After finishing up and playing the Sandstorm I thought it sounded brittle. I swapped out the two 2N5088 with 2SC1815 and BAM. Far warmer with all 3 clipping settings. Had to McGuiver the Base and Collector leads to fit. The 2SC1815 is in the original, which I have. While not a perfect clone it shares a lot of the same qualities. Used Polyester Film Caps which were a little tight around C1,2,3,4,5 & 6. Going to order some Polypropylene for the ones I'll build for friends. Hope they'll by narrow enough. Great build, Thx Madbean.
Q1 and Q2 are input and output emitter followers so I wouldn't expect much of a difference with compatible alternatives. But hey, if you're happy with the result that's all that matters, I say!
For future versions of these types of circuits I could use multipin parts to accommodate different pinouts. Probably the smart thing to do.