Dophix Michelangelo

The Dophix Michelangelo is an overdrive and boost pedal from Italian maker Dophix, first shown at Summer NAMM 2019 in Nashville¹. It is built around JFET transistors, which Guitar.com described as giving "that warm, tube-like sound"², and Dophix says it "combines the Dynamism of valve sound with the definition of a pedal effect"³. In a Premier Guitar demo, the Dophix team described it simply as "like a mini amp"⁴.

What sets the Michelangelo apart from a basic overdrive is the combination of three selectable clipping voices, a clean blend, and a boost section that can be placed before or after the drive. It exists in several versions: the original Michelangelo Overdrive Plus, a smaller Mini, a collector's Gold edition, and a Black edition⁴⁵.

What it does to your sound

The Michelangelo covers ground from a clean boost to a defined distortion. Dophix and RockBoard both describe its range as running "from a boost, to light crunch, to overdrive up to a very defined distortion typical of the one produced by a valve head"³⁷. The clipping character is selectable: in the Premier Guitar demo, Dophix explained that "you can choose three different kind of distortion for germanium, JFET, and silicon"⁴. On the Mini, this is a three-position SIL / GER / FET selector acting on the drive section⁸.

The other signature feature is the BLEND control, which Dophix describes as letting "the output signal be a mix of distorted and clean sound, from completely distorted to completely clean to a desired mix of the two"³. MusicRadar's reviewers found it useful in practice, noting the "Blend knob allows for nice fine-tuning of gain"⁹. In the Premier Guitar demo, Dophix called it the pedal's special feature: "You can mix the clean sound with the distortion sound"⁴.

Controls and switching

The pedal runs on two independent true bypass footswitches: DRIVE turns the drive effect on and off, and BOOST activates the preamp, the output boost, or both³. Premier Guitar's demo described the layout as "two buttons, one for the overdrive, one for the boost"⁴.

Guitar World's reviewer, Trevor Curwen, noted that "Level and Gain controls set up the drive sound that can be further tweaked by two EQ knobs"⁶.

The boost: before or after the drive

The boost architecture is the Michelangelo's most flexible feature. Dophix describes "the presence of a preamplifier and an output boost, both separately controllable and activated through a dedicated BOOST footswitch"³. MusicRadar's review explains the routing: "a toggle switch that allows you to position it before or after the gain stage," with level controls for the boost both before and after the drive section, and "at zero, these are taken out of the output signal entirely"⁹.

On the Mini, the PRE level control has an excursion from 0 to 15 dB before the drive section, so PRE at minimum leaves the input signal untouched⁸. Delicious Audio's walkthrough of the pedal from the Montreal Sonic Circuit event describes the BOOST knob as adjusting "the output boost activated after the BOOST foot switch is activated," also with an excursion from 0 to 15 dB¹⁰.

Power, bypass and connections

The Michelangelo Overdrive Plus runs on an external or battery-powered 9V power supply³, with a current draw of 19mA⁷. The Gold edition specifies 9V DC through an internal battery or an external stabilized power supply, drawing 19mA with the LED on and 500µA in standby, with an input impedance of 1 Mohm and output impedance of 300 ohm; its 6.3mm (1/4") jacks are placed on the sides of the pedal, and its battery is replaced by removing four screws on the bottom cover⁵. The Mini is listed for external 9V power only⁸.

Versions: Plus, Mini, Gold and Black

The Gold edition is a "Collector's product created to celebrate one of best sellers," with an antique gold enclosure, silver knobs, wooden packaging and metal accessories, and an electronic board designed by Ing. Stefano Carlesi of Dophix R&D. Each unit may vary slightly in silk-screen printing because of the metal treatment⁵. Dophix also notes the Michelangelo won a place in Guitar.com's ranking of the six best pedals of Summer NAMM 2019⁵².

The Mini was shown as an exclusive preview at the NAMM Show 2026 in Los Angeles, with pre-orders open and shipping within one month⁸.

Where it came from and what reviewers said

Guitar.com's Daniel Ong called it "a solid, no-nonsense workhorse with stellar tones"¹. Delicious Audio's René Cobar, writing after seeing the pedal at the Montreal Sonic Circuit event in 2022, went further, calling it "an ingenious sonic masterpiece" fit for serious players looking to ramp up their sound overall¹⁰.

In Premier Guitar's NAMM 2022 video, Dophix's team walked through the pedal's drive modes, the blend knob, and the pre-or-post boost routing, describing the pedal as "like a mini amp"⁴.

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