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So I have been mulling around picking up a Two Notes Captor X for a while. My biggest fears of it are the likely short period of time before the thing becomes unsupported, or it simply gives up the ghost before I get any real use or ROI from it. After receiving it and the seriousness of the process to utilize the software and features, I am a little at ease knowing it is only a year old, so I am a semi-early adaptor, and that the software will still be around for at least a while. I should be able to get my $600 out of it I hope.
The thing is pretty solid and built reasonably well. The knobs feel a little cheap, but you really shouldn't need to mess with them much after you get your sounds dialed in; there is also an app for that... Right off the bat, it is really easy to understand and operate. Within 1 minute, without even reading the quick guide, I was up and running with it. And the first sound I get from the thing..... F-N perfect!!!! Holy hell, it was such a relief to hear something that actually sounded good without fiddling a single knob. I ran through the presets and they all sounded good although some were heavy on the reverb. I am most impressed with the fact that I didn't feel a need to tweak an EQ setting or parameter for the IR's, they all just sounded like a cab that was mic'd.
I played for nearly 30 min before it even dawned on me that I can use my phone to tweak things. Downloaded the app and again within 1 minute I was moving mics, changing cabs, and adjusting reverbs, twin-tracker, and enhancer settings. Super easy. The app is slightly clunky sometimes if you try and ask it to do things too fast, but fast enough and intuitive. It was very hard to find a bad sound from the thing.
I see what people mean when they say the 3 position speaker level control is an on-off switch. The middle position is just about right to knock off enough level to open the amp up and get it working at a reasonable level, the low ( -38db ) position is pretty much off. The reactive load part of the load box side of things is pretty much useless for trying to crank your amp and enjoy the sound from it. The Captor does not sound very good in its low setting through your actual guitar cab. While I didn't mess with it much in the middle ( -20db ) setting, it too changes the sound enough to be noticeable. I would say that the " reactive " circuitry of the box is essentially worthless. If they added some tone control features for it, there may be something there, but as it is, you can only rely on it to cut the volume of your amp so you can use it as in-room monitoring or to take the volume down a bit.
The only true reason to buy this thing is for the purpose of using it as a direct feed to FOH for live sound, or as a silent recording solution. It is leaps and bounds better than whatever Strymon was trying to pull off with their Iridium. Sorry Strymon, I am now selling my Iridium. It was never right and based on how there is little or no talk, updates, or real buzz about it anymore, I see no reason to stay on board. Put it this way, I ran the Strymon Iridium ( with the Cab Sim IR's turned off ) into the Captor X, and the IR's in the Captor just sounded better, I also had effects, EQ, and other things I could play with. BUT and it's a BIG ONE, the Strymon still had its sound, that is just not right.
Ultimately my goal was to create a rig that needed no speaker cab, had enough effects in it to not need fancy ones in an effects loop, and possibly even be used as an IR loader with a small SS mini amp to have an entirely pedal platform setup. The Captor X is good enough to pull that off! My secondary goal was to be able to use it as a recording solution for my tube amps and to test my own amplifier designs through several guitar cabs to assess how it sounds. I feel it will also do that well also.
The two big downsides to the Captor X are the price, and the less than stellar load box. All said and done, after taxes, this thing is $600 new. You can buy a reasonable quality guitar amplifier for that much. You can also buy a Line 6 HX Stomp for that money. The " value-added " things like getting the Wall Of Sound with the captor X are kind of not real selling points. If you buy the Captor X, it's because you NEED a load box so you can go cabless at your gigs. The W.O.S is just something extra you can do if you do your own recording. You cannot run the W.O.S. app while you play a gig. The price tag is a bit hard to swallow for something that most people will use as a headphone device, and something to play with IR's through. Speaking of headphone sound, it is as good as everyone says it is, top-notch. The load box side of the thing is just useless. For me and I think many others, it is either not enough, or too much volume cut and the change of tone is just BAD.
In conclusion, I am happy with my purchase. If you really want to see what your amp sounds like cranked, through just about any imaginable cab there is, this is the tool to get. The effects and other features ( in the remote control app ) are perfect to get you anything you NEED, from a simple recording and live sound aspect. I have not yet played with it yet, but the MIDI control would make many other possibilities come to fruition if you choose to go that way. Hands down, this thing is the BEST IR loader, and direct to FOH or recording devise you can get for the money. It is half the cost of the other main players in the game. So while I feel it is still a bit pricey, at least it isn't the most egregiously priced unit available. The Bozz WAZA Tube Amp Expander is really what I want, but it costs way too much to justify it. So if you are on the fence about a Two Notes Captor X, I say make the jump. IF you know what you need/want, and can live with the downsides of it, I don't think you will find any better.
