Captor X Low Level Input (limiting?)

[ghxstghxst]

Hi there, thanks for everyone posting on here it's been so helpful!
I'm noticing something with use of the Low IN level setting on the Captor X, and its -15dB input pad.
On the High IN level setting, I have full dynamic range - until of course I start clipping the input with my amp (Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue) above 2-3 on it's volume knob.
Once I flip into Low IN level, the red clipping indicator on the Captor X's grill goes away, and the bulk of the audible digital clipping does too, so it's mostly ok. My issue is with the dynamic range on the Low IN level. On the Torpedo Remote app I can see the -15dB pad at work - my input signal never passes the green into the yellow, ever. This is where I feel the issue is - I'm not sure if the pad is too far down the signal chain in the Captor X? Or if there is some sort of user error on my part, or if this is just the nature of the beast, but my signal is completely brickwalled at -15dB. No matter how hard I push my amp or pedals or how hard I play my guitar, the signal never accesses the remaining 15dB of headroom on input. This just completely squashes my tone and the dynamics of any performance, even if it's not clipping in the way that it would be on High IN level. It's clearly cutting way more than 15dB once I drive my amp for some breakup, since no matter how much wattage I push into the Captor X, the signal never goes into the yellow. Am I missing something here? I love this unit but it's been incredibly frustrating to have to choose between super low wattage and HIGH In level, or a squashed and flat waveform when pushing my signal into LOW In level and therefore the -15dB pad/limiter.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Mackenzie

 

[RossJohnDavies]

Hi there, thanks for everyone posting on here it's been so helpful!
I'm noticing something with use of the Low IN level setting on the Captor X, and its -15dB input pad.
On the High IN level setting, I have full dynamic range - until of course I start clipping the input with my amp (Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue) above 2-3 on it's volume knob.
Once I flip into Low IN level, the red clipping indicator on the Captor X's grill goes away, and the bulk of the audible digital clipping does too, so it's mostly ok. My issue is with the dynamic range on the Low IN level. On the Torpedo Remote app I can see the -15dB pad at work - my input signal never passes the green into the yellow, ever. This is where I feel the issue is - I'm not sure if the pad is too far down the signal chain in the Captor X? Or if there is some sort of user error on my part, or if this is just the nature of the beast, but my signal is completely brickwalled at -15dB. No matter how hard I push my amp or pedals or how hard I play my guitar, the signal never accesses the remaining 15dB of headroom on input. This just completely squashes my tone and the dynamics of any performance, even if it's not clipping in the way that it would be on High IN level. It's clearly cutting way more than 15dB once I drive my amp for some breakup, since no matter how much wattage I push into the Captor X, the signal never goes into the yellow. Am I missing something here? I love this unit but it's been incredibly frustrating to have to choose between super low wattage and HIGH In level, or a squashed and flat waveform when pushing my signal into LOW In level and therefore the -15dB pad/limiter.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Mackenzie

Hi Mackenzie, Thanks for reaching out. The Pad on Captor X is simply an input pad (similar to that on a mixing desk) and should not be limiting your amplifier. This may be the amplifier's poweramp reaching saturation and as such the perceived volume would increase but the actual volume would stay more static — this is quite common with amplifiers where the actual volume is reached considerably lower than the maximum value of the dial. I have actually seen your support ticket this morning on our Help Desk; Dilan is now out of the office on annual leave, returning on November 28th 2025 — I have left him a note and he will be jumping on this as soon as he is back! If you have any other questions, dont hesitate to let me know!

 

[ghxstghxst]

Hi Mackenzie, Thanks for reaching out. The Pad on Captor X is simply an input pad (similar to that on a mixing desk) and should not be limiting your amplifier. This may be the amplifier's poweramp reaching saturation and as such the perceived volume would increase but the actual volume would stay more static — this is quite common with amplifiers where the actual volume is reached considerably lower than the maximum value of the dial. I have actually seen your support ticket this morning on our Help Desk; Dilan is now out of the office on annual leave, returning on November 28th 2025 — I have left him a note and he will be jumping on this as soon as he is back! If you have any other questions, dont hesitate to let me know!

