Captain Coconut 2 Owner's Manual
Getting the best sounds
GUITAR / AMP SETTINGS
The effects contained in Captain Coconut are just part of a chemistry
that happens between your guitar, your effects, and your amp.
Here are some tips for dialing in some of the best sounds.
Avoid using effects that do not have
“true bypass” A lot
of the cheaper, mass-production guitar effects (and some of the
more expensive ones) don’t really bypass your guitars signal
when they’re not in use. Most of the small DOD/BOSS/IBANEZ/DANO
type effects use active switching. This means that your guitar’s
signal is passing through circuitry even when the effect is bypassed.
This results in added noise and an altered tone. Also, since the
FuzzFoot works best when it receives the direct output of a guitar
pickup, an effect with active switching placed between the guitar
and the FuzzFoot can kill the tone. It’s most noticeable
when using the guitar’s volume knob to get a clean tone.
With active switching, this won’t work so well.
Effects with passive, non-true bypass switching will simply cut
your guitars level and dull it’s high end. This might not
be noticeable with one effect, but when several are patched together,
the effects of loading become very noticeable. Captain Coconut
uses audio relays for true bypass switching. The foot switches
cary no audio, their purpose is to activate / deactivate the relays.
There’s a certain tone you get when you plug your guitar
directly into your amp. If you want to retain that tone when all
of your effects are bypassed, avoid non-true bypassed effects
at all costs.
Guitar / amp settings Captain Coconut 2 is very versatile and will sound great with a wide variety of guitars and amps, but if you’re looking for some of the more familiar “vintage” tones associate with CC2’s effects, there are some basic guidelines to follow.
Guitar There’s nothing like the single coil pickups of a Fender Stratocaster for creating some of the greatest rock & blues guitar sounds. This works especially well with Captain Coconut 2. A Strat sounds heavenly when run through the Provibe in Chorus mode. For Vibrato mode, try using the middle pickup for the best results. Also, the “ volume knob clean up” feature of the FuzzFoot works much better with single coil pickups than it does with humbuckers. Active pickups can drive the inputs of all three effects so hard that they distort - in a bad way.
AMP While there are plenty of great sounding solid state
amps available today, you’ll still get the best results with
a tried & true tube amp. Whether you’re into Marshals,
Fenders, or any of the awesome boutique amps out there, nothing
can beat the natural compression and distortion you get from an
overdriven, loud tube amp, especially when it’s fed by a
Captain Coconut 2. For the best sounds, dial in a slightly dark
overdriven sound, so that you can go from a chunky rhythm sound,
to a fat lead tone without stepping on any pedals. Then, set up
the FuzzFoot for just enough added drive to push you over the
top. Listen to how great the Octave and Provibe effects sound.
If you play through a clean, bright solid state amp, you may find
yourself very disappointed with the sounds you get from Captain
Coconut 2. Don’t do that!
Try patching the effects in different
orders
Here are some ways to patch Captain Coconut 2. All you need is
a couple of 1/4" patch cords to get any order you want. You
can also patch other processors in between the effects. Think
of Captain Coconut 2 as three independent guitar effects that
happen to be mounted next to each other, just waiting for you
to decide how to patch them up. In the meantime they're already
linked together so that you can use it without having to do any
patching. The default order, Octave>FuzzFoot>Provibe is
just one of many valid combinations. Most guitarists never settle
for one set order of effects. The possibilities are endless..
If you’re looking to duplicate the order that Jimi used,
good luck... he experimented with different orders, just like
you will. In fact, there has been a lot of debate about what order
he had his effects patched in from show to show. The best thing
to do is to try different orders until you find the one that works
for you. Here are some basic patches and how to achieve them.
The wah wah pedal is not required - I didn't want to leave it
out.
Patch #1:
Guitar>Wah>Octave>FuzzFoot>Provibe>Amp
This is the default setup. No extra patch cords are needed. The
Provibe adds it's color to both the Fuzzfoot and the Octave. The
FuzzFoot gives the Octave more gain and sustain. This is a well-rounded
set up that gives great results.
Patch #2:
Guitar>Wah>FuzzFoot>Octave>Provibe>Amp
The Provibe adds it's color to both the Fuzzfoot and the Octave.
The Octave takes on a new character by having the Fuzzfoot before
it. One extra patch cord is needed.
Patch #3:
Guitar>Wah>Octave>Provibe>Fuzzfoot>Amp
This his how the original Captain Coconut is set up. The Octave
is boosted by the FuzzFoot. The Provibe's sound is subtle but
effective when patched before the FuzzFoot, and the FuzzFoot is
on. Two extra patch cords are required.