ROSS COMPRESSOR GATING with VOLUME OFF!??

[analog kid]

I have a ROSS clone built from the TONEPAD layout that although it's working... controls are normal , compression is fine except for an overtone of distortion that is due to the problem I will explain, and all voltages are appx. right on the references at Phillip's site. BUT.... I noticed that ALTHOUGH it is working  ..  When I turn the volume(and sustain) completely OFF there is still a very low volume SPLATTY GATED Sound( coming through the amplifier when the strings are "struck"!!??? Mind you the amp's volume has to be up a bit to really hear it and/or the compressors Sustain being turned up makes it MUCH more audible.

As I said the voltages seem RIGHT ON and I've done a good bit of T.S'ing to figure it out. I figure this symptom is a tell tale sign of a certain area of the circuit or clearly TELLS us where to look first(just doesn't tell ME!)  Something that I know one of you DIY Veterans would recognize! :wink: I really appreciate the imput

[LP Hovercraft]

Dont touch the brown acid!!  Stay away from the war room!!  My first instinct would be to try a different CA3080 in there if you have it socketed.

[analog kid]

Yes I have tried using the one from another Clone I have but It did the same thing.  I don't know if this is JUST my meter acting out but I do notice that when I'm taking the PIN voltages for the IC ,, Pins 1 and 8 which are connected to nothing , are floating up to like a .004-008v reading . Just the meter probably.
EDIT:  I bet this Helps! ... When audio probing the crkt. , the distortion/gating is happening right at the input capacitor! and is "controlled" by the sustain knob. It's fairly light when CCW and as the sustain is turned up it goes into a totally full on splatty gating. !!
SO , does this tell us anything?? It has me skipping to looking right around the 500k pot that's for sure.

[analog kid]

More "luck" probing.  I found that the sustain knob lugs (and other parts of the crkt> ) seem to supposed to have a distorted signal when probing at least. (Q4 C , Q5 B and E, PIN 5 of the IC) at least that's what I get comparing with my very good sounding and operating Ross clone.
I thought that getting the distorted signal at the very beginning of the signal chain was very strange so I unhooked from the 3PDT and put FX Input straight to Jack, same with output and BAM! I started getting a strong clean signal farther into the circuit when probing.
(I am not sure yet if that means that I had a bad Switch in there or not?)
BUT.... One and only one thing that I can find different so far between the 'good' COMP> AND this one is that IC Pin 7 has a Low probing signal on the tested good unit but is clean/compressed...The problem Comp. does have a low volume at Pin 7 BUT NOT CLEAN+compressed ! It is a dirty "misbiased" sounding .  
Can this be showing the possible problem EVEN THOUGH the voltage of PIN 7 seemed to be within target when I started???
sorry if I am too long winded, it's LATE and I'm gonna pick it up in the morn.

[LP Hovercraft]

Are you feeding it power off of a battery or a wall wart?  Could it be low battery voltage?  Are you using that 3rd leg of the 3PDT to power a LED?  That might be making the difference between headroom and not enough headroom.  A fresh battery would be able to support everything there.  Pin 7 of the CA3080 should go right to +9V-you should not be getting your guitar's signal there.  Could D1 be bad/borderline?  How's your 10mF filter cap?  Lastly, is your guitar using active or passive pickups?

[analog kid]

battery or wallwart?
Battery right now.
-No LED hooked up yet
-Battery voltage was strong when I took readings
Passive or Active P.U's?
I have Lace Sensor passive pups, but test my crkts w/ lot's of em
(I'll check out the D1 diode and the filter cap, EVEN though they both came from new packs of components)
Finally , are you really sure about Pin 7 that while audio probing,connected to ground, there should be NO guitar signal coming through? I have probed on two of my other "working" great sounding clones and I get what I said, a very low level Compressed sounding signal on that pin. (!?) Which is why I thought I may have tracked the problem "AREA" in this unit...because I was getting the same level signal there but a very misbiased sounding gated signal. seems like a place to look.
 Note: I'm talking LOW level on that Pin 7 audio probing, same with Pin 5 I believe, you really have to CRANK the vol on the 'probing' amp to even hear it.
(sorry I took so long to post)