Human Gear Animato

Schematic Revision 1.10 6/11/2014

http://imgur.com/a/zLnM9

SCHEMATIC CONFIRMED
The break down of a pedal that has been mysterious for many years. To start off, I bought
this pedal for >$500 AUD with all intentions to do this.
The aim is to reverse engineer the pedal to understand how it works and hopefully allow
people to clone it so they don't have to spend so much on it.
The Human Gear Animato is most commonly known for being a part of the sound achieved
by Chris Wolstenholme from Muse. It's noted for having a very treble based, attacking tone.
Testing on guitar resulted in average results (solo notes were fine) but on bass it was nice.
Adding an LS-2 to blend it in with a clean tone makes a sublime mix. I am not responsible for you
not enjoying the sound of this pedal if you choose to make it and do not like it but chances are you
will if you already know what it is.
I plan to build a pedal with the Animato and a clean blend as an example of what to do with
this. This is all still a work in progress. Any questions, please don't hesistate to ask. Also if you see
any issues with the schematics or can assist in any way, please let me know.

Adam (Crowella)

Build Notes
In my pedal build, I substituted a 2N5087/2N5088 pairing for the Sziklai pair (Q4/Q5).
Doing this increases the gain significantly so the trimpot has to be set rather low. This ends up with
a slightly brighter tone compared to the original but keeps the fundamental attack. I would
recommend experiementing with what you have laying around if you wish to warm up the tone.
I also socketed C12 but I found the 2.2uF fits the attack perfectly. Increasing the value will
reduce the attack but increase the level of bass coming through, making this a useful component to
mod if you want more low end and want the pedal to have a more muff like tone.
http://imgur.com/a/zLnM9

List of Changes:
Current (1.10)
- Changed volume pot to linear
- Switched the polarity of C9
Previous Revisions:
1.09
- Tone pot flipped around the correct way and changed to linear.
- C12 is now 2.2uF instead of 22uF. This helps shape the note attack.
- Polarity of 10uF caps (C3, C9 and C13) are shown to assist building if polar caps are used
1.08
- Fixed error where switches and distortion pots did not go to ground. Again, thanks to
analogguru for noticing an error which involved having to lift the potentiometers to find a well
concealed wire.
1.07
- Massive thanks to analogguru for spotting an error that guaranteed the pedal not to work.
The Q4 and Q5 transistors now make a Sziklai pair and C11/R20 are no longer connected to the
collector of Q5. Collector of Q5 now goes to Q4 after much observation of the A1 board (and
admitting my sight is getting bad!)
- Blue LED. Another reason I think my sight is bad. The original has a Blue LED. This was
observed after it blinded me at my gig after putting the last revision up (it's that good with bass!)
- Ground pad fixed in combined PCB
1.06
- Fixed error in the PCB with unlabelled resistor next to R25. The unlabelled one is R24
- Fixed error with 2 C20's on the PCB. The one coming from DA3 is C11, not C20
- Two R8 resistors in both schematic and PCB. Resistor in series with C9 is now R31
1.05
- PCB drawn up to match original PCB's. Both separate and combined PCB's are included
- Q4 is now a NTE103 determined as compund transistor pair for Q5 (NTE102) transistor

Distribution of Schematic:
You are more than welcome to distribute this Schematic. Do with it what you like but please,
PLEASE do not credit this schematic as your own work. I, amongst many others have put a a lot of
time and work to ensure this is as accurate as possible so don't steal this and claim it as your own
work.
I have no issues if you choose to build these pedals for production purposes in small
quantities. It is here for people to enjoy and use.
I do plan to use this circuit for production purposes at a later date with modifications if you
do not feel confident to build this. You can keep updated at http://crowella.org, provided I
eventually get to doing my website.
Donations:
Due to popular request (thank you!), I have included a link to post donations if you wish. I
do not ask for money but given the cost of sourcing this pedal as well as the time, it does help. The
only thing I ask is that you let people know about this schematic and the wonder of DIY pedal
building.
Donations can be made by using the following link:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?
cmd=_donations&business=6YSVUVHBT9U9A&lc=AU&item_name=Crowella%20%28Animato
%20DIY%2fSchematics%29&currency_code=AUD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF
%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted
Thanks:
My thanks go to so many people that requested and have helped so far! It's at the point
where there are so many to name but guys like Jordan (OzBass Forum), Don'tPostThePear
(board.muse), R.G. (diystompboxes), analogguru (diystompboxes) for a crucial fix, johnk_10 for
being first to confirm the schematic, amongst many others who have been fantastic in ensuring that
this all works and have put the time and effort in to do things such as find potentiometer values and
test the unusual first stage of the pedal.

Parts Required:
Parts listed are purely for the construction of the schematic and do not list every part required to
make a complete pedal.
The pedal uses a 3PDT for switching the effect on and off, standard BOSS 9V power supply with
battery clip as well as one mono and one stereo jack for output and input respectively. Please
observe the schematic carefully when building to determine offboard connections and take care!

Capacitors

Resistors

2x

100uF (Electrolytic, Polar)

1x

1M

3x

10uF (Electrolytic)

1x

680k

1x

2.2uF (Electrolytic, Polar)

5x

470k

1x

1uF

8x

100k

2x

470nF

1x

39k

4x

100nF

1x

33k

1x

6.8nF

1x

15k

1x

4.7nF

1x

12k

2x

10nF

5x

10k

3x

470pF

2x

4k7

1x

4k3* (can also use an extra 4k7 in place)

1x

2k2

Diodes
1x

Blue LED (indicator LED)

1x

470

4x

1N914/1N4148

2x

100

Transistors

Potentiometers

Always check the data sheets for correct pin

1x

100k Audio Dual Gang

outs when selecting transistors!

2x

100k Linear

5x

C2240 (2N3904/2N5088 are equivalents)

1x

NTE102

1x

NTE103

Switches
1x

DPDT Toggle

Parts List:

Capacitors

Resistors

Diodes

C1

100uF

R1

4k3/4k7*

D1

C2

100nF

R2

12k

D2-5 1N914/1N4148

C3

10uF

R3

100k

C4

1uF

R4

470k

Transistors

C5

10nF

R5

10k

Q1

C2240

C6

4.7nF

R6

100k

Q2

C2240

C7

470pF

R7

2k2

Q3

C2240

C8

100nF

R8

39k

Q4

NTE103

C9

10uF

R9

100k

Q5

NTE102

C10

10nF

R10

15k

Q6

C2240

C11

6.8nF

R11

470k

Q7

C2240

C12

2.2uF

R12

100

C13

10uF

R13

100k

Switches

C14

100uF

R14

1M

DPDT (SW1A&B)

C15

100nF

R15

680k

C16

470pF

R16

100k

Potentiometers

C17

100nF

R17

100k

A100k Dual Gang

C18

470nF

R18

4k7

C19

470nF

R19

4k7

B100k Tone

C20

470pF

R20

470k

B100k Volume

R21

33k

R22

10k

* 4k7 can be used if you wish

R23

470k

to reduce list of unique

R24

100

components

R25

100k

R26

10k

R27

10k

R28

470k

R29

470

R30

100k

R31

10k

Blue LED

(Dist_A&B)