Les Lius

[Zanius]

I've read and heard around all about Les Lius' "gain" pot. It only really works when it's all the way up, and still the difference is quite subtle.
I've built one over the weekend. While it works great, volume responds, switch changes between three sounds, the "boost" (not actually a boost though) doesn't seem to work at all. At first I thought it was because I am testing on a small amp. Tried different J-fets and didn't hear any difference. Then I noticed that even without any J-fet in place the results are the same. So probably something is wrong in my wiring/soldering/parts placement. I tried re-soldering any funny-looking joints but nothing changed.

There is a slight detail, I like to put an extra dc filter/wrong polarity protector on my builds and I always attach it on the same vero. Here is what I've used.



and here is the original



You can see the "huminator" on the top two rows. You can also see I omitted the top left 47u from the original layout as I think the 100uf from the huminator does its job. Can that be the problem?

Also, here are some pics of my Vero
 

I've went through it with a knife about 10 times now so I don't think there are any solder bridges. Still, you never know...

Thanx for taking the time to read this :)

[induction]

Looks like you forgot the 100k from jfet gate to ground. Pop that resistor in and I bet it works.

That boost switching is way over-engineered, though. You can do exactly the same thing with just the switch. No need to waste two resistors, two caps, a jfet, and a voltage regulator.

[Zanius]

It is so funny when you go over and over and over a circuit and you just go BLIND over a single component... Thank you induction, I'll try it right away!