When I breaded the EasyDrive it was the same volume as the amp when clean, but with a nice distortion. Now that I perfed it, it lowers the volume quite a bit. Any ideas? This is such a simple build that I feel stupid, but figured i'd ask anyway.
Maybe you have something connected to ground/touching ground that is bleeding off some of the signal? Double check all of you connections against the schematic. Maybe using an audio probe might help you isolate the trouble spot as well.
my first guess would be the volume pot.
or maybe a fried trany.... although youd probably have problems other than volume.... bad ground on output jack???
If you solder transistors with an iron that is too hot, and keep the heat on for an extended period of time, you can compromise the operating characteristics of the device.
Did you solder all 3 leads of the tranny one right after the other?
If the transistor was too hot to touch comfortable for more than about 20 seconds, this could be your problem.
If I'm not socketting Q's [say buffer] I use the clips for heat sink action.