Dreadbox Disorder

The Dreadbox Disorder is an analog filter fuzz effect pedal: a vintage transistor based aggressive gated fuzz feeding a synth-style resonant filter that can self-oscillate¹. Dreadbox, a Greek maker formerly known as Freaqbox, built it for guitar, bass and synthesizers, and describes it as a wildly aggressive fuzz pedal with a self-oscillating filter, designed for players who crave intensity, chaos and unpredictability².

What makes the Disorder different from most fuzz pedals is the filter half of the circuit. Guitar.com's reviewer described it as a full-on CMOS fuzz with a separate envelope-following filter circuit, a filter that works the way synth filters do, meaning low pass with resonance³⁴. The filter accommodates both low pass and high pass via a single cutoff knob, and pushing the feedback up can drive the filter into self-oscillation, at which point it makes sound on its own⁵. Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio found the new filter can produce mid-range telephone-style tones, screaming fuzz or upper-range mosquito buzz sounds³.

A gated fuzz into a resonant filter

The Disorder pairs two stages. The first is a vintage transistor gated fuzz, the kind that cuts off when your signal drops below a threshold, leaving silences between notes instead of a wall of hiss¹⁵. The second is what Dreadbox calls an Advanced Oscillating Low Pass or High Pass Filter: a resonant filter like the ones on analog synthesizers, which follows the envelope of your playing and can be pushed into self-oscillation with the Feedback knob¹⁵.

The pedal has two operating modes. In fixed mode you set the cutoff and it stays there. In envelope mode the filter moves with your playing, with notes and chords getting either brighter or darker as they fade, depending on the polarity you select⁷. The Envelop toggle on the newer version reverses the direction of the filter's sweep, so that in low pass mode the filter stays shut when a note is played and progressively opens toward the cutoff point, producing a synthy swell effect³.

Dreadbox states the pedal works well on both regular guitars and bass guitars, and the maker's own description covers all three: guitar, bass and synths²⁵. Gearnews reported the maker giving examples of great low end response for bass guitars and a screaming high pass for guitars⁵. The input accepts a wide range of levels, and an inner trimmer sets the gain of the effect, which is what lets the same box handle passive guitar pickups and hot synth outputs².

The controls

The Disorder keeps its control set small, five knobs plus a toggle, which is part of why Delicious Audio called it a pretty cool pedal that delivers a wide range of creative sounds without being overly complicated²³.

The newer version also adds a Sens knob, which outputs CV through the Sensitivity control, letting the pedal talk to synthesizers and other CV gear³⁸.

CV, expression and synths

The Disorder carries CV patch points, which is unusual for a guitar pedal and reflects Dreadbox's background in synthesizers. The filters can be controlled from an external device via CV, but not with a standard expression pedal, as Guitar.com's Richard Purvis noted in the site's fuzz buying guide⁷. In the other direction, the Disorder V2 outputs CV through its Sensitivity knob, so it can drive other CV equipment, which is why it appears in Delicious Audio's roundup of pedals for synths with CV in and out³⁸. For players building around synth pedals or filter pedals, that two-way CV makes the Disorder more of a system module than a simple stompbox.

Where it came from

The Disorder is not a new design. The original version dates back to 2014, when Dreadbox was still making pedals under its earlier identity³. After almost a decade focused on its synth line, the company returned to stompboxes in the early 2020s, and the reborn Disorder arrived in May 2022³⁵⁴. The new version adds an Envelop toggle that reverses the direction of the filter's sweep³. As of October 2026 the current version lists at 123.00 EUR exc VAT⁶¹.

What reviewers said

Guitar.com reviewed the Disorder in May 2022, describing it as an analog fuzz and envelope filter pedal made in Greece⁴. Delicious Audio's Paolo De Gregorio, covering the V2, summed it up:

Guitar.com's fuzz buying guide includes the Disorder alongside its coverage of the fuzz field, noting the CV control of the filters as its distinctive capability, while pointing out the limitation that a standard expression pedal will not work with them⁷.

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