The POD Go gives you a lot on day one, but almost none of it is labelled in a way that tells you what it does. This is the walkthrough I'd give any new owner: the two display views, the footswitch modes (including the hidden ones), how to rebuild a preset, and how to save it somewhere you won't regret.
Understand the two display views
There are two main views you'll spend nearly all your time in — play view and edit view — and you move between them with the View button. Once you're in a view, the upper and lower knobs do the work of moving through parameters and effects blocks. Get comfortable with that one button first, because everything else in this guide hangs off it.
Start in stomp mode
Play view gives you an overview of your current footswitch mode. Out of the box that's stomp mode, which behaves like a traditional pedalboard — each assigned footswitch turns an effects block on or off. If you've come from a real board of individual pedals, this is the mode that will feel like home.
Switch to preset mode for banks
The Mode footswitch changes what the pedals do, and the first place it takes you is preset mode. The LCD updates to reflect the change, so you're never guessing. In preset mode, switches A, B, C and D select the four variations within your current bank, and the up and down arrows bank up and down through the preset banks. Pick your bank, then pick your letter.
Step through presets one at a time
Banking in fours is fine at home and awkward on stage. Press and hold the two arrow footswitches simultaneously and the up and down switches stop moving in banks and start moving through individual presets instead — one press, one preset. It's the same two switches doing a completely different job.
Find the hidden snapshot mode
There are footswitch modes the panel doesn't advertise. A quick press and hold of the two footswitches, then release, drops you into snapshot mode, which gives you access to different variations of the preset you already have loaded. To get back out, quick-press the same two switches.
Build the hybrid workflow
This is my favourite bit of the whole layout. With a long press of the up and down arrows you change what they do — one press takes them from banks to individual presets, and doing it once more sets them to move through the snapshots of the current preset, shown in the top corner of the display. You keep the ability to change preset number at the same time. That's a hybrid workflow, and it means you never have to duck into snapshot mode and back out again mid-song.
Tip: Decide before a gig whether your arrows are banking, stepping presets, or moving snapshots. Practise reaching for them without looking — the display tells you which mode you're in, but only if you have time to read it.
Know which blocks you can actually change
The POD Go is noticeably more restrictive than the Helix and HX Stomp line when it comes to building an effects chain. You get 10 blocks in total, but only four of them are completely customisable. The rest are fixed in purpose. The EQ at the end of the signal chain is a good example — click the lower knob in and you can choose between different EQ types such as a 10 band EQ, a tilt, a low or high shelf, or a simple EQ, and that's the extent of it. The amplifier is the same story: you can change which amp is selected, but not the category of the block itself.
Change a block's category and model
For the four fully customisable blocks, head into edit view and click the lower knob to change the pedal's category. Then the upper knob lets you turn what was a dynamics pedal into a delay, a reverb, or a modulation — a completely different type of effect in the same slot. Once the category is set, use the lower knob again to select the specific model within it.
Rearrange your effects chain
Select the block you want to move and press Action. That picks it up, and you can then place it anywhere you like in the signal path. Press Action again to drop it. Two presses, and your chain order is whatever you want it to be.
Dial in the parameters
With a block placed and selected, knobs 1 through 5 give you its parameters. Every block and the amp have their own corresponding set, so the knobs change meaning as you move around the chain. If a block is complex enough to have more settings than five knobs can hold, the next page and previous page buttons get you to the rest.
Bypass a block without a footswitch
The upper knob turns the selected effects block on or bypasses it entirely. Worth knowing: if that block is mapped to a footswitch, you'll see the footswitch respond to the change as you do it. It's a quick way to confirm your mapping is what you think it is.
Save to the user set list, not the factory one
Click the upper knob in and you'll see two preset lists. There are 128 factory presets, and a further 128 user presets which are all completely blank. The user list is the safest place to keep your work.
To save, press View and Action simultaneously. The dialog that appears lets you rename the preset — the upper knob moves between characters and knob 4 changes the character being written, with the options for cancelling and deleting characters on the lower shelf. The part that matters most is the destination. It defaults to the user set list. You can point it at the factory set list and overwrite the factory presets, but if you're building your own set list of your own songs, leave it on user, hit Save, and your work stays yours.