Jad Freer Capo

[Ander87]

Yep - it's pretty amazing, I have it set up as 2 gain stages from break up point to distortion, then fuzz on top with the OFF1.

I could see it working beautifully too with one stage of gain and then OFF1 on low gain setup for the distortion, it'd work too.

The Broadcast on the pre loop does sharpen it up and I do love it as a boost to squeeze the Capo yet more too...!

 

It is pricey, but for my case (dodged taxes somehow ) it was as much as a King Tone Duellist (which I considered) but with the added DI post/pre and the post/pre loops... No brainer if you ask!

 

PS: Just conscious the last page or so have clearly become 'The Joe & Ander Show' lol apologies! hopefully the impressions are useful to others  

Edited April 26, 2023 by Ander87

[MrDinsdale]

Haha aye will slide into DMs for future Capo fanboy posts 😂

[lidl e]

I like reading the fanboy posts 

[mattpbass]

Yeah, as an owner I’m still reading, I just haven’t got much to say other than I plugged it in, found a setting I liked and just left it at that. 😅

[Jonge McLengo]

20 hours ago, Ander87 said:

PS: Just conscious the last page or so have clearly become 'The Joe & Ander Show' lol apologies! hopefully the impressions are useful to others  

To be perfectly honest since you both have black & white pictures and yellow usernames, for a while I thought it was one user with a split personality.

 

I think I need to get my eyes checked

Edited April 27, 2023 by Jonge McLengo

[Ander87]

We may well be. Both versions have the OFF1 pedal too. 
 

3 minutes ago, Jonge McLengo said:

To be perfectly honest since you both have black & white pictures and yellow usernames, for a while I thought it was one user with a split personality

 

Mind you, Joe copied me on the B&W profile picture, he may be the one with some actual talent, but I’m the B&W OG. 
 

Best,

 

MrDinsdale. 

Edited April 27, 2023 by Ander87

[tayste_2000]

I’ve emailed them 🙄… can’t resist any longer

[MrDinsdale]

6 hours ago, Ander87 said:

We may well be. Both versions have the OFF1 pedal too. 
 

 

Mind you, Joe copied me on the B&W profile picture, he may be the one with some actual talent, but I’m the B&W OG. 
 

Best,

 

MrDinsdale. 

Hahahaha didn't even notice, copied you on the off1 and now the avatar. You're a trailblazer of monochromatic pedalboards and profile pictures. 

[MrDinsdale]

3 hours ago, tayste_2000 said:

I’ve emailed them 🙄… can’t resist any longer

It really is fantastic, I don't think you'll regret it!

[AxelF]

I received mine at the end of Feb and wanted to wait until I'd done a few gigs with it before posting a review to try and avoid that 'new toy' bias. I've now done 7 or 8 gigs with both it and an incredible jazz bass that Dan @d_g built for me and I've just been blown away by the tone from this combination, it's easily the best sound I've ever had.

 

I'm going straight to the desk via the Capo and using in ears with RCF935s as FoH and it sounds equally amazing to me through both. I have the A side set to have just a bit of saturation with the B side then giving a bit of a boost to both volume and hair when needed.

 

Below is some raw audio straight from the desk from a gig last night, majority are just Capo A side but the 5th clip (Somebody Told Me) I think I kicked in B Side about halfway through the clip. The last one (TIRO) starts with Capo A side plus C4, then goes into Capo A side plus Aftershock, then Capo B side plus Aftershock.

 

In short, I absolutely love it!

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by AxelF

[tayste_2000]

What basses, strings and type of music are you using your Capo with?

[MrDinsdale]

1 hour ago, tayste_2000 said:

What basses, strings and type of music are you using your Capo with?

Schecter J4 and P4 Exotic with DR hi beams mostly. Music wise it's mostly the band stuff which is noisy rock, kinda like Quicksand/Rival Schools I guess. Lots of Tool and other heavier stuff but also lots of folky stuff which calls for a much cleaner rounder tone.

 

I'd say its a fairly broad spectrum tonally and I never have much trouble dialing it in. I even use the Capo for some light tone shaping on guitar which works great too.

 

Probably gonna pop flats on my p4 for a little extra variety in future. 

[mattpbass]

I’m playing Sandbergs, 4 and 5 strings, flats and rounds. All sorts of genres, 70s disco, 80s and 90s pop/rock, modern r&b/pop. I don’t use drive very much like some of the other guys but just as a set and forget mojo machine with some nice saturation it works great for everything. 

