Fuzznikator improvements + my first post!

[gjsmo]

This is my first post... and I don't know much about analog electronics (more about digital), so go easy on me!

I recently built a Fuzznikator distortion box ( http://www.solorb.com/elect/musiccirc/fuzznikator1/ ) and I think it overall sounds pretty good. I'm using 2 Raytheon 12AT7's as opposed to the recommended 12AU7 and 12A_7, which I think sounds better. I have been noticing 2 things though:
1.) It distorts more when I turn the tone knob down on my guitar (I'd like it to distort the same with the tone up)
2.) The sound becomes completely unrecognizable when I play more than 3 notes. It just completely breaks up.

Does anyone have any suggestions for improving this?

[PRR]

> The sound becomes completely unrecognizable when I play more than 3 notes. It just completely breaks up.

Try a 12AU7 in the first stage. The AT is higher gain, the same large input will distort MORE!, a single note only beats with itself at musical harmonic intervals but multiple notes all beat with each other at intervals which have nothing to do with music. (This is true of all fuzzes if pushed hard with multi-tone signal).

No idea why it distorts "more" with less treble.

[gjsmo]

The 12AU7 helps... but not enough.
If you want, I can post a sound sample. When it breaks up, it really just sounds like a lot of speaker pops (maybe like you had an intermittent speaker connection?). Absolutely horrible. Otherwise, the clean channel is fine, and distortion normally sounds very good.

[gjsmo]

Just tried this out on my friends Epiphone (I have a Squier). Using the 2 12AT7's (NOT the 12AU7 in V1), it sounded REALLY good. What could cause this/why?
How could I determine how "hot" my pickups are? Could this have something to do with it (humbuckers in the Epi vs. single-coil in my Squire)?