Rat with Dual Opamp – mind helping with the last section?

[Tdub]

Hello!
I'm mucking around with a circuit and would love some knowledge dropped on me.
I'm wanting to make a Dual Opamp Rat but the second stage is bugging me.

Here are my questions:
– Original Rat inverts the signal – is there a reason I shouldn't keep both IC's in a non-inverting state? I'm wanting to eventually wrap a clean blend around it so I assume I should keep both IC's the same
– Will I have enough output to just run the second ic as a buffer?
– If I don't, and want to add some gain, I'm getting confused when to send something to VR vs when to send something to ground.
– I'm also a bit confused as to when to add a VR reference at the input of the IC – some circuits use it (like a HoneyBee), and others don't (like a Timmy)

Here's my schematic

[Aleph Null]

The original Rat uses a JFET as a buffer between the tone control and the volume control, so using the second opamp as a non-inverting buffer would be the closest to the original Rat. The original has plenty of output, so additional gain at this stage probably isn't necessary unless you are using germanium diodes, or something else with a low forward voltage.

Any non-inverting stage will need a resistor to VR at the input.

The reference voltage acts as a virtual ground, so there shouldn't be much of a difference in function between dumping things to VR and ground. Sometimes dumping to VR means you can save a decoupling capacitor. (Hopefully, I explained that clearly. Please let me know if I didn't.)

[Tdub]

Super clear and succinct – understanding it now, thank you!