Up-to-date information will soon be available in Yek's Guide to the Fractal Audio Amplifier Models
CAPT HOOK: based on HOOK Captain 34
This post is based on Quantum 4.01 Public Beta firmware. Things can change in the final release.
The CAPT HOOK models are based on the Captain 34 by HOOK. This is a brand of boutique guitar amps, started by Leendert Haaksma (picture below), one of Holland’s finest guitar players, well-known for his work with the singer Anouk and many others artists and bands. The amps are built by
Erik van der Haar.
The Captain 34 (V2) is HOOK's flagship amp. It’s a 100 watts 3-channel EL34-based amp with 12AX7 preamp tubes. Based on a 100 watts Plexi but adding its own vibe and a great clean channel. Hand-made with high-quality components.
HOOK:
“The Captain 34 is a 3 channel all-tube guitar amplifier with a plexi style EL34 poweramp.
The power supply was redesigned to give that nice compression like you are turning your levels all the way up, even at lower volumes.
This amp sucks the tone right out of your fingers!! You must feel it to believe it.
The clean channel has sparkling clean with heaps of dynamics and a well balanced tone with smooth bass response and shimmering bell like highs. The EQ has some special features, a bright switch for extra highs and a eq cut function bypassing the tone circuit for extra gain and mid boost. There is also a (foot)switchable boost function giving just that extra gain for a texas tone. The clean channel works great with pedals too.
The second channel has 2 different modes; normal and boost. The sound differs from light crunch through fat blues distortion to old school fat overdrive. This channel has its own gain and level knobs and shares the EQ with the 3rd channel. In addition to that there is an edge switch wich you can use to create more modern rock sounds.
The lead channel has 2 different modes; a normal and a boost.In comparison to second channel this sound is more British voiced.This channel starts with crunch to vintage tube overdrive. In the boost mode more gain added for extra punch and sustain. The edge switch works also on the 3rd channel.”
Richard Hallebeek, another fine Dutch pro player and longtime Fractal Audio artist, plays the Captain 34. His remarks:
"That HOOK is my amp that I sent to Cliff for modeling it and using it in the new firmware. I did a tour with Guthrie and Jose de Castro through Holland and Germany a couple of years ago and then we all played through this amp. It's my main amp for some time now when I play live. It's capable of smooth distortion but also bluesy lead tones. We used a 2 x 12" HOOK cabinet with V30's at that time.”
“The HOOK has a big sounding clean channel that's great for pedals. The blues tones are there, but with a gain pedal in front, it has a very open high gain lead tone.”
"Leendert Haaksma, who builds these amps, sent the latest version of the head to Cliff."
Cliff:
"This amp uses a mu follower which yields a complex distortion with smooth decay. The “Rhy” model is based on channel 2 and the “Lead” model is based on channel 3. Both channels are modeled with the Edge switch on and the Boost switch off. To simulate the Boost switch use the Boost switch in the amp block as it has the same amount of gain."
Review in German magazine Gitarre und Bass.
We have models of channels 2 (model: RHY) and 3 (model: LEAD). The models are based on the head version.
The amp has a single input. Channels 2 and 3 have separate gain and level controls, and shared Bass/Mid/Treble controls and switches. The switches are Boost and Edge. Boost has not been modeled, just use the amp block's Boost parameter instead. Edge alters the midrange, and was enabled when the amp was modeled. The amp also has Presence and Balls (resonance/depth) controls.
About the speakers: here's Richard Hallebeek again:
"I use smaller cabinets with G12 M Greenbacks and the 4x12" cabinet has Celestion V30's. I would recommend to try both to see what fits your taste. V30's have more of a sizzling high that's suitable if you are looking for a more high gain rock sound from the HOOK."
A selection of YouTube videos:
More audio clips:
http://www.hookamps.com/captain34Iphone.php
