Two notes Captor input

[danpb]

Hi Captor owners!

I've been looking at the two notes captor as a way to add cab sim to my amp's DI. 

 

Looking at the manual it looks like the input just takes speaker level signal for the captor to then pass through to the cab. Will the input work with line level from the line out of my Orange OB1-500?

The amp is obviously higher wattage than the captor will take plus I use a variety of ohmage cabs depending on the venue/ which band is providing so I'm hoping I can hook up to my cab as usual and just use the line out for the captor.

 

 

[BigRedX]

First off I take it you have read this article on the two Notes web site?

 

Pretty much every device designed to go between amplifiers and speakers has been made with guitarists using relatively low-powered amps in mind (generally 100W max) and the captor is no exception. Remember that for bass guitar the amp power required is not all about overall volume but also the reproduction of significantly lower frequencies than the typical guitar produces, so you might need to turn down even more to avoid damaging the circuitry. Line level will not be sufficient to drive this device. The whole point of it is to process and attenuate speaker level signals.

 

I've not owned a Captor, but I used to have a Marshall PowerBreak in conjunction with a 50W all-valve guitar combo. The PowerBreak also features fan cooling, but has a significantly larger fan than the Captor. I would run the power stage of this amp at about three quarters maximum (this was an acceptable compromise between hearing the power amp valves working and not wearing them out too quickly) and many of the guitar sounds I used would cause the fan to go into overdrive. Using the PowerBreak to set the speaker volume to home practice levels, the fan noise was often audible over the sound of the guitar and the draft of air produced could easily be felt if I was standing in its path. Remember that this fan is driven entirely by the current produced by the speaker outputs of the amplifier (no external PSU required). At gigs after a 50 minute set the PowerBreak would often be close on being too hot to touch and would need to be given time cool down before it was safe to pack away. That's using it with a amp of half the recommended maximum power (and one tenth of the power of the amp you want to use it with)...

 

Finally as a device designed for guitarists are there suitable bass cab sims available for this unit? Or are you after the sound of your bass going through a virtual guitar cab?

[danpb]

They have a bass cab sims included.

 

I had seen that article and knew the bass amp would be too high wattage to use in the conventional method, but wondered if line level from the line out would be strong enough for the Captor to process, which you've answered.

 

Thanks for the help.

[Phil Starr]

The Captor is a specialist thing with one trick, it reduces the output of a valve amp so you can run the amp into distortion without deafening everyone. This is really designed for the recording studio so you get your stage sound without stage volumes. This one has an extra 20db attenuation output which reduces the signal 100 times down to roughly line level.

 

The cab emulation sims are plug ins for your computer based recording. If that’s what you want there are loads available without any need for an expensive attenuator.

[BassmanPaul]

On 31/05/2022 at 09:14, danpb said:

The amp is obviously higher wattage than the captor will take plus I use a variety of ohmage cabs depending on the venue/ which band is providing so I'm hoping I can hook up to my cab as usual and just use the line out for the captor.

 

 

Just for the purpose of education: there is no such word as omage unless you stick an H in front of it.

 

The correct term is Impedance.