PlanetZ forums - scopeusers.com

Nestor wrote:It shure is a great instrument, I have played it long ago, and I liked the crispness of its tone. But it is too small and light for my way of playing. Particularly when slaping.

If you are talking about the older all-graphite, I agree, they are very light. The synapse is mostly maple, which is very heavy. I like it for slapping (though it's more difficult on a 5-string for me), since the weight is very centered on the body, and the body extends to support the neck for almost the full upper octave of the fretboard. So if you slap on a fret and not over the pickup, this is a very nice feature.

Nestor wrote:What experience do you have with Ibanez basses guys? Does anybody has a 395 or a 505, or a 500, just to name some?

I think in general the Ibanez necks are very comfortable, and they do a great job of shaping them to be fairly stiff while being thinner than many others. (at least, they feel that way)

There is another contender entering the fight... Ibanez ATK 305.

I've tried it at the shop and was surprised at the quality of the sound, it is deep and round, with lots and lots of sustain.

I know it has nothing to do with a Corvette, but it can pull out some very modern tones, as well as vintage ones.

Does anybody here has an ATK? If you do, please, comment on it:



Cheers

it's a nice, inexpensive bass.

there's no correct answer. if you like the sound, you can afford the price, and you like the way it plays, you should buy it. it really doesn't matter what brand or model it is, or what anyone else thinks. if the instrument works for you, then it's just about making music.

garyb wrote:it's a nice, inexpensive bass.

there's no correct answer. if you like the sound, you can afford the price, and you like the way it plays, you should buy it. it really doesn't matter what brand or model it is, or what anyone else thinks. if the instrument works for you, then it's just about making music.

I coudn't agree more Gary. but I am in the need to make this exercise of asking other players, because I have been with the same bass for such a long time that I have lost perspective. So I would like to hear experiences about how others use it for a start, to get some contrast. Of course, I have read reviews already, and they tend to be really good, even excellent reviews for a bass in this price range. But here, at the Z, I can talk to people I know and understand better.

I am in fact considering several basses for a near or not so near future, studying the market and some friend deals that have offered me basses they don't use anymore, and that can most surely cover my needs pretty well.

When I played the ATK, I was surprised at its weight, it is a much heavier instrument compared with the Washburn Status I had, and compare with the rest of the Ibanez line altogether. Anyway, I have played some Warwick Corvette heavier than this ATK 5-strings. the body of the ATK range is thicker and bigger than most basses today, but..., that is one of the reasons of its particular "round" tone. In terms of looks, I don't really like it through, but it is a minor thing for me.

I'm curious if the ATK matches my prior Ibanez experience, and if you felt the neck to be very comfortable/playable.

I have played with several people that bought an Ibanez because it was all they could afford, and had typically owned or played much more expensive brands (or brands known for quality). Without question, every one of them still owns their Ibanez, and still feels surprised at the value, build quality, and sound of their instrument. One friend had been saving for a Gibson for some time, but bought the Ibanez due to financial constraints. He now is VERY confident in that instrument, and even prefers it over the Gibson he once wished for.

When I bought the Washburn in Glasgow, there was a very nice friend of mine called Paul that was also a bass player and worked as a seller man in Sound Control. We used to talk about pickups, strings, necks, trademarks, amps, etc., it always was a pleasure for both of us to spend some time interchanging ideas and impressions.

I came once to the shop and tol him I was looking for a very playable instrument to get deeply into fusion, which is most of all, my stuff. We went on playing this and that and the other bass, and back to the first one, and so on... We were surrounded with a mess of basses all around, and it was fun! You know, this special feeling you get with a fellow-same-instrument-player kind of thing. We were laughing, having some fun, jamming toguether and comparing instruments. By the way, this is the way all seller man should be in their shops. this is truly helpful when the moment to buy an instrument comes up. To feel totally confortable is a must when you buy an instrument, particularly for proffesional use and work.

I tried all the brands available in blocks, let say, first Ibanez, then Fender, then Yamaha, etc. there was a great variety of about 70 basses I think. Of course, i was a long time ago, so I don't remember every instant of it exactly, but I can certainly see in my head those particular instants that marked the experience more.

After playing all sort of basses at all sorts of prices, shapes and colors, my face would go kind of: "mmm-no", then, "mmm-no", again, and again, nothing seemed to be of my taste. After about two hours and a halve and being a bit ashamed of not liking anything, he brought me the last one I tried, the Wasburn Status 1000 Series. He didn't bring me this one at the first place because he assumed, wrongly, that this instrument was not for me. Well, wrong he was... I got it in my hands and it was instant reward... First of all, and this is a must for me, the instrument was like part of my own body, inmmediately matched my body shape or something like that, cannot tell, but it felt so well in my hands, perfect. I was amazed at the softness of the feeling, like butter melting into hot bread...

