Aclam The Mocker

Aclam The Mocker is a fuzz pedal from Spanish maker Aclam that puts the built-in fuzz circuit of a 1966 Vox UL730 amplifier into a stompbox. It is a faithful replica of the internal fuzz circuit of Aclam's own UL730, serial number 3042¹. Aclam describes it as an extended version of the original Vox UL series fuzz circuit while retaining its essence¹.

The original amp's fuzz was a preset effect with no knobs, switched on and off from an external footswitch¹. The Mocker gives that fixed circuit three controls, Volume, Bias and Tone, and clips the signal with the same New Old Stock Philips OA200 diodes found in the UL amp series¹.

What it does: the fuzz inside a Vox UL730 amp

The Vox UL730 is a 1966 amplifier¹. The UL amp series was among the first Vox amps to feature a built-in distortion circuit controlled by a footswitch³. In the amp, the fuzz is a preset with no adjustable parameters, controlled via an external footswitch², so the pedal's job is to reproduce that fixed sound and then give the player some control over it.

Aclam says the Bias knob is where the character lives. Turned counterclockwise, the fuzz becomes gated and spluttery, with notes decaying quickly to dead silence, which Aclam says is the behavior found on their own UL730¹. Mid-range Bias settings are open, with plenty of gain and sustain, and full Bias gives a compressed sound with a PWM component³. The pedal uses hard clipping through the N.O.S. Philips OA200 diodes, the same diodes used in the Vox UL series¹.

Aclam also suggests the pedal can nail Beatles tones from the 1966 to 1967 era, especially paired with its Dr. Robert overdrive, another pedal built around the same amp¹. Premier Guitar, reviewing a different Aclam release, described the Mocker as the pedal "which aped the fuzz circuit from that amp"⁵.

The controls: Volume, Bias and Tone

Guitar.com's news coverage called the Bias and Tone controls intuitive, noting they let you faithfully recreate classic effects or experiment with textures⁶. Delicious Audio reported that the Bias and Tone controls can take the pedal from vintage to modern⁷, and Pedal of the Day singled out the Bias control as capable of landing on many musical terrains, from vintage to modern, by tweaking a single knob⁸.

Power and placement

The Mocker runs on a 9V DC center-negative power supply with the standard Boss-type 2.1mm connector, and must be powered by a supply, with no battery option¹³. Aclam specifies a 50 mA minimum supply, while the pedal itself draws approximately 12 mA¹².

Unlike many vintage-style fuzzes that need to sit first in the chain, Aclam states that The Mocker is not particularly affected by buffers and can be placed anywhere in your signal chain². It has one input jack and one output jack³.

History: a 1966 amp and NOS OA200 diodes

The Mocker was originally planned as a limited run. The original run was built around the first batch of NOS Philips OA200 diodes, which allowed Aclam to build 200 pedals¹. Production later continued after a second batch of genuine NOS OA200s was found¹.

The enclosure follows the same period logic. Aclam painted The Mocker with a Hammerite finish, the same finish used on most British fuzz boxes of that period and on the Vox UL series footswitches¹, and Pedal of the Day called the gray Hammerite finish a tribute to the '60s British fuzzboxes⁸. The pedal uses a custom light aluminum enclosure designed to fit Aclam's Smart Track pedalboards³.

In the box:

• 1 x The Mocker pedal
• 1 x Anti-sliding rubber pad
• 1 x Velcro pad³

The product is covered by a two-year warranty from the purchase date, under Spanish legislation, applicable with proof of purchase and the serial number³.

What reviewers said

Pedal of the Day reviewed the pedal in January 2024, calling it "a seemingly simple three-knob fuzz distortion" that is "ready to nail the tones from the '66s and '67s era plus many more"⁸. The reviewer's verdict on the faithfulness of the reproduction:

Pedal of the Day, January 2024⁸

Delicious Audio covered the launch, describing The Mocker as a faithful replica of the UL730's internal fuzz circuit utilizing the same New Old Stock OA200 diodes found in the Vox UL series⁷.

On That Pedal Show, Mick Taylor and Daniel Steinhardt looked at the UL730 itself and the Aclam pedals built around it, with Taylor explaining the amp's 1966 design as a solid-state preamp in a valve power section⁹.

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Versions and availability

The initial run was 200 units, sold out in four days; units from serial number 201 onwards carry the power warning feature¹. Aclam's store page lists the pedal at $248.31 USD as of October 2026⁴, and a Scratch & Dent listing on the same store is marked sold out¹⁰.

Videos

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Questions