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ATK's on clearance at MF.

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#801
I got mine on Wednesday. I looks great. Its 11 lbs. I like it but, I dont really love it. It has fret spout and a rough sanding patch on the headstock.

As a comparison, it is more mellow than my EBMM Sterling. I know I am comparing a $1500 bass to a $130 - $500 bass, but that is my reference point. To me, the Sterling has a more complex tone, which I prefer. Maybe its the preamp, but the Sterling's mids just bite more than the ATK. I do, however, like the deepness of the Traditional setting with the lows boosted a tad and the highs rolled off some. I will throw on a old set of DR lowriders to give a more accurate A/B. As many have said, it is surprisingly versatile. Aside from the weight, that is what really stuck me about this bass.

I like the neck. Wider than the Sterling but its comfortable. I do prefer Jazz necks, but I dont mind it. It similar at the nut to my Bongo, just thicker. I just looked it up and its slightly larger than the Bongo. 1.625- Bongo 1.68 - ATK


I am not sure if she is a keeper, but i do have to say I am fairly impressed by it considering the price point.

For someone who doesn't have a StingRay or a StingRay derived bass, I can easily see this filling that void at a great price.
 
#803
LilloEsquilo said:
there is one posted on the Bay right now, red sparkle, says it's new, 225 buy it now, 175 starting bid.

Hard to beat that for the money.
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Probably someone who picked it up at the $130 price point. Nice to see he/she is offering a decent price. Others (like myself) were only able to get the $199 price point so this is decent price point similar to what others had to pay.

On the opposite side of the spectrum there is another Red Sparkle listed for $499 or best offer! I guess the thought there is that someone will think they are getting a great deal @ $350? It's probably someone on here so I hope I don't get flamed for pointing out the extreme profit motive. Capitalism at it's best.

I see another eBay listing for a black one @ $399 BIN which may seem high as well but that same seller also sold one of the Yammy's that were closeout too so it looks like he may understand that a black one will probably bring the higher price point than would the red.
 
#804
brutalron said:
For someone who doesn't have a StingRay or a StingRay derived bass, I can easily see this filling that void at a great price.
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And that's exactly the reason I jumped on the deal. I'm not looking for the Stingray tone often enough to justify spending the money for one, so when these came up, I figured it was a good way to get me in the ball park for very little cash.
 
#805
Ryan L. said:
And that's exactly the reason I jumped on the deal. I'm not looking for the Stingray tone often enough to justify spending the money for one, so when these came up, I figured it was a good way to get me in the ball park for very little cash.
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Me too. Plus I have learned that to decide if I really like an instrument, I have to live with it for a while. I can tell some things from an in store test, but some things that I didn't like initially have turned out to be things I really liked.
 
#806
Ryan L. said:
And that's exactly the reason I jumped on the deal. I'm not looking for the Stingray tone often enough to justify spending the money for one, so when these came up, I figured it was a good way to get me in the ball park for very little cash.
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Absolutely. For me, my main sound is EBMM, which inherently has that StingRay zing. I was not sure what to expect when I ordered this. I do like the bass, but to its credit, does cop the StingRay tone, minus some treble bite. 11lbs, plus sounding close enough to my SR5 and Sterling 4, may make this expendable. But, man, I sure do love sparkle finishes. Red sparkle and maple. big win.
 
#807
i am noticing the tone is probably my least favorite part of the equation on this sucker. i can make it work, but neither the bright setting or the attack are sounding particularly good to my ears. as a pick player, i'm really sensitive to the character of a bass's attack... on my old stingray, the attack was very in your face, but it had a sweetness that is missing here. not sure whether to attribute that to pickups, preamp, strings or setup. but at least two of those are easy to tweak.

in regard to the above, though, the Trad setting is pretty darn solid. i'm barely tweaking the preamp and getting a pretty usable sound.
 
