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OK, just for the records seems like I solved the POP problem: I had too many wires running around, so I've rebuilt the unit with a new PCB with the switch (and all the pots) mounted directly on it, then I've replaced all of the ceramic caps with film ones, but the pops were still there, though the sound and noise performance have increased dramatically.
As a last attempt I've sprayed some contact cleaner directly at the base of the switch lever, where the little sphere is: the switch is completely closed but not sealed, and apparently that stuff has enough penetrating power as to get inside of it from there.
A few on-off cycling and voilà! the pops are gone!

Thanks

That's a single decal cut in a cross shape that covers all 5 faces of the box. It was a nightmare to apply and if you look closely you can see some overlapping and wrinkles on the corners, but overall I'm pretty satisfied with the result. I took the image of the flag somewhere in Internet.
I still have to find something to protect the decals, the transparent spray I've used so far doesn't do much.

It was a long way, but finally here they are.
First, a little multi effect, with the ROG Tonemender, the 3verb, the ROG Condor cabinet and the Headphone Amp from TH Customs:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5Uj9BTxpfvLaEYyUVFlSG4tTWs
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5Uj9BTxpfvLRjU4VXBiNXZQa2c
I have redesigned almost all the PCBs (kindly produced by OSHPark) to fit in the box. The Condor, which has been built using the PCB on the ROG site, is on the right-hand side mounted vertical. That was sheer luck that it fit exactly in the height of the box. The small PCB on the foot switch on the right is to change the cabinet mode, from Jensen to Celestion. Well, almost, but pretty close.
A great improvement was the PCB for the Tonemender, originally on a single layer PCB with all the pots and switch flying around and a lot of wires. Now the noise behaviour is so much better I couldn't believe it myself.
I also replaced the 3verb PCB to be able to mount the pots on it and have (again) less wires around.
Sadly, I still haven't been able to make the Headphone amp work properly, so the stereo output is unbalanced and I cannot level it without a huge noise popping up.

Then, some other nice projects from ROG, that is, Thor and Professor Tweed:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5Uj9BTxpfvLUF9ic0p0RVVEUms
Given the outstanding behaviour (to my ears  ) of these little circuits, I decided to replace the actual PCBs from the ROG website with brand new boards that I designed, again, to fit the boxes and clean up the wiring, so I'll post pictures of the guts when everything is done and neat and clean.

Last, the ROG Grace/Big Daddy. The switch allows to change from one circuit to the other and fits (barely) in a 1590A:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5Uj9BTxpfvLSjM0XzJHM0hLY3c
At the moment it's extremely noisy, maybe for the high gain, most likely because I used a veroboard and an LM386N-1 I had lying around since 1988 or so.

I was also playing a little bit with the idea of replacing the clipping diodes with JFETs (or MOSFETs, now that you mention them), any idea of the differences in sound between the two?
I need a breadboard to experiment...

I've built a Tonemender using the PCB layout suggested in their site and it works perfectly.
I still have one thing that I'm not satisfied with, that is a big POP when I flip the mid-shift switch that's bypassing two caps in the tonestack.
[electronics illiterate mode ON] Would a shunt resistor (one per cap) work to prevent this? How big should it be? [electronics illiterate mode OFF]
Thanks,
Max.

ps: I would also like to reduce the output, I always keep the level pretty low and if I increase it it brings out a lot of hiss. Shall a bigger pot do the job? there's already a 500K A.

EDIT: Looking more carefully at the circuit probably the shunt resistor is a stupid idea. But then I don't understand the POP. I think I'll go and check the PCB...

Please ignore this reply, I moved my question to a new thread...

Sorry, couldn't help it. (I too, was a drummer some years ago (actually played a lot of mallets), but lost touch with this part during studies for space-reasons mainly)

She's playing a bell!!! She's a drummer too!!! Burn her, burn her at the stake!!!

Herzlich willkommen hier im Forum!

Danke!

Hi All, I'm Max and I come from Italy. I play guitar a little bit but I'm actually a drummer (and an aerospace engineer, but that's an accident  ) and I play with electronics since I was 12. I've built small things for my former guitarist, cloning some pedals when I could put my hands on them and experimenting a little bit.
Now I'm finally finishing a very old project putting together some effects for myself, which work all pretty well except for one where an IC started to smoke during test. Which is not bad, last time I destroyed an IC it literally exploded  . But that was used as a spark generator for gas heaters...