Michelangelo OD/Plus

Michelangelo is not an effect like the others: 

Michelangelo was an innovative and brilliant artist.

His works revolutionized Italian art.

We were inspired by this great man because we wanted to bring a revolution in the sound dimension!

Michelangelo effect is the first exemplar of a future Trilogy of effects. It’s a real innovation in the field of effects for guitars.

What would have been possible only with two Circuit Boards has been made with just one!

Michelangelo combines the Dynamism of valve sound with the definition of a pedal effect.

The heart of Michelangelo is made entirely of JFET transistors, which characterize a dynamic and warm sound recreating the effect produced by a Tube (Valve) head.

Thanks to the three position switch it is possible to select three distortion modes with silicon, germanium and JFET semiconductors.

The possibility to choose the type of distortion makes Michelangelo extremely flexible, with distortions that offer the whole range from a boost, to light crunch, to overdrive up to a very defined distortion typical of the one produced by a valve head.

Another great feature of Michelangelo is the presence of a preamplifier and an output boost, both separately controllable and activated through a dedicated “BOOST” footswitch.

In fact, there are two independent true bypass footswitches: DRIVE activate/deactivate the drive effect and BOOST activate/deactivate the preamp, the output boost or both. A second toggle switch allows you to keep the preamp always active or only in correspondence of the BOOST footswitch on.

The preamplifier acts on the amplitude of the input signal to the amplification and distortion section of Michelangelo. The control is made available through the dedicated PRE knob: in this way a further management of the desired sound is obtained by acting exclusively on the preamplifier.

The PRE level control has an excursion from 0 to 15 dB: PRE at minimum therefore has no effect on the input signal, leaving it unaltered, while PRE at maximum brings the input signal to be amplified by 15 dB before being put into entry to the DRIVE section of Michelangelo.

With the PRE switch set to the OFF position, the preamplifier will only be activated when the BOOST foot switch is activated. If the PRE switch is in the ON position, the preamplifier will be active regardless of the on / off status of the BOOST footswitch. The preamplifier left on the ON position allows a very precise control of the saturation and attack level of the DRIVE sound, while the OFF position of the PRE selector allows a “more gain” effect hooked up to the activation of the BOOST footswitch.

The DRIVE section of Michelangelo has four controls available: GAIN2, LEVEL, B and M.

GAIN2 defines the amount of distortion.

LEVEL the output volume of the DRIVE section.

B and M define the equalization of the distortion with the regulation of the band of low frequencies B and high frequencies M.

The SIL / GER / FET selector acts on the DRIVE section of Michelangelo, modifying its distortion mode.

The BOOST knob adjusts the output boost activated after the BOOST foot switch is activated. The BOOST level control has an excursion from 0 to 15 dB: BOOST at minimum has no effect on the output signal leaving it unchanged with respect to the output level produced by the DRIVE, while BOOST at maximum amplified in a linear way of 15 dB the signal of exit.

Finally, the other great feature made available by Michelangelo is the BLEND control, that 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.

The selected components are high quality with integrated circuits and JFET transistors belonging to 70s vintage series.

The compact box allows easy positioning in the pedal board.

External or battery-powered 9V power supply.

LED light on / off status indicator of the DRIVE and BOOST effect in addition to the LED at the base always active.