#808
ishouldbeking said:
i am noticing the tone is probably my least favorite part of the equation on this sucker. i can make it work, but neither the bright setting or the attack are sounding particularly good to my ears. as a pick player, i'm really sensitive to the character of a bass's attack... on my old stingray, the attack was very in your face, but it had a sweetness that is missing here. not sure whether to attribute that to pickups, preamp, strings or setup. but at least two of those are easy to tweak.

in regard to the above, though, the Trad setting is pretty darn solid. i'm barely tweaking the preamp and getting a pretty usable sound.
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I agree. Its close, but next to the real McCoy it falls short. Maybe that was design of the bass. To be close, but with its own twist. Either way its solid. If I was to keep this, it wouldnt get played. Its not different enough from my current stable to set itself apart. I am sure it will be on Ebay or the classifieds at some point.
 
#809
I had been looking for a used 300 to go with my 750 & 700 when these first went for $300, then $200, add in Music123's discount and I didn't hesitate.
There is a lot of difference in MIK and MII. I have compared my MIK to MIA, well, this is what I would expect from MIM.
It is pretty much what I wanted, but it has it's flaws...mostly in the headstock area. There is the already mentioned sanding marks(cosmetic), the D tuner is not truely parallel to the others(also cosmetic). The one thing that bothers me is the end of the fretboard under the nut. It was either broken before glue-up or the end torn off when the saw cut it. Eitherway several inspectors and employees decided to let it go. Under the E string, the nut is just a little over half-way supported by the fretboard, then increases at an angle towards the G string. Looking at it from the G string side, it is almost right, the E string side, no way. I am concerned that string pressure could eventually break the nut loose. Since Ibanez uses such wide nuts anyway, do you think it would be ok, or should I replace it? This definately happened before it was even painted.
On the good side, it is even lighter than my 750. Kinda like when you think you are picking up a gallon of milk out of the fridge, but somebody drank it all so you just pick up an empty jug and you're arm fly's up in the air...it's like that! :)
The neck is different than my other 2, but I like the feel of it a lot. It was made January, 2008.
And it sounds like an ATK should.
 
#811
ndabunka said:
Probably someone who picked it up at the $130 price point. Nice to see he/she is offering a decent price. Others (like myself) were only able to get the $199 price point so this is decent price point similar to what others had to pay.

On the opposite side of the spectrum there is another Red Sparkle listed for $499 or best offer! I guess the thought there is that someone will think they are getting a great deal @ $350? It's probably someone on here so I hope I don't get flamed for pointing out the extreme profit motive. Capitalism at it's best.

I see another eBay listing for a black one @ $399 BIN which may seem high as well but that same seller also sold one of the Yammy's that were closeout too so it looks like he may understand that a black one will probably bring the higher price point than would the red.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know, I see the one I mentioned is gone now so I figure one of us here grabbed it, but I saw that 499 one and thought dude you gotta be kidding me.
 
#813
LilloEsquilo said:
Yeah I know, I see the one I mentioned is gone now so I figure one of us here grabbed it, but I saw that 499 one and thought dude you gotta be kidding me.
Click to expand...

i actually dont understand these blowouts and think ATK's are undervalued and well worth pre-sale/closeout prices. If they have a new one and are asking new prices, I don't have a problem with that. And no, mine aren't for sale.
 
#815
THand said:
i actually dont understand these blowouts and think ATK's are undervalued and well worth pre-sale/closeout prices. If they have a new one and are asking new prices, I don't have a problem with that. And no, mine aren't for sale.
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That's actually more than the new "retail" price I've seen online, I've seen mid 300s brand new online from some retailers. So the 499 is pretty over-priced for that model.
 
#818
you know even at $130.99 MF and Music123 made money on these sales. Granted, not as much as I'm sure they would want to make on the sale of an ATK. However, better to take a small little profit and get them out of the warehouse where they are definitely NOT making any money for the companies.

It goes to show the markup of retail.

Also makes me shudder at the markup of american made instruments.
 
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