Jawari-Volume drop?

[theundeadelvis]

I built a Jawari the other day and I love it. The only problem is that when I switch it on it causes a severe drop in volume. The sound is fine but I lose probably %80 of my volume. If I use my LPB1 boost in front of it everything is fine. Is this normal or is there a problem in my circuit somewhere? Right now I am using NTE replacement diodes until the germaniums come in, could this be the problem? As always, thank you in advance!.

[theundeadelvis]

Could I have the transformer wired wrong? I didn't think orientation matter on this transformer since its 1:1, but could it affect the volume?

[Cyeos]

I just built one, it's fun.   Severe volume drop when the gain (designer calls it "Timbre") is low.  Mine does that, but actually gives a boost at the far right knob setting.  I believe this to be normal for the circuit.

I tend to use it only at the higher levels myself, so I'm actually considering putting a simple 10K level control on the output.  Maybe a very basic buffer could be added to the front to fix the level drop at the far left settings?

Maybe you figured something out in the past.....six years?