Box Of Rock Vero build isssues. Gain control crackles when bypassed?

[jkmy]

Hey guys, this is my first post here after lurking for quite a while. I have been building Vero based pedals for fun for two years or so and luckily, I've never had any real issues. Recently, I've built two Box Of Rock (just the BOR side from Tagboard Effects) clones for some friends and I am encountering some weird issues. First of all, the gain control crackles when turned. We all know that and it's no sign of malfunction or error. However on these builds, the gain control still crackles when the effect is bypassed which has me extremely confused. I've wired the switches in a multitude of ways and I still have the crackling, which leads me to think it may have something to do with my next problem. With a Klon style buffer in front of the pedals, the BOR projects have little sustain and just seem to fizzle out, this is with the buffered pedal turned off. Boss pedals do not affect the BOR in the same way.  I have tried putting a Klon buffer in a true bypass looper in front of the BOR. When I have the buffer bypassed, everything is fine. When I introduce the buffer in front, I have the fizzling problem. I'm wondering if it's an impedance mismatch but I'm sure someone has stacked a buffered pedal into a BOR. Any ideas? The pedals sound GREAT by themselves, I've actually forgotten how much I love this circuit. I'm about to pull out my hair!

[peterg]

jkmy - welcome to the forum!

Please refer to this: http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=29816.0

It contains info re debugging and what info is needed in order for others to help out.

[saddletramp419]

Z.Vex's website says this about th e box of rock.........

Box of Rock™ is Z.Vex Effect's first "distortion" pedal, highly specialized to simulate the "everything on 10" sound of a classic Marshall ® JTM45 non-master-volume amplifier.

The Controls:
Drive: Sets the amount of distortion. Start around 1:00 o'clock.
Tone: Adjust for treble content. Start around 2:00 o'clock.
Vol: Adjust for distortron engine volume level. Start around 9:00 o'clock.
Boost: Sets the boost level, which is engaged with the left stomp switch. Start around 11:00 o'clock.

The Drive and Boost controls are based on my original Super Hard-On gain control, so they may crackle when turned. This is normal.