What kind of noise? is it like a dog barking or a car driving by? or is it completely random...what pitch/character?

Actually on noise, the CC has the higher likleyhood of producing noise IMO.

There are more than a few silly things to go wrong here. My local project just suffered a real head-scratcher. Used the 100k, stereo Alps from Radio-Shack. Got a ~6 dB difference in channels after a bit. Turns out the open construction of the device probably allowed in some conductive debris and it shorted itself from end to end, yet left the wiper still functioning. Input jack to ground measurement of Ohms showed ~100k for the god side and 1k for the other. It was not the first thing we looked at either....

I wish I could have spent the weekend with each one of you in turn as we Ironed out some bugs. I think I have learned more than you guys doing the building. I wish I were as good at remote diagnosis as my heros, Click and Clack.
regards,
Douglas