NGD: Two Notes Captor

[Drew]

Impulse purchase, Chris was getting rid of one for the bypassable version, and while I like my Mark V well enough without an attenuator, it's kind of necessary for my Roadster, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Honestly, first impression is I like the Mark V unattenuated, more than attenuated. The whole thing sounds thrashier, and I like my Marks dark and smooth. I'll have to give it a try with the Roadster though, which actually NEEDS some attenuation to sound right, and of course I need to see how it sounds in a mix too.

[Chris]

Adding thrash is always a good thing!

[Chris]

btw check out how handsome Drew is these days.

[Dominic]

WTB: A Kiwi MM.org member, we got anyone?

WTB: Said member saying "Wow, Chris had Drew on his deck!"

[Drew]

Those are my riding glasses, which look a little "I'm not racist, but..." in any other context. Also, that guitar kicked ass.

Tweaking amp settings helps but I think I still prefer the V unattenuated. Definitely sounds nice on my Roadster though.

[pjr]

Maybe you like it better unattenuated because that Captor is clearly meant for a SLO and not a Mark Sick label...guess that's Chris's handiwork.

[Dominic]

Those are my riding glasses, which look a little "I'm not racist, but..." in any other context.

Drew What are they, they look pretty sweet? Because of my early MTB addiction, I grew up craving Oakleys, especially M Frames. On my second set of Square Wires now.

[JJ Rodriguez]

That pic of Drew makes me moist with desire.

[jacksonplayer]

That pic of Drew makes me moist with desire.

Sorry, I think he's taken, based on his FB feed.

[Drew]

Drew What are they, they look pretty sweet? Because of my early MTB addiction, I grew up craving Oakleys, especially M Frames. On my second set of Square Wires now.

They're a pair of Roka TL series prescription lenses - I have a similar set of their more traditional looking Bartons as well, black frames with the same color lenses, which are my first ever truly casual pair of sunglasses (I've never bothered because I don't wear contacts) and they're kind of a game changer, to be honest.

My girlfriend would just insist on watching, JJ Rodriguez .

[Chris]

What shampoo do you use? Asking for a friend. Not noodles of course.

[Drew]

What shampoo do you use? Asking for a friend. Not noodles of course.

That was mostly helmewt sweat with a touch of Eau de Prevail II. Normally, some form of Garnier Fructis, though I'm finishing odff some Pantine or other that Ania wanteds to get rid of at the moment. This was pure "I just rolled out of bed and was fucking around on guitar before I realized if I got rolling RIGHT NOW I could make a ride happen, though, so it was all over the fucking place.

I figure I've got at least 2-3 more months before I'm going back to the office so I'm going to see where this ends up.

[Dominic]

Thanks, mebbe I'll try that brand on my oversized noggin next time I need new shades.

[Drew]

Thanks, mebbe I'll try that brand on my oversized noggin next time I need new shades.

Their non-prescription glasses are pretty reasonable for quality performance eyeware, and if you're a Strava user they're constantly doing Strava challenges where if you complete them (they're pretty ewasy) you unlock a code for like $25 or 20% off or something. Fuck, I probably still have a few valid ones, since they're never applicable to prescription orders, if you happen to see something you like.

I have a pair of their prescription non-sunglasses as well - they build them like performance eyewear, so they're the only eyeglasses I've ever worn that stay in place come hell, high water, or sweat. Their lens quality IMO is't quite as good as the Lenscrafters lenses I'd been using previously, or at least it wasn't a year ago - they seem to get dirtier faster, and the nonreflective coating is starting to wear off a little on one of the lenses, I think - but I wear them a ton, and the optics at least are excellent and I've gotten a ton of compliments on them, at least normalized by the currently small number of people I see routinely. I'm pretty sure I'll be ordering a second pair one of these days.

[Drew]

Ok, since I have DI's sitting on hand for that tune I was working on, here's the first part of the main solo, with the Captor pass-thru and at -20db. Not evewn attempting to do a blind comparison, because they're pretty audibly different:

Thru:

https://drewpeterson7.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/captor-thru.mp3

-20db attenuation:

https://drewpeterson7.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/captor-20db-1.mp3

A little bit of EQ on input, but otherwise no post processing here aside from blending the mics (md421 about 6db lower than the SM57) and throwing a light pingpong delay on the mix. I tried to balance them so they were about the same perceived volume in the room, and then so they were peaking about the same points and had about the same perceived volume in the mix.

