Electro-Harmonix's POG III massively expands its capabilities, and levels up to full Multi-FX Workstation territory

Electro-Harmonix often does superb introductory demos for its new pedals, and I must admit I was totally blown away by the vast Multi-FX territory covered by this launch. This POG III takes the Polyphonic Octave Generator circuit into entirely new territory - and has you covered for all kinds of other advanced effects.

Watching the demo, the following key territories are touched on :

• Slow Polyphonic Attack - backwards octave blend, somewhat Attack Decay -like
• 12 String sound with Chorus
• Drop Tune - raise or lower output note over two octaves, e.g. Drop ’B’
• Cathedral Organ Sound with Lowpass filter engaged
• Jazzy Leslie Rotary / Tone Wheel output with help from the EHX Lester
• Auto Lowpass Filter Sweep - further controlled with Expression pedal for Tom Morello style effects
• Doomy Synthy Bass sounds via Freeze+Gliss EXP mode and Lowpass filtering
• Pedal Steel Effects by using Expression pedal to subtly shift pitch
• Cello-like voicing - akin to Attack Decay - using a slow Attack setting
• Expression filter sweep control
• Q-Tron Bass Effect via Lowpass Filter
• Freeze Effects with selective interval Freeze but the remainder fully dynamic
• 8-String Bass Effect
• David Gilmour-like frozen pads
• Using Warp Mode and Expression to toggle between two Intervals
• Amazing Freeze+Volume Ambient Effect into Hall Reverb

I would imagine Tom Morello and David Gilmour would love this new POG III as there is so much of their core sounds covered here. This really is a Rage Against the Machine box in so many ways!

You have 6 fantastic EXP Expression Modes too - Volume, Crossfade, Warp, Filter, Freeze+Gliss, and Freeze+Volume, alongside those filters, attack, detune, and pitch bends - you can truly generate an incredible range of tones and effects here - and store them across 100 Presets.

I am so impressed with this pedal’s capabilities - while it is a large pedal - which will bump as many as 4 other pedals off your board, it is pricey too at $645 (£649 in the UK), and is only alas Mono in, but with multiple output channels. So however much I like this pedal, I’m not sure exactly how I would accommodate this within my current rig. I am tempted for sure, and I may figure something out longer-term - as this pedal covers you for so many avenues - Interval Polyphony obviously, but with various pitch shifting, bending, warping, attack, and freeze effects. For sure a powerhouse workstation - but not without some reservations. I would probably need a slightly slimmed down 1590BB variant - with a more clever control topology to fit into the smaller space - and full Stereo Ins and Outs of course!

You can read up more about the POG III on the EHX Website - including the POG III Manual.

Controls : Left Output, Right Output, Direct Output, Expression, 128 x 32 OLED Graphic Display, Menu Rotary Encoder, Master Volume, Input Gain, 6 x Voices - each with L/R Pan Control : Dry, -2 OCT, -1 OCT, +5TH, +1 OCT, +2 OCT, Focus, Q, Envelope, Spread, Attack, Filter, Detune, Dry Switch per Attack / Filter / Detune, Preset Down Footswitch, Preset Up Footswitch, Effect Footswitch.

Rear Ports : 9V DC [-] 500mA In, USB-C, MIDI In & Out, Mono Input, Direct Out, Left Out, Right Out, EXP / CV In.