The Dr. No Effects Crystal Boost is a high end clean boost pedal, built by hand at the company's headquarters in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. It was released officially in August 2017 as the first result of a collaboration between Dr. No and the artist Koen Fu, who took up an artist in residence post at the Eindhoven workshop in 2017. Dr. No designed the circuitry and tweaked it to Koen Fu's sonic preferences, while Koen Fu handled the pedal's concept and graphic design1.
A clean boost built by hand in Eindhoven
As a boost pedal, the Crystal Boost is a clean boost rather than an overdrive: Dr. No describes it as "a high end clean boost pedal," developed in house21. The maker states that every single device is hand built from fine components and personally bench tested, and that the units were hand packed in silk screened, environment friendly packaging by Koen Fu and "the Doc"1.
The collaboration behind it has a pattern: Dr. No Effects has since worked with other artists on limited pedals, including the Troy van Leeuwen "TVL" Raven Filter and Boost and later limited editions, but the Crystal Boost was the pedal that opened the KFC series1.
The KFC Crystal Boost limited edition
The pedal Dr. No's webshop now lists is the 2017 Archive KFC Crystal Boost Sauce Dispenser, the limited edition version of the Crystal Boost. The webshop describes it as a KFC "Sauce Dispenser" "Crystal Boost" guitar pedal, (hand) made and developed at Dr. No Effects headquarters in collaboration with Koen Fu2.
A few details set this edition apart:
- Limited to 10 units in total2
- Fully handmade, personally packed and signed by Koen Fu and Dr. No2
- A built in Crystal Skull, which the product page says is activated by Koen Fu after purchase2
- Sold only through the maker's own webshop: at the 2017 release, Dr. No stated the pedal was only and exclusively available at shop.drno-effects.com1
The branding carries Koen Fu's stamp beyond the circuit. Premier Guitar's 2017 report noted what is printed on the back of the pedal123:
The back of this "boutique-boutique" boost pedal states KFC is about creating "tools to guide you into the metaphysical realm."3
The KFC Crystal Boost is listed as out of stock on the Dr. No Effects webshop as of the product page's current listing, and with only ten units made in 2017, the run is complete2.
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Where can you buy the Dr. No Crystal Boost?
Dr. No stated at the August 2017 release that the Crystal Boost was only and exclusively available at shop.drno-effects.com, the maker's own webshop. The KFC Crystal Boost product page now shows the pedal as out of stock, so the limited run of ten units has been sold through. Dr. No Effects has a history of revisiting archive designs in small batches, but no restock of the Crystal Boost is documented.
What is the KFC Sauce Dispenser series?
The KFC Sauce Dispenser series is the name Dr. No Effects gave to the line of pedals born from its collaboration with Koen Fu, who worked as artist in residence at the company's Eindhoven headquarters starting in 2017. The Crystal Boost clean boost is the pedal of that series, hand built, hand packed and signed by Koen Fu and Dr. No.
How many KFC Crystal Boost pedals were made?
Ten. The Dr. No Effects webshop lists the 2017 Archive KFC Crystal Boost Sauce Dispenser as a limited edition of only 10 in total, each fully handmade and personally packed and signed by Koen Fu and Dr. No.
Who is Koen Fu?
Koen Fu is the artist who took up a residency at the Dr. No Effects headquarters in Eindhoven in 2017. On the Crystal Boost he worked on the pedal's concept and graphic design, while the circuitry was designed by Dr. No and tweaked to Koen Fu's sonic preferences. Every unit was personally packed and signed by both.
Is the Crystal Boost a clean boost or an overdrive?
It is a clean boost. Both the maker's release and the product page describe it as a high end clean boost pedal, developed in house, rather than an overdrive. Its job is to raise the signal without adding drive of its own, in the manner described on the site's boost pedal type page.
Sources (3)
- NEW RELEASE KFC AND DR. NO EFFECTS "CRYSTAL BOOST"!, Dr. No Effects, 2017-08-30
- DR. NO EFFECTS AND KFC CRYSTAL BOOST, Dr. No effects webshop, 2026-04-25
- Dr. No and Koen Fu Unite for Crystal Boost Pedal, Premier Guitar, 2017-08-28
