How about a design like this then?  I'll play with values on the first stage on a breadboard first, and then just have two knobs on the second stage(the 10k resistors) for adjusting that one.

adjustable cutoff frequency.  I found one article that says to use a dual ganged pot to keep the Q the same, but that means using two dual ganged pots to get a four pole filter circuit.

Is there a way to make a filter like that adjustable?  Otherwise it won't help me out a whole lot.

teemuk, what is the circuit you posted?  Is that the marshall cab sim?

Yeah i'd love to see your circuit of the cab sim.  And for the purposes of learning from my mistakes, i'd still like to make this build work, even if its not quite what i was going for.

It was more of an experiment than a practical application, but i'm still going to use it.  And yes the steeper curve was the idea, using the simplest circuit possible.

However, i still have the same problem with distortion, even with the updated power supply, and 1 meg resistor to ground on the input of the first stage.  Could it have anything to do with using 100r resistors on the outputs?

Ok cool. So my last question then is how do i split that supply?  Something like this, with the 9v from the wall wart going where the battery is?

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/richardo/distortion/bias2.gif

or this?

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/richardo/distortion/bipolar.gif

1) well the battery is stupidity on my part.  I was planning on running off of a 9v DC adapter, but i was just using a battery for testing, and COMPLETELY forgot about the adjustments.  Would the 9v supply also need the resistors and capacitors to make it a bipolar supply, or can i just use it directly?  And what exactly do you mean about biasing?  Do i just need the 1 meg resistor to ground on the first stage to have everything covered?
2)the first 4 resistors are all 100r, and the 10k is a 10k log pot.
3)there is no r1.  I don't know what it was but its apparently no longer there.

I've been working on designing and building a 5 cascaded stage low pass filter , and it doesn't exactly do what i want it to.  The schematic is attached.  There is some output, but it is sputtery and badly distorted.  Is there something in the schematic that shows a design problem?  I've been staring at this thing and prodding with my meter all over to make sure its built exactly to the schematic, and nothing is touching or shorted where it shouldn't be.  The schematic is attached.

I'm thinking this is a lost cause.  I'll probably just scrap it out for parts.

Great!  I'll send you those schematics right away.

Any other ideas?  I've got enough other projects going on right now that i'm close to just scrapping it.

A 1n4001 tests as 850.  And i've just sent you an email with the schematics for each section of the mixer.  As enzo mentioned earlier though, the low reading of 70 ohms falls within the range of that transistor for an in-circuit measurement.  its got a really low resistance between those two legs.

So i've LITERALLY checked every single resistor on the entire board, and nothing is giving a bad measurement.  Everything i check appears to be absolutely perfect, except for the oscillation.

I went ahead and bought one of those radio shack meters.  It seemed like the cheapest and quickest way, and the thing practically looks brand new.  And yes enzo, you are correct.  I was mainly just looking for a way to find out how loud max power is for my cabinet.  The short answer: way louder than i will ever turn it.  The speakers i have are both extremely sensitive, and i was pleased with what i saw.  With heavy, bassy, compressed power chords at an excrutiating volume, i was barely lighting up the 15 watt peak bulb, and the RMS display showed only about 10 watts.  So it was 50 dollars well spent to know that i can get as loud as i need to in band rehersals (where we don't have equipment to mic the amps) without fear of blowing anything.  My guess is that based on how loud i usually kept it before (which was usually when i could visibly see the cone start to move)  it was probably only about 5-7 watts peak.  And no one could hear me.  So i guess its good that i didn't spend extra money on a limter or something since i'm not coming anywhere near to peak power anyway.  I'll be lucky if i ever touch the 50 watt bulb with a really delay heavy screaming lead part or something.