Boomstick, krankosaurus, and kokbox

[otsismi]

All three of these pedals use the same concept of the cascading bs170 gain stages, based on the sho boost by zvex. I've recently built the krankosaurus but was disappointed in the blatty fuzzy compressed sound at maximum gain. It seems like there's so much gain that the signal clips out. I do not have a Zener diode and was wondering if this diode on the first stage could contribute to the crappy sound at max gain. I've also omitted the tonal controls after the last gain stage. Anyone built these circuits and have words of wisdom for me?

[Matt]

I breadboarded the boomstick and really liked the sound of it.  Can't say about the other two.

I think the diode is to protect the transistor somehow.  Could be wrong.