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REALLY Cheap Ibanez ATK's!

#121
5 piece neck on the 700/750 series..3 piece on the 300's.
Tuners are different...whether they're better or not I don't know...I have no trouble with either one of my 300's holding proper pitch. Laminated tops on the 700 series.
I could'nt be more pleased with my 300's,.. though I wish I had the cash to throw on the Blue Moon 700,... but it's going towards my 1305e BTB Prestige that's on layaway:hyper: .. . .. which I'm glad I ordered before that line was discontinued.. . .. Can a brother get a number!?
 
#122
Funk Factor said:
5 piece neck on the 700/750 series..3 piece on the 300's.
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Yep, laminations. More laminations everywhere.

And more dots. Lots more dots. :p

Does that really make that much difference in the production costs? :confused: Or anything?

I certainly wouldn't have paid extra for it.

Tuners are different...whether they're better or not I don't know...
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I didn't realize the machines were different. The other hardware is the same, I'm pretty sure.
 
#123
The 300's tuners resemble what's on Fender MIM bass as far as shape (back of headstock) and are rounded on the bottom. The 700's are square across the bottom. I don't know if it's just a cosmetic difference or they are of higher quality.
I'm considering installing a Bassculture pickup and I'm curious about the John East MM preamp... I need to email Bassculture and ask their opinions on using this preamp with their pickup. Probably be a killer mod though I'm very happy with the tone as is.... but,... seeing as I have 2 ATK's, a bad case of GAS or an obsessive compulsive disorder....what the hell;)
 
#126
vtang said:
What are the main differences between the 300 and 700?
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Aside from the obvious difference in woods the 700 has a higher degree of finish work such as rolled edges on the fingerboard and more attention to final fret work and polishing. Although I really love the feel and look of my natural 700 with the birdseye all over the fingerboard and the depth of the quilt maple I'm the sort of person who would have bought a natural 300 instead. But then my 700 was a Christmas present from my wife so who am I to refuse such a gift? ;)
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#130
kirkm24 said:
So does this mean Ibanez is discontinuing the ATK again?
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IMHO this price drop on some ATK models isn't a result of anything Ibanez has done. These bargains are a result of retailers needing to get rid of dead merchandise that would otherwise clutter shelf space that could be used for active inventory... basses that would actually sell. The models you see at drastically reduced prices such as the 700, 750 Koa (the 750QM has yet to go on clearance), 300RSPBK and GC'c own 3EX1 are on clearance because nobody bought them at their regular prices.

Not to say that Ibanez doesn't plan to phase out the ATK sometime in the future but when a 300 series still sells for the same price it did a couple of years ago and only the poor selling models are on clearance, common marketing sense applies.
 
#131
One of the negatives I've heard about these basses is that the fret ends stick past the edge of the neck, essentially creating a "cheese grater" effect on your fretting fingers. The wood is probably too wet and shrinks. Who has this problem with this bass?

This bass sounds interesting, if not too many controls and combinations for my simple brain, but I'm leery about this type of defect with any bass.
 
#132
I received my ATK750KA. I'll post pics if interested but I think the top looks pretty nice.

I'm pretty happy with the sounds, I tend to stick with the switch positions that use the J pickup.

As for fit and finish, I get a nasty buzz when I play the 7th fret on both the E and G strings together. In my experience this is the "dowser" for finding an issue. Each string on its own is fine but that particular chord will freak it out. The buzz isn't like string buzz you might get on the 14th fret or something when lowering strings but more like behind the fretted note towards the headstock.

Anyway, sighting down the neck it looks like there is a high fret right around there. Some of the other fret ends "grab" my fingers a bit. Not while playing so much due to hand position but they could probably stand to be dressed.

Overall, it's certainly worth the $350 but could use some work to make it worry-free.
 
#133
Got my ATK earlier this week. Amazingly, only took 3 days to ship ground from Kansas to Pennsylvania. Man this thing is fun to play, my only complaint is that I'm gonna be buying new strings all the time cuz it sounds so good with the zing of new strings.

