Dophix Michelangelo overdrive mini

The Dophix Michelangelo overdrive mini is a compact overdrive pedal from the Italian maker Dophix, built around a drive circuit made entirely of JFET transistors. Dophix describes it as combining "the Dynamism of valve sound with the definition of a pedal effect," with a drive range that covers everything from a clean boost, to light crunch, to overdrive, up to what the maker calls "a very defined distortion" typical of a valve head¹.

What sets the mini apart from a basic three-knob overdrive is its preamp and clean blend. A PRE control offers up to 15 dB of boost before the drive section, and a BLEND knob mixes the distorted signal with your clean sound, from fully distorted to fully clean¹. It was shown as an exclusive preview at the NAMM Show 2026 in Los Angeles and, as of late October 2026, is listed for pre-order with shipping in about one month¹.

A boost-to-distortion overdrive with a clean blend

The mini follows the same design idea as the full-size Michelangelo Overdrive Plus: a drive circuit you can push from a boost all the way to a defined distortion, with a clean blend on top. Dophix says the BLEND control "lets the output signal be a mix of the amount of distorted and clean sound with a complete excursion from completely distorted sound to completely clean sound to a desired mix of two"¹.

For a player, that blend is the practical difference between this and a straightforward overdrive. With the blend pulled back, low-end and pick attack from the clean signal stay intact under the drive, which is useful for bass or for tight, high-gain rhythm parts. With the blend fully clockwise, you hear only the drive circuit²¹.

The PRE control sits before the drive section and has a range of 0 to 15 dB. Dophix notes that PRE at minimum has no effect on the input signal, so it can be left alone when you want the pedal to behave like a plain overdrive¹.

The controls

The mini keeps its control set small, in keeping with its compact box, which Dophix says "allows easy positioning in the pedal board"¹.

The SIL, GER and FET modes

The three-position selector switches the drive section between three distortion modes using silicon, germanium and JFET semiconductors¹. Each semiconductor type clips the signal differently, so the selector gives three voicings of the same circuit without touching the knobs.

MusicRadar's review of the full-size Overdrive Plus described the same feature as "three distinct diode voicings, with silicon, germanium and FET selectable via a three-way toggle switch"³, and Guitar World's reviewer Trevor Curwen listed it as a "Diode selector switch (Ger/FET/Sil)"⁴.

How it differs from the Michelangelo Overdrive Plus

The Michelangelo Overdrive Plus is the full-size pedal the mini is drawn from. The Plus carries a preamplifier and an output boost, "both separately controllable and activated through a dedicated BOOST footswitch"², where the mini folds its preamp into the PRE knob and drops the separate boost footswitch. The Plus also adds two EQ knobs, B and M: MusicRadar's review team found that "B handling low-end and M the high-end"³, and Guitar World's Trevor Curwen noted the M knob "offers control over the top-end" while the B knob "works on low frequencies"⁴. The mini has neither EQ knob.

History and versions

The Michelangelo line has grown into several versions. The original Michelangelo overdrive was joined by the Overdrive Plus, a handmade pedal⁷, and by the Michelangelo Gold, a collector's product created to celebrate one of Dophix's best sellers, housed in an antique gold color box with wooden packaging and metal accessories, and built around an electronic board designed by Ing. Stefano Carlesi of Dophix R&D⁴. Demo and review videos for the Overdrive Plus have been published by players including Simon McBride, EffectorTimes, Paul Audia for PlanetGuitar.it, Demos in the Dark and Jack JD². The newest version, the Michelangelo Overdrive Mini, is in pre-order, with an exclusive preview at the NAMM Show 2026 in Los Angeles and shipping in about one month¹.

The mini is the newest member of the family, previewed at NAMM Show 2026 in Los Angeles with pre-orders open and shipping within one month¹.

Other versions in the line:

• Michelangelo Overdrive Gold: a collector's product created to celebrate one of Dophix's best sellers, in an antique gold box with wooden packaging, metal accessories and silver knobs, listed at €1,700.00⁷. Its board was designed by Ing. Stefano Carlesi of Dophix R&D⁷.
• Michelangelo Overdrive black edition: listed at €420.00, down from an original €450.00⁸.

The Gold version won a "six best pedals of Summer NAMM 2019 Nashville" award in a guitar.com ranking⁷.

What reviewers said about the Michelangelo line

Published coverage of the line has centered on the Overdrive Plus, with demo and review videos from Simon McBride, EffectorTimes, Paul Audia for PlanetGuitar.it, Demos in the Dark and Jack JD among those listed on Dophix's page². The Gold version, a collector's product created to celebrate one of the best sellers, comes in an antique gold color box⁷¹, while the Mini remains at the pre-order stage ahead of its exclusive preview at the NAMM Show 2026 in Los Angeles¹.

No published reviews of the Mini itself are out yet, since the pedal is still at the pre-order stage, with an exclusive preview at the NAMM Show 2026 in Los Angeles and shipping in about one month¹. Its compact box allows easy positioning on a pedalboard, measuring 12 × 9 × 4 cm and weighing 0.441 kg, and it runs on an external 9V power supply¹.

Videos

Click to load

Click to load

Questions