Human Gear Animato
The Animato (Italian for "Animated") is a distortion pedal, produced by Human Gear, a Japanese effects manufacturing company. The effect features three control knobs, similar to the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi - tone, volume and distortion. It's also known for it's boxy shape and a yellow paint finish. The company itself is most known for having all pedals designed the same, with italian names. Other pedals produced by Human Gear include the Vivace, Fine, Passionatto and Essence. Since the effect is rare and discontinued, it generally can be found second-hand shops but is usually sold at a high price.
The Human Gear Animato has a distinct, rather unique, sharp and gnarly distortion sound. It's similar to the Boss OS-2 Overdrive/Distiortion pedal, which was also replaced by Chris with the Animato pedal. According to Chris's former bass tech, he stumbled upon the pedal while in a Japanese shop, probably around 2000/2001 and has become, alongside the Sovtek black russian Big Muff, half of his core sound since then.
As with the Big Muff, Wolstenholme owns several copies of the pedal, each on their separate amps allowing for flexilibilty. The effect is most notably heard on songs such as MK Ultra, Hyper Music, Map Of The Problematique, The Dark Side (live) and Blockades.