[Ander87]

12 hours ago, tayste_2000 said:

What basses, strings and type of music are you using your Capo with?

 

I am using it in a punk trio where I do a breakup point clean and distortion sounds out of the Capo and route all the effects on the loops mostly.

I'm also starting to venture into another band which is more grunge / hard rock on the same settings...

 

... I play mostly a passive Shuker bass on Daddario stainless steel strings, but my other basses are a Squier Classic Vibe on Chromes and a MM Stingray Special on nickel NYXL - I reckon I have to work a bit more on the Stingray tones by adjusting the EQ as it is more treble forward than the Shuker J with Aggies 70s. Killing the tweeter and/or reducing the Treble on the Capo seems to be a step in the right direction - I normally keep my Mesa head flat all the way everywhere...

[MrDinsdale]

I'm not sure what range is effected by the treble control but it's much higher band than most preamps I've used. I only touch it when I'm putting guitar through. 

[MrDinsdale]

Did a very quick demo of the Capo, running through the controls and showing how it reacts to drives etc. No annotations or talking just me haphazardly twiddling dials and hoping for the best.

[EmmettC]

So, I've been using the Capo for a while on my usual wedding gig. It is phenomenal. I use iems and for the last few years I've used a mic on the bass cab because I just couldn't get a sound I liked in my ears from a DI.

Once I got the Capo I stopped micing the cab, it sounds incredible.

I've been running it clean, but on the point of break-up so when I dig in I get some dirt, then I use the gain from the B side preamp to add some more dirt when needed.

 

Now that has been amazing, until my Noble Preamp showed up. It has the nicest clean sound I've ever heard, through the PA, iems, studio monitors and my Genzler amp, it is the perfect clean tone.

 

This weekend I used the Noble as a preamp DI, and used the Capo as an overdrive pedal, it was incredible, but the Capo won't be used as a DI or Clean preamp again, or not regularly anyway. And it takes up a lot of space (not to mention money) to be just used as an overdrive.

 

So, with complete awareness of my privilege and the first-world-problemness of this, should I keep the Capo as a backup DI, and if so should I use it as a 2 stage overdrive pedal, or more reasonably, should I sell it and buy a decent overdrive pedal?

 

If I should, and I already know I should, sell it, what overdrive pedal should I buy that will do that lovely saturated sound the Capo gives? I used to use a B3K and I still have it, but it sounds so thin and brittle compared to the Capo. There isn't enough low end left in the dirty signal, and the blend knob is just a workaround rather than a proper fix. The Capo doesn't do full on distortion, but the drive is big and fat and clear even at max gain. Is there a pedal that can do that that will be cheaper and smaller?

 

Here's a pic just because it's a thing of beauty....

 

[Ander87]

@EmmettC I managed to get very cranked up distortion with the B side gain at 3 o’clock and A>B, level aroun 11ish if I recall well…!

 

I used to have A as clean then B for full whack distortion that way. 
 

I know that feeling of bass distortion eating up bottom and substance, I hate it - I do like using the Motorcycle now as distortion (this is a more bassy Hudson Broadcast limited edition with EQ controls). I know have side A as clean, side B to point of breakup and the Motorcycle for full distortion. 
 

one pedal I do find interesting is the new Ground and Pound from Lusithand Devices, on sale at Joe’s pedals. Modelled after Justin Chancellor’s tones with a 2:1 compression built in, 9-18v and EQ controls borrowed from the Alma compressor… I do want it but I’m saving money and the Hudson Motorcycle does all I want for punk rock. 
 

current board…:
 

[MrDinsdale]

21 minutes ago, EmmettC said:

So, I've been using the Capo for a while on my usual wedding gig. It is phenomenal. I use iems and for the last few years I've used a mic on the bass cab because I just couldn't get a sound I liked in my ears from a DI.

Once I got the Capo I stopped micing the cab, it sounds incredible.

I've been running it clean, but on the point of break-up so when I dig in I get some dirt, then I use the gain from the B side preamp to add some more dirt when needed.

 

Now that has been amazing, until my Noble Preamp showed up. It has the nicest clean sound I've ever heard, through the PA, iems, studio monitors and my Genzler amp, it is the perfect clean tone.

 

This weekend I used the Noble as a preamp DI, and used the Capo as an overdrive pedal, it was incredible, but the Capo won't be used as a DI or Clean preamp again, or not regularly anyway. And it takes up a lot of space (not to mention money) to be just used as an overdrive.

