El Capistan : Hassle-free tape sounds

The Strymon produces convincing tape tones, but without all the hassle that comes with an actual tape machine.

I had basically narrowed my choices to this Strymon and the Catalinbread Belle Epoch Deluxe. I preferred El Capistan for two reasons. Firstly, the Strymon does NOT include an EP3-like preamp. For me this was an advantage, since it means that you can use a separate Echoplex to colour your sound even if the delay is off.

Secondly, the ability to shape the sound is amazing. The El Capistan can convincingly recreate a new, brighter tape or an old and darker tape. And with much less maintenance and more consistency than real tape. Add options to mimic an imperfect tape or dirty machine, and this pedal certainly doesn’t sound sterile or "digital". I’ve never used actual tape, but owning this, I don’t feel the need to try either.

The many knobs and settings do take some time to get used to, but Strymon provides a detailed manual with examples settings to help you get started and understand what each dial is used for and how they interact.