DOD
CARCOSA
FUZZ
REVIEW BY NICK RAMBO
STREET PRICE $99.00
Along the shore the cloud
waves break,
The twin suns sink behind
the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.
—Cassilda’s Song, “The
King in Yellow” | Act 1,
Scene 2
Strange way to start a
review for a fuzz pedal,
right? Well gather ‘round—
we’re about to talk about
the preternatural origins
of Carcosa, an ancient,
mysterious city that’s
home to The King in
Yellow, bringer of madness
and doom in Robert W.
Chambers’s book of the
same name from 1895.
Madness and doom. Now
50
GEAR REVIEW
//
we’re getting somewhere.
Because it is that awesome.
I have this habit. See, when
I find a fuzz pedal I like, I
can’t stop playing it. For
instance, there’s been a
single fuzz pedal on my
personal pedalboard—the
same fuzz pedal—for more
than three-and-a-half years.
The fuzz pedal before that
lasted just as long. I say
all this to inform you that
I can’t stop playing the
Carcosa. It landed with a
small pile of other killer
pedals for me to review
and it’s the only one I care
about right now. I can’t stop
playing it.
The first knob on the
Carcosa, labeled Before,
is a fairly standard fuzz
control: roll it right for lots
of fuzz, left for less. The
overall character of the
fuzz is decidedly vintage
to my ears, which makes
sense, considering that the
Carcosa finds its roots in
the hallowed Maestro FZ-1S
Fuzz Tone. And though you
can certainly hear shades
of that design, the Carcosa
has, well, more chaos in it.
A TALE OF WHOA
Why?
DOD Carcosa Fuzz
OVERVIEW
But make no mistake—
this is no one trick pony. If
you’re a player who likes
to ride the volume knob
on your guitar for varying