Two Notes Torpedo Captor 8 Ohms 5-stars Reviews

Fantastic attenuator

The dynamic load inside does its job very well. Does not color your power amp output. The on-board speaker sim is not amazing, but it can help you out in a pinch. Line out can be fed into your favorite impulse loader.

Unleash Your Tone: The Two Notes Torpedo Captor 8 Ohms

The Two Notes Torpedo Captor 8 Ohms is a must-have for guitarists, whether in the studio or on stage. Its reactive load technology maintains your tube amp's authentic feel, while its transparent attenuation preserves your tone's integrity even at high volumes, unlike other load boxes. Plus, its balanced output ensures studio-quality recordings. It's essential gear for achieving professional sound without compromise.

Solid Workhorse

This device is a marvel of engineering. It works perfectly 100% of the time.

Due to the nature of how attenuation works in the Captor 8, I would not keep it close to your cab if you are micking it as it can be loud. If you are using it to get your amp tone into your DAW for using with IRs or to reamp (recab?) it should be fine.

Works great as an attenuator.

I'm using this strictly as an attenuator for my Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 50w. I can't comment on any other feature of this Torpedo. I was a little bit skeptical about a fixed attenuation, maybe the volume would be too low or too high (for playing in an apartment). There was nothing else of the same quality in this price range, so I took a chance and got this.

To me, I run my JCM 2000 DSL volume at 5-6 on the OD channel, and similar on the clean channel. That's where the sweet spot is IMO, and the attenuation is just right, the volume is great. It's loud enough so I have fun playing but it's not too loud at all. It's really perfect for MY PERSONAL SET UP. I can't tell if it "alters" the tone in any way, if it does I can't notice it. It sounds great, feels great and does the job great for me.

Does what it promises

Build quality is like a tank.

Attenuation is not giving too much option but it is enough to play on room level with the cab. However, if you want to crank the amp and play on room levels through your cab then it might not enough for you.

But it is not a deal-breaker as it does not require to connect through a cab. You can use WOS plugin for cab simulations and it does the job well.

The only thing is when I compare CAB sims vs the real CAB, I feel there is a slight gain loss (which makes sense as we are missing physical speaker's drive response and resonance there) but it can be tweaked within the amp.

As summary I think this is a great item for it's purpose and does the job well on recordings through a tube-amp at home.

Does what it says, built well

There's not much to say about bare-bones attenuators / load boxes, really. I use it as a reactive load, and line out into an impulse response loader.

The Torpedo Captor's load doesn't try to emulate a certain speaker type, which is a good choice, imo. It lacks the ability to increase or decrease attenuation, but for this price that's just a nitpick - depending on your amp, it might not be enough attenuation. Especially considering the next step up is something like the Boss TAE, which would let you customize the load and all that, but for 10x cost too...

Outstanding

Excellent quality. Doesn’t suck out the tone when used to attenuate valve amps. Excellent transparency. Worth every cent.

Great

Does what it's supposed to do. Sounds great.

Captor 8 vs HX Stomp

I used HX Stomp for 10 days and didn't like it. There was a constant noise heard with gainy amps when not playing. And after ten minutes of playing my ears kind of "hurt" and I didn't want to play more. Overall, I just didn't like HX Stomp, didn't like to tweak, didn't like small screen and small knobs. I don't care how many reverbs, delays, etc. it had. I don't care how many amps it covers.

Before returining HX Stomp I did this: I spit the signal using line out output of my tube amp to HX Stomp in which I used IRs and reverbs. And I think it was much better sound. The sound came alive. The thing was that the amp speaker still needed to be connected.

So I decided to buy Captor 8. And I am really happy. I use only line out in Captor so it doesn't have to be connected to the current, so less cables. Good thing is has a volume knob (out level).

The software is very OK and I think it's easier to get good sounds than by using IRs. It has 14 cabs, many mics, EQ, Exciter, Compressor and reverb. I think less is more.

It also has poweramp simulation but I didn't use it because the signal from the tube amp comes after the poweramp and transformer.

Any negatives? Yes.

Would be nice if the device had more levels of attenuation. It only has -20dB which might be ok for you or not. I think there should be -10, - 20, -30 and - 40.

I think it should also have a simple audio interface built-in so USB output just to connect to the computer.

