First Pedal Project - Tweak Question

[theoptionexplicit]

Hi,
     I just constructed my first ever pedal project- I've had this toy voice changer for a while, so I opened it up and found easily accessible in/out leads, then looked up a simple true bypass schematic and put it together. I play noise rock and this thing can sound like satan incarnate, which is awesome, but there's one kink....there seems to be some sort of gate on the input- i'm guessing its there so kids wouldnt leave it on and drain the battery. Anyway, I have to pluck forte to get sound out of it. However, it'll stay on continuously if there's enough volume going into it in the first place...like an ipod or a distortion pedal.

The schematic I used is here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/39729358@N00/2239032639/ - I want to put in a signal booster before the signal goes into the effect, and then i can trim it down on the other end (i put in a 1 megaohm pot, should do the trick). If someone could coach me through how to do this simply that'd be great. I don't want anything fancy...i know i'll probably have to shove a 9 volt in there- thats fine, i'll even wire in an extra switch to turn the 9 volt on and off. I just want the thing to work. Any ideas?

-Mike

[jayp5150]

For switching the battery on and off, just use a TRS input jack, and wire the - of the battery clip to the ring of the jack. That way, the battery's only on when plugged in.

As far as the input sensitivity, trace the circuit and see if there's an input resistor on there, and then play with the value of that resistor. It's quite possible that a lower resistor will get you where you want to be without even having to mess with a booster.

Hard to say without seeing the circuit, though.

For me, that's where'd I'd start.