Huh - anyone know of the videos of the supposed PLL forgeries they are talking about?
Here's the email:
E-Mail Information Update #1
Schumann Electronics Corporation
Hello and many thanks for your interest and patience!
Over the past several months we have been receiving a steady flow of emails requesting information regarding our products. Mostly, we are asked when our pedals will be available for sale as well as the price. The answer to these two questions is simply soon and still TBD. I fully admit that there has been an ample amount of time to make these reissues, but as you read further, you will understand the delay.
When John Schumann and I first began designing the reissues of his PLL, Lion X and the Two Face Fuzz, it was decided that they were going to be just that. Exact copies of the original units with the exception of greatly improved circuitry design and construction with the benefit of an improved sonic quality. After about 2 months of refinements, the reissues were ready for final prototyping and then on to the "by hand" manufacturing process. All was right on schedule
One day while surfing the web, I came across a blog that featured new effects pedal makers at the Winter NAMM show. As I browsed the pages, I landed on a person with 3 pedals that he claimed to be uniquely his inventions hatched from his own genius mind. Curious looking, colorful clashing things with lots of tiny knobs. There was a youTube demo from the show that I clicked on to hear what these things did. The first box demo was initially not very impressive to me and I almost moved on. That is, until I heard what sounded vaguely like the Schumann PLL! How could this be? First of all, the Schumann PLL was made with the most unusual unorthodox and sloppy methods of design, along with potting and booby trap circuits built into the boards as a deterrent to any would be forger. It would take a maniac to even consider a crack at reverse engineering, let alone be successful. I showed John the video, during which his response was That sounds kind of like a PLL. It sounds similar, but is not the same. And then he remarked Hey I know that guy! Apparently this person was a big fan of Johns designs and had been working on a personal project of his own a few years ago. He was able to contacted John and picked his brain for information on how the PLL worked, among several others of John's inventions that he was curious about. Being the kind trusting soul he is, John freely offered to help him after this person emphatically assured him that any information John gave him was to be used for his own personal purpose and never for commercial use or any monetary gain. It was just between him and John and would never go any further. I could not believe this. And John, being an information hoarder, quickly retrieved all the email correspondence and let me read it for myself. Of course I was very disappointed in this person, and sad for him with what damage he had surely inflicted on his own Karma, but more so I was disappointed in John for being so trusting and careless with his intellectual property. Rather than dwell on something that was out of our control, we decide to scrap all work done up to this point and begin again from square one.
Although it was hard to swallow coming within an inch of completion only to step back back a mile, discovering this persons agenda that day has now proven to be a true blessing in disguise. For the past several months the PLL, the Lion X and the Two Face Fuzz have undergone complete design changes resulting in vastly improved sonic qualities as well as additional useful features. John was having fun again feeling like he was inventing brand new things, as by default, he has finally been given the time and opportunity to redesign the original 3 pedals to be so vastly improved that they surpass even his own expectations! These are all truly professional analog electronic signal shaping and coloring devices that we are certain will continue to be a staple on the pedal boards of all our rock star friends and any one else who was lucky enough to acquire them the first time around.
We are both working very hard and will not be releasing anything for sale before we have enough quantity built and tested to meet our initial demand. Being all hand made, this is not a quick process, but we assure you it is well worth the wait!
Regards,
-Slade
Here's the email:
E-Mail Information Update #1
Schumann Electronics Corporation
Hello and many thanks for your interest and patience!
Over the past several months we have been receiving a steady flow of emails requesting information regarding our products. Mostly, we are asked when our pedals will be available for sale as well as the price. The answer to these two questions is simply soon and still TBD. I fully admit that there has been an ample amount of time to make these reissues, but as you read further, you will understand the delay.
When John Schumann and I first began designing the reissues of his PLL, Lion X and the Two Face Fuzz, it was decided that they were going to be just that. Exact copies of the original units with the exception of greatly improved circuitry design and construction with the benefit of an improved sonic quality. After about 2 months of refinements, the reissues were ready for final prototyping and then on to the "by hand" manufacturing process. All was right on schedule
One day while surfing the web, I came across a blog that featured new effects pedal makers at the Winter NAMM show. As I browsed the pages, I landed on a person with 3 pedals that he claimed to be uniquely his inventions hatched from his own genius mind. Curious looking, colorful clashing things with lots of tiny knobs. There was a youTube demo from the show that I clicked on to hear what these things did. The first box demo was initially not very impressive to me and I almost moved on. That is, until I heard what sounded vaguely like the Schumann PLL! How could this be? First of all, the Schumann PLL was made with the most unusual unorthodox and sloppy methods of design, along with potting and booby trap circuits built into the boards as a deterrent to any would be forger. It would take a maniac to even consider a crack at reverse engineering, let alone be successful. I showed John the video, during which his response was That sounds kind of like a PLL. It sounds similar, but is not the same. And then he remarked Hey I know that guy! Apparently this person was a big fan of Johns designs and had been working on a personal project of his own a few years ago. He was able to contacted John and picked his brain for information on how the PLL worked, among several others of John's inventions that he was curious about. Being the kind trusting soul he is, John freely offered to help him after this person emphatically assured him that any information John gave him was to be used for his own personal purpose and never for commercial use or any monetary gain. It was just between him and John and would never go any further. I could not believe this. And John, being an information hoarder, quickly retrieved all the email correspondence and let me read it for myself. Of course I was very disappointed in this person, and sad for him with what damage he had surely inflicted on his own Karma, but more so I was disappointed in John for being so trusting and careless with his intellectual property. Rather than dwell on something that was out of our control, we decide to scrap all work done up to this point and begin again from square one.
Although it was hard to swallow coming within an inch of completion only to step back back a mile, discovering this persons agenda that day has now proven to be a true blessing in disguise. For the past several months the PLL, the Lion X and the Two Face Fuzz have undergone complete design changes resulting in vastly improved sonic qualities as well as additional useful features. John was having fun again feeling like he was inventing brand new things, as by default, he has finally been given the time and opportunity to redesign the original 3 pedals to be so vastly improved that they surpass even his own expectations! These are all truly professional analog electronic signal shaping and coloring devices that we are certain will continue to be a staple on the pedal boards of all our rock star friends and any one else who was lucky enough to acquire them the first time around.
We are both working very hard and will not be releasing anything for sale before we have enough quantity built and tested to meet our initial demand. Being all hand made, this is not a quick process, but we assure you it is well worth the wait!
Regards,
-Slade
