Malekko Wolftone Chaos

The Malekko Wolftone Chaos is a fuzz/distortion pedal designed by Todd Wolfgram, who created the original Wolftone Helium and Chaos with Studio Electronics back in the early 2000s. Malekko Heavy Industries enlisted Wolfgram to bring back the Helium and the Chaos, and the Chaos is the pedal covered here. Premier Guitar's reviewer called it "not your typical fuzz/distortion," and the tones back that up: players often describe them as "ring-mod-like," ranging from radical to understated, with a squelchy, envelope-filtered kind of ring-mod distortion and almost octave-like fuzz with a "really nice filtered afterglow."¹

Where it came from

The story starts with Studio Electronics. In the early 2000s, pedal designer Todd Wolfgram and Studio Electronics introduced the Wolftone Helium and Chaos, a pair of pedals built around Wolfgram's circuit ideas. The Malekko version is a revival: Malekko Heavy Industries brought Wolfgram in to bring back the Helium and the Chaos, so the current pedal traces directly to the original design rather than reinterpreting it.¹

What it does to your sound

Premier Guitar's reviewer summed up the pedal as "Incredibly unique tones," and found it was "not a one-trick pony," calling it "much more than a simple replication of the original" in tones and versatility. The pedal can "nail ring-modulated fuzz," and many players reach for terms like "ring-mod-like" to describe what it does, though it can also sit far more quietly in a rig, from radical sounds to understated ones.¹

Controls and circuit

The panel is simple: three knobs controlling entropy, drive, and volume, and a true-bypass footswitch.¹

Under the hood, the circuit contains a transformer typically found in octave-up circuits like the Tycobrahe Octavia, though the Wolftone Chaos is not an octave-up unit, and it uses a lot of diodes. That hardware explains some of the octave-adjacent character in its sound without making it an octave fuzz.¹

Power and practical points

The pedal takes a standard 9V connection jack, and it also has an internal battery connector, so it can run on a battery inside the enclosure.¹

One behavior worth knowing before you put it on a board: unlike most fuzz pedals, it does not gate unless you set it to do so. Fuzzes often clamp down hard when you stop playing; the Chaos lets notes decay on their own unless you deliberately set it to gate.¹

What reviewers said

Premier Guitar's review is the published verdict on record, and it is positive on the pedal's range: incredibly unique tones, an ability to nail ring-modulated fuzz, and versatility that makes it much more than a simple replication of the original Studio Electronics tones.¹

If you are comparing it within Malekko's fuzz line, the company also makes the Malekko Barker Assmaster, the Malekko B:Assmaster, and the Malekko Omicron Fuzz, and you can see how the Chaos sits among them on the Fuzz Pedals page.

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