Dr. No Road Runner Octave Fuzz Wah Flying Machina

The Dr. No Road Runner "Octave Fuzz Wah Flying Machina" is a hand-built fuzz and wah pedal with an Octavia-style octave circuit on top, made by the Dutch boutique builder Dr. No Effects. Dr. No describes it as a high-end "old school" Fuzz Wah with Octavia, and the octave-fuzz circuit follows the vintage Octavia approach rather than a modern digital pitch shifter¹². Beneath the pedal's unusual cosmetics, Premier Guitar found "a straightforward octave fuzz/wah effect with a few cool twists"².

The pedal was made for and in collaboration with David Catching, the Eagles of Death Metal guitarist and owner of Rancho de La Luna studio, and it is one of the more recognizable wah, fuzz and octave hybrids on the boutique market¹². MusicRadar has called it "arguably the most famous" pedal of that hybrid type³.

What it does to your sound

The Road Runner combines three vintage effects in one treadle unit: a fuzz, a wah, and an octave-up effect in the Octavia tradition. Gearnews describes the circuit as "based on a classic vintage-style fuzz/wah/octave pedal"⁸. The octave can be switched on and off, but the fuzz and wah are always in the signal path: Dr. No states plainly that "Wah Wah and Octavia Fuzz can not work separately or switched off individually"¹, and Premier Guitar's review confirms you cannot use either alone or invert the effect order².

The octave character is old-school rather than modern. Premier Guitar's reviewer noted that "this octave sound is far subtler than that from later octave fuzzes such as the Foxx Tone Machine" and nothing like the digitally generated octaves of a DigiTech Whammy pedal². On the wah side, the reviewer found "super-aggressive wah tones," noting that brighter settings can seem harsh in isolation but could be right for cutting through heavy riffage in a multi-guitar band².

The controls and the three wah ranges

The control layout splits between the two sides of the pedal. On the right front side sit three knobs, and on the left front side the two switches⁵.

The wah capacitor switch is the pedal's main tonal shaping tool beyond the treadle itself, offering three sweep ranges. Premier Guitar measured them as follows²:

The mildest setting gives a sweep comparable to a vintage '60s wah, while the two higher positions push the sweep upward in frequency, which is where the review found the aggressive, brighter character².

Power and enclosure

The Road Runner runs on an external power supply only: 9V with a negative tip and positive outer sleeve, and there is no battery option¹². That rules out battery power and means you need a supply with the correct polarity for the pedal.

The enclosure is a large part of the pedal's identity. The housing is finished in red and blue "flock," a technique Dr. No describes as an old method that gives a peach-skin feel and look, and one that was used on old vintage wahs and fuzz wahs⁵. Premier Guitar describes the result as "peach-fuzz flocked in loud blue and red," with a rubber treadle pad and rubber Hermes-style side wings². The front and foot-rocker plates are made of high-grade 3D rubber to prevent slipping⁶. The whole unit is hand crafted⁴.

History: built with David Catching

Dr. No announced the project in July 2015, writing "I have started a new exciting project with Dave Catching" and stating that the RoadRunner would be made in a very limited run, with a release planned for around November 2015⁵. The builder was still "working on details and techniques (and more fun and cool gadgets) to finalize and realize" the pedal at that point⁵.

The official release was planned for November 21, 2015 at Speedfest, a yearly festival in the Netherlands⁴. After the November 2015 Paris attacks, which affected the Eagles of Death Metal community, the band canceled their shows and the RoadRunner release party to recover in the US⁴. The pedals went on sale through drno-effects.com in December 2015⁶, and Dr. No and Dave Catching donated the profits from the Dave Catching RoadRunner to The Sweet Stuff Foundation, with that arrangement running until December 31⁴.

Catching himself described the collaboration in a 2024 interview: "I collaborated a few years ago with my good friend, Dr No, on a fuzz octave wah pedal called the Roadrunner"⁹. The pedal's full name, "Flying Machina," is matched by its design: Dr. No presented it as a flying machine, complete with wings⁴⁵.

What reviewers said

Premier Guitar reviewed the pedal in August 2021 and found it a straightforward octave fuzz/wah with useful twists, praising its super-aggressive wah tones while cautioning that brighter settings can seem harsh when heard alone². MusicRadar's news coverage at launch highlighted the high-end components, the three wah capacitor options, and the hand-built nature of the unit⁷. In a 2026 review of the Morley Wah Octo Fuzz, MusicRadar's deals writer pointed to the Road Runner as the benchmark of the type, calling it "arguably the most famous" wah, fuzz and octave hybrid, while noting its boutique price tag³.

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