Bottom Line
The Line 6 HX Stomp, with its stereo inputs and analog MIDI ports, wins this round.
Inputs and outputs Winner: Line 6 HX Stomp
Which One Are YOU Leaning Towards?
6. Versatility: Line 6 Pod Go vs Line 6 HX Stomp
Versatility: Line 6 Pod Go
Let’s start by saying that the Pod Go is incredibly versatile.
You can create up to 256 presets, each with up to 10 different modules (though 6 of them are fixed in type), and you can even connect your other pedals via the effects loop.
The expression pedal is pretty awesome too, which can control virtually and parameter for some seriously wild effects.
Versatility: Line 6 HX Stomp
The HX Stomp is, though, a more versatile unit.
Though it has half of the presets available and 8 modules total, you can put whatever you want in any of those modules, and you can combine amp and cab into one module to free up an additional one (you can’t do that on the Pod Go).
It doesn’t have a built-in expression pedal, but it does have an input for one, and the thing it has over the Pod Go is that one of the modules isn’t automatically taken up with the expression pedal. It’s not like you’re going to use that on every patch, are you…
The HX Stomp also has some more complex routing involved, allowing you to do things like parallel processing.
Versatility: Bottom Line
If pure versatility and flexibility is what you desire, then it’s the HX Stomp with which you must go.
Versatility Winner: Line 6 HX Stomp
7. Portability: Line 6 Pod Go vs Line 6 HX Stomp
Portability: Line 6 Pod Go
The Pod Go is no small piece of gear.
It’s a floor pedalboard through and through, and it’s more or less designed to be your entire rig.
Compared to the HX Stomp, it’s a lot bigger. Like, 4x bigger.
However, it’s actually incredibly lightweight at 5.2 lbs, with its longest dimension measuring just over 14 inches.
So, with the separately sold bag, this would be an incredibly portable rig.
Portability: Line 6 HX Stomp
The HX Stomp is a whole lot more compact, weighing just 1.75 lbs and taking up less than ¼ of the floor space as the Pod Go.
So, it’s obviously a lot more portable.
That said, you might want to add an expression or MIDI controller to this for live use, to make things a little more user-friendly. That’s inevitably going to make things a wee bit less portable.
Portability: Bottom Line
All things said, the HX Stomp is a much more portable device.
Portability Winner: Line 6 HX Stomp
8. Price & Value For Money: Line 6 Pod Go vs Line 6 HX Stomp
Price & Value For Money: Line 6 Pod Go
You’ll pay around $500 for the Line 6 Pod Go, which is just insanely affordable considering the quality of the unit.
You get pretty much all of the same amp tones and effects units as the Helix boards (bar a few modules, and some obvious functionality differences), for less than ⅓ of the price.
Value for money has never been more true than with the Pod Go.
Price & Value For Money: Line 6 HX Stomp
The HX Stomp is slightly more expensive, coming in at $600.
It misses out on quite a few features that will cost you extra to implement as well, such as the number of footswitches and the expression pedal.
Price & Value For Money: Bottom Line
The HX Stomp is a more capable pedal as far as software functionality goes, but where value for money is concerned, the Pod Go does a better job, as it doesn’t require additional controllers to really take advantage of its live performance capabilities.
Price & Value For Money Winner: Line 6 Pod Go
9. Pros & Cons: Line 6 Pod Go vs Line 6 HX Stomp
Line 6 Pod Go Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Excellent selection of amp sounds and effects
- Elegant and user-friendly layout
- Expression pedal built-in
Cons:
- Only mono input
- No MIDI connectivity
Line 6 HX Stomp Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Strong DSP processing
- MIDI ports
- Stereo inputs
Cons:
- Only 3 switches and a few buttons for editing. Means lot’s of menu-scrolling
Conclusion & Takeaway
To summarize our findings in this Line 6 Pod Go vs Line 6 HX Stomp comparison, here are the winners for each category:
- Design and functionality – Tie
- Amp sounds – Tie
- Effects – Line 6 HX Stomp
- DSP capabilities – Line 6 HX Stomp
- Inputs and outputs – Line 6 HX Stomp
- Versatility – Line 6 HX Stomp
- Portability – Line 6 HX Stomp
- Price & Value For Money – Line 6 Pod Go
Overall: Line 6 HX Stomp
Though these two pedals offer very similar tech specs and sound much the same, they are definitely designed to appeal to different audiences.
The Pod Go is purpose-built for live performers who need a huge selection of presets and access to all of their parameters with ease.
The HX Stomp, on the other hand, doesn’t have the same performance capabilities, but it’s a stronger pedal as far as editing and routing capabilities go, and it has a superior processor.
Which One Are YOU Leaning Towards?
Here’s the thing:
With a few extra pedals, you can make the Stomp do all of the things the Go can do as far as live performances go.
For that reason, the Line 6 HX Stomp is the winner here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbKscuxIBEQ
Products Comparison Table:
Spec / Feature | Line 6 Pod Go | Line 6 HX Stomp |
Pedal Type: | Multi-FX Pedalboard | Multi-FX with USB Interface |
Analog/Digital: | Digital | Digital |
Presets: | 256 (2 setlists with 32 banks x 4 presets) | 126 (42 banks x 3 presets), 3 Snapshots per preset |
Number of Effects: | 200+ effects (Helix & Legacy combined), Up to 10 simultaneous FX (6 fixed, 4 flexible) | 200+ (Helix & Legacy combined), up to 8 simultaneous FX |
Effects Types: | Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz, Tremolo, Flanger, Chorus, Vibrato, Rotary, Phaser, Delay, Reverb, Modulator, Filter/Wah, Harmonizer | 150 Helix, 77 Legacy |
Amp Modeling: | 80+ Guitar/Bass Amps, 39 Cabinets, 16 Mic Models | 80+ Amps, 40+ Cabinets |
Impulse Response: | Custom/3rd Party IR Support, Store up to 128 IRs | IR support |
Looper: | 40 seconds (mono), 20 seconds (stereo) ; 6-switch Looper, 1-switch Looper, Shuffling Looper | 60 seconds (mono), 30 seconds (stereo) ; 1-switch Looper, Shuffling Looper |
Inputs: | 1 x 1/4″ (instrument), 1 x 1/4″ (FX return/aux stereo) | 2 x 1/4″ (L/mono,R), 2 x 1/4″ (L/R, aux in) |
Outputs: | 2 x 1/4″ (L/mono,R), 1 x 1/4″ (amp out), 1 x 1/4″ (FX send stereo) | 2 x 1/4″ (L/mono,R), 1 x 1/4″ (stereo send) |
MIDI I/O: | USB | In, Out/Thru |
USB: | 1 x Type B (4 x 4 including monitor channels) | 1 x Type B (8 x 6) |
Headphones: | 1 x 1/4″ | 1 x 1/4″ |
Other I/O: | 1 x 1/4″ TRS (expression 2) | 1 x 1/4″ TRS (expression/footswitch) |
Bypass Switching: | Undisclosed | Switchable: Analog, DSP |
Expression Control: | Built-in Pedal | No |
Processor: | 400MHz SHARC DSP processor | 450MHz SHARC DSP Processor |
Software: | POD Go Edit App | HX Editor (librarian, IR loader) |
Compatibility: | Windows, Mac OS | Windows, Mac OS |
Power Source: | 9V DC power supply (included) | 9V DC power supply (included) |
Height: | 3.46″ | 2.6″ |
Width: | 14.1″ | 7.01″ |
Depth: | 9″ | 4.96″ |
Weight: | 5.2 lbs. | 1.75 lbs. |
