NBD Atelier Z

[ped]

I’ve been looking for a 70s spaced jazz for a while now. Having tried a lot of Fenders which were variable and generally expensive I decided to give a modern interpretation a go.

This today and very nice it is too. The fingerboard wood is beautiful and exactly the same looking as a Bacchus jazz I had a while back. The preamp sounds great and the passive mode has a charm to it too. Lots to play with but the rear pickup burp is great too. Slap sound is pure MM and it has that ‘breathy’ quality with gritty detail when you dig in. Very pleased.

The body is chambered which makes the bass pretty light and it’s very resonant. The body is a sandwich of alder and ash.

I’ll record some sounds when I’ve got everything dialled in and have settled on my setup for this bass - after dropping the action it plays superbly right out of the box.

Preamp is vol and vol (second is pull for passive), treble boost/cut and bass boost.

Cheers

 

[UNICORN BASS]

My God, that is beautiful!

 

[StevieMac]

Holy crap, that is NICE!!

 

[TrevorG]

Looks amazing! Looking forward to hearing it. I assume you fitted the mouse...

 

[spufman]

That's a great looking bass, enjoy enyoy!

 

[bass12]

The clear guard and clear faux control cover are really cool. Fantastic looking bass!

 

[RSBBass]

That does look nice! Any issues with neck dive with the chambered body?

 

[ped]

No not at all - here’s a pic of the chambering. Also the rear mounted controls allow a large routing area for a control cavity.

 

[Killing Floor]

Really gorgeous. Those are great instruments.
The 2 best things about blocked and bound necks are the blocks and the binding. Rock it!

 

[Fender_Bender]

Very nice, I’m a fan of natural finishes. Seems like an interesting compromise between having alder or ash. I would have preferred no guard or plate, but that’s my own taste. Don’t look now but there’s a stowaway rodent munching on your headstock .

 

[Peteyboy]

Good lookin bass! And so long as that mouse doesn't chew on your cables & stuff he might make a good sidekick.

 

[kobass]

Beautiful instrument!

Congrats and enjoy!

 

[BassDad1964]

Goodness gracious...that's beautiful.

 

[Kipp Harrington]

I’ve been looking for a 70s spaced jazz for a while now. Having tried a lot of Fenders which were variable and generally expensive I decided to give a modern interpretation a go.
Schaweet!
This today and very nice it is too. The fingerboard wood is beautiful and exactly the same looking as a Bacchus jazz I had a while back. The preamp sounds great and the passive mode has a charm to it too. Lots to play with but the rear pickup burp is great too. Slap sound is pure MM and it has that ‘breathy’ quality with gritty detail when you dig in. Very pleased.

The body is chambered which makes the bass pretty light and it’s very resonant. The body is a sandwich of alder and ash.

I’ll record some sounds when I’ve got everything dialled in and have settled on my setup for this bass - after dropping the action it plays superbly right out of the box.

Preamp is vol and vol (second is pull for passive), treble boost/cut and bass boost.

Cheers


View attachment 4004415 View attachment 4004416 View attachment 4004417

 

[JW56789]

AtelierZ — AtelierZ guitar works

. . . . another one of the great MIJ axes with little to no distribution in the US. A-Z seems to be a little more adventurous in their take on the classic Fender feature sets alongside Moon or Bacchus (also tremendous basses), and there are a few running around Nashville, held in high esteem.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

I love the look of your new bass!
But I'm unfamiliar with this brand.
Is it more or less expensive than a Fender equivalent?

 

[ped]

I love the look of your new bass!
But I'm unfamiliar with this brand.
Is it more or less expensive than a Fender equivalent?

I think about the same as a Fender Reissue or a Sadowsky Metro. But I think you get more for your money and are getting a 'top of the line' instrument for the price, given the features compared to the competition. As usual though at this level it's all down to personal preferences and there's very little to choose between brands at this price point.

Certainly I found it easier to find what I wanted with Atelier - some of the Fenders were 70's reissue with 60's spacing(?) and somehow the Sadowsky UV70 left me cold. I tried a bunch of vintage fenders but they were often heavy, sometimes dead and felt they were unnecessarily expensive because 'vintage' adds a lot to the price for some reason, regardless of the fact that the 70s was a pretty rough period for the brand.

 

[MrLenny1]

Ooo, nice score and chambered too.
Enjoy.

 

[ped]

Thanks. Yes I don’t know if it makes a difference to the sound but this thing does growl and fizz like I had hoped. The pre is very flexible and especially the treble control which seems to be at just the right frequency to bring out those pops. I’ll have to investigate the values but it feels just right.

Here’s a phone pic showing the colour perhaps more accurately. This piece of wood is very ‘golden’ and warm.

Oh and slight headstock staff change. Mouse was a bit too noisy and was squeaking all over recordings so I’ve given bear and trash panda a try.

If you don’t know already I always put puppets on my headstock and I’m the reason Scott Devine’s Smith has them on too!

Cheers

 

[JRA]

what a handsome piece! i like the clear plastic parts: makes for neat presentation, IMO. glad it checks the boxes for you. congratulations on your new instrument!