Review of the TC Helicon GO Guitar Interface.
What is the TC Helicon GO Guitar?
The TC Helicon GO Guitar is a portable interface for connecting your electric, electro-acoustic, or bass guitar to mobile devices.
Or, in other words, it’s an Ik Multimedia iRig 2 clone for half the price!
Why do you need the TC Helicon GO Guitar?
To record guitar, or in some cases to interface with software modeling for live use.
In my case, I’d moved over to an iPad and Garageband after many years of PC based software and USB interfaces. The TC Helicon GO guitar provides the simplest of interfaces to your guitar.
How does it work?
Many modern devices, including the iPad, iPhone and Android models feature what’s called a TRRS jack, which is a 3.5mm connection that replaces the old-style 3.5mm TRS headphone jacks.
So what’s so special about that? Well, TRRS jacks are bi-directional, meaning it works for both outgoing signals (headphones), incoming signals (a mic), or get this, both at the same time!
The TC Helicon GO Guitar utilises this connection to send your guitar signal to the device, which is then processed by your guitar amp modeling software (in this case the Garageband Guitar Amp) and then send back through the TRRS jack again, back to the GO guitar and out through the GO Guitar’s headphone jack, allowing you to hear what you’ve just played.
Clever eh?
Does the TC Helicon GO Guitar have latency?
Latency is the delay between playing a note and hearing it played back through the device and its software, which has been the bane of my music production journey so far.
Latency ruins your timing, you flow, and eventually your concentration and will to continue with a particular setup. After years of experimenting, I discovered the BOSS BR-800 which featured all the amp modeling in a self-contained unit, hence next to no latency.
But time and technology move on, and with the iPad, I have some pretty serious processing power, and as the Go Guitar is a simple mechanical connection, with no processing of its own to worry about, there’s very little to slow it down.
End result? Yes, there’s some latency (as there will be with any digital/audio interface), but it’s manageable, needing just a few takes to adapt to it, and that’s pretty amazing when I’ve effectively downscaled from a PC and a self-powered USB device with all the cabling that entailed.
Sound Quality
One criticism of TRRS-style guitar audio interfaces is that they’re noisy. In practice, that depends on the software you’re using.
I used the GO guitar with Garageband, IK Multimedia AmpliTube, and Positive Grid Bias FX 2.
Only Bias FX 2 induced any noise, which admittedly made it unusable on the mid to high gained models due to the howling and unmusical feedback.
The sound quality was best in AmpliTube, but, well, that gets really expensive really quickly if you want to veer away from anything but the most basic of tones in the free version. It has to be said AmpliTube also produced the least latency, somehow (clever software no doubt).
So, in the end, I settled with Garagebands own guitar amp modelling. It just felt like less hassle and the range of sounds were impressive.
For an example, Check out the lead guitar on my own song ‘When You’re in Love’:
TRRS vs USB Audio Interfaces
In my current setup, I have 2 separate TRRS devices. The GO Guitar for guitar (obviously), and the RODE Videomic Me for vocals / acoustic guitar.
There’s another connection method of course, which in my case would be using the lightning port with USB or lightning compatible devices such as Focusrite’s Scarlett range or the iTrack.
This is both the more expensive and the most inconvenient route. The TRRS devices don’t need power, so I can use the record iPad anywhere, whilst the USB/Lightning devices need a power source so you’re tied to an electricity point (or a battery), plus there’s more wires!
However, for optimal tone and lower latency, the USB method is said to be the preferred choice as the A/D (Audio Digital) conversion is handled in the interface, freeing up the host device’s resources.
For me personally, I prefer having one separate plug and play, un-powered device for each application, plugged straight into the TRRS jack. It’s simple, direct, quick and I’m mobile with a lot less equipment.
…. and the sound quality and latency is fine.
As an experiment to see if the latency would ever be an issue, I hooked up my bass into the bass amp sim and laid down a quick(ish) backing track. No problems at all in keeping time.
Issues with the TC Helicon GO Guitar
It’s hard to fault, especially for £20, but I’ll try anyway!
I could have done with a longer connection lead. When using it with my iPad on its stand, the short lead gives you fewer options on where to place it, and it moves around a lot when used in anger with everything attached.
There’s an FX-THRU switch and amp jack which allow you to send your guitar signal, effected or dry, direct to your amp. This is a great idea if you have a clean amp and want to use software modeling to provide your tones. There’s also a belt clip if you’re brave enough to attempt this setup live (I’m not).
For me, I’ve no need for these features so would prefer not to have them.
Lastly, the thumb-wheel style gain control is rather primitive. If it’s not at zero or ten, it’s impossible to set up consistently as you never know where you are and every recording setting required you to set up the gain from scratch to get the cleanest, loudest signal. Very tedious.
Still, for £20 who can complain, especially about the additional features?
Conclusion
The TC Helicon GO guitar interface is a no-brainer for those wanting to produce music on an iPad, iPhone or any TRRS equipped device with their electric/electro-acoustic guitar or bass.
Sure, you may get a slightly more latent and nosier tone, but for £20 you may as well see if it’ll work for your songwriting and musical production endeavors. I know it definitely has for me.
Get one today, you won’t regret it!