Hi Ross thanks so much for getting back to me! I definitely understand the point about my amp reaching saturation, that was one of my first thoughts as I know the output volume won’t increase linearly as I turn up the actual knob. I know that in theory my signal should just be padded like any other pad on a mixing desk.
I’ve tested it quite thoroughly though, and through any range of settings on the amp, including max volume, including several pedal boosts, neck pickup on the guitar, sharpest and loudest picking I can muster, the signal stays absolutely firm at -15dB.

So it reaches that -15dB limit with moderate playing at 2.5-3 on my amp, and stays there no matter what - this seems to rule out regular pad functionality as the net reduction of gain far exceeds 15dB.

Thanks very much for leaving a note! Maybe there is still something I’m missing, but as of now it seems like a limitation of the dual input setting and maybe I need a unit with fully variable input or something

 

[RossJohnDavies]

Hi Ross thanks so much for getting back to me! I definitely understand the point about my amp reaching saturation, that was one of my first thoughts as I know the output volume won’t increase linearly as I turn up the actual knob. I know that in theory my signal should just be padded like any other pad on a mixing desk.
I’ve tested it quite thoroughly though, and through any range of settings on the amp, including max volume, including several pedal boosts, neck pickup on the guitar, sharpest and loudest picking I can muster, the signal stays absolutely firm at -15dB.

So it reaches that -15dB limit with moderate playing at 2.5-3 on my amp, and stays there no matter what - this seems to rule out regular pad functionality as the net reduction of gain far exceeds 15dB.

Thanks very much for leaving a note! Maybe there is still something I’m missing, but as of now it seems like a limitation of the dual input setting and maybe I need a unit with fully variable input or something

Thanks so much for getting back to me.

It definitely sounds like there might be an issue there and our specialists will need to do a deep dive on this to get to the bottom of this. I have prioritised your ticket so could I ask that you keep an eye on your inbox for their suggestions and test procedures?

Thanks so much!

 

[ghxstghxst]

Thanks so much for getting back to me.

It definitely sounds like there might be an issue there and our specialists will need to do a deep dive on this to get to the bottom of this. I have prioritised your ticket so could I ask that you keep an eye on your inbox for their suggestions and test procedures?

Thanks so much!

I’ll keep an eye out, thanks so much Ross!

 

[RossJohnDavies]

I’ll keep an eye out, thanks so much Ross!

No problemo! Happy to help!

 

[giovasilverlake]

Hi everyone, I'm jumping into this thread because I’m experiencing the exact same 'clamping' behavior with my Captor X and a Mesa Boogie Rectifier.

Even with the IN LEVEL set to LOW, my input meter hits a 'hard ceiling' at the last green LED and won't move to yellow, no matter how much I crank the amp.

@ghxstghxst , did you ever get a definitive answer from Two Notes or find a workaround? I've just opened an official ticket with them and they are looking into it, but I'd love to know if anyone here found out if this is a hardware limitation or a calibration issue.

Thanks!

 

[RossJohnDavies]

Hi everyone, I'm jumping into this thread because I’m experiencing the exact same 'clamping' behavior with my Captor X and a Mesa Boogie Rectifier.

Even with the IN LEVEL set to LOW, my input meter hits a 'hard ceiling' at the last green LED and won't move to yellow, no matter how much I crank the amp.

@ghxstghxst , did you ever get a definitive answer from Two Notes or find a workaround? I've just opened an official ticket with them and they are looking into it, but I'd love to know if anyone here found out if this is a hardware limitation or a calibration issue.

Thanks!

Thanks for reaching out. Ross from Two notes here — Just wanted to jump in and note this is not expected behaviour and @giovasilverlake, we have your support ticket at hand and our team will be looking at this first thing tomorrow when they are back in the office.

 

[giovasilverlake]

Thanks for reaching out. Ross from Two notes here — Just wanted to jump in and note this is not expected behaviour and @giovasilverlake, we have your support ticket at hand and our team will be looking at this first thing tomorrow when they are back in the office.

