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ATK's on clearance at MF.
- Thread starter willsellout
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Since you asked...here's my plan...
My Red Sparkle should be here tomorrow! ...oh and what do I see on my workbench....Vintage 1976 Rickenbacker Hi-gain bridge and neck pickups...and a wiring harness with Rick-o-sound? ...oh whatever would I do with such things?
I'll give the ATK 300 through the weekend stock...then it may be devoid of its bridge and electronics. I had been looking for a nice platform to put the Rick pickups in...it was going to be a Fenderbacker....but now I guess it'll be a Rickanez Stereo Bass.
Anyone want to try adding a second standard pickup to the 300?
By the way hows the A-Step-Towards Fenderbird coming along? I'm still waiting for my Fenderbird Jazz to get finished being set up after the neck swap.
jc
The bridge has a route under it, so that may not go as smoothly as you may think.
I just got finished test driving my new 305 tri-fade burst. Here are my initial impressions which are subject to change as I get acclamated to the new beast:
-Factory setup is excellent, darn near perfect. I can't believe how good it is. My American P bass was nowhere near this well setup out of the box. Neck relief was good, action was just right, and intonation was on the money. A little tuning and I was off and playing.
-The Elixer stock strings are fantastic. Maybe the nicest rounds I've tried to date. And this is coming from someone who much prefers flats to rounds.
-Fit and finish is good, certainly not a factory second or anything like that. The burst is nicely done. The thru-body stringing is a nice feature.
-I haven't weighed it yet, but it feels about the same, if not a tad lighter than my Squier VM jazz.
-The neck is something to consider about these ATK basses. Yes, it is chunky, but not in a bad way. It feels a bit slimmer than a couple of Warwick corvette standards that I've tried, but it's not quite "Fender-esque." The string spacing is a bit tighter than I'm accustomed to, I'm not sure if I'll end up liking or disliking it. Time will tell.
-Hardware is surprisingly good. Tuners are pretty smooth and not "notchy" feeling at all. Massive bridge/bridge plate is a beast and makes for a good amount of sustain. Nut could use an upgrade IMO. Maybe bone or brass would really bring the sustain up to an excellent level.
-The preamp is so-so. I would say it's on par with my deluxe active Squire Jazz pre. It's not great, but not useless either.
-Tone: This is highly subjective. IMO, it gets close to that chunky P bass sound, but with a bit more "bite." It's fairly EBMM sounding to my ears. The 3-way character switch adds a nice option to the tone in a pinch, with my preference being the "Trad" position.
Well, those are my initial impressions so far. All in all, can't beat this axe for the dough. It's not going to displace my P or Jazz basses anytime soon, but it's a nice addition to the "family." Anyone who was fortunate enough to grab one of these will surely be surprised by the bang for the buck value of this blowout sale. Cheers.
-Factory setup is excellent, darn near perfect. I can't believe how good it is. My American P bass was nowhere near this well setup out of the box. Neck relief was good, action was just right, and intonation was on the money. A little tuning and I was off and playing.
-The Elixer stock strings are fantastic. Maybe the nicest rounds I've tried to date. And this is coming from someone who much prefers flats to rounds.
-Fit and finish is good, certainly not a factory second or anything like that. The burst is nicely done. The thru-body stringing is a nice feature.
-I haven't weighed it yet, but it feels about the same, if not a tad lighter than my Squier VM jazz.
-The neck is something to consider about these ATK basses. Yes, it is chunky, but not in a bad way. It feels a bit slimmer than a couple of Warwick corvette standards that I've tried, but it's not quite "Fender-esque." The string spacing is a bit tighter than I'm accustomed to, I'm not sure if I'll end up liking or disliking it. Time will tell.
-Hardware is surprisingly good. Tuners are pretty smooth and not "notchy" feeling at all. Massive bridge/bridge plate is a beast and makes for a good amount of sustain. Nut could use an upgrade IMO. Maybe bone or brass would really bring the sustain up to an excellent level.
-The preamp is so-so. I would say it's on par with my deluxe active Squire Jazz pre. It's not great, but not useless either.
-Tone: This is highly subjective. IMO, it gets close to that chunky P bass sound, but with a bit more "bite." It's fairly EBMM sounding to my ears. The 3-way character switch adds a nice option to the tone in a pinch, with my preference being the "Trad" position.
Well, those are my initial impressions so far. All in all, can't beat this axe for the dough. It's not going to displace my P or Jazz basses anytime soon, but it's a nice addition to the "family." Anyone who was fortunate enough to grab one of these will surely be surprised by the bang for the buck value of this blowout sale. Cheers.
Nah. What I wanted was a natural ash 300, the best-looking of any of the ATKs I've seen, and they haven't popped up cheap recently.
I considered getting a black (for no good reason), but when they were gone I had no interest in the red.
Furniture basses are bad enough, but flake and moto are really more than I can gracefully handle and the 300 doesn't do anything that my 700 doesn't. And they're still too heavy.
So...I passed.
I did get one of those Warwick Streamers, though...but that's a different thread.
Ever feel like you got away with murder? My 2 ATKs (Sunbust 305 and red sparkle red 300) both arrived today.
