FET jack vs switch

[dancemyth]

Forgive me if this question has already been answered - I couldn't find it.
Is there any reason the FET jack can't be replaced with a simple switch? From my reading of the schematic, the FET input just routes the signal through the FET circuit, then on to V1. If the Normal jack is used, the signal goes straight to V1 and the FET circuit input and output leads are grounded. That stereo jack wiring is pretty screwy, so I may be reading it wrong.
Please enlighten me.
Thx
-Dan

[martin manning]

Lots of options are available: A manual switch, a relay activated by a footswitch, both of those, or the FET gain pot in place of the FET jack, with a pull switch to engage the fet boost.

[dancemyth]

Hey thanks Martin.

I love the idea of a switched FET gain pot. A question about that idea: What needs to be grounded if the FET circuit is not engaged? Both input and output leads or just one?

Also, I'm going to cheat and ask another, unrelated question (well, actually the idea of fitting a pot in that crowded space got me thinking about it). I know there are small 1/2+ watt pots for low resistance values and some for larger values if the taper is linear. But I haven't found a mini 1MA pot that's more than 100mw. Do you know they exist? Before you got me thinking about the FET pot, I was noodling with the idea of putting a separate OD master in that FET hole, but I don't think I can fit a 24mm pot in there. I'll post a separate question if I don't get an answer here.

Thanks again,
-D

[martin manning]

You could ground either end of the FET. In the layouts here the FET jack grounds the output. I think it'll be hard to find a mini pot with much more than 0.1 or 0.2W rating, and they have small bushings too.

[dancemyth]

Right, I guess most of those mini pots are made for guitar. Thanks again.