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I've seen that article, and I'm not sure it addresses my question. Let me ask it this way. If I have a set of four matched 2N5952s with a VGS of 2.10 and another set matched at a VGS of 2.50, is there any reason at all, even theoretical, to favor one set over the other?

I'm going to build another Phase 90 using 2N5952's. All else equal, i.e., matching VGS, does it make even a theoretical difference if I use higher or lower VGS JFETs? I've sorted 100 of them, and I have several matching sets to choose from.

Tagboard Effects has vero layouts for both the Naga Viper and Runoffgroove's Omega circuit. They're both awesome circuits. If the Omega circuit had come from a boutique builder that gooped the board and went out of business in 2009, people would be talking about its magic components and driving...

Thanks for all the help, amigos. I never saw what was causing it, but there was a partial short between pins 2 and 4 of the DIP8 socket. My best guess is maybe some aluminum dust worked it's way into some stubborn flux that I couldn't see because it was under the socket and wouldn't wash off...

I think that was a dog hair, but I definitely noticed it after I posted the picture. At any rate, it was as easy as blowing on the board. Getting that socket off, on the other hand, has left me with post-traumatic stress. Sincere thanks to you and everyone else helping me reason this through.

Update: I blasted several syringes of isopropanol underneath the socket and blew it out with compressed air. The partial short between pins 2 and 4 remained. Rinsed, repeated. Same. I de-soldered the socket from the PCB. I hope never to do that again. I don't do it often, and I suck at it...

Okay, I feel like we might be getting somewhere. There's only 20 Ohms' resistance between pin 2 and pin 4 of the empty IC socket. I'm no Nikola Tesla, but to my pitiful brain it seems like it could be exactly what you're describing. I still can't see anything on the board that would cause that...

Nothing significant here. Standard DMM fluctuations.

Kludgery can definitely enshittify. The scratches were just enough to get through the factory solder mask, though. I was pretty thorough in checking the traces. It probably would have been fine without the added UV-cure mask, but I had some and the process is entertaining. You're correct that...

Thanks for responding. I'm getting a VREF of 4.28V measured at the C101 positive leg. I'm getting 4.28V at R11 too. I've pushed around on the IC looking for changes in the brightness of the LED and saw none, but I'll get the DMM on it and see what some pressure does to it.

Thanks, I'll focus my visual inspection in related areas. It's all solid-core wire, though, and the pots are now bent away from the board. I'll check again for out-of-place solder.

Update: No continuity to ground from: IC1 pin 2, D2, D3, C7, R5, or Gain pot No inter-pin shorts in DIP8 socket. On to check all traces, I guess.

Update: Thanks to all for the help thus far. I verified that the tantalum caps are in the right way around. I put the IC in a known-good circuit, and it functioned perfectly... better than the JRC4558D that it replaced, actually. If you happen to have a Greer Black Mountain Crunch pedal, I...

Lately I've been trimming leads before soldering and leaving what's left flush to the board in the manner of MadBean. At any rate, I did bend the pots back and check, and there's nothing that looks like it would make unintentional contact. There is, however, some flux I'm going to remove...

R9: Brown, Black, Black, Orange, Brown and tests at 99.6k in circuit. I tested all the traces around that negative feedback part of the circuit (at least I think I did), but I'll probably do so again. Yeah, it worked... and well. It's frustrating. It's actually green goo, though you'd never...

Thanks for checking it out anyway. I appreciate it.

Yeah, a lot of the joints aren't show-quality anymore. Because I suspected I was wedging something loose while boxing, I added extra solder when re-flowing. I even added solder from the obverse side for most components. That's why the wire insulation is cooked in so many places close to the...

Thanks for looking. The DC jack was a standard-sized Stompbox Parts house-brand innie. The metal nut takes up less room than the plastic nut on Lumberg innies. The bare 9V+ wire was insulated when boxed. I was too lazy to get up for wire strippers when I started troubleshooting and just slipped...

Good eye. It's two in parallel to get to exactly 47 pf. My stock of 47pf MLCCs are all laughably under-spec.

Again, it's not working out of the box. And it's not currently in a box. The pots all have dust covers.