Michelangelo Overdrive Plus

The Italian maker presents a trio of voices for valve-style drive

- Trevor Curwen

Dophix, an Italian company based in Florence, has been hand-building pedals to order since 2015. And the aim of its Michelangelo Overdrive Plus is to deliver valve-amp-style drive.

The circuitry is mainly based around JFET transistors but offers three different diode voicings with germanium and silicon sound represented as well as FET. Level and Gain controls set up the drive sound that can be further tweaked by two EQ knobs; the ‘B’ knob works on low frequencies while the knob marked ‘M’ offers control over the top-end.

The three voicings, each sufficiently distinct from the next, offer real versatility when it comes to choosing your drive flavour, be it the straight-up FET sound or the more fuzzy-edged silicon and germanium. Further variation is available via a Blend knob to mix clean sound with drive, although it’s not the pristine clean sound as heard when the pedal is bypassed but one with extra low-end and midrange. It’s not what we were expecting from the description, but it’s nevertheless another useful parameter for shaping the tone, particularly for adding body to the drive’s naturally scooped character and tweaking the transients.