Sea Machine
The Sea Machine™ is a chorus pedal with as many modulation possibilities as there are fish in the ocean. That’s a lot of fish. And a lot of modulation. From subtle, shimmery chorus sounds, to wobbly, seasick, warbly pitch-bent detuning that rocks the boat, the Sea Machine is the audio bait that’ll help you reel in the big one.
The Sea Machine ain’t no one-trick seahorse. A variable waveshape LFO [adjustable via the Shape control] modulates your chorus tone from a smooth triangle shape, to a rough and choppy square wave, and an extended delay line allows you to dive deeper into uncharted modulated waters than ever before. Other LFO controls include Rate, which sets the speed of the LFO, and Depth, which sets how strongly the LFO modulates the delay time.
The delay line has controls for Dimension, Animate, and Intensity. The Dimension control adds a slightly detuned slapback at low levels, reverb-like ambience at mid-levels, and a trippy echo-resonance that leads to self-oscillation when cranked. The Animate control is the real pearl in the Sea Machine’s oyster, if you will. This controls how far the pitch swings. At lower settings, you’ll hear slight detuning for a subtle double-tracked thickening effect, á la traditional chorus pedals. As you increase the Animate control, the pitch swings further and further away from the root note for an effect that lies somewhere between chorus and vibrato, before landing at full tilt on sonar-like oscillations that sound more like a giant monster-movie beast awaking from its undersea slumber than any effects pedal we’ve ever heard. Finally, the Intensity control rounds out the delay line, adjusting the blend between the modulated and dry signals.
With this mix of standard and unique controls, everything from subtle warble, classic Leslie, seasick pitch bends, strangled alien sounds, stunted arpeggiations and many more far out sounds are available. Or you could just use it as a chorus. That works, too. Oh, and if you’re a bass player who fancies themselves a fan of the classic 80s post-punk bass sound, the Sea Machine is pretty much just like (tone) heaven.
We’ve designed the Sea Machine to work well following fuzz / overdrive / distortion pedals without getting muddy, lowering in output, or breaking up, because we like running distortion pedals into things. Also, when engaged, the Sea Machine’s transparent buffer leaves the all-analog dry signal unaltered and crystal clear.
The Sea Machine is true-bypass, uses silent relay-based switching, and is built one at a time in the belly of the great white whale along the shores of the Ohio & Erie Canal in Akron, Ohio, USA.
Start Up
To start with a basic chorus sound, keep the Dimension, Shape and Animate fully counterclockwise (off), set the Depth and Rate around noon and adjust Intensity to taste. Slowly add in the Dimension to give it more atmosphere, bring in the Animate to make it more wild, turn up the Shape to destroy it. For best results, place after dirt pedals and before any signal boosters.
Controls
Animate: How far the pitch shifted signal swings, lower levels equal a tighter and more focused shift à la traditional chorus. As you increase the control a more wild and animated pitch shift begins to emerge.
Dimension: Adds a slight slap-back at low levels, reverb-like ambiance at mid levels and an echo-resonance that will lead to self-oscillation at max.
Intensity: Adjusts how much modulated signal is blended in with the dry signal. Unity for this control is right around noon, everything above that is boosting the modulated signal.
Depth: Adjusts how strongly the LFO modulates the delay time.
Shape: Goes from triangle wave to square wave as you turn clockwise.
Rate: This sets the speed of the LFO. The miniature LED will blink to the tempo, even in bypass mode.
Power
This device takes a standard 9 volt DC power supply with a 2.1 mm negative center barrel. We always recommend pedal-specific, transformer-isolated wall-wart power supplies or multiple isolated-output supplies. Pedals will make extra noise if there is ripple or unclean power. Switching-type power supplies, daisy chains and non-pedal specific power supplies do not filter dirty power as well and let through unwanted noise. Do not run at higher voltages!
Current Draw: 40 mA
Input Impedance: 10 MΩ
Output Impedance: <1 kΩ
Flexi-Switch® Technology
This device features Flexi-Switch Technology! This relay-based, true bypass switching style allows you to simultaneously use momentary and latching-style switching.
For standard latching operation, tap the footswitch once to activate the effect and then tap again to bypass.
For momentary operation, hold the footswitch down for as long as you’d like to use the effect. Once you release the switch, the effect will be bypassed.
Since the switching is relay-based, it requires power to pass signal.
Warranty
This device has a limited lifetime warranty. If it breaks, we will fix it. Should you encounter any issues, please visit www.earthquakerdevices.com/warranty.