Xploration • Curation • Recommendation
First new DOD pedal in years is the Chthonic Dark Silicon Fuzz - specially designed for Bright Low-Output Single Coil Pickups
Key Points
Chthonic Dark Silicon Fuzz (pronounced Thaw-nik) is a thick, dark silicon fuzz voiced for bright, low‑output single‑coil pickups and bright clean amp channels, supposedly based on a 2016 prototype. Tom Cram and team produce it; a 2019 Chthonic Dual Fuzz (rnrmf/Kink) shares the name but connection is unclear.
Controls: Fuzz, Output, Lustre (Brightness/Cut) — Lustre can dial out brightness and thus affect humbucker response. Tone notes: richly harmonic, deep, dense; compared to DOD Carcosa and Loe Sounds BLow Fuzz. Price: $149 and As of 2026-07-13, the price was £129 (preorder). For electrical safety or modification, consult a qualified tech.
Nice to see Tom Cram back on top of things - and this new fuzz surely has his fingerprints all over it! Funnily though this is not the first / only pedal to bear this name ’Chthonic’ - as a 2019 collaboration between rnrmf guitarworks and Kink guitar pedals produced a ’Chthonic Dual Fuzz’ back then - one side engineered by rnrmf, and the other by Kink! I’m not clear what if any connection there is between those two fuzz pedals - but interesting to note that said rather unusual moniker has been in circulation before!
The Chthonic (pronounced Thaw-nik) Fuzz - is a thick dark silicon fuzz made specifically for bright low-output single coil pickups and bright clean amp channels - supposedly based on an original prototype from 2016 that never quite made it into production before now.
Seems like there is quite a few pedals these days specially honed for single coil pickups - where the irony is that the common wisdom states those pickups are typically better sounding with most fuzzes. And we probably rather need more fuzzes optimised for humbuckers - but hey ho!
That said, there is at least one concession here to humbuckers in the guise of the 3rd Lustre control - which is rather described as being able to dial out some of the brightness - and therefore conversely dial in a little more on the other extreme I would suppose.
Controls - Fuzz, Output, Lustre (Brightness/Cut).
Tom Cram and team have done a brilliant job on this - and it’s a great companion to the already legendary DOD Carcosa Fuzz - with a somewhat different texture to that. It’s thick, richly harmonic, deep, dark and dense texture sounds rather beautiful - and it has pretty decent guitar volume gain cleanup supposedly - brings to mind my recent Loe Sounds BLow Fuzz a touch - which I really love.
Pricing here is $149 I believe - where I’ve seen £129 preorders on some UK retailer sites - so a really good buy I would say! Definitely goes straight down on the wishlist. When it comes to fuzzes - Tom really doesn’t put a foot wrong. And while obviously better for single coils - I still think I can make it work for my main guitar!
What say all of you?
Demos
