Official ATK Club

[Bongolation]

I'm not really in love with their sound, but i am going to use them until they really die, since they were free basically.

I see my cheapskate influence in decision-making is making itself felt.

Unfortunately, with most strings that come on basses, they're cheap stainless roundwounds, so the frets really die first. Those monstrosities are incredible. Even I change them out immediately.

My 750 is "out for delivery"...we'll see what I think of Elixirs soon.

 

[Bongolation]

My 750 is "out for delivery"...we'll see what I think of Elixirs soon.

Arrived.

Vicious fret sprout, no doubt climatic and may pass.

Very nice topwood, very flamed. Two quick shots taken in the panic of an impending storm: Link Removed & Link Removed.

Haven't played it or checked setup yet.

 

[Justin Tuskey]

Arrived.

Vicious fret sprout, no doubt climatic and may pass.

Very nice topwood, very flamed. Two quick shots taken in the panic of an impending storm: Link Removed & Link Removed.

Haven't played it or checked setup yet.

That is gorgeous mate! If they ONLY freakin made one in a 5er.....cmon Ibanez...I would get one so fast its not evern funny

 

[Jamie_Funk]

so maybe i was a little harsh on the elixirs. they are not quite as bright as when i first tried them, but they are still holding up OK. I'm not really in love with their sound, but i am going to use them until they really die, since they were free basically.

YMMV, but I hated the Elixers on my ATK - dullsville. Changed to D'Addario XLs and it sounded fantastic.

J

 

[Essthreetee]

YMMV, but I hated the Elixers on my ATK - dullsville. Changed to D'Addario XLs and it sounded fantastic.

J

I am also using XL's on mine...

 

[dinghy]

Man I don't see what everyone hates about Elixirs. They feel awesome, I cam play much faster with them than any other string because of the coating, and they don't sound bad either.

 

[Jamie_Funk]

Man I don't see what everyone hates about Elixirs. They feel awesome, I cam play much faster with them than any other string because of the coating, and they don't sound bad either.

I liked the FEEL, found they sounded....meh at best. The XLs brought the bass to life IMO. I find Elixers focus too much on longevity at the expense of tone. For ME.

But strings are SO personal, and one person's ideal for tone is never everyone else's, hence the great variety of strings.

I just had some D'Addario ProSteels (stainless steel) on my ATK - sounded cool, but not enough low mids for me and compared to the XLs (nickel), even in the same gauge the tension was MUCH lower which I did not dig - strings IMO make a HUGE difference on the tone of any bass.

J

 

[paganjack]

Now that i have the Koa top for superbright funk and fusion, I put a set of Chromes on my 305. It sounds schweet- way bassier, and less clicky. The mids also seem a lot less nasal and they still cut through the band like butter when cranked. I have officially become a flats kind of guy. Maybe it's because I started on cello/upright bass for years, but flats just feel like the correct kind of strings.
I strung at the bridge instead of through the body since I didn't want to put the flats at such a nasty angle. It still has sustain for days; I love that huge bridge.

Still haven't changed the strings on the Koa, but I will eventually. The Elixirs just sound so twangy.

 

[Bongolation]

Still haven't changed the strings on the Koa, but I will eventually. The Elixirs just sound so twangy.

OK, in this thread, they are described as both twangy and dull.

They're pretty twangy, but I imagine that will pass. As a rule, I don't swap out strings if they're still good and aren't hurting the bass -- which the cheap stainless roundwounds that come on most basses are. I can see them starting to make deep cuts in the new frets within a couple of hours of play (who buys those awful strings?).

I may swap the Elixirs out of this one or from the ATK700 that MF is finally shipping today onto the new Yamaha RBX4 A2 and try some of the different strings I'm getting with the ATK700 order. I can't really get into the Yamaha until I ditch the stainless strings.

I am a flats kind of guy, but I don't much see flats on the ATK as they're just too limiting to the bass's potential tonal range.

 

[tekhedd]

First off, mine is a MF ATK305 with the black sparkle finish. That's multicolored sparkle. I have attached a picture that may require sunglasses.

