The Fuzzrocious Electric Ocean is a fuzz and phaser in one pedal, built in collaboration with Dunwich Amplification and announced in November 2021. It was Fuzzrocious' first phaser, and the company described it as a love letter to the Roland AP-7 while stating plainly that it is not a clone of, nor based on, that unit1. For a player, it means two effects that can share one enclosure, one power supply and one footswitch, with toggles that decide how they interact.
A fuzz and phaser in one pedal
The phaser is driven by an Operational Transconductance Amplifier, an OTA, which Fuzzrocious said gives it a classic chewy and steady sound; Premier Guitar's reviewer likewise identified it as a six-stage OTA-driven circuit12. Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio described the result as a chewy, stable phaser with a tight fuzz that keeps its mids present through the tone sweep1. Premier Guitar's reviewer said the phaser can "go from satisfying warm, slow ooze to fast ray-gun vibrato sounds"2.
The fuzz side is a midrange-focused silicon Fuzz Face-style circuit, which the reviewer found pairs well with the phase circuit2. The enclosure is decorated with neon pink and yellow seahorses, and at 5.75" x 4.75" the reviewer noted it takes up more pedalboard room than some players will like2.
The controls and footswitches
The pedal carries two footswitches and a small set of knobs and toggles. The two yellow knobs control fuzz volume and tone2.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Right footswitch | Turns the phaser and the fuzz on together at once; there are no separate footswitches for the two effects1 |
| Left footswitch | Alternates between two different speeds set through the two Phase rate controls12 |
| Two yellow knobs | Fuzz volume and fuzz tone2 |
| Effect Order toggle | Reverses the order of the two effects: fuzz into phaser, or phaser into fuzz1 |
| Fuzz On/Off toggle | Turns the fuzz off so the phaser can be used by itself1 |
| Internal trim pot | Alters the phase voice via a bandpass filter2 |
The two toggles sit at the top of the pedal, where they select the fuzz/phase order and turn the fuzz on and off2. Top-mounted jacks keep the connections out of the way of the knobs1.
What the toggles and trim pot mean in practice
Because the right footswitch brings both effects up together, the Fuzz On/Off toggle is the way to hear the phaser on its own1. The Effect Order toggle then decides whether the phase sweep happens before or after the fuzz, two arrangements that put the OTA phaser and the Fuzz Face-style clipping in a different relationship to each other1.
The internal trim pot is the deeper voicing control. "To my ears, the trim pot yielded the widest range of tones in the middle setting, so I left it there," Premier Guitar's reviewer wrote2.
Power and where it came from
The Electric Ocean runs at 9V DC output center negative power only1. The pedal was designed with Nicholas Williams of Dunwich Amplification, and Fuzzrocious called it "our first foray into phasers"1. On the Roland AP-7 connection, the company's position was: "This pedal is not a clone of, nor is it based on the AP-7, but rather a love letter to it."1
Premier Guitar also filmed a First Look with Nick Millevoi, published in October 2021, showing the pedal in action3.
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Questions
Can the Electric Ocean run the phaser without the fuzz?
Yes. A Fuzz On/Off toggle turns the fuzz off so the phaser can be used by itself. The two effects share a single footswitch that turns them on together, so the toggle is the way to hear the phaser alone. The phaser is an OTA-driven, six-stage circuit that reviewers described as chewy and stable, with a sound ranging from warm, slow ooze to fast vibrato.
What does the effect order toggle do?
The Effect Order toggle reverses the order of the two effects inside the pedal. You can run the fuzz into the phaser or the phaser into the fuzz. The two arrangements put the phase shifting before or after the fuzz clipping, which changes how the swept phase interacts with the distorted signal.
What does the internal trim pot do?
An internal trim pot alters the phase voice via a bandpass filter. Premier Guitar's reviewer found the widest range of tones in the middle setting and left it there. Adjusting it requires taking the pedal off the board or reaching inside, so it is a set-and-forget control rather than a performance one.
Who designed the Electric Ocean?
The pedal was designed by Fuzzrocious in collaboration with Nicholas Williams of Dunwich Amplification. Fuzzrocious described it as the company's first foray into phasers, and said the pedal is not a clone of, nor based on, the Roland AP-7, but rather a love letter to it.
Sources (3)
- Fuzzrocious Electric Ocean Fuzz+Phaser, Delicious Audio, 2021-11-10
- Fuzzrocious Electric Ocean Review, Premier Guitar, 2021-11-01
- First Look: Fuzzrocious Electric Ocean, Premier Guitar, 2021-10-14
