Zendrive + Barbershop dual OD with Clean Blend, order switch—zen volume only 10%

[tonebreaker]

I've recently completed a dual OD build, with a PCB on the left side for the zen, and vero boards for the Barbershop and Split 'n Blend. The latter was built from the layout on Guitar FX Layout.

The two works well on its own, or combined without the Split 'n blend. But I recently found when I completed the build with the blend circuit, the Zen side has a reduced volume of only about 10-15%. Same volume drop when stack order goes into the zen with the switch, but not when it's zen > barber.

I used 2N5457 on the split n blend, and the clean signals for both circuits are from the split n blend buffer. I read on the comment section there that has been cases of volume drop for the 2N5457, but how it happened with the zen, but not the barbershop?

The combo sound absolutely fantastic, by the way. And the clean knob works wonderfully as well. Here's some gut shot.

[antonis]

Can't say without circuits shematics but it seems to me like particular output impedances issue..

[tonebreaker]

Tried swapping the diodes with reversed result: dry signal is weaker than it should.

So I built a new circuit using a matched BF245A and the thing works wonderfully now, even signal and super transparent on both ends.

Follow up question: Can I use a B50K pots, or different value resistor on the clean buffer, so that the dry signal has 25-40% of the wet signal when dimed? It's redundant to have it completely clean with the pot with a true bypass.