SOLVED Kliche Mini - minimal gain and gain pot gets louder with counterclockwise rotation. ANY INPUT IS APPRECIATED!

[lightbath]

I just finished up a kliche mini build - there is little to no gain and the dual gain pot seems to function in reverse (louder when turned down and quieter when turned up). The diodes are mounted a little weird because the glass casing on these is easily broken so I left the leads a little long. I have verified there is no contact between the diodes and neighboring resistors with my meter. Everything else functions as it should. Treble works, gain works and the volume and treble pots have a plastic casing for insulation. It sounds like a klon but with much less gain so im hoping the issue is minimal. I have checked it against an identical board i built a few months ago and they are identical (all resistor and cap values are correct as far as I can tell and the pot values are the correct b10k and b100k). I can not see any issues so I thought I'd ask for some thoughts / leads. You guys have never failed to help me troubleshoot an issue. Appreciate the input. Let me know if you need any pics or additional info.

Here is a link to a clip of the sound issue and knob behavior:

I have also attached a copy of the original kliche mini layout for reference

Some general info: The kliche mini is 1/2 of a dual pedal containing a Pauper overdrive. Both pedal are connected to the same power supply but the signal paths are connected to a pair of separate in / out jacks for each pedal (4 total). I am only testing the kliche half of the pedal when I experience this issue.

 

[swyse]

Fortunately your issue sounds like it can only be the area between the buffer and the clipping diodes, since it getting louder is probably just the clean signal getting through at a normal volume.

Are you sure your diodes are good? That’s the first thing I’d check if I was poking around. I don’t have enough time right this moment to check the schematic, but if you don’t get it resolved by the time I’m free I’ll mark down the area you need to inspect.

 

[lightbath]

I removed the diodes from the circuit completely and there appears to be no change in the sound. I've been probing around all morning and I think I spotted an anomaly with the dual gang pot. I am getting 18M between the lugs of the gain side of the pot (lower three lugs). I have a working one and I am only getting around 90k on that one. Probing a little further I find there is no setting where the center and outside lugs on the pot will read near ~1-4 ohms when the knob is set to minimum OR maximum. This is not the case with the working one. My better judgement says the pot needs to go

Is it possible this could be caused by overtightening the dual pot when mounting it in the enclosure?

 

[swyse]

If it was already soldered the solder joints could have been damaged and if you over tighten without removing the little tab on the pot that can also ruin it (or so I heard, I wouldn't know anything about doing that of course). If the tab was removed I don't think you can really damage the pot itself by tightening it, I think you'd strip it before anything like that happened unless of course the tab was there to bend the pot. You could try reflowing the pot solder joints if you haven't already, but it might just be a bad pot like you said. If you find you have to remove it, cutting the legs and then desoldering them one at a time would be my recommendation to reduce the risk of damaging the pcb.

 

[Coda]

Make sure that the dual-gang pot isn’t shorting out. 80% of the time, it’s the reason Klon builds don’t work everytime…

 

[PJS]

The Klon works by blending the clean in with the dirty signal. As you turn up the gain you get less clean blended in. If your gain works as a reverse volume it sounds as if the dirt section is just not working. I would audio probe the section from C2 to C11 and see where the signal is being lost