Hi Ross, It's reassuring to hear that this behavior isn't expected, as it confirms what I was hearing with my ears. I'm looking forward to hearing from the team tomorrow to get this sorted. Thanks again for the amazing support!

 

[ghxstghxst]

Hi everyone, I'm jumping into this thread because I’m experiencing the exact same 'clamping' behavior with my Captor X and a Mesa Boogie Rectifier.

Even with the IN LEVEL set to LOW, my input meter hits a 'hard ceiling' at the last green LED and won't move to yellow, no matter how much I crank the amp.

@ghxstghxst , did you ever get a definitive answer from Two Notes or find a workaround? I've just opened an official ticket with them and they are looking into it, but I'd love to know if anyone here found out if this is a hardware limitation or a calibration issue.

Thanks!

Hi! They got back to me and even did some testing, but this was the eventual response:

“Hello Mackenzie

I did manage to run more tests with my Fender Hot Rod as well as with a Revv D20 amp.
I can confirm there is no limiter inside Torpedo Remote. With a 20W amp it is not possible to light up the yellow leds, but this does not mean a llimiter is squashing your signal. It is just not high enough to light the yellow leds.
When I raise the amp's volume, I get more saturation, meaning I am also compressing the signal more, without raising the volume a lot once the saturation has kicked in.
This is the expected behavior - the more distortion the more compression, without much more electrical volume level at the output.”


For me that doesn’t really explain what I’m hearing, which is a very clamped sound as you said, and natural saturation from my amp definitely does not explain the lack of level I get as I raise my amp volume, but I guess at least functionally it’s how the hardware is supposed to be working.
I’ve resorted mostly to a regular mic’ing setup on my amp lately as I try to figure out what to do with the Captor X or some other loadbox to replace it.


Kenzie

 

[RossJohnDavies]

Hi! They got back to me and even did some testing, but this was the eventual response:

“Hello Mackenzie

I did manage to run more tests with my Fender Hot Rod as well as with a Revv D20 amp.
I can confirm there is no limiter inside Torpedo Remote. With a 20W amp it is not possible to light up the yellow leds, but this does not mean a llimiter is squashing your signal. It is just not high enough to light the yellow leds.
When I raise the amp's volume, I get more saturation, meaning I am also compressing the signal more, without raising the volume a lot once the saturation has kicked in.
This is the expected behavior - the more distortion the more compression, without much more electrical volume level at the output.”


For me that doesn’t really explain what I’m hearing, which is a very clamped sound as you said, and natural saturation from my amp definitely does not explain the lack of level I get as I raise my amp volume, but I guess at least functionally it’s how the hardware is supposed to be working.
I’ve resorted mostly to a regular mic’ing setup on my amp lately as I try to figure out what to do with the Captor X or some other loadbox to replace it.


Kenzie

Thanks for getting in touch and weighing in here. I can also confirm there is no limiter inside the Captor X — it is a pad / sensitivity function. I actually ran some tests on this over the weekend with some low powered amps in my collection — a Blues Junior and a Laney head — as I encountered the same issue with the LEDs not progressing out of the green channels but I was not experiencing any limiting of any nature; rather I could hear my poweramp saturating quite heavily meaning I had reached the full volume output of the poweramp (at around 7.5 on both amps) — expected behaviour knowing the amps.

Regardless, I always think it is worth discussing with our support team as they are best placed to advise on this and run further testing.

 

[giovasilverlake]

Hi @ghxstghxst , thank you so much for sharing your feedback and your test results!

And a huge thank you to @RossJohnDavies for the exceptional support and for looking into this over the weekend. I truly appreciate it.

While I'm waiting to run further tests with the support team, I’m honestly relieved to hear that my Captor X might not be faulty, but that this is simply the expected behavior. Knowing this gives me peace of mind regarding the health of the hardware.

Thanks again to everyone for the help!

 

[RossJohnDavies]

Hi @ghxstghxst , thank you so much for sharing your feedback and your test results!

And a huge thank you to @RossJohnDavies for the exceptional support and for looking into this over the weekend. I truly appreciate it.

