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New, just wanted to introduce myself

Does the Ibanez ATK 200 kick ass?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 6 42.9%

  • Maybe.

    Votes: 4 28.6%

  • Whatever, dude.

    Votes: 4 28.6%
  • Total voters
    14
TheWeepingSparrow

TheWeepingSparrow

Guest
Jan 22, 2015
29
10
40
The Sky
Disclosures
I work for The Man, ya understand?
#1
Hey, I'm a former guitarist. I started playing bass seriously about nearly 4 years ago. I was trying out for a band and I played with them for about 2 months, but early on the guitarist suggested I play the bass they had there since they had no bassist. For some reason I just fell in love with bass and ended up selling most of my guitar gear to get my first bass and amp.

Although I was a guitarist, kind of poopy one in retrospect... I learned to play fingerstyle bass like a proper bassist should... and now whenever I pick up a guitar, holding a pick just feels so unnatural. Something about bass is much more soothing...

So now I am finally beginning to come into my own as a bassist, after the past few years of completely building up a whole crappy technique on guitar and having to destroy everything I knew to learn how to play bass and not sound like utter garbage.... it took several times of destroying and rebuilding my technique, but I think I'm doing things right now... learned me some music theory, which I never knew about before, never thought would be of any use to me because the guitar is loudest so whatever you do everyone just has to follow you (at least that was my stupid thinking back then).

And I just recently bought a new bass, the Ibanez ATK 200 series... had some trouble getting one without a flaw in it, though, which sucked... but I'm not a millionare and I figure it's more important to make your tone with your fingers and strings anyway.

Here's a picture of my actual bass, not like you haven't seen one before.... let me know if I completely screwed the pooch or not on this baby.

Thanks and nice little place ya got here...
 

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#2
Welcome!

I have never owned an ATK, but would love to have one. I like the ones I have played in the store.

I play finger style 95% of the time, but don't think for a minute using a pick is bad. It is a different tone, and can be a very good tool to have in certain situations. I went for a long time without using a pick at all, and now I usually have both felt and regular picks with me when I play a show.
 
#5
Oh yeah ya know I definitely know the value of playing bass with a pick. I play with a pick sometimes, too. I played bass in my first band a long assed time ago when I was just a crappy guitar player playing a crappy bass we found in some dude's basement (had a big hump in the neck and everything, but we made it kick some ass anyway). I have this one bass riff I still play with a pick that I wrote all the way back then. Seems pretty incredible that I put the bass down after that short lived band, because there really was some magic being channeled through the low end of the spectrum even way back then. Then another time I briefly had a fender mustang bass but I was a real party kinda guy and I ended up selling it for "party supplies" not too long after I got it. That was a great sounding little bass, too... but it was only until recently that I bought a whole rig and committed to it... but it's always been calling me.

As for the ATKs, I have not heard one bad thing about any model other than they are a bit heavy (but I don't mind as of now)... so hopefully I just ran into a string of bad luck. The one I got now had some issues with some very raw fretwork towards the tongue of the neck, which luckily Sweetwater is fixing... but it's not as big of deal as the first one I returned, which had an abrupt little kink in the center of the neck, and I could barely see it since I'm rather new at sighting and adjusting and proper setup and all of that... but luckily I caught it. The insincere "tech" bastards at guitar center only acknowledged it once I name dropped the big guitar guy in the area everyone knows who confirmed what I suspected before I took it back. Kind of sucks, cuz it's got me all teed about the experience of dealing with anything but small local guys. I never had a bad buy from my trusty guitar guru. Don't know why the chain stores can't get their act together. My bet is guitar center turned around and sold that same bass with the kinked neck to some poor moron who will notice too late that he got scammed. Guitar center... beware of the local guitar gurus... they know your deceits!

But yeah other than that, the ATK is a great bass for the money. I personally played both the 800e and the 200 version, and I was almost set on the 800e but the 200 actually sounded a lot bolder and meaner and I don't know why that is but overall they're not much different other than the extra single coil....

