I wanted something to replace my old Musicman Stingray 5 HH for regular Rock / Alternative gigs. I had to leave the group for a day job 3 years ago and sold this beauty not long after:
If I recall it cost me $1800 CDN or so with or without taxes I can't remember. It was a great bass for that gig and I really loved the aggressive tone of it.
I read somewhere that the ATK pickup spacing from the nut or bridge is the same as a Musicman. i.e. "The Sweet Spot" and it got me GAS'ing.
Well HMZ was kind enough to ship his old ATK 305 up to me here in Canada and all I can say is wow! This is a remarkable bass for the money!
The tone was aggressive right out of the box but didn't quite have as refined a sound of a Musicman. To my ears it didn't qo quite as low or as high and had a low mid bump that really cut.
I had a few 70's 2-band pre-amp Musicman boards lying around that I purchased here on TB from UncleFluffy:
PCBs for DIY clone 2-band Preamps
I had already ordered the parts so off I went to assemble the pre-amp and install....
Tada!
I kept the original toggle switch for the pickup and added a master tone control before the 2 band pre.
The install wasn't really as easy as I had expected. The only pots available that work with the pre-amp are from Mouser and are not quite long enough to get through the wood mounting holes. I had to use a drill and wood bit to remove 1/8" of material to get enough threads for the washer and nut to hold the pots on.
I also dremeled some material away to make clearance for the soldier joints on the pots. I had to tape them to keep them from grounding out on the conductive paint cavity.
The result???? Strung up with new Fodera Strings...Simply awesome!! It's very much like a Musicman in tone and aggressiveness. The pre-amp must have only cost me $30 total in parts. The ATK 305 is a bargain even at new pricing. The combination of both is a great simulation of the real deal Musicman that I was going for and at a fraction of $1800.
I'm very impressed with this instrument.
It was this thread that got me thinking about doing this instead of just buying another Musicman. I'm glad I did. Thanks for starting this thread and all who participated in it.
