Too much volume? dasmusikding way huge red llama clone

[add4]

Hello everybody,
For my second project i decided to try a distortion and found this kit : http://www.musikding.de/product_info.php/info/p2997_The-Llama---Overdrive-kit.html
which is cheap and sounded interesting.
I have built the thing and it work perfectly ... when the hot lugs of the jacks aren't touching the box ... (duh!).
Problem is: the box has LOTS of volume! When bypassed i can barely hear my guitar, but when it is on, my ear bleeds when the pot is only turned for a few degrees.
I have double checked: the parts seem to be soldered at the good places. A second source for the schematic confirmed a 10k Audio taper for volume control. I'm not too sure what i should do.

I think i put the IC correctly, but i guess if i didn't' it wouldn't distort or make strange noises, right? it seems like the second source put it the same me as i did too..
Would you have an idea, is it a typical/usual mistake that can be fixed easily?
Do you need voltage measurements or anything? Or would it be a normal feature of this box?
I was thinking of soldering a 10k resitor between lugs A and C of the volume pot. It is supposed to divide the pot resistance by 2 if i'm not mistaken and i thought that would cut volume. but if this is a mistake i might as well learn from it and correct it the right way.

Thanks in advance.
Arnaud

[Mark Hammer]

Some would consider this a "feature"!

Since the stock circuit lacks a tone control, and since the circuit appears to have too much volume for you (though do check to make sure the taper of the volume pot is correct), and since passive tone controls eat up signal, you can kill several birds with one little pebble by installing a passive tone control just ahead of the volume pot.

I recommend checking out Jack Orman's article here, where you'll find lots to choose from: http://www.muzique.com/lab/swtc.htm  Check this out too: http://hammer.ampage.org/files/SWTC.gif  People have implemented many of these add-ons with their Red Llama and been quite pleased.

Note that the value of the added control, relative to the value of the existing volume pot, can help you estimate how much volume drop the addition will produce.  For example, with the original SWTC, an added 10k tone pot, in series with a 10k volume pot, means the pedal will behave like it has a 20k volume pot on the output that can never be set above halfway.  In effect, that will "expand" the sensitivity of the existing volume pot, because half the range of volume levels will be distributed over the entire rotation of the volume pot, rather than just half of it; i.e., a less "twitchy" control.

[add4]

Hello Mark,
Thanks for your fast(!) answer.

Adding a volume control part was planned, i was thinking of the AMZ tone/presence controls made from the BMP tone control.
http://www.muzique.com/lab/tone3.htm
Or maybe the one you described. I was planning on soldering all that on the pots without any board since it's very simple.

The fact is, it's not too loud, it's TOO LOUD!! i would cut the volume by a factor 10 or 50, and i would still be happy with it's volume boost capabilities :p

Just to make some things clear from your message:
The volume pot came from the kit and is 10k audio taper as mentioned on the schematic. so it seems ok to me, but anyway, audio or linear just changes the resistance curve, but here the actual value of the pot should be higher apparently. I would like to
1: smooth out the response
2: cut the volume by a factor 10 to 50. i think a passive tone control won't be AS effective?

Thanks for taking the time to read this
Peace,
Arnaud

p.s. for the sake of experiment, i'll try to add your tone control and tell you the results .. i only have 10 nf caps under my hands at the moment but it shouldn't be too far away from your 18nf in this article

[Pollinator95]

I made a Red Llama from Musikding with a BMP tone stack  . Doesn´t have too much volume at all. If it´s still too loud, couldn´t you divert part of the signal to ground? Like a fixed volume control?

[add4]

I made a Red Llama from Musikding with a BMP tone stack  . Doesn´t have too much volume at all. If it´s still too loud, couldn´t you divert part of the signal to ground? Like a fixed volume control?

It's strange .. i just changed the 10k Log volume pot to a 500k Log, and it's WAYYY better, but still could be less sensitive .. i MUST have something wrong in the actual construction
But it sounds great when i can hear something else than LOUD noise so i'm already happy with that :p

THanks for the input.
Was the BMP tone control responsive with the llama?

Peace,
Arnaud

[add4]

Hey all,
Just a quick followup on this topic.
I ended up trying to add some resistors in parallel with the volume pot:
47 K seems to work for me so far: the volume transition is much smoother and i still have enough volume range to have a serious boost when engaged and, (i hope) to be able to put a tone control behind it.
Thanks for your help and suggestions.
Arnaud