Thanks for the info. I went and removed diodes 11,12,14,15 and left the soft clipping ones.. It seems to have made the pedal louder which makes sense, but it still seems to be harsh sounding even at low dist settings, and not smooth like an overdrive. I'm thinking some of the transistors might be distorting also. Also about diodes 14 and 15, they are of a different type (they are smaller and a bluish green color where the rest are all orange), maybe these type distort at lower signals?
EDIT:
Also I remember reading a long time ago about a mod for removing the clipping diodes in some tube amplifier. After they took the diodes out they put a resistor in their place. Is this just to keep the volume level the same as before or is it something that has to be done after you remove the diodes?