I actually found out after I got this bass that one of my favorite bassists, Scott Reeder, from Kyuss, played ATK basses for a long time. It's just kinda weird because Kyuss was a big reason why I wanted to play bass. I loved the low end, but guitar was never bassy enough even tuned down to Kyuss tuning. So why not just PLAY BASS and you'll always be bassy!?!? Even in E standard! And it's true... bass really is bassy.
 
#6
Welcome to TB - The ATK is always a good solid choice, and perhaps one of the most reasonably priced ash bodied basses with a decent preamp. Good call. I first encountered the original Japanese ATK's when I was a student back in the late 80's and it was a seriously punchy beast of an instrument. A couple of years ago I met the instrument again when I got one for a pupil, a 200 series like yours, but in natural ash. They're hard to beat for the money.

Glad you're feeling you made the right choice by changing over to the bass side of the world. I came at it from the other side, as a classically trained cellist and double bass player, but I understand completely what you mean regarding getting the technique right. You came at bass with exactly the right attitude, and obviously looked around at some of the less discerning players and decided to be better. So I commend you, Sir :)
 
#8
Well back when I used to play guitar... I was stupid and vain. I didn't even know how to perform simple adjustments. I'd get these expensive guitars, like I had two Gibson Les Pauls and a 70s SG Deluxe over the years. Now as far as guitars go I have one electric guitar left and it's a Carlo Robelli fender ripoff I got for like 125 bucks. I still have the big expensive tube half stack waste of money, trying to figure out a good way to rid myself of that unnecessary behemoth... but yeah the last of my expensive guitars I traded for my bass equipment. I pretty much went all in. However... this time I'm not spending more than 800 bucks on a bass until I become a frickin' bass ace, you get my chase? I went a bit heavy on the bass amplification, though. I got an Acoustic 450B combo amp, louder than anything I will ever need to use... but mainly, My days of looking like I know what I'm doing are over, because I didn't know what I was doing... and besides I was never too good at looking like things I'm not. I still don't know what I'm doing.

I had half a mind to scour the pawnshops in search of the most poopy looking P-bass knockoff I could to torture my playing with, but I'm not gunna put that much effort into finding the worst possible gear, either. The ATK is truly a lucky find. Just to kind of correct the one guy... it's like 400 bucks, actually brand new. I found the first one for 320 bucks at guitar center, and I am aware that the newest models had a slightly redesigned headstock so I know it was a 2014 model at least... so I should've been suspicious when I couldn't find any other places selling the model for less than 400. It actually WAS the natural finish one, the first one... too bad about the neck. My theory is they counted on me not inspecting it too closely in-store, going home and not noticing the effed up neck until it was too late.

This is actually not my first bass since my conversion. It's a bit of an upgrade from a Fernandes Tremor bass I've had for a while. There seems to be a lot more tone options on this model (my Tremor has like one tone, and the tone knob doesn't do really anything except confuse me as to why it even exists there), and I even played this against the 500-600 dollar P-bass and J-bass and this one just sounded better to me. My heart was pretty set on a P-bass when first looking, but I realized really quickly why I was never a fender fan in the first place... because pretty much any fender you play inevitably has that tinny kind of "vintage" top-end... and it's weird because their amps have that same kind of vibe, too... like playing through a very expensive tin can. The ATK beat out all the fenders, all the other Ibanezs, even a used G&L bass. I not only bought it because it was more reasonably priced, but because tonally it sounded richer than a lot of the basses between that price range and the higher end basses past the 800 dollar mark. I might have gone as high 7 or 800, but I didn't even need to.
 
#9
Also it sounded better than a Music Man. But I have a bias against the sound of Music Man, as well... and actually in reality from a technical standpoint, I'm probably way off. It probably sounds way worse... but the thing is I've always been a fan of sloppy sounds. I'd spend hours fascinated by a simple one mic basement recording of a song and then completely be repelled by that same song when done professionally in a very expensive studio. So I can't tell what actually sounds good to someone who really has a fine ear for it because I like to make and listen to poopy punk rock records.
 
