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Official ATK Club (Part II)

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#201
Femto said:
Strange, I find the pickup makes a pretty good thumb rest...but it only does because I play over the pickup. I imagine if I was going to put an extra thumb rest on there, it'd be half way between the neck and the pickup.

Now I've read this back, it seems like I'm stating the obvious.
tumbleweed.gif
Click to expand...

I disagree, I think the Jazz pickup I put in mine makes a far superior rest, not that I ever need it...
 
#202
Thanks, yeah I found one place on the edge where I could just fit my smallest screwdriver down there. I also have a swiss army knife and the blade was too thick to fit down the gap! It was well and truly stuck down. I think the backplate must have gone on before the shielding paint was completely dry. No problem though now it's off.

For those who didn't realise, there is a small control mounted in the preamp's circuit board which allows adjustment of the full output level from the ATK.
On mine, it was set at a level which would probably be pretty much exactly the same as most passive pickups, with exceptions such as high output Seymour Duncans and EMGs and the G&L MFD pups of course, which are crazy loud even in passive mode.

See here:
ATK-preamp.jpg
 
#203
SwamiRob said:
I disagree, I think the Jazz pickup I put in mine makes a far superior rest, not that I ever need it...
Click to expand...

I took measurements from my 750's jazz pup as a starting point for finding the right location for this reason.

I wanted the feel to be the same.

As a result of that plus feel,I put the thumb rest a little closer to the neck than most of the ones I've seen posted.
 
#204
SwamiRob said:
I disagree, I think the Jazz pickup I put in mine makes a far superior rest, not that I ever need it...
Click to expand...

Must be that you like to play fingerstyle a bit closer to the neck than I do. Mind you, I do believe you're a a pretty much 100% pick player are you not? I play mainly pickstyle in BNA but when I'm just noodling, I end up playing a lot of fingerstyle and a bit of slap/pop. Those techniques don't really fit with BNA much though.
 
#205
I was just talking bollocks for the sake of it, I prefer playing without a rest anyway cos you can get your finger muscles going a bit better when your hands not at some weird angle, doesn't really matter if your playing lightly though.

I do a little finger style in Swami anyway but mainly for mellow sections, play a couple of songs pretty much all fingers though, started playing fingerstyle over the humbucker now though to even out the response with my pick playing. Play all out fingerstyle in acoustic Swami/Foxes Faux or whatever you wanna call it nowadays.

When did you get an ATK anyway man? You really cant stop buying gear can you? :p
 
#206
SwamiRob said:
I was just talking bollocks for the sake of it
Click to expand...

Heh, I thought as much. You added a jazz pickup? Did you have to get someone to rout it for you or did you do it yourself?
Put it in the same place as the ATK7xx?

SwamiRob said:
When did you get an ATK anyway man? You really cant stop buying gear can you? :p
Click to expand...

I was contemplating getting a Stingray or a Sterling so I went to PMT in Leeds on Sunday to try a load of different basses out. I played all sorts of stuff and found that the ATK felt and sounded better than anything else I tried..in my opinion.

I traded my Yamaha TRB1006 in against the ATK. The TRB was a great bass but 6ers really aren't my thing and it was going to waste. I had to pay the difference which wasn't much at all so I'm pretty pleased with the whole affair. :)
 
#207
Yeah they're pretty nice aren't they, kinda wish I had the need for a stock one but my stripped down Bassculture.de humbucker+Seymour Hot stack combo wired straight to the jack with NO controls sounds great for Swami. I prefer the feel over the Stringray too to be honest.

Not too sure of the positioning, but I asked the lovely Lancastrian guy I entrusted it to do the job to try and get it in a vintage Jazz kinda position to get the most depth and warmth out of it. It looks great where it is and sounds pretty deep too, only about just over half the volume of the mental German neodymium humbucker tops, but it adds alot of classic Jazz depth in the mids, not that the humbucker doesn't have nice mids that is. Really nice output though overall, have to do some cutting in the high bass to tame some slight boomyness cos there's just that much low end coming out but when that's done it sounds awesome.
 
