Keeping a capo in your case’s accessory compartment is like having an instant magic trick on hand. It’s a simple tool with many uses: changing keys on the fly, simplifying a song by eradicating barre chords, or providing a brighter timbre. Here’s just a sampling of current capo options.
Intellitouch CT1
This single-action capo offers vibration-based tuning, displayed on a large, backlit screen. It can tune 6- and 12-string guitars—electric and acoustic—without interference from background noise.
Fine Tune Capo
Shubb’s newest capo features an adjustable pressure knob that maintains a fixed relationship with the frame for improved ease of use and a low profile when stored behind the nut. The jeweler-style latch prevents accidental release.
Spring Capo
This spring-style capo features thin tubing to work like an actual nut. It has comfortable padded grip handles and custom pivoting that self-calibrates to any instrument radius. They’re handmade and only cost nine bucks.
Quick-Change
Available in many finishes, these handmade capos are a study in simplicity. One-handed operation lets you transpose in seconds, and you can clamp the capo to your headstock when not in use.
Trigger Curved Capo
This capo for curved fretboards features aluminum construction, a unique pressure pad that conforms to the fretboard and frets for minimum buzzing, and a padded, spring-action grip that releases with just a squeeze.
NS Tri-Action Capo
This capo’s geometry reduces the force needed to open and close it. It provides even tension regardless of neck profile, and side-to-side string-pull is virtually eliminated thanks to a micrometer tension adjustment and direct horizontal pressure.
Performance 2
This capo’s squeeze-on/squeeze-off action allows quick single-handed movement. Wraparound rubber protects the guitar’s finish, while the grooved barre rubber permits fine-tuning once the capo is set.
Chrome Finish with Koa Inlay
Available in a wide variety of finish/inlay options, this capo has a “reverse action” design that makes it easy to apply via the same pinching action used to finger a barre chord. The included tuning kit contains a range of fret pads to match varying fretboard radiuses.
14535 Capo
This die-cast zinc capo accommodates nearly any 6- or 12-string guitar with a curved fretboard. The parallel clamping mechanism and adjustable contact pressure minimize string bend while attaching the capo.
Glider Capo
This capo can be pushed or pulled via its back roller for uninterrupted playing and seamless key changes, all while staying in tune. When no capo is needed, simply roll it up over the nut.
Diamond Pedals Dark Cloud
True to the Diamond design ethos of our dBBD’s hybrid analog architecture, Dark Cloud unlocks a new frontier in delay technology which was once deemed unobtainable by standard BBD circuit.
Powered by an embedded system, the Dark Cloud seamlessly blends input and output signals, crafting Tape, Harmonic, and Reverse delays with the organic warmth of analog companding and the meticulous precision of digital control.
Where analog warmth meets digital precision, the Dark Cloud redefines delay effects to create a pedal like no other
But by gosh, if delay—and its sister effect, reverb—haven’t always been perfect for the music I like to write and play. Which brings us to the Fishman EchoBack Mini Delay. The EchoBack, along with the standard delay controls of level, time, and repeats—as well as a tap tempo—has a toggle to alternate between analog, tape, and digital-delay voices.
I hooked up my Washburn Bella Tono Elegante to my Blues Junior to give the EchoBack a test run. We love a medium delay—my usual preference for delay settings is to have both level and repeats at 1 o’clock, and time at 11 o’clock. With the analog voice switched on, I heard some pillowy warmth in the processed signal, as well as a familiar degradation with each repeat—until their wake gave way to a gentle, distant, crinkly ticking. Staying on analog and adjusting delay time down to 8 o’clock and repeats to about 11:30, some cozy slapback enveloped my rendition of Johnny Marr’s part to “Back to the Old House,” conjuring up thoughts of Elvis trapped in a small chamber, but in a good way. It sounded indubitably authentic. The one drawback of analog delay for me, generally, is that its roundness can feel a bit under water at times.
Switching over to tape, that pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top. With the settings at the medium-length mode listed above, I could see the empty, glass hall the pedal sent my sound bouncing down. I heard several pronounced pings of repeats before the signal fully faded out. On slapback settings (time at 8 o’clock, repeats at 11:30), rather than Elvis, I heard something more along the lines of a honky-tonk mic in a glass bottle. Still relatively crystalline, which actually was not my favorite. I like a bit more crinkle—so maybe analog is my bag....“That pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear, pristine replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top.”
Next up, digital. Here we have the brightest voice, and as expected, the most faithful repeats. They ping just a few times before shifting to a smooth, single undulating wave. When putting its slapback hat on, I found that the effect was a bit less alluring than I’d observed for the analog and tape voices. This is where the digital delay felt a little too sterile, with the cleanly preserved signal feeling a bit unnatural.
All in all, I dig the EchoBack for its replications of analog and tape voices, and ultimately, lean towards tape. While it’s nice having the digital delay there as an option, it feels a bit too clean when meddling with time of any given length. Nonetheless, this is surely a handy stomp for any acoustic player looking to venture into the land of live effects, or for those who are already there.
