EarthQuaker Devices Sea Machine V3 Chorus Pedal

The Earthquaker Devices 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 Intensity, which sets how strongly the LFO modulates the delay time.

The delay line has controls for Dimension, Animate, and Depth. 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. Finally, the Depth 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.

The Sea Machine was designed to work well following fuzz / overdrive / distortion pedals without getting muddy, lowering in output, or breaking up. 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.

V3 UPDATES:

• Improved circuitry for better performance, cleaner sound, and lower noise
• More range added to almost every control from subtle modulation to extreme oscillation
• Silent relay-based switching

Controls:

• Rate: Sets the speed of the LFO. The miniature LED will show the tempo even in bypass mode
• Shape: From soft triangle through hard square wave
• Dimension: Adds a slight slap-back at low levels, reverb-like ambiance at mid levels and an echo-resonance at max
• Intensity: How much the LFO modulates the delay time
• Animate: How far the pitch shifted signal swings, lower levels equals 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
• Depth: How much modulated signal is blended in with the dry signal

Power:

Earthquaker pedals take a standard 9 volt DC power supply with a 2.1 mm negative center barrel. It is always recommended that pedal-specific, transformer-isolated wall-wart power supplies or multiple isolated-output supplies are used. 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!