then came the second surprised, pluging it..., wow, the sound! It was amazing, so crispy and slappy. It was an amazing clear tone, with a wide range of EQ thanks to its active circuitry. All the other basses which were very many, where played of course, with the same amp and settings. It was an ampeg that I don't remember now the model. You have to alwasy try diffefernt insruments with the same settings, so you have a ferefence of how they sound when compared. Well, the GAIN of the Washburn was about 60% bigger, or louder than the other basses I tried. I had to inmmediately low the volume to try it confortably. I don't like to play loud in shops, I hate it, becuase people cannot hear anything or talk to anybody. Of course, "gain" is a major concern when recording, as an instrument which is loud in itself, before the line, will give you always very low noise rates and more clear, pure sound, and also much more dinamics. If you rise the amp too much, nuances seems to be lost more and more. I was surprised at the quality of the sound, the build, and the playability. I don't necessarily like the looks of heedless basses, I have grown and learn to respect them, but to my eyes it is more beautiful a full body than a headless, it is more aesthetic I think.

Well, I got this piece of heaven and went home, and guess what..., I could not stop playing it for quite a few weeks before calming myself a little bit down. In fact, I realise that I have never got tired of its tone.

Then I recorded my first lines, as I got Pulsar almost at the same time, with a few days of difference, it was a crazy time having all toguether. Pulsar, in 1999 was something extraterrestrial... People would go like: "Do you own a Pulsar card? Oh man, that's so xomplex!", it was seen as the ultimate virtual recording studio.

I have an immense expectancy growing by the minute, about which will be my next instrument and which will be the sounds I will get out of it, and of course, what this sounds will make me feel, and so compose or interpret and improvise. I am so exited right now!

Where are you my low-frequency soul mate? what ports are you surfing right now? How many strings surround your beautiful, sonorous, princess-like body? When will my arms embrace you in the wedlock of love? Come to me sweet honey! Come to my arms! We are predestined to be together! I'll promise you, I will slap you like no one else in this world!

jksuperstar wrote:I'm curious if the ATK matches my prior Ibanez experience, and if you felt the neck to be very comfortable/playable.

I have played with several people that bought an Ibanez because it was all they could afford, and had typically owned or played much more expensive brands (or brands known for quality). Without question, every one of them still owns their Ibanez, and still feels surprised at the value, build quality, and sound of their instrument. One friend had been saving for a Gibson for some time, but bought the Ibanez due to financial constraints. He now is VERY confident in that instrument, and even prefers it over the Gibson he once wished for.

I undertand that Ibanez has been doing great efforts about how necks resonate and are handled by the players; they have spent lots of money in researches about all the implications of the neck, so they have a particularly deep understanding of this piece of the instrument. In fact, I have tried many Ibanez recentrly, to see how things where this moment, because as I have said before, I have been out of the world, because I have had my Washburn for a long time, so I was disconnected truly. all the Ibanez necks were superior to any other basses. I'm taliking about the necks only of course. I tried several other brands, like RockBass for instance, that are not too bad we could say, but their neck playability and feeling comes not even close to the Ibanez RG line of basses.

I will be more specific. The necks of some very cheap models like the GSR200, THE GRS205, and some more expensive but still into the cheap side things like the GRS395, etc., had an amazing playability feeling to them, so did the ATK. But electronics in general fail to take advantage of such beautiful bodies, what can I sai, electronic is poor in general at the low and mid range of Ibanez, except for some rare exceptions.

In the other hand, I found that the RockBass brand had much better electronics, way far better, but less solid bodies in general. You can feel that at any moment you may have a bad experience with a truss road like I did.

Interesting would be to get an Ibanez you like much, but trying it unpluged, and then change pickups and electronics totally. I would go with some MEC active p's and EQ.

Ibanez has always made a good product. they usually sound good and play very well. they are rarely spectacular, but they usually can cover a wide variety of music comfortably. the designers have, since the lawsuits from Fender and Gibson for the excellent copies that they used to make, have really tried to make next gen, modern instruments. i've seen traditional and modern players using their products.

you already know the best way to buy Nestor. i sold instruments for some 25years. the ONLY way that matters and makes any sense is to play as many instruments as possible. things you want, things you don't want, things you can never afford. when you hear the sound that says "!!!" buy it, if you can afford it. if you can't afford it, you have a better idea of what to look for. i mean, really, if the first thing you pick up works great and makes you happy and you want to play it, you could just opt for sanity and buy it and never think twice....

the main thing is to be able to play music some more, no?

garyb wrote:Ibanez has always made a good product. they usually sound good and play very well. they are rarely spectacular, but they usually can cover a wide variety of music comfortably. the designers have, since the lawsuits from Fender and Gibson for the excellent copies that they used to make, have really tried to make next gen, modern instruments. i've seen traditional and modern players using their products.

you already know the best way to buy Nestor. i sold instruments for some 25years. the ONLY way that matters and makes any sense is to play as many instruments as possible. things you want, things you don't want, things you can never afford. when you hear the sound that says "!!!" buy it, if you can afford it. if you can't afford it, you have a better idea of what to look for. i mean, really, if the first thing you pick up works great and makes you happy and you want to play it, you could just opt for sanity and buy it and never think twice....

the main thing is to be able to play music some more, no?