Both are beautiful, with pretty much dead-on setups out of the box. I have my American EBMM Ray to go back-to-back with, and the sound and feel is so close that it's almost criminal. Not to take anything away from my EBMM Ray, but that one is $1300 and these two together were right around $300. As an added bonus, music 123 included about 10 picks in each box (which I dont use--but I appreciate the gensture) and each box contained a really nice stainless steel Music 123 coffee travel mug. I owned ATKs in the past, and sold them off....dreaming some day of owning the "Real thing". Well, now that I have them all in the same room.....I'm hoping to make someone elses' Stingray dream come true. I'm gonna sell it
Both are beautiful, with pretty much dead-on setups out of the box. I have my American EBMM Ray to go back-to-back with, and the sound and feel is so close that it's almost criminal. Not to take anything away from my EBMM Ray, but that one is $1300 and these two together were right around $300. As an added bonus, music 123 included about 10 picks in each box (which I dont use--but I appreciate the gensture) and each box contained a really nice stainless steel Music 123 coffee travel mug. I owned ATKs in the past, and sold them off....dreaming some day of owning the "Real thing". Well, now that I have them all in the same room.....I'm hoping to make someone elses' Stingray dream come true. I'm gonna sell it
Nah. What I wanted was a natural ash 300, the best-looking of any of the ATKs I've seen, and they haven't popped up cheap recently.
I considered getting a black (for no good reason), but when they were gone I had no interest in the red.
Furniture basses are bad enough, but flake and moto are really more than I can gracefully handle and the 300 doesn't do anything that my 700 doesn't. And they're still too heavy.
So...I passed.
I agree with ya on the natural ash. It just looks "right".
Ever feel like you got away with murder? My 2 ATKs (Sunbust 305 and red sparkle red 300) both arrived today.
Both are beautiful, with pretty much dead-on setups out of the box. I have my American EBMM Ray to go back-to-back with, and the sound and feel is so close that it's almost criminal. Not to take anything away from my EBMM Ray, but that one is $1300 and these two together were right around $300. As an added bonus, music 123 included about 10 picks in each box (which I dont use--but I appreciate the gensture) and each box contained a really nice stainless steel Music 123 coffee travel mug. I owned ATKs in the past, and sold them off....dreaming some day of owning the "Real thing". Well, now that I have them all in the same room.....I'm hoping to make someone elses' Stingray dream come true. I'm gonna sell it
You received your ATKs today, and you've already decided to sell your StingRay?
Ever feel like you got away with murder? My 2 ATKs (Sunbust 305 and red sparkle red 300) both arrived today.
Both are beautiful, with pretty much dead-on setups out of the box. I have my American EBMM Ray to go back-to-back with, and the sound and feel is so close that it's almost criminal. Not to take anything away from my EBMM Ray, but that one is $1300 and these two together were right around $300. As an added bonus, music 123 included about 10 picks in each box (which I dont use--but I appreciate the gensture) and each box contained a really nice stainless steel Music 123 coffee travel mug. I owned ATKs in the past, and sold them off....dreaming some day of owning the "Real thing". Well, now that I have them all in the same room.....I'm hoping to make someone elses' Stingray dream come true. I'm gonna sell it
Dude, they gave you 2 coffee mugs too?!
Now I'm going to be disappointed if I don't get a mug.
You received your ATKs today, and you've already decided to sell your StingRay?
Well, my 'ray has been on the classifieds for a few days anyway. I've owned ATKs in the past (quite a few, in fact) and always wanted a 'Ray. I never had both at the same time. After A/B-ing them, I cant justify keeping a thousand dollar bass when I now have 2 that sound and feel almost identical to it.
Dude, they gave you 2 coffee mugs too?!
Now I'm going to be disappointed if I don't get a mug.
You can never have too many coffee mugs.
Since you asked...here's my plan...
My Red Sparkle should be here tomorrow! ...oh and what do I see on my workbench....Vintage 1976 Rickenbacker Hi-gain bridge and neck pickups...and a wiring harness with Rick-o-sound? ...oh whatever would I do with such things?
I'll give the ATK 300 through the weekend stock...then it may be devoid of its bridge and electronics. I had been looking for a nice platform to put the Rick pickups in...it was going to be a Fenderbacker....but now I guess it'll be a Rickanez Stereo Bass.
Anyone want to try adding a second standard pickup to the 300?
By the way hows the A-Step-Towards Fenderbird coming along? I'm still waiting for my Fenderbird Jazz to get finished being set up after the neck swap.
jc
That sounds badass.
Well in the process of looking for a thunderbird body I got a gibson t bird for a great deal ha so now I am still looking for a t bird body, good deals hang me up ( see thread)
How long does it take for them to ship? I received my shipping confirmation and tracking number last night, but it still shows up as UPS cannot find shipment details. I went for next day delivery and was hoping it would be here today (which it wasn't), but would be happy with it arriving tomorrow, but now I'm not sure if that's going to happen either. Kind of defeats the purpose of getting next day delivery if they don't get it shipped for several days IMO...
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