As others have stated, the 2nd and 4th switch positions sound the best. 2nd activates the jazz pup and the bottom coil of the ATK, and 4th activates both coils of the ATK only for a humbucker sound. The onboard EQ is much less useful on this than on my Soundgear (which has a Bartolini EQ, don't know what ATK uses), however I think this bass for me is really going to be a 2 trick pony, either humbucking Stingray sound or double pickup Jazz sound.

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And video evidence of its awesomeness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDV89GxDT8s
 
#134
Toastfuzz said:
Got my ATK earlier this week. Amazingly, only took 3 days to ship ground from Kansas to Pennsylvania.
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I have no such luck. It took nearly three whole business days for MF to get around to shipping mine. :spit:

With AMS, if I order early in the morning, I get the stuff the next afternoon! Incredible, but I live not far from their warehouse.

The north bay UPS hub got my ATK750KA this afternoon, so that means I might get it tomorrow. I hope so, as I want to check it out and see if I want to get an ATK700 natural to go with it before they run out of them.

I like the koa on yours. Good specimen.
 
#136
Electra Player said:
I dunno, these things are not lookers in the bridge area.
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You're ^$£%&%^*^$&*ing joking right? The bridge is my favourite bit by far :p

sarcastro83 said:
Not sure, I've never done it myself before. Also, I've been sticking with passive pickups since I started playing... never could get the hang of or enjoy the sound of actives either, hence the lack of experience.
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A few passive orientated people have modded their ATK to be passive, the controls thing isn't a problem with the newer ones cos the preamp is modular, so you could easily take a pot out and put in a passive volume control. 90's ones have all the pots attached to the preamp board, I run my 90's one passive but I don't have the original ATK pickup AND I have a Jazz pickup in the neck position now too, since I only like my humbucker in 1 spot I got rid of the switch and have a blend/volume control there now :p Which brings me on to...

CertifiedLurker said:
I would make the ATK300 an HH if I was going to mod it. Routing room for another pick-up better be expensive otherwise I may be spending more cash :scowl:.
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Mine was about £70-80 to mod for a Jazz pickup (the guy repaird my ABG at the same time so I'm not sure exactly) doesn't include the £70 Seymour Hot Stack I used so you can judge for yourself whether it's cheap enough for not, I've never been happier with any bass then I have with my ATK so it was definitely worth it for me.

JZQuantum said:
One of the negatives I've heard about these basses is that the fret ends stick past the edge of the neck, essentially creating a "cheese grater" effect on your fretting fingers. The wood is probably too wet and shrinks. Who has this problem with this bass?

This bass sounds interesting, if not too many controls and combinations for my simple brain, but I'm leery about this type of defect with any bass.
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Mine's fine, the frets have a pretty nice rounded contour toward the strings on the one I have.

The Dave said:
So, I was listening to "Underneath It All" by No Doubt, and noticing the Bob Marley flag behind Toast's ATK - Gorgeous Koa by the way - and I was wondering... Will the 750 pull off a nice smooth Reggae tone?
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If you use the 2nd wiring option (have a look on page 5) I reckon you'd get a pretty decent reggae tone out of it, dunno if it might be a little too punchy though, Alot of reggae guys seem to like an all out loose sound without too much punchy low mids. It's a shame you can use the Jazz pickup with the bridge side of the ATK pickup with that wiring, that'd probably suit a bit more, kinda surprised you can't use the Jazz with the full bridge humbucking mode either...
 
#138
The Dave said:
So, I was listening to "Underneath It All" by No Doubt, and noticing the Bob Marley flag behind Toast's ATK - Gorgeous Koa by the way - and I was wondering... Will the 750 pull off a nice smooth Reggae tone?
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I share the reggae/dub love, and this was one of the first things I played around with. Yes, activating the 2nd position, the jazz pup and single coil ATK pup, and dropping the treble gives a fairly decent reggae tone, probably not the best you're gonna get but good enough that I wouldn't buy a new bass, had I found myself in a reggae band.
 

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