 

So, with complete awareness of my privilege and the first-world-problemness of this, should I keep the Capo as a backup DI, and if so should I use it as a 2 stage overdrive pedal, or more reasonably, should I sell it and buy a decent overdrive pedal?

 

If I should, and I already know I should, sell it, what overdrive pedal should I buy that will do that lovely saturated sound the Capo gives? I used to use a B3K and I still have it, but it sounds so thin and brittle compared to the Capo. There isn't enough low end left in the dirty signal, and the blend knob is just a workaround rather than a proper fix. The Capo doesn't do full on distortion, but the drive is big and fat and clear even at max gain. Is there a pedal that can do that that will be cheaper and smaller?

 

Here's a pic just because it's a thing of beauty....

 

The capo is worth exploring as a drive pedal first as its super flexible. Personally I prefer the Capo low-mid gain tones but if you decided to go a different direction then there's a lot of options out there to add some grit.

 

One good thing about keeping the Capo is that it'd make a great fly rig option if you couldn't justify taking the Noble.

 

Cant imagine you'd have any problem selling it on here!

[MrDinsdale]

Anyone else using another preamp in the post FX loop?

 

I have the Model FeT in there as it stacks so well with drives, I find it gives a nice smoothness to the Capo and other drives. Started having a play to see what kind of grit I can get out of just the Capo and Model FeT and I'm finding using the B side as a boost really pushes the A side and output in to the FeT which just sounds great. Will try and get some demos.

 

If you do have another Pre that takes drives well I'd give it a go. You loose a little of the Capo powerful EQ but still lets you shape the tone you're cramming in the other preamp 😂

[Ander87]

@MrDinsdale that’s interesting! I use the Hudson motorcycle in the pre loop, it’s kinda an overdrive-meets-preamp. I guess it’d do nice as a thickener too on the post, and force me to buy a new Ground and Pound (think Justin Chancellor) pedal I’ve seen 👀 

[MrDinsdale]

I think the Capo has a good range of grit on A and in combination with B can provide a range of tones. That being said if you really crank the B side level to drive the A the volume jump makes it pretty unusable for anything other than an always on. With the FeT it pretty much caps the level, any additional gain going in just saturates massively, it's a monster.

 

Not sure how the Hudson would respond but definitely worth playing around with it. I personally preferred the FeT in the post loop as it's the perfect end of chain tone (drive) sweetener, my musical technical vocabulary is pretty limited but the best way I can describe it is chewy.

 

Aye the Ground and Pound sounds pretty good, as much as I love JC I'm not sure I need that pedal, the Halberd gets close enough but I'll probably end up buying one anyways 😂

[Ander87]

3 minutes ago, MrDinsdale said:

Aye the Ground and Pound sounds pretty good, as much as I love JC I'm not sure I need that pedal, the Halberd gets close enough but I'll probably end up buying one anyways 😂

 

What is need anyway these days?

 

Hm, interesting - I can get levels very well matched - if I had to take a gig ONLY with the Capo needing clean and dirty, I would resolve well.

 

Gain on the A at noon, level at around 9-10, then side B cranked to 3 o'clock and level around 11 ish, if I recall well it does the both tones matches with plenty to spare if wanting a boost.

 

I'll try a thing or two - I've the Hudson Broadcast on sale with potential sale to sort, which is perfect to 'just' thicken, but I'd hope the Motorcycle would resolve to just thicken up great also - and it has bass/treble/drive controls so it could give it a very tasty end-of-chain tone.

[MrDinsdale]

@Ander87 yeah I mean more like cranking the gain and level on B to around 2-4 o'clock. I'm aiming for obliteration levels here.

 

I get a huge jump in volume, the FeT on the other hand just crushes it. I imagine thats part of the attraction for all the doom stuff, you can throw all sorts of fuzz at it and it just gives you a saturated wall of filth. 

[Ander87]

10 minutes ago, MrDinsdale said:

 

@Ander87 yeah I mean more like cranking the gain and level on B to around 2-4 o'clock. I'm aiming for obliteration levels here.

 

yeah with mine at 3 o’clock I do get distortion, and same volumes (guess it depends on where you have levels and gain of side A) BUT no obliteration levels though 😅 need me some of that and that’s where I use the Hudson to crunch up loads and gets to fuzz but not the right kind of obliteration - maybe the G&P….. ah!