I have no idea whats wrong, I just replaced the 39p cap with a 33p and the 15n cap with a 10n. The volume was the same using both BC108Cs and 2n3904s. I have no idea what the hell is wrong here.
The pics are really hard to make out what's going on, at least for me it is. The thing that comes to mind first is it looks like the pinout may be wrong on Q1. Then again, I don't know what transistor is in there since you mentioned trying 2 different ones and q2 is a metal can, bc108?