#210
SwamiRob said:
I was just talking bollocks for the sake of it, I prefer playing without a rest anyway cos you can get your finger muscles going a bit better when your hands not at some weird angle, doesn't really matter if your playing lightly though.
Click to expand...

I'll be putting a thumb rest on my ATK.
None of my other basses have one.
I play 95% of the time very lightly, with floating thumb. My other basses are fretless, so that's what I go for with them.
The ATK is my go-to slap and pop bass, and when I go fingerstyle on her I want to be able to dig in toward the neck for that Marcus-style attack. A thumbrest facilitates that, at least for me.
 
#211
Femto said:
Okay, here's a question:

How the heck do I get the main backplate off my new ATK?

Before anyone asks, of course I've taken the darn screws out!

It's such a close fit, I cant get even a tiny flatblade screwdriver down the edge. It appears to be stuck down. :hmm:

Edit: Okay, I've managed to do it. I was worried I was going to chip the finish but no such disaster occurred.
The reason I wanted to get inside was so I could turn the output level of the on-board preamp up to match my Fender Precision with its Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound pickup (which is a very hot pickup), so I didn't have to fiddle with my amp when I switch basses. I think I've got it about right.
Click to expand...


wad up a ball of masking tape next time...no worries about scratching this way :)
 
#213
SwamiRob - could you do me a favour and give me a quick run-down on the Bassculture de p/up? Does it still sound stingrayish in the brige switch position? Does it sound J like at all in the others? Many thanks - I've heard good things about them, but never heard one.
Cheers
Mark
 
#214
Femto said:
...and there's me thinking it was tombowlus..but maybe Tom's thing is amps and cabs rather than basses. :bassist:
Click to expand...

Bongo is the king of gear.:cool: He knows way too much about too much, and he has too much. It's not healthy.:rolleyes:

Out of concern for his health and well being, I am willing to allow him to ship me exactly half of his gear. This should allow him to find his front door and get the help he desperately needs.;)

It will be a burden on me, but I am willing to bear it to help out a fellow TB'r. :D:D:D

:hiding:
 
#217
The bassculture is a little more organic sounding then the stock humbucker, alot less modern sounding overall really other then being a fair bit hotter output wise. Much less top end treble and load more warm low mids, deep as hell in the mid bass and alot in the sub bass. The main thing that sums up the pickup is it's depth, you can control it with some EQ and then you have a much more balanced midrange and some really nice high mid presence too. I does have a great sound, very obviously Stingray like in the sense it really sticks out as a bridge humbucker tone, but it doesn't sound much like a stingray to my ear, alot deeper and warmer without as much click in the top end. Plus there's the huge selection of woods (and you can have unexposed poles if you want too, don't see why anyone would want that personally) for the cover too which is icing on a very well put together handmade German cake :p

Not tried the pickup in single coil mode so I couldn't give you any feedback there though, probably does a pretty nice single coil tone though. If you want a modern tone I'd recommend the EMG mod some people have done, I imagine that's alot more modern sounding.
 
#218
Thanks SwamiRob - based on what you say, I think i'll stick with the original p/up. I like the modern sound, and i've got otrher basses if I want a trad sound. Thanks for the info though - much appreciated. Now if only someone had some sound clips!
Cheers
Mark
 
#220
Femto said:
My ATK has the heelwheel a la the MM Stingray. Do I take it that I turn it the same way as my old P Bass, i.e. clockwise to tighten when viewing the neck heel from the bridge?
Click to expand...
Yes, but loosen it slightly to bust everything loose first before tightening. If it balks when tightening, slacken the strings to remove pressure on the trussrod. If it's still hard, backload the neck (search) to remove all tension on the trussrod.

As I recall, these adjust pretty easily if you loosen them first, but I seem to recall some of them being a bit stuck on the neck finish so they should be backed off first to get it unstuck without the added strain from tightening.

It should adjust reasonably easily. If not, stop and figure out what's wrong.

NEVER FIGHT A TRUSSROD! :rollno:
 
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