#10
TheWeepingSparrow said:
Also it sounded better than a Music Man. But I have a bias against the sound of Music Man, as well... and actually in reality from a technical standpoint, I'm probably way off. It probably sounds way worse... but the thing is I've always been a fan of sloppy sounds. I'd spend hours fascinated by a simple one mic basement recording of a song and then completely be repelled by that same song when done professionally in a very expensive studio. So I can't tell what actually sounds good to someone who really has a fine ear for it because I like to make and listen to ****** punk rock records.
Click to expand...
It's just a matter of personal taste, depends on what genres you're playing, anyway, welcome and have fun.
 
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#11
Welcome to Talkbass.......you'll never leave!

I tried that exact model of bass a few months ago, was pretty impressed with it although it was the heaviest bass I have ever come across! I own a EB MM Stingray and would definitely recommend the ATK as a cheap alternative, it's well made, has powerful tone shaping and has that Stingray style 'Punch'.
As to whether you screwed the pooch on it.....as long as you're happy with it and there are no problems (sloppy fretwork, stability/tuning issues) then it really doesn't matter what other people think, a good instrument helps you be creative and doesn't get in the way.

Hope this helps,

Cheers

Tom
 
#12
TheWeepingSparrow said:
Also it sounded better than a Music Man. But I have a bias against the sound of Music Man, as well... and actually in reality from a technical standpoint, I'm probably way off. It probably sounds way worse... but the thing is I've always been a fan of sloppy sounds. I'd spend hours fascinated by a simple one mic basement recording of a song and then completely be repelled by that same song when done professionally in a very expensive studio. So I can't tell what actually sounds good to someone who really has a fine ear for it because I like to make and listen to ****** punk rock records.
Click to expand...

Yeah, a Music Man takes a kind of fan to like it above all else. I have an OLP Stingray clone but it is sort of like my 8 string bass. Killer when you need it, but usually sits in it's case. My main axes are G&L L2500s. But I also love my Ibbies! When you want to lean toward a modern sound that is where to look first. I don't think you'll be unhappy with yours. Yeah, I've got guitars too. Gibson Les Paul, and SG (not a huge fan of SGs), even a Carlo Robelli 12 string, but my favorite is my Yamaha Image made in Taiwan. Go figure. Same with basses. If you suddenly want to go old school, look into the Fender clones like SX etc. I love them too. But you already know what to do. Tone is where you find it. If what you like is cheap too, so much the better.

Just remember that the guitarist's job is to grab and hold the audience. The bass player's job is to grab and hold the band! Once you learn how to make the guitarist do your will just by what you play on your bass, we can say you have "arrived"!

Good luck and welcome to TB.
 
#13
bassbenj said:
Yeah, a Music Man takes a kind of fan to like it above all else. I have an OLP Stingray clone but it is sort of like my 8 string bass. Killer when you need it, but usually sits in it's case. My main axes are G&L L2500s. But I also love my Ibbies! When you want to lean toward a modern sound that is where to look first. I don't think you'll be unhappy with yours. Yeah, I've got guitars too. Gibson Les Paul, and SG (not a huge fan of SGs), even a Carlo Robelli 12 string, but my favorite is my Yamaha Image made in Taiwan. Go figure. Same with basses. If you suddenly want to go old school, look into the Fender clones like SX etc. I love them too. But you already know what to do. Tone is where you find it. If what you like is cheap too, so much the better.

Just remember that the guitarist's job is to grab and hold the audience. The bass player's job is to grab and hold the band! Once you learn how to make the guitarist do your will just by what you play on your bass, we can say you have "arrived"!

Good luck and welcome to TB.
Click to expand...


Haha good at bass-ness.

