My 5 Favorite Ways to Use Strymon El Capistan

Strymon’s El Capistan is not a new pedal. I’ve owned mine for well over a year. So why cover it in my Fiddling With Knobs series? Because it’s so damn good and there are so many ways to use it! Regardless of how many different delay pedals I experiment with, the Cap always holds up. Judging by many other ambient musician’s pedalboards, there’s an unspoken consensus. It may be the best tape delay pedal ever created. Indeed, this pedal has been demoed to death so I’m not treating this like a demo. Instead I approached this in the way that I enjoy most; entirely subjectively sharing my favorite ways to use this masterpiece of a pedal. I’m sharing my settings below. As with all my Fiddling With Knobs videos, I use TC Electronics Hall of Fame and Flashback so you can see exactly how much delay and reverb I’m using. If you don’t yet own an El Capistan, I hope this video inspires you to pick one up. 1. Tape head - Multi Mode - B Time - Max Mix - 3 o’clock Tape Age - Min Repeats - 4 o’clock Wow - Noon Spring Reverb - Min Low End Contour - 1 o’clock Tape Bias - 9 o’clock Tape Crinkle - 9 o’clock 2. Tape Head - Single Mode - A Time - Noon Mix - 3 o’clock Tape Age - 3 o’clock Repeats - 2 o’clock Wow - 10 o’clock Spring Reverb - 10 o’clock Low End Contour - Noon Tape Bias - Max Tape Crinkle - 3 o’clock 3. Tape head - Multi Mode - A Time - 11 o’clock Mix - 1 o’clock Tape Age - 2 o’clock Repeats - Noon Wow - 9 o’clock Spring Reverb - Min Low End Contour - Noon Tape Bias - Noon Tape Crinkle - 9 o’clock 4. Tape head -Multi Mode - B Time - 2 o’clock Mix - 2 o’clock Tape Age -3 o’clock Repeats - 3 o’clock Wow - 3 o’clock Spring Reverb - 4 o’clock Low End Contour - Min Tape Bias - 4 o’clock Tape Crinkle - Max 5. Tape head - Single Mode - C Time - Max Mix - 3 o’clock Tape Age - Min Repeats - Max Wow - Min Spring Reverb - Off Low End Contour - Noon Tape Bias - 12 o’clock Tape Crinkle - 12 o’clock