Anyway, I am much happier with my tube amp and Captor 8 than with HX Stomp. I think the sound my tube amp and Captor 8 is better and more lively. I'm just an amateur and this is only my personal opinion.

Awesome attenuator

I use it only as an attenuator even without plugging it into a power source. It tames my Marshall Origin 50 with 2x12 cab very well. Now I can crank it at the lowers power setting (5W) and play at bedroom levels. Even at 50 W fully cranked the amp will not kill you anymore. The tone seems to be a little brighter after attenuation, but that's not much of a concern since it can be dialed in accordingly. My amp feels the same to play with the attenuator plugged in, can't notice a difference. Wish the attenuation could be adjustable, but for the price I guess you cannot complain. Great product overall.

best product ever!!!

I love it , gave life to my amps and very nice built...

there only pros in my oppinion

Happy with the results

The fact it can be powered by phantom power makes it very convenient for my home recording needs.

I'm very happy with it

I bought this for my home studio.

Thanks to it, I can connect and directly record my Peavey 6505 MH with awesome fidelity and quality.

It also includes a download serial for the Torpedo Wall of Sound software, which is a super nice. high quality, cabinet emulator, which I have found super useful.

I've had the Captor now for around a year, and it has given me zero issues.

I totally recommend it.

Great unit for homestudio!

I purchased this in order to be able to record my tube amp without annoying anyone and with the captor i made it.

The attenuator works great and if your amp is up to 30 watt you can crank it up to the sweet spot while keeping it in room volume. Also for late night recordings the dry signal works great combined with WoS and the 16 free IR's that are coming with the captor.

For everyone who wants to play their tube amp and hear the putential it has to offer i highly recommend it. The rest can stay with annoyed neightbours calling the police to you :P

Gave life to my Mesa Boogie

Very precise if you also download the official IR.

Amazing unit for home recording for my tube amps

I was looking for a solution to play and record guitar through my PC and my studio monitors. Using a cabinet is quite a challenge because some of my amps are extremely loud and not suitable for home use. Also this way i am able to crank up my amps and get the sweet tube amp tones.

The Two Notes app with the impulse responses is great. for example, I have an Orange TH30 amp with a 2x12 orange cab. Using just the amp through the Captor gives me pretty much the exact same tone as the real amp + cab. I bought the official orange cabinet packs from two notes and they sound pretty much exactly the same as the original.

Not needing a power cable is also brilliant. 1 power cable and adapter less is always a positive thing.

Not really usable live though. there is a single cab emulation but i don't think it sounds as good as the plugin cabs.

A must have for tube amp lovers

Watch my full review on YouTube: >

If want to play and record tube amps at home, this is a must! You can crank the amp master volume and record all the nice power tube saturation and harmonics without making any noise. You can also just use it as an attenuator. Build quality is great, metal construction, all knobs feel solid, etc.

The analog cab simulation is just OK and cannot be compared to an impulse response. I barely use this function. At home, I just load IRs via the Wall of Sound plug-in, which is great and very flexible. If you want to use IRs live, I would rather get the new Captor X. It is missing a headphone jack. The attenuation is also fixed at -20dB, which is not always useful. Despite of this "negatives", there is nothing to compete with it at this price point, so cannot really complain...

A life saver

I've been using the Torpedo Captor 8 Ohms for silent usage of my tube amp at home, since noise isn't an option in my flat. What else can I say other than it works wonders and the fan isn't particularly noisy. The WoS cab sims that comes with the purchase have also been very useful (more than enough) when recording in my DAW and is the icing on the cake.

So in short, without this I wouldn't have been able to use my amp to it's full potential, and it does not disappoint!

A must for a home studio

I solve several issues with this amazing device: home volume, night playing, practice & recording quality, noise interference.

Best Choice on the Market!!!

Best way to record guitars at a Studio!

It give you very accurate speaker simulation that allows you to be very silent!

Its possible to use your tube amps whenever you want and get really awesome simulations of great cabs! The 16 cabs are imo more than enough to find a great cab!

Also the -20dB is a great feature. If you have a master volume amp this attenuator will do everything you need an attenuator to do!

If you love your tube amp and you want to play it more I suggest you check this Product

I would rather use this type of simulation than any Kemper/AxeFX/Helix/...

I serious advise to buy this product!!!