Friday 18 November 2016

Schumann Lion

Here is a layout for the rare Schumann Lion distortion.
Original brief description:
"The LION is a distortion device and a clean booster with two complete circuits that can be mixed independently.
Has a bypass footswitch and boost footswitch that gives extra distortion.
Great for bass -- distortion that doesn't cut out the low end.
Great for guitar -- minor chords retain clean harmonics -- you can get great distortion but still hear definition of notes."
You can find original DIY thread and schematic here.
30/11/2017 Layouts Updated! Changed Drive pot to B1M and added 470uF capacitor.



If you want to use Mark's Bipolar Voltage Converter:

27 comments:

  1. anyone care to give a review of this circuit?... personal experience with it? This circuit, at least to the best of my somewhat limited knowledge, isn't based on another effect... I'd love to hear what everyone thinks.

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    1. on the diy link they mention the anderton tube sound fuzz/red llama as a basis

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    2. The description "booster with two complete circuits that can be mixed independently" let me thing of a clon centaur.

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    3. id like to know the same thing that video posted is the only video demo on youtube and the audio in it is horrendous

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    4. Hi Alex,
      I've gone over the Funk-a-Duck, and found one small error. I've updated the schematic, it's here; http://s214.photobucket.com/user/digi2t/media/Funk-a-Duck/Funk_a_Duck_SCHEMATIC_Final_zps4aue4sbu.jpg.html
      You'll see, compared to the first draft, it really makes no difference to the overall layout, it's just true to the original PCB layout.

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    5. Thanks Dino! Even for the Schumann Lion!
      If I'm correct the only part that has changed is around the Bypass "box", right?
      Not even sure how that "box" worked but as you've said the layout shouldn't change. Thanks God! :)
      I've tried to reverse engineer a pedal once and I was getting a headache after 5 minutes!
      I don't know how you do it.
      People think it's difficult to draw vero layouts!
      You did a fantastic job as usual.
      Thanks again(from all of us) for all the schematics you've drawn.

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    6. No worries Alex. I'm just happy that you are here to help with the layouts. I used to have more time for the vero layouts, so I'm happy to see someone else running with the torch as well! Yes, just a slight rearrangement of the 0 ohm jumpers, but it doesn't really change anything circuit-wise. Please double check to be sure though. Just a clarification on the "Bypass" and "Env_Out" boxes on my Funk-a-Duck schematic. These are not actually anything physical on the board, they are just unused pads on the PCB. Maybe there was a plan for an external jack for the envelope that didn't happen? Maybe the bypass arrangement originally intended didn't work out because of popping issues, hence the caps and resistors placed directly on the bypass switch? I don't know, but the schematic reflects the how, what, and where of the original. All pictures of the boards are here; http://s214.photobucket.com/user/digi2t/library/Funk-a-Duck?sort=3&page=1
      If you look on the left side corners of the main PCB, you see the unused pads for the "Bypass" and "Env Out". Thanks again for this wonderful site, dedicated to us "veroheads". Viva la verolution!!

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  2. I was going to make a pcb from the schematic but you saved me the hassle, cheers Alex. Can't wait to build it but still waiting for jacks.

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  4. Call this verified!!
    Leds don't work though.
    It sounds awesome and rich, very cool. Thanks.

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    1. Thanks Giò!
      I don't understand why the Leds don't work.
      They are wired as usual to +12V.
      Did you add all cuts?
      Do you get + & -12V on the transistors' outputs?

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    2. I'm trying different solutions. I erased all the issues by linking the 2 "LED+" together, to a wire out of the 2nd row from above (row under "+18 volt") and putting the "CLR" resistors on the "LED-" (between switch solder joint and LED-). I got some noises etc, doing this it works. Without leds the pedal works perfectly btw, for sure I have some weird problem with wiring these two.

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    3. Hey!
      Carefully checked my build again for bad solder joints, wrong bridges etc. since I was changing a couple capacitors to smaller ones (just for the size, values are ok), the final result seems pretty similar to the one in the video demo, and LEDs are ok now. Though occasional scratch noises remain while playing at low volume. I don't have one at hand to make a direct confrontation, but it seems like the 4049 (I have the UnBuffered of course) works badly. My build is 100% like the one in the layout. Did someone succeeded with his built? :)

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  6. I should point out a discrepancy that the Schematic traced by Dino specifies a B1M pot for Drive. His layout does not have that pot listed on the BOM either, just VR1 and VR2.. But the schematic definitely shows B1M.

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  7. Ok well I'm ordering stuff to build this while I wait for Dino's Lion X boards or layout. I'm going to use the 555 timer + and - 17 volt board and the second layout. I got a B1M and a B1K just in case hehe. Well I'll let you all know how and if it works since this is still categorized as unverified.

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    1. I meant use the 555 18+ board and the first layout :P my bad.

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  8. Well I built this with a B1M gain pot and an A25k clean pot.. but something is wrong. The clean pot doesn't work at all and it has a weird octavey drone as the note decays. I'll look it over more with the schematic when I get some time. I'm using the 4049ube and a 71. The boost works, gain and volume work.. but something is wrong. I'm using the 18v version (18v and ground only) and the NE555 doubler board, 17.84v out at the daughter board. More to come

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  9. Alright so I've tried everything, read every schematic and it still sounds jacked up. BUT.. I've noticed some anomalies now that I have one of Dino's LEO-X boards... The Leo-X has a 470uf electrolytic between all of the 4049 common power nodes and ground.. A quick inspection of the Red Llama circuit.. has a 330uF electrolytic between the 4049 common power nodes and ground... Hmmm So when I get home from work today I'll hook up a 470uF and see if that takes care of the problem. It sounds bad without it. I also tried hooking up an actual 18V supply to the board to see if the daughterboard was just incapable of supplying enough current, that didn't help either. So this Electrolytic cap is my last effort before the garbage bin. More to come.

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    1. If you're using a DC supply with the first layout then that's your problem. Top layout needs an AC supply as D1 will block DC so the 7912 isn't getting any voltage at all. It's not too difficult to convert your build to layout 2 so you can still save it.

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    2. I see.. well I'll try that when I get home then. I have the parts to make the dual supply board. I also have a 12VAC power supply too.. Thanks for looking. I'll let you know how it works :)

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    3. Well I changed it for the 18+ and 18- configuration using the bipolar supply, made a bipolar supply and then took it for a spin. It still had the weird flubbery droning octave down decay in boost mode. So I soldered in a 470uF electro after the 100r and to ground... Boom works like a dream. It's great.

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    4. That's with a B1M gain pot btw. The layout says B1K. Thanks Ciaran.. I'm glad I got this working finally. It sounds really good

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    5. Thanks mate!
      Changed the Drive pot value and added the 470uF cap.

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    6. No, thank you Alex. Your layouts are great. I'm glad I sort of verified one finally ;)

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  10. hello. im going to try wiring up one of these this weekend as i really like my friends lion. I have a few questions as there are some things i have never encountered in a build before. i've already gone about building a board based off the first layout but noticed the 'CLR' current limiting resistors. could somebody in a nutshell tell me what those are and which ones I should be using? My second question is that if I am using the first layout, will i need to wire up a daughter board to get it to work? I'm kind of confused as the second layout appears to need a daughter board to work the voltage out. If I do decide to wire one up using the second layout, I could power that via 12VAC with a bipolar power supply correct? thanks for any help

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  11. I've made two of these guys. Both have a horrible hum from the ac adapter (I've switched out the adapter, still the same). Is it because of the placement of the voltage converter on the board being so close to other components? Does anyone else have this hum? Does anyone have the schematic they can share? Thank you!

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