Dirt Review: Schumann Lion

Comments:

I picked up this pedal in a group buy with a couple of other Schumann pedals awhile back. The Two Face Fuzz was an interesting beast, but not really worth talking about on bass guitar (in my humble opinion). At some point I’ll pony up and do a full review of the PLL, but touching on the Loin seemed important because of the claim made on their website: ‘Great for bass — distortion that doesn’t cut out the low end’. As I write this it’s been more than a year since there were rumblings out of Schumann Electronics that there would be a new line of pedals appearing on the scene and a reissuing of some of the older ones. I’ve had an odd fascination with this line of pedals since I first encountered them and have been picking them up as I’ve had the chance. For more details on some of this stuff, check out my Schumann Pedal Archive.

The Lion itself is a cool looking piece of kit with a strong sense of urban-decay injected into the visual aesthetic. The care taken to get this look just right belies the danger lurking beneath the screws and the back of the case. Clearly this was a designer who was either rabidly afraid of designs being stolen, or on a personal misson to blow the minds of whoever dared look within. Of the four Schumann pedals that I’ve had the luck to own this one is by far the cleanest, and sadly that isn’t saying much.

Its an easy pedal to live with, despite it’s unusual power requirements. The spacing of the stomp switches is wide enough to keep me from accidentally activating both, but not so wide I couldn’t do it if I wanted to. The leds are bright and clear, and it’s super-easy to recognize what the current state of the pedal is at a glance. Lastly the placement of the power jack above the input jack might not be ideal, but its much better than it being underneath it.

In the end this is a pedal that lives more on its rarity and reputation than it’s actual sonic value. This isn’t to say that it isn’t a solid pedal but it’s not lust inducing or particularly unique. Despite the difficulty of finding one for sale, don’t spend to much on one as there are plenty of pedals that manage similar sonic territory at much lower price points. It is a bit of a collectors piece so people with that bend in their blood will always find it attractive. I will say the boost level on this thing is absolutely insane, and you could practice blowing speakers or inputs in your spare time with one of these. I actually found I liked it best with my active 5 string (which is pretty unusual for me) and I’d be more likely to hang onto it if I ever used that bass for anything but these demos.

As always, if you have any questions, leave a comment or let me know

Note: A rating of 5 = acceptable and should be considered a ‘good’ basic score