Ricardo Cabecas of TX Pedals Delivers the Ultimate in Versatile MufferFuzzer with his Extended-Range Animalizzer Fuzz, Boost, Overdrive and Distortion Pedal

Per the above visual you are best approaching this pedal along 4 sequential functional areas - here labelled as Pre/Boost, Stage 1 Clipping, Stage 2 Clipping and Post-Gain.

PRE/BOOST

The 3 elements of the Pre/Boost / Pre-Gain section are Pre-Gain (which can really be viewed as a boost), then Depth (Amount/Degree of Low Frequencies you feed into the circuit / a sort of pre-gain EQ therefore), and of course Fuzz - which is the main Gain/Sustain/Saturation control.

Those three knobs together really determine the core breakup character and what type of output you will get. A lot of the Fuzz harmonics are generated when Depth is maxed out and you get interesting textural clipping on those boosted low frequencies. While the Pre-Gain can really be viewed as a front-end Boost. Such that when both Depth and Pre-Gain are dialled down and the Fuzz control is before the mid-way point, then you get really satisfying overdrive tones. If the Depth dial is all the way left and the Pre-Gain is maxed - you're into Distortion. Keep everything neutral and have all three of those controls dialled down - well then you get a boost.

With just those 3 knobs there is an enormous degree and versatility of texture and tone shaping already.

STAGE 1 CLIPPING

I think everyone is familiar with the key clipping options for fuzz, and the use of Red LEDs and Silicon Diodes in particular. What's special about the Diodes that Rikk has diligently selected here is that they have minimal impact on output volume. Normally when you deploy clipping diodes you suffer an obvious and typically significant fall in volume - while that's not really an issue here.

Obviously applying different clipping options results in both changes to texture and saturation as well as some re-emphasis in EQ - often with more Bass response - meaning you sometimes need to tweak the EQ a little to get back to your sweet-spot tonality.

You obviously get significant differences in texture by deploying Stage I in Open position, and Stage II with Diodes assigned - or vice versa. So with the combination of the two different clipping stages and the 3 Pre/Boost controls you near enough have infinite variety - certainly everything you need to cover the 7 essential varieties of Big Muff.

STAGE 2 CLIPPING

Pretty much the same as Stage 1 - but with the addition of Germanium Clipping Diodes too - for that nuanced, warm Germanium grit. As mentioned - you can run either of Stage 1 & 2 Open and then the other with diodes assigned, or combine both sets of diodes for even more interesting and robust textures - there's lots of fun experimentation to be had here with different combinations - some of which will need some tweaking in the Pre/Boost section too.

POST-GAIN

The final Post-Gain element comes after the pre/boost and gain stages and essentially tweaks and refines that output via 3-Band EQ and Master Volume. You will see in the diagram that I have referenced the key frequencies targeted by each of those 3 bands and most will find the EQ incredibly useful. There's also no shortage of output volume.

With the knobs starting at noon, then the Bass : cuts below 60Hz ; Mids : scoops ~1kHz ; and Treble : cuts above ~2kHz.

For most of my favourite Big Muffs I find it important for me to be able to control the Mid frequencies in particular - especially to give you more bite within a band mix. I typically look out for Big Muffs with additional Mid-frequency controls.

So in may ways the Animalizzer can be seen as a sort of gain-stage builder where you assemble and combine the core tone components via the first 3 sections, and then refine further with the 4th.