Dr No Turd Fuzz

The Turd Fuzz is a fuzz pedal from Dr. No Effects, and it is exactly what the name suggests: a fuzz circuit housed in a soft, spongy, turd-shaped foam enclosure with the footswitch built into the foam itself. You engage the pedal by stepping on the foam body, which presses the internal switch¹².

Inside the foam is a handmade circuit built around a pair of two NOS transistors, which the maker says generate a nasty, old-fashioned fuzz tone that works very well with guitar and bass guitar¹. Press coverage from 2016 described it as a high gain fuzz that sounds equally good on bass or guitar³. The pedal is fully handmade in Dr. No's lab, and the maker describes the enclosure as a collaboration with the artist Peter van Elderen, known from Peter Pan Speedrock and Home Steel¹.

Controls and power

The Turd Fuzz has no volume or other external knobs. As the maker puts it, "it is set to go"¹. Guitar World reported at launch that the pedal has one single internal volume potentiometer that can be tuned with a tiny flat screwdriver⁴, and MusicRadar described the fuzz as controlled via that single internal volume pot².

Because there is nothing to adjust from the outside, the guitar's volume knob does the work. Dr. No Effects says the pedal "cleans up very smooth when using the guitar volume"¹, and gearnews described the design as set-and-forget, with the fuzz controlled from the guitar's volume control³.

Power comes from a 9V external 2.1mm power supply¹. Plan on a standard pedalboard supply with a 2.1mm barrel plug.

How it differs from other fuzzes

Most fuzz pedals put their circuit in a metal box with knobs for volume, gain and tone on the outside. The Turd Fuzz takes the opposite approach: a foam enclosure you step on directly, and a fixed circuit with no external controls. MusicRadar noted the foam body "activates the pedal when stepped on"², and the maker says the foam is durable and strong, made to last¹.

The two-transistor, old-school fuzz voice also places it in vintage fuzz territory rather than modern high-gain distortion. Dr. No Effects describes the tone as nasty and old-fashioned¹, and Premier Guitar echoed the maker's description of the pair of NOS transistors generating that old-fashioned fuzz tone⁵.

The Mini Turd Fuzz and the foam limited runs

The Turd Fuzz has been sold in limited foam runs. In August 2018 Dr. No announced a limited run of foam-version Turd Fuzz pedals being built for the shop⁶, and by November 2017 the company had sold out of its original foam-shaped shipment, which prompted a smaller version⁷.

That smaller version is the Mini Turd Fuzz, a pedalboard-friendly mini version carrying the same pair of BC109C silicon transistors⁷⁸. MusicRadar reported that just 250 of the mini boxes would be produced⁷. Unlike the original, the Mini adds an external Fuzz Volume knob in the original Turd shape, which the maker says makes it easy to set back the gain, and which gearnews described as making it more versatile⁸⁹.

The maker says a new 2026 series of the Mini Turd Fuzz is available now, handmade with a one-year unlimited warranty⁸.

What reviewers said

Press coverage treated the Turd Fuzz as a genuine fuzz despite the joke enclosure. MusicRadar called it "the long-awaited Turd Fuzz" and reported it available now at launch². Guitar World described the circuit's pair of NOS transistors creating gnarly old-fashioned fuzz⁴.

On Guitar Pedal X, Stefan Karlsson wrote of the Mini Turd Fuzz:

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