MichaelW
Well-known member
- Build Rating
I actually built this one a couple weeks ago.
At first I was a bit underwhelmed with it. But after looking up the usage on the Mojo website and figuring out how to use it, I've come to appreciate it a bit more.
Is it a YATS? Yes it is...heh, but like the Virgil it's a YATS with some extended eq controls. In fact, from a design perspective, it's very similar to the Bad Monkey in that it's got an active EQ. However, they don't sound quite the same. The Virgil Monkey has a huge range in the tone controls. Whereas the Bastion is a bit more pedestrian.
One cool thing about the Bastion is that with the tone controls turned fully off, it's your basic mid-hump TS808. So you can use it in any application you'd use an 808 for, like driving an amp to tighten up the low end, etc. But pulling in the treble control you can also dial out the mids and have a more neutral (dare I say "transparent") overdrive.
The toggle switch toggles either the complement of 4148's or LED clippers. (Or whatever else you want to use). The retail pedal has a "no clipper" middle position but the BOM called for an On-On, which is what I used. I'm not sure if this is a mistake or not. Having said that, I never use just opamp clipping in these types of circuits so not a biggy for me. But if you want to build it to the original specs, then use an On-Off-on for the toggle.
Cool pedal, sounds great, but it also sounds like a lot of other overdrives. Nothing really stands out about it. So no demo for now. Unless someone really wants to hear it. Just holla and I can pull something together.
At first I was a bit underwhelmed with it. But after looking up the usage on the Mojo website and figuring out how to use it, I've come to appreciate it a bit more.
Is it a YATS? Yes it is...heh, but like the Virgil it's a YATS with some extended eq controls. In fact, from a design perspective, it's very similar to the Bad Monkey in that it's got an active EQ. However, they don't sound quite the same. The Virgil Monkey has a huge range in the tone controls. Whereas the Bastion is a bit more pedestrian.
One cool thing about the Bastion is that with the tone controls turned fully off, it's your basic mid-hump TS808. So you can use it in any application you'd use an 808 for, like driving an amp to tighten up the low end, etc. But pulling in the treble control you can also dial out the mids and have a more neutral (dare I say "transparent") overdrive.
The toggle switch toggles either the complement of 4148's or LED clippers. (Or whatever else you want to use). The retail pedal has a "no clipper" middle position but the BOM called for an On-On, which is what I used. I'm not sure if this is a mistake or not. Having said that, I never use just opamp clipping in these types of circuits so not a biggy for me. But if you want to build it to the original specs, then use an On-Off-on for the toggle.
Cool pedal, sounds great, but it also sounds like a lot of other overdrives. Nothing really stands out about it. So no demo for now. Unless someone really wants to hear it. Just holla and I can pull something together.