The thing is pretty solid and built reasonably well. The knobs feel a little cheap, but you really shouldn't need to mess with them much after you get your sounds dialed in; there is also an app for that... Right off the bat, it is really easy to understand and operate. Within 1 minute, without even reading the quick guide, I was up and running with it. And the first sound I get from the thing..... F-N perfect!!!! Holy hell, it was such a relief to hear something that actually sounded good without fiddling a single knob. I ran through the presets and they all sounded good although some were heavy on the reverb. I am most impressed with the fact that I didn't feel a need to tweak an EQ setting or parameter for the IR's, they all just sounded like a cab that was mic'd.
I played for nearly 30 min before it even dawned on me that I can use my phone to tweak things. Downloaded the app and again within 1 minute I was moving mics, changing cabs, and adjusting reverbs, twin-tracker, and enhancer settings. Super easy. The app is slightly clunky sometimes if you try and ask it to do things too fast, but fast enough and intuitive. It was very hard to find a bad sound from the thing.
I see what people mean when they say the 3 position speaker level control is an on-off switch. The middle position is just about right to knock off enough level to open the amp up and get it working at a reasonable level, the low ( -38db ) position is pretty much off. The reactive load part of the load box side of things is pretty much useless for trying to crank your amp and enjoy the sound from it. The Captor does not sound very good in its low setting through your actual guitar cab. While I didn't mess with it much in the middle ( -20db ) setting, it too changes the sound enough to be noticeable. I would say that the " reactive " circuitry of the box is essentially worthless. If they added some tone control features for it, there may be something there, but as it is, you can only rely on it to cut the volume of your amp so you can use it as in-room monitoring or to take the volume down a bit.
The only true reason to buy this thing is for the purpose of using it as a direct feed to FOH for live sound, or as a silent recording solution. It is leaps and bounds better than whatever Strymon was trying to pull off with their Iridium. Sorry Strymon, I am now selling my Iridium. It was never right and based on how there is little or no talk, updates, or real buzz about it anymore, I see no reason to stay on board. Put it this way, I ran the Strymon Iridium ( with the Cab Sim IR's turned off ) into the Captor X, and the IR's in the Captor just sounded better, I also had effects, EQ, and other things I could play with. BUT and it's a BIG ONE, the Strymon still had its sound, that is just not right.
Ultimately my goal was to create a rig that needed no speaker cab, had enough effects in it to not need fancy ones in an effects loop, and possibly even be used as an IR loader with a small SS mini amp to have an entirely pedal platform setup. The Captor X is good enough to pull that off! My secondary goal was to be able to use it as a recording solution for my tube amps and to test my own amplifier designs through several guitar cabs to assess how it sounds. I feel it will also do that well also.
The two big downsides to the Captor X are the price, and the less than stellar load box. All said and done, after taxes, this thing is $600 new. You can buy a reasonable quality guitar amplifier for that much. You can also buy a Line 6 HX Stomp for that money. The " value-added " things like getting the Wall Of Sound with the captor X are kind of not real selling points. If you buy the Captor X, it's because you NEED a load box so you can go cabless at your gigs. The W.O.S is just something extra you can do if you do your own recording. You cannot run the W.O.S. app while you play a gig. The price tag is a bit hard to swallow for something that most people will use as a headphone device, and something to play with IR's through. Speaking of headphone sound, it is as good as everyone says it is, top-notch. The load box side of the thing is just useless. For me and I think many others, it is either not enough, or too much volume cut and the change of tone is just BAD.
In conclusion, I am happy with my purchase. If you really want to see what your amp sounds like cranked, through just about any imaginable cab there is, this is the tool to get. The effects and other features ( in the remote control app ) are perfect to get you anything you NEED, from a simple recording and live sound aspect. I have not yet played with it yet, but the MIDI control would make many other possibilities come to fruition if you choose to go that way. Hands down, this thing is the BEST IR loader, and direct to FOH or recording devise you can get for the money. It is half the cost of the other main players in the game. So while I feel it is still a bit pricey, at least it isn't the most egregiously priced unit available. The Bozz WAZA Tube Amp Expander is really what I want, but it costs way too much to justify it. So if you are on the fence about a Two Notes Captor X, I say make the jump. IF you know what you need/want, and can live with the downsides of it, I don't think you will find any better.
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