A mint, boxed example of the Zander Cafetiere Distortofuzz.
Is it a distortion? Is it a fuzz? Who knows, but what we do know is that it’s possibly one of the strangest beasts in the world of dirt pedals. The Cafetiere is our torn-down, rebuilt and expanded take on the Interfax Harmonic Percolator (HP-1), the spittiest and splattiest ‘fuzz’ pedal that ever existed.
This circuit has gained a bit of a cult following over the years, thanks in no small part to its heavy usage by producer & guitarist Steve Albini on various records, inspiring a number of clones from smaller builders in recent years, including us!
In typical Zander fashion though we’ve not just recreated the original circuit, we’ve reworked and added parts to turn it into its own versatile creation. This includes swapping out the one germanium transistor for another silicon, and offering control over additional parameters like input filtering, tone and circuit voltage, which all together create a pedal that’ll do everything from a clean treble boost to a spitting/gated ‘Jack White’ style fuzz and everything in between.