I don't think either is a "bad" tone, it's just a little surprising how different they are.

EDIT - updated to the chorus/outro section, as it occurred to me the sheer range of pitches going on there was a better test of how the amp sounds and responds, and honestly I think this is a pretty fun section.

[bigdave]

Man, that wavey hair and serious look works for you Drew :o

[Drew]

Thanks guys.

[Tony]

Ok, since I have DI's sitting on hand for that tune I was working on, here's the first part of the main solo, with the Captor pass-thru and at -20db. Not evewn attempting to do a blind comparison, because they're pretty audibly different:

Thru:
https://drewpeterson7.files.wordpres...tor-bypass.mp3

-20db attenuation:
https://drewpeterson7.files.wordpres...aptor-20db.mp3

A little bit of EQ on input, but otherwise no post processing here aside from blending the mics (md421 about 6db lower than the SM57) and throwing a light pingpong delay on the mix. I tried to balance them so they were about the same perceived volume in the room, and then so they were peaking about the same points and had about the same perceived volume in the mix.

I don't think either is a "bad" tone, it's just a little surprising how different they are.

Is because the attenuation is purely resistive in the captor. Only the load itself is semi reactive.

But as you said neither sounds bad just the response from the amp is different.

[Drew]

Is because the attenuation is purely resistive in the captor. Only the load itself is semi reactive.

But as you said neither sounds bad just the response from the amp is different.

I'm not sure I follow...?

[Tony]

I'm not sure I follow...?

Just agreeing with you and mentioning the main reason things can be different using the captors attenuation

[Drew]

Just agreeing with you and mentioning the main reason things can be different using the captors attenuation

Oh, gotcha. I'm a little slow sometimes.

So, basically, the attenuation here isn't functiopning any differently from that of my Hot Plate, that's been gathering dust for the same reason, that I don't think the Mark needs it? I'd heard lots of good things about the attenuators in these so I grabbed this one as kind of an on the whim thing, but if the real selling point is as a load for silent recording and for feeding into an IR, then I'm probably not going to get much use out of this.

[Tony]

Oh, gotcha. I'm a little slow sometimes.

So, basically, the attenuation here isn't functiopning any differently from that of my Hot Plate, that's been gathering dust for the same reason, that I don't think the Mark needs it? I'd heard lots of good things about the attenuators in these so I grabbed this one as kind of an on the whim thing, but if the real selling point is as a load for silent recording and for feeding into an IR, then I'm probably not going to get much use out of this.

I haven't looked at the hotplate schematic but being resistive I would hazard a guess they're very similar. Only way to know is to do an A/B between them.

You can somewhat compensate for the differences with eq.

But like you said its not a bad sound just different.

In my experience though any form of attenuation will alter the tone a bit.

Oddly the most natural I've found is simply a volume box /eq in the loop to turn the signal down a touch but again it still changes things a bit.


Don't give up on the captor though you can still get very good results with it once you figure out how to make it sound closer.

[Drew]

Eh, I don't feel like I'm really missing anything at the level I can play my Mark V at, for jamming or recording, and while I'd probably want to spend some time comparing my Hot Plate at -20db to the Captor at -20db, I generally ran that at -4 to -8db as kind of the sweet spot between transparency vs usability. And the silent recording features are something that I don't really have any need for, I'm much happier working with mics and preamps and whatnot.

[Dominic]

Their non-prescription glasses are pretty reasonable for quality performance eyeware, and if you're a Strava user they're constantly doing Strava challenges where if you complete them (they're pretty ewasy) you unlock a code for like $25 or 20% off or something. Fuck, I probably still have a few valid ones, since they're never applicable to prescription orders, if you happen to see something you like.

Me, Strava?! That's never how I rode. Genetics gave me the physique, domestic science (beer and cake :yum: [even better together!]) took it away from me! Thanks for the offer, dude! I always have to try anything that goes on my bonce cos it's so big.

[Chris]

Me, Strava?! That's never how I rode. Genetics gave me the physique, domestic science (beer and cake :yum: [even better together!]) took it away from me! Thanks for the offer, dude! I always have to try anything that goes on my bonce cos it's so big.

Way to reply to the wrong thread man.