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El Capistan Dub/Reggae Echo insanity


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Do any of you have, or have access to, a Strymon El Capistan? If so, try this...

 

Start with the "DUB" settings shown below, and here in Sample Settings, pg 7 (including the "Secondary" control settings), and tweak to taste; maybe set the Tape Age a bit brighter, max the Tape Crinkle and set Wow & Flutter to about 2:00 O' Clock or higher; also try Single Head, Mode B (Slow Tape Speed) for tastily decreased fidelity; save as a "Favorite" to recall on-tap. Echo repeats will get edgily brighter and brighter.

 

Adjust the Time to be ever so slightly off-kilter and not quite in-time with the tempo, maybe just a tad faster. Occasionally hold down the "TAP" foot-switch to temporarily ramp into crazy increasingly louder, crispier, blistering oscillating feedback repeats. *YOU* *WILL* *THANK* *ME* *!!* SERIOUSLY.

 

I used those El Capistan settings, tweaked as I described, with my Les Paul's neck-pickup and a good bit of overdrive from my Carvin Vintage 33 with the guitar's volume-knob rolled-back to a "sweet-spot", for a Dub-Reggae style arrangement of "I Don't Need No Doctor" (originally made famous by Ray Charles) with a band I used to be in, and it turned heads and got compliments...

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Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Does everything burst into flames at some point?

 

That would be a value added feature.

 

I've no experience with the Strymon. I've sent many a delay into over-feedbacked Hell Monster of Doom oscillations.

 

Plus we blew the subwoofers once AND forced everybody's brains out of their nose with thunderous low frequency air assaults. Just a friend humming into my Saxxy "digital kazoo" thingie set to tuba and down an octave.

Many people were killed (points if you know this quote!!!).

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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I've no experience with the Strymon. I've sent many a delay into over-feedbacked Hell Monster of Doom oscillations.

 

Plus we blew the subwoofers once AND forced everybody's brains out of their nose with thunderous low frequency air assaults.

One of the beautiful things about the Strymon El Capistan is that, 'infinite repeat', and even ringing feedback-oscillation, can be achieved without destructive out-of-control runaway feedback. That CAN be the result, if desired, but, depending on some of the settings of the interactive controls, infinite repeat and oscillation that stays just under the threshold of disaster in an effective 'holding pattern' can be obtained when the Repeats control is set to approximately 3:00 O' Clock. If the Repeats knob is set below that, stepping on and holding down the Tap footswitch momentarily yields infinite-repeats, the building intensity of which (and the time it takes to hit out-of-control runaway freakout pandemonium) depends on the settings of the various controls, particularly just how high the Repeats control was set to begin with. Pressing and holding and then releasing the Tap footswitch allows getting in and out of oscillation feedback land.

 

Fully-counterclockwise Tape Age (for brightest highs) and/or Low-End Contour (for extended Lows and fullest extended bandwidth) will not only deliver the cleanest, clearest, most pristine 'Hi Fi' tone in echo-repeats, it will also dramatically increase the susceptibility to oscillation and runaway feedback when Repeats is set high. Lower settings of each will sound more 'natural'- that is, more like actual tape- and somewhat reduce feedback oscillation and runaway.

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Well, I would like to hear it.

I do enjoy a good delay sound.

In the middle of putting 2 small multi-effects guitar amplifiers into a stereo array using the (apparently much hated) TC Electronics Flashback X4 partly to go stereo from a mono guitar and to add one more delay to the chain.

With 1 delay it's fun if you can push it into madness.

2 is getting tricky, there could be a mushroom cloud or something.

I'll have three, which means I can play 2 notes and wait around for a bit... Cheers, Kuru

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Well, I would like to hear it.

I do enjoy a good delay sound.

I'll see what I can do; might be a little while. Currently, I don't have jack (as in Jack $h!t, not a plug-in connector!) for recording.

 

With those settings that I described above, the echo-repeats get increasing brighter, thinner, edgier, more degraded and distorted and a bit louder with each repeat. A Guitar Player staffer- one of the editors?- once described this sort of echo-sound as being "like leaves drying up and blowing away in the wind".

 

With 1 delay it's fun if you can push it into madness.

2 is getting tricky, there could be a mushroom cloud or something.

I'll have three, which means I can play 2 notes and wait around for a bit... Cheers, Kuru

:laugh: Haahh! Sounds like fun. :D

 

 

Ask yourself- What Would Ren and Stimpy Do?

 

~ Caevan James-Michael Miller-O'Shite ~

_ ___ _ Leprechaun, Esquire _ ___ _

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Understand the recording gear issue.

 

I am always amazed at the quality I can get from my Tascam DR-40 (now the DR-40x).

Careful placement can provide excellent results. Very versatile, can be used as an interface, you can plug in your own mics/lines.

 

In my mind it paid for itself when I started recording band performances with it and giving the band members a copy. No words were spoken, no egos were ruffled, great progress was made.

It simply told the truth and we all benefited from finding out what we really sounded like and making corrections.

 

A year or so later, we are a different band now. Same members but reality brought a cohesive sound.

 

Just did some paid demo work for friends, copyright reel of original material. It's paid for itself doing that too.

 

Files are .wav up to 24 bit 96khz. Converters are good. You can get Tracktion 7 for free, a complete DAW.

No reason one couldn't make a high quality album with that setup, even using the built in mics.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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