While I'm waiting to run further tests with the support team, I’m honestly relieved to hear that my Captor X might not be faulty, but that this is simply the expected behavior. Knowing this gives me peace of mind regarding the health of the hardware.

Thanks again to everyone for the help!

No problem at all - always happy to help out!

 

[ghxstghxst]

Thanks for getting in touch and weighing in here. I can also confirm there is no limiter inside the Captor X — it is a pad / sensitivity function. I actually ran some tests on this over the weekend with some low powered amps in my collection — a Blues Junior and a Laney head — as I encountered the same issue with the LEDs not progressing out of the green channels but I was not experiencing any limiting of any nature; rather I could hear my poweramp saturating quite heavily meaning I had reached the full volume output of the poweramp (at around 7.5 on both amps) — expected behaviour knowing the amps.

Regardless, I always think it is worth discussing with our support team as they are best placed to advise on this and run further testing.

Appreciate the further testing - I for sure understand any amp up toward the 7 or 8 range is going to start topping out its volume, but the issue here is that the Captor X starts hitting that green wall with moderate playing around 3 on a 20ish watt amp, and then exhibits this clamping we're talking about from that point upward. So while I can see the saturation factor and the natural leveling out of an amp's perceived volume as expected behavior around those upper ranges, it's the range between those 3 and 7 settings that we are losing out on dynamics as the signal stops dead and never proceeds into the yellow. No reason for me not to believe from y'all that there is no limiter, I'm sure there isn't, but we are still experiencing a loss of all the headroom from when the signal starts to top out the green meter around 3 on the amp, all the way until the amp itself starts to reach full volume around 7 or 8.

 

[RossJohnDavies]

Appreciate the further testing - I for sure understand any amp up toward the 7 or 8 range is going to start topping out its volume, but the issue here is that the Captor X starts hitting that green wall with moderate playing around 3 on a 20ish watt amp, and then exhibits this clamping we're talking about from that point upward. So while I can see the saturation factor and the natural leveling out of an amp's perceived volume as expected behavior around those upper ranges, it's the range between those 3 and 7 settings that we are losing out on dynamics as the signal stops dead and never proceeds into the yellow. No reason for me not to believe from y'all that there is no limiter, I'm sure there isn't, but we are still experiencing a loss of all the headroom from when the signal starts to top out the green meter around 3 on the amp, all the way until the amp itself starts to reach full volume around 7 or 8.

Thanks for getting back to me. That does seems a little strange and is definitely not something I can replicate here - on lower levels that is. I have let our support team know and they will be looking into this ASAP! If I get any information in advance of this, I will be sure to let everyone know.

 

[RossJohnDavies]

Hi Guys,

Big news from TNHQ today!

If you’re already looking at the Captor X or reactive loads in general, it’s probably worth knowing that Captor X + has just landed.

It builds on the original Captor X (which a lot of people here are already using), but addresses quite a few of the things players have been asking for — especially around flexibility and stereo workflows.

A few of the bigger updates:

• True stereo DynIR processing — you can now run dual mics/IRs across a proper stereo field, so it’s not just “widened mono,” it actually gives you a much more realistic cab feel when going direct or tracking
• Virtual Load Shaper — this is new, and pretty interesting… it lets you tweak the post-load response, so you can tighten lows, add bite, or shift the feel a bit without touching your amp
• More flexible routing — stereo, dual mono, dry/wet etc., which makes it easier to fit into more complex setups or hybrid rigs
• USB-C + updated architecture — generally just a bit smoother and more future-proof in terms of connectivity and control

What’s nice is it still keeps the core appeal of the original — simple to use, sounds solid, works equally well for silent practice, recording, or going straight to FOH — but just opens things up quite a bit more if you’re running a modern setup.

If you’re already considering a load box / attenuator / cab sim combo, it’s definitely one to have on your radar.

More Info Here: https://www.two-notes.com/en/torpedo-series/torpedo-captor-x-plus/

Watch the Launch Video:

Watch the Feature Rundown with Guillaume Pille: