I think it was in 2013 when I first visited Chicago Music Exchange. I was there on business, meeting with our Distributor, but I was also trying to have some fun too. I lived in Chicago for a year back in 1986 so I was pretty surprised by the change in the neighborhoods around CME. If you haven’t ever been to CME I highly recommend a visit. It is an amazing store and I could have spent days there.

When I was there they had a pedal table/case that was probably 5’ x 15’ and covered with pedals. I’ve always been a fuzz guy and so I immediately focused in on what fuzzes they had. Right off the bat I could tell that I either already owned, or had already tried, 90% of the fuzzes they had on display. I went down the line a picked up about 4 fuzzes to try out, when I reached the end of the table I saw a dead mint Maestro FZ1-S. These fuzzes are pretty rare, and finding one in that condition even rarer still – Not a scratch on it. I had never tried one before so I put the other four fuzzes down, grabbed it and went back to their practice booths.

I spent the next 45 minutes going over that fuzz with a fine-tooth comb (I have a combo screwdriver on my keychain), ignoring everyone that had come with me to the store. I knew that the next DOD fuzz had to be a take on this circuit. Of the two modes, one was just the right balance of trashy and fuzzy. I was immediately reminded of trippy ’70’s biker exploitation film soundtracks.

I knew I had to have it. I went to the counter and asked the sale guy for a price and he came back with $450, firm. Not a chance. Not happening. I reluctantly left the store without this prize fuzz. When I got back home I debated with my wife whether I should have let it go. We decided we could stretch financially and that it would be my Christmas and Birthday present. I called CME and asked if I could buy it. Nope, sold…

It was at least another year before I found one that I could afford. It was NOT in mint condition LOL. I still have it. Anyway, not having one didn’t stop me from beginning work on the then unnamed DOD version of this circuit. I found a schematic online and had Parker breadboard it. I built a version on tagboard based on our bread-boarded version. I still have it around here somewhere. And so on, into Iteration Land. We added a clipping stage, changed the voicing of both modes, added power-filtering, changed most of the part values, changed the taper of the pots, etc. etc. etc.

It took us both about a year of fiddling and numerous changes before we felt like we had it right. The graphic was from a dream that I had, when I awoke I drew it out on a 3×5 card. I gave the drawing to our graphic designer Joel and he created the final graphic for the pedal from that drawing. I had been reading A LOT of Robert Chambers and Ambrose Bierce at the time, and the inspiration for the pedal name and graphic obviously came directly from that type of early 19th Century Cosmic Horror. I also incorporated these influences into all of the product and marketing copy I wrote for the pedal.

— Tom Cram