That would be an awesome place to be. I've been improving pretty quickly especially lately... see but the problem I find is that the guitarists always want to pretend like they are the boss, especially if they wrote the song. Like I'd come up with this killer bass line and then the guitarist would stop everything and say "That was good but I was thinking more of blah blah blah" and his idea would be a pile of shite. But then again on the same spectrum, I dunno if I'm confident enough to hop in with a bunch of schooled dudes jamming freestyle, either. I'm at the stage where I'm trying to graduate from that DIY punk rock ethos to a more stable and grounded universal musical ethos where I'm not battling against the unknown while I play, but my creativity is freed to do whatever it damn well pleases. I mean that DIY ethos likes to pretend it's open minded, but it's SOOOO limited, and as a result I run time and time again into sub-par musicians with very un-musical ideas acting like they are geniuses that can't be questioned... but they have to do that... because they are predators that rely on other weak minded sub-par musicians to do their bidding by constantly undercutting anyone who attempts to transcend their very limited pseudo-creative vision. I'm sick and tired of those types of manipulations, so I figure that when my grasp of just the basic musical theory is solid and I can just call any key or mode up at will, then there's no undercutting that because that's the law of the universe, my friend.

So I mean for my own musical sanity I've just been kind of holed away in my bass-cave slowly improving and learning and I figure when the right band comes along, I'll just know. Like a pretty girl who doesn't hate your face. But also not at all like a pretty girl, either.

I really did like the G&L bass, too. I don't remember the actual model but it was a P-bass style and it had this salmon pink finish that looked so ugly it looked good. It looked like it was from the 80s or the early 90s at least. For a genuine G&L, it was selling for a great price... something like right around 800... but I just don't trust Guitar Center and used or vintage instruments, so that's why I left without purchasing anything and instead just went with my original ATK choice and found an online dealer. I never bought any guitar from an online place before, so I was nervous... but Sweetwater seems to be in the business of making sure people are happy, so we'll see how it all turns out in the end. I just got my ATK back from them today... so we'll see if I have any further issues...
 
#15
TheWeepingSparrow said:
Hey, I'm a former guitarist. I started playing bass seriously about nearly 4 years ago. I was trying out for a band and I played with them for about 2 months, but early on the guitarist suggested I play the bass they had there since they had no bassist. For some reason I just fell in love with bass and ended up selling most of my guitar gear to get my first bass and amp.

Although I was a guitarist, kind of ****** one in retrospect... I learned to play fingerstyle bass like a proper bassist should... and now whenever I pick up a guitar, holding a pick just feels so unnatural. Something about bass is much more soothing...

So now I am finally beginning to come into my own as a bassist, after the past few years of completely building up a whole crappy technique on guitar and having to destroy everything I knew to learn how to play bass and not sound like utter garbage.... it took several times of destroying and rebuilding my technique, but I think I'm doing things right now... learned me some music theory, which I never knew about before, never thought would be of any use to me because the guitar is loudest so whatever you do everyone just has to follow you (at least that was my stupid thinking back then).

And I just recently bought a new bass, the Ibanez ATK 200 series... had some trouble getting one without a flaw in it, though, which sucked... but I'm not a millionare and I figure it's more important to make your tone with your fingers and strings anyway.

Here's a picture of my actual bass, not like you haven't seen one before.... let me know if I completely screwed the pooch or not on this baby.

Thanks and nice little place ya got here...
Click to expand...
The ATK is a road warrior bass. Welcome and congrats!
 
#16
Hey thanks, Portland! Home of my favorite band, The Wipers.

I really do think Ibanez is a solid guitar manufacturer all around, but the fact that I got two basses in a row with flaws in them just boggles my mind... especially because the model is so well-received. Granted this time the flaw was just
 
#19
This is actually the first active pickup instrument I've ever really enjoyed the sound of. Yeah that sounds cool. I was afraid that I'd be changing batteries all the time like a guitar pedal and that's what made me almost hesitate, but it just sounded so good that I figured screw it even if it is that way, it's worth it. I knew about the cable thing only because I figured it was similar to the guitar pedal situation where power leeches out slowly if it's left plugged in.
 

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