Sure Thanks for the advices Gary.

I understand that you play some bass yourself, don't you?

I will have to give a try to the high end so, because of course, I don't even think about touching them, but as a way to find contrast it really is a good idea. They are "supposed" to be better instruments...

What I know by now, for sure, is that MEC P's seem to be the kind of electronics I like for a foundation..., but MEC comes with rather more expensive instruments.

Keep picking up the Fender Jazz basses you see also - every now and then one comes along. I tried a lot of very ordinary ones before I found mine.

yeah, that's the most nice thing about Fender basses...
You MUST hunt them down before finally getting to your very personal prey

it's also important that Fender basses NEVER will be the most impressive stuff in a store.
in fact they happen to be so humble, one might suspect the company a bunch of thugs ripping off people.

maybe they are, as industry isn't about fun today, but... those basses are keepers
with a certain kind of understatement - always present, never bragging.
this becomes very obvious in Wayne's video of his old bloke's live performance:
there's a fat Jazzbass setting the low accents, well put against cutting guitars, but it doesn't growl the band down.
An Ibanez in that scenario would definitely either drown or just do the latter

cheers, Tom

astroman wrote:one might suspect the company a bunch of thugs ripping off people.

hilarious Tom... .

Wow, I now have two againt one...

They must have something, but for the moment, I did not find it... You gusy have probably grown to maturity before me... I still have some sort of teen-spirit inside myself, so I still like modern tones. But hey, if I had a Fender at hand, I would certainly use it for songs and bass lines where you need a fat ground, but my aproache to fusion needs sometimes something different. Well, if possible, of course, I would have several basses to suit each musical stile.

Cheers

yeah Nestor, beware of the 7ender logo... you might end buying one... and another... and another one.
They ARE from a technical and (more or less) objective point of view lousy instruments...
While the average Fender will do a solid job (in most any context), there are some (very few) that happened to be special, each on it's own - those aren't called grails for nothing

You'll hardly find any deviation in any run of Ibanez ATK basses - or Corvettes (Warwick not GM that is...)
There are different woods and electronics to fit your personal taste, but a model bought 5 years later, it will sound identical to the former one. They are pretty close to perfection, leaving few if at all 'space' for any deviation.

I'm far from telling a Fender is the one and only instrument to have. After all that (choice) should be left to the musician.
But it IS very often the most 'fitting' one in a certain context - despite the fact that it's NOT AT ALL impressive when quickly auditioned.

That is like good wines.
You'll easily find some that will taste delicious for the first and maybe the second glass...
and then start to get nasty... you'll only drink on for the sake of getting drunk... not for pleasure.
A really GOOD one starts getting better from the 3rd glass on ...

Wayne and me just point to that type of bass, as it's not a very obvious 'first listen' experience.
We're neither fanatic nor religious - enjoy playing is the most desirable goal.

cheers, Tom
(bought 5 basses before it got through to me)

Well, mister Marcus Miller swears about it, and says that sometimes when he is at such or such and studio recording, if a bass player has a problem with his instrument would inmediately ask like this: "Do you have a Fender please, do you have a Fender?

I have been told that the Squier basses are great instruments copying Fender, just like RockBass does with Warwick. I will check them out too.

try them without amplification first and try to listen to the tone. put your ear to the upper bout...

it's the piece of wood that's everything. a cheap instrument can have a great piece of wood and it will become a great instrument. an expensive instrument might have a dead piece of wood and it might never work well.

garyb wrote:try them without amplification first and try to listen to the tone. put your ear to the upper bout...

it's the piece of wood that's everything. a cheap instrument can have a great piece of wood and it will become a great instrument. an expensive instrument might have a dead piece of wood and it might never work well.

Interesting point Gary..., kind of using your own chin to make it sound in your head. Have you played Squiers?

Japan Squiers from the 80s (JV and SQ series) are legendary meanwhile...
if you find one that's 100% original for less than $400 buy it immediately.
(some folks probably have already started faking these as $800-1200 aren't unusual)

For your style the Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass 70s might be a good choice from regular shopping.
Here's a funny dude freaking out on slapping it...
the Squier 'affinity' series is considered crap for it's Agathis bodywood.
dunno the new China and Indonesia stuff, tho.

I usually stick with Fender Japan or Mexico
mostly the latter as Japan models increased significantly during the last couple of years.

cheers, Tom

Fender Japan is really good stuff. it used to be dirt cheap, but people are catching on.

beware the lower end Squiers, plywood or very cheap wood is the order of the day. the nicer Squiers might be worth it if you find a good one. the tone unamplified won't lie. if it's very, very good before you plug it in, it'll be very, very good when you plug it in, regardless of pickups or electronics(which can always be changed).