SOLVED Chop Shop works but no clipping / drive

[MaxIokua]

Hello, I'm new on here, and new to pedal building (just doing kits), so hopefully I'm asking this in the right place...
I just built a chop shop, calibrated the J201s to ~6VDC, and tried it out. It works, but there is such little drive (actual clipping) that is sounds like a clean boost and nothing else. The signal doesn't break up at all. Volume at 50%, Sag at 0 (fully CCW), and drive at 100% (fully CW).

Any ideas on what to look for would be greatly appreciated. I understand that J201s are not all created equal, could they be that far out of spec as not to function even mildly as intended? Or am I missing something. The parts came from musikding so I would expect that the J201s are decent quality. I have already performed general troubleshooting duty (ie, reflowing solder, rechecking components, wire connections, power supply etc)
Thanks!

 

[spi]

FYI, 2N2222A and PN2222A have different pinouts (ask me how I know). If the board calls for PN2222A and you use a 2N2222A you might need to reverse it.

 

[MaxIokua]

FYI, 2N2222A and PN2222A have different pinouts (ask me how I know). If the board calls for PN2222A and you use a 2N2222A you might need to reverse it.

Right, thanks, I only have 2N2222A's, I will double check this.

 

[MaxIokua]

Right, thanks, I only have 2N2222A's, I will double check this.

That is not the issue. Pinouts check out fine. Still scratching my head on this. Why such a limit on the voltage (2.5V max), and why the gain pot acts in reverse. Just to clarify, the pic above was ressurrected from my V1 build, the V2 build is this one:

 

[Robert]

Where did you order the new J201's from?

 

[MaxIokua]

Where did you order the new J201's from?

They came from Vint'Elec in France, a place recommended to me by a builder on this forum. I also have 4 which came from Das Musikding but are likely not genuine.

 

[MaxIokua]

I know it's been a minute since starting this topic, but I wanted to add for others' sake that I have resolved all the issues I was having with V2 build by simply using mmbf J201s soldered to SMD conversion boards. The gain pot is no longer acting in reverse(?!), and the pedal sounds exactly as it should!
The vintage parts were the issue the whole time - in spite of tests showing appropriate values...an expensive newbie mistake.