Dr.Boogie-the eternal struggle

[justice]

Hey Guys,
  I've been working on a Dr.Boogie for a while now and have it just about where I want it.....with a few bugs.

  I adjusted the drains on the 201s to be 4.5v then adjusted gain to taste.  I noticed after tuning the trannys to taste that q3 has a drain voltage of 1.3v and has little effect if turned down more, is this normal?

  One problem I have is it sounds dull.  Its as if the presence control doesn't get high enough or something!?!?  Basically it sounds like I'm playing with the amp inside a cardboard box.  This is not the case with my other builds (Obsidian, Big Muff, BOR). 

  Another thing I noticed is a big mid spike when the treble knob is turned down, is this normal with this eq? 

  I am using the scheme and layout at gaussmarkov.  There are no noise or other issues to speak of.  I am playing a Les Paul through a Hiwatt dr-201 half stack.

  Any help with these issues in an otherwise great pedal would be appreciated.  Thank you.

[justice]

And I have read the plethora of info online and here about the pedal.  Some posts touch on the subjects but I have found no answers/solutions/reasons for these things to be happening.

[Kipper4]

There's a thread here some where. Search forum is your friend.
I had some of the same issues. I was totally confounded by the j201 voltages and stunned with results of the settings a revalation.
I'll have a lookie for you. I posted my voltages as did some others.
All I can say IIRC is set them to 4.5 and trust your ears to judge the results.
The no 5 tranny is biased so it can't be changed I think.
I think I ended up with a very low voltage on the no1 tranny too.
But I get the results in the end. It took me 3 nights of fiddling with it and lots of reading and tweeting.

Here you go

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=55198.240

That works for my ears with my rig.

[justice]

Thank you for linking that.  It seems 201s are best left biased by ear.

The only thing I read mentioning dull output was the value of the volume pot.  I am using the scaled down values as suggested, so is there anything I can change in there to fix it? It seems that a smaller pot would decrease output impedance and it would play nicer with other pedals and the front of my amp.  But a larger pot would allow more highs through, wouldn't it?

Hahaha....now I'm really confused....

[ghostsauce]

Try plugging the Dr Boogey into the FX return of your amp instead of into the front if that's how you've got it.. I find the tone stack on the DB really doesn't play well with an amp's. If you like it better that way, then remove the tone stack from the DB and plug it in like any other pedal. Whether or not you do this, you should consider the vintage/modern/raw switch mod, LOVE the vintage(marshall) sound you can get out of this beast.

[justice]

So I tried a few things based on your suggestions.  First, I jumpered the tone stack....the sound got "flubby" if I can use the term loosely.  I probably could have re-biased but I just stopped there. It didn't seem to brighten the sound any either.  Then I plugged in to the return of the effects loop.  No change in sound.....made me realize how cool this pedal can be though.
I continued fiddling, turned down the gain and the sound brightened up and the tone stack seemed more responsive.  I want to run this at full gain most of the time.  Is there components around the gain pot that effect the tone and not just the gain? If so, what changes can be made to brighten the sound without effecting the amount of gain?

[justice]

Anybody have any idea why the tone gets dull when I turn up the gain?

I have read a few people complain about to much treble, but not this. Any ideas?