Since the bottom just fell out of the ATK market I guess I will hang on to mine. I am not really disappointed though. I may follow through with a plan to add a P-bass pickup and put a blend pot where the pickup selector switch is (wouldn't that be awesome?)

Aha! So, I'm not the only person who's considered adding a P pickup (or maybe a fat soapbar or small humbucking pickup) to my ATK. That would make it a P-Sting pickup arrangement, wouldn't it? Hmm. Not sure I like the sound of that. Plus, the very thought of cutting holes in my precious makes me wince.

And the 750 has a J pickup at the neck. Why did it have to be a J? Why?

And even in its stock form, the bass is sickeningly versatile. I can go from finger picking to slap to banging the bass on random bystanders smoothly without changing settings, and it all just sounds great, no matter where on the neck I fret while I hit the bystanders. I mostly use the middle position. Hell, I thought *that* was the humbucking position till I read this thread.

Like many people here, I feel there's something missing from the tone, possibly due to the preamp or pickup, but it's so minor I can't really justify gutting the electronics. Yet.

 

[dinghy]

I have two ATK's, do I get two numbers?
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[Bongolation]

Like many people here, I feel there's something missing from the tone, possibly due to the preamp or pickup

Gee, couldn't have anything to do with that *MASSIVE* bridge assembly, could it?

People get these monstrous bridge assemblies and then wonder where their tonal subtlety went.

 

[Bongolation]

I have two ATK's, do I get two numbers?

Probably, and l'll let you have both of mine as well!

My 700 finally shipped today.

I just brought my 750 back from my Nigerois neighbor's woodshop, where were were examining the top under good light. Very nice, and as an exotic-woods fan he was suitably impressed.

 

[SwamiRob]

I always saw the bridge as adding to the tone, if not one of the big parts of ATK tone, it seems to be the source of it's huge unplugged volume and solid resonance to me anyway.

 

[Vorago]

I have two ATK's, do I get two numbers?
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Nice!

Got more pictures?

 

[dinghy]

A couple more

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[Bongolation]

I always saw the bridge as adding to the tone, if not one of the big parts of ATK tone, it seems to be the source of it's huge unplugged volume and solid resonance to me anyway.

High mass bridges don't add "tone," but retain that power, sustain and clarity of the fundamental by reducing the transfer of the string's vibrational energy into the body. That's how they work, and that's their objective. It's a direct tradeoff between power/sustain and the "woody" tonal complexity generated by the string's energy transferred through the body. You can't have both. So, these modern basses sound somewhat sterile compared to, say, a '50s Precision with a low-mass bridge.

It always surprises me see how many people on TB don't know this.

In modern active basses with massive bridges (such as the ATK), the body is pretty much reduced to an ornamental rigid platform for the electronics, which is why so many modern high-end basses are mainly lavish joinery exercises in fancy non-tonewoods.

The rigidity of a heavy, laminated neck and a heavy, dense body also accentuate these qualities. The ATK's powerful sound is mainly the electronics and very efficiently conserved string energy. That the tone "lacks something" is unavoidable.

 

[paganjack]

You seem to propose a spectrum of woodiness to beefiness. They use ash as the body wood. Would you say that they could have used any other wood and the end sound result would be very similar?

The ATK is probably the beefiest bass on the market, thereby being one of the least woody sounding. It's definitely a modern sound with uber-sustain power. Would you agree with these assessments, bongolation?

I'm no luthier, nor am i really familiar with how different woods will sound. someone say my koa 750 the other day, and after saying it was beautiful asked if the koa veneer made any difference in the tone. I had no idea. It definitely sounds different from my 305, but there are some other differences between the basses that could contribute to the change in sound.

 

[PauBass]

Well, after listening to ATK's sound clips and reading the reviews and advice from you guys, I'm seriously considering buying an ATK 305 but there's no way I can try it before buying it, no shops with stock around, so:

- What about their necks? Too big/chunky?
- Is the B string sound/definition good?

I'll go for natural with black pickguard, I think it looks awesome!

 

[paganjack]

i my 305 neck is much less chunky than my 750 neck. Neither feels too chunky to me. my B has always sounded clear and is fairly tight. natural basses almost always look good!