Tonebender Mark 1 low volume and gain is blah

[freshmex18]

I spoke to the good folks at SmallBear and at my urging they brought back the Tonebender Mark 1 transistor kit

I received my order today and the transistors were labeled thusly

Q1 OC75     B = 74 L = 140
Q2 2N1305  B = 128 L = 80
Q3 2G308    B = 102 L = 35

Put them in this which has the same component values as the tester circuit on the slip of paper they sent with the transistors

http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/2011/01/tonebender-mki.html

Pedal is barely audible with the volume and gain knobs maxed. Have to crank the amp to 10 just to hear it at all. Gain is not causing any grit of any kind.

Voltages

Gain pot min

Q1
C = 8.81
B = 8.75
E = 0.31

Q2
C = 0.93
B = 0.74
E = 0

Q3
C = 0.74
B = 0.59
E = 0


Gain pot maxed

Q1
C = 8.79
B = 8.73
E =0.30

Q2
C = 6.25
B = 6.05
E = 0

Q3
C = 0.76
B = 3.08
E = 0


Where do I go from here? What needs to be tweaked?

[andy-h-h]

Any photos?   Those voltages are way off and they should be negative. 

[freshmex18]

Oh FFS, I forgot the voltage inverter.  I should not build when I am tired.  Why can't I ever learn this lesson?

With the voltage inverter

Voltages

Gain pot min

Q1
C = 8.78
B = 0.90
E = 1.17

Q2
C = 8.72
B = 0.04
E = 0

Q3
C = 8.6
B = 0.02
E = 0


Gain pot max

Q1
C = 8.78
B = 0.87
E = 1.13

Q2
C = 4.5
B = 0.16
E = 0

Q3
C = 8.27
B = 0.01
E = 0

Works just fine.  Loud and gainy. 

It is a bit bassy and farty.  Any tips to lower bass/increase treble and/or reduce fartiness a bit?

[antonis]

It is a bit bassy and farty.  Any tips to lower bass/increase treble and/or reduce fartiness a bit?

I'd start by making 10nF input cap 1nF - 1.5nF,  and 100nF output cap 15nF - 22nF..

[Steben]

Tonebender mk 1 is by nature a bit "mids" shaped. The gains of the transistors matter a lot since they interfere with the tone filtering.

[freshmex18]

I played with the input and output capacitors and while they did make some interesting changes, it wasn't quite what I was after.

Then I switched Q2 and Q3 transistors and there it was. The bass was reduced enough that the mids and treble could shine through. The fartiness is less and the attack knob is more useful through most of the sweep. So now I can take out the sockets and solder in the stock capacitor and transistor values. I think I will keep the transistors socketed so I can switch Q2 and Q3 back if I want the bassy fartiness back.

Thank you all for all of your help. So glad I attempted this notoriously difficult pedal.