@vtpup :-
I ought to be able to help with this, Steve. But I can't..... 
I haven't used headphones with the traditional 3.5mm 'phono' jack under Puppy for years. When I first used them in Puppy, I quickly discovered what everybody else always said about them.....that setting them up to work correctly was a right PITA. It was, too!
Nah, I switched to using USB headsets at the earliest opportunity. What I liked about these was simplicity; because USB audio devices always seem to have their own audio card built-in to their dongles (connectors), rather than attempting to select a specific function on the main internal card, you just select the entire dedicated card. Bob's yr Uncle; done.
Invariably, they have very simple, basic controls, too; both my USB headsets have the same 2 sliders.....PCM Playback, for the Master volume, and Mic Capture, for adjusting the level of the "boom" microphone. For all I know, they could well be using the same audio chip!
I admit, it's perhaps not an ideal solution for laptop users, 'cos USB ports are always at a premium with the things; despite last year's purchase, the Latitude D630, coming with 4 USB 2.0 ports, I've still had to add a mini-hub (giving me 3 ports from one, so 2 extra.....a total of 6 ports) to have enough for my needs (webcam, mouse & keyboard dongles, a pair of 256 GB USB 3.2 SanDisk 'nano'-sized thumbdrives, giving me a half-terabyte of 'permanent' external storage......and one of the afore-mentioned headsets).
But USB is definitely the way to go for pure simplicity and ease-of-use.....
Mike. 