Curious. I didn't have a 2k2 so I put together a couple of resistors to achieve about 2k6. Not enough gain. So I tried 1k5. Too much gain. Drawers full of resistors but nothing closer. So off to Dick Smith (which is a town or two north of us) to spend twenty or thirty cents on resistors. Trouble is, I don't think the hiss has decreased much, so I guess there is something basically wrong with the way I made the amp in the first place. But it is hard to imagine what I could do wrong with such a simple little circuit.