Dr. No COLOSSUS

The Dr. No COLOSSUS is a twin pedal that combines a high gain booster with the character of a gritty fuzz and a built-in Octavia fuzz circuit. The two sides can run together or independently, so a player can use the booster alone, the Octavia alone, or stack both for an octave-up fuzz with boost behind it¹. Dr. No Effects describes it as a High Gain Booster with the character of a gritty fuzz, voiced around the guitar tone of Ruben Block of Triggerfinger, who developed the pedal in close cooperation with the maker².

It is a guitar and bass pedal, and Block used it on Triggerfinger's album of the same name, COLOSSUS¹. MusicRadar reported it as a boost and octave fuzz pedal "developed with Triggerfinger guitarist Ruben Block"³.

What it is and what it does

Gearnews described the Colossus as a pedal that "mashes up an octave fuzz and a gritty boost"⁵. The Octavia side is an Octavia-based fuzz, which MusicRadar noted "can operate separately or together" with the boost³. Inside the enclosure are two separate handcrafted and assembled PCBs, one for each side of the pedal¹.

Dr. No Effects frames the sound around its designer: the Colossus is a High Gain Booster with the character of a gritty fuzz, "like we know of Ruben Block's famous guitar tone"². The pedal was developed in close cooperation with Block to broaden that signature sound².

The controls: booster and Octavia sections

Each side of the pedal has its own footswitch and controls, so the two effects can be switched independently¹²³.

Guitar.com reported that the "Octavia Fuzz Volume" control and a two-way "Gain" switch both sit on the side of the pedal, letting you dial in the amount of fuzz⁶. Gearnews likewise described volume, tone, bass and gain knobs on the booster side, plus a side lever for two gain steps and the Octavia volume⁵. The booster's Bass control is worth noting for bass players, since it gives direct low-end shaping on a pedal that Dr. No sells as a guitar and bass pedal¹.

Power and build

The Colossus runs on 9V through a 2.1mm jack, with a current draw the maker lists at 50/100mA¹. The housing has a rustic rust powder coating, hand-screen printed with a custom four-color Art Deco design, and Gearnews found the result appealing: "The Colossus itself looks lovely, with sort of a retro art deco styling"⁵¹. The pedal measures 121mm (4.77in) by 145mm (5.7in)¹.

History and limited runs

The Colossus came out of a collaboration between Dr. No Effects and Ruben Block. The maker dates the original release to 2017⁴, with the pedal shipping at the end of March 2018 and sold directly through the Dr. No Effects site⁵. Premier Guitar's press release listed the original price at €274⁷.

The first run sold out quickly: Dr. No Effects announced it was building full time on a new series available on April 10, 2018 at its shop⁸. Production later halted when the collaboration with the knob manufacturer went wrong, making the original brass knobs impossible to source⁴.

When the pedal returned from the end of July 2019, it shipped with vintage bakelite knobs in a brass color in place of the original custom handmade solid brass knobs, which had been made by an American fine metal worker and were known to oxidize over time⁴². Guitar.com had singled out those original "handmade 'million-dollar looking' brass buttons" at launch⁶.

The original packaging was a hand-screened box in gold and black with a foam inlay².

Who uses it

• Ruben Block (Triggerfinger): designer and documented user. The Colossus was developed in close cooperation with Block, and it can be heard on Triggerfinger's album COLOSSUS, used on both guitar and bass¹⁷.

Dr. No Effects pedals are made entirely by hand by Dr. No⁴. The maker's other fuzz designs include the SkullFuzz and the Octofuzz, alongside the Colossus in the fuzz family.

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