C Mandel (hand-assembled) Dutch Kazoo

The Dutch Kazoo is an all-analog overdrive pedal, hand-assembled by C Mandel, that reaches from slight overdrive into heavily saturated fuzz. Its circuit is a two-stage design: each stage has its own volume knob and a blend pot that sets how much that stage contributes to the clipping, so the player can shape the drive character stage by stage rather than with a single gain control¹. Vintage Guitar called it "a great-sounding OD/fuzz pedal"¹.

How the two stages work

The four-knob layout is simple: vol 1, vol 2, blend, and tone³. Each volume knob sets the relative drive of its own stage, and the blend pots set each stage's contribution to the clipping¹. The two drive controls work in different parts of the frequency range, which is what gives the pedal its range of characters:

• Drive 1 works mainly on the low and mid frequencies¹
• Drive 2 works on the upper-mids and highs¹
• Tone affects the signal from both drive stages, and, unlike a lot of overdrive pedals, has a noticeable effect¹

Delicious Audio's demo video described the range it covers as "a palette of tones from slight overdrive to heavily saturated psychedelic fuzz to metallic noise"². For a player, that means the same pedal can sit at the front of an overdrive pedal chain for light grit or be pushed toward what you would expect from fuzz pedals, depending on how the two stages are balanced.

Build, bypass and power

The housing is made from a routed-out block of solid hardwood, capped by a .125-inch-thick aluminum control plate, and the pedal is about the size of a wah pedal¹. It is painted white with blue, leafy designs that might feature bats, foxes, a female Cyclops, or kazoos¹. Delicious Audio listed five graphic designs: Fox, Cyclops, Kazoos, Flowers, and Bats².

The single 3DPT stomp switch is true bypass and sits well out of the way of the knob controls¹. The LED that shows the pedal is in the signal path is easy to see even in natural sunlight¹.

Power comes from a 9-volt battery or a Boss-style wall-wart transformer, and the power supply is not included¹.

What reviewers said

Vintage Guitar's March 2014 review found the pedal unusually quiet for an overdrive, even with both volume knobs cranked¹. The same review summed it up this way:

Delicious Audio's demo, presented by Paolo De Gregorio, called it one of the prettiest and biggest pedals to take part in the Brooklyn Stompbox Exhibit, and credited the circuit design to "high-flying high-fi guru JC Morrison"².

Videos

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