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stewblack

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6 hours ago, GreyBeard said:

Ibanez ATK805 the most versatile bass I've ever owned.  

ATK805 ii.jpg

 

ATK805 iii.jpg

 

 

Single coil + humbucker = very universally. I have them on my Italian hand made D'alessandro (Haussell pickups).

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Edited by nilorius
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5 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Had the 305 and there was something special about that pickup, great sound, just couldn't get on with the neck. Good live bass though, great sound and built like a tank!

 

I started with a 205 a few years ago.  The build, neck, and string spacing suited me to a Tee but and the tone wasn't bad at all.  I sold it during a bass purge when I was buying camera equipment.  The ATK805/815 has 7 distinct usable tones using the pan and toggle and when you add in the excellent preamp, the possibilities increase exponentially.  After over 50 years of playing bass, I have finally found the perfect bass for me and it was only $669 used from Guitar Center.   

 

Edited by GreyBeard
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5 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Had the 305 and there was something special about that pickup, great sound, just couldn't get on with the neck. Good live bass though, great sound and built like a tank!

I started with a ATK205 a few years ago.  I ended up selling it to buy camera equipment.  But, I always been entreated by the 2 pickup models of the ATK 5 string.  This one came up for sale used on guitar center at a really descent price as most of the ones I've seen used are over 1K.  I've been playing bass since 1968 and 5 string since the mid 90's.  This ATK805's build, neck, string spacing and, tone suits me to a Tee.  Using the pan and toggle switch it has 7 distinct usable tones and when you add in the excellent preamp you can tweak to your hearts content. 

Edited by GreyBeard
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  • 3 weeks later...

I picked this G104 up recently.  A bit risky I know as these are quite marmite basses, however very much blown away but the quality and the tones it generates.  No hint of it being thin in any way, shape or form.

 

I genuinely don't think that I have picked up any of my other fretted basses for a few weeks now.

 

G104.thumb.jpg.173f4f549b35004b26401b01d5380856.jpg

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Back in the club after a little absence with this SRMD200 Mezzo medium scale. This is the sixth Ibanez bass I have owned. I bought this one off BC and it is in fantastic, almost new condition for a very reasonable price.
 

My initial impressions are that it plays very nicely but in common with most Ibby basses I have played, it is a bit too bright. There are also some signs of it being made to a price point, like the finishing (or lack of it) of the end of the fretboard. However, this doesn’t affect playability and unlike some of the Ibby Premiums, it has decent metal control knobs (not those horrible plastic things that look as if they came off a toothpaste tube). All the frets seem to be well set and finished. I don’t know whether the previous owner had to dress them, or whether it was like this out of the box but I’m not complaining. The machine heads seem pretty good and the bridge is adequate, if not as solid looking as the one that comes on the more expensive SRs.

 

The pre-amp is very hot and seems a little crude on first acquaintance. Also there is no passive switch, so if the battery goes the bass is dead. It’s not a quick release battery box (you have to undo a couple of screws and lever the battery out), so be sure it is fresh before a gig! I also imagine that there can’t have been a lot of budget for the pickups, although the P seems alright, the Jazz isn’t great. I was prepared to rip the electrics out when I bought it and replace with a decent P/J set and passive pots. However, I had a set of flats that came on my Maruszczyk Elwood medium scale (bought secondhand but I imagine they are Maruszczyk’s own) and I gave them a try. They seem to have cured the harsh brightness and I have discovered that a light hand on the preamp controls will produce a nice solid P-bass thump without causing the speakers to fart. You still need that pad on your amp but I think the flats have given the standard electrics a reprieve for now. I am still thinking about installing a passive switch though.

 

I have to say I am very pleased with the Mezzo. It plays like a dream and is pretty light. For the price of a set of flats and some careful use of the EQ, it’s possible to get a decent P-Bass tone. The Jazz pickup is a bit weak though but  I’m not too bothered about that. It’s a very reasonable medium scale for modest money and would make a great mod platform, if you don’t mind throwing a bit more cash at it. There are so few medium scale basses on the market and most of them seem to cost serious money. In fact, the only similarly priced medium scales I can think of are the Squier Jaguars, which are nice basses but suffer from appalling neck dive, whereas the Mezzo balances well on a strap.


Sorry about the rubbish photo.

 

IMG_0762.thumb.jpeg.3193dde132407b86cbc5fa542c213bd1.jpeg

 

 

 

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I’m a very recent Ibanez owner - not had one before. Got this during lockdown, case still has tags, bass utterly unmarked, with original strings, I suspect. An eBay bargain. 
 

I’ve used it on jam nights, it’s very versatile. Currently it’s still strung from A on the fretless side, but I’m considering EAD so it’s better for playing actual basslines on. Great sounding bass, the fretless on piezo sounds very upright-ish. 

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55 minutes ago, Born 2B Mild said:

 

Just got and gigged my first wonky. I've named her 'Chicken'.

 

I've had a few Ibanez basses before, but this is the first with Nordstrands, which I consider a definite improvement.

PXL_20231108_145358542~2.jpg

I love the look of these, particularly with that finish. The flat paint colour finishes don't do this shape justice. How well did you adapt to the fan?

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Adapting to fan frets is a good issue, basexperience.   I found when playing a bassline from muscle memory, that all was well.  The interesting thing is that when you break from a flowing line and then need to hit a note, perhaps a sustained one, I had to look to see where to fret my finger.  In the dark, I did find that was a bit challenging.  I bought Chicken as pre-loved, but I notice that listings for new ones say that they come with luminescent side dot inlays. I've not noticed any luminescence! Makes me wonder about having LED side dots installed. 

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46 minutes ago, Born 2B Mild said:

Adapting to fan frets is a good issue, basexperience.   I found when playing a bassline from muscle memory, that all was well.  The interesting thing is that when you break from a flowing line and then need to hit a note, perhaps a sustained one, I had to look to see where to fret my finger.  In the dark, I did find that was a bit challenging.  I bought Chicken as pre-loved, but I notice that listings for new ones say that they come with luminescent side dot inlays. I've not noticed any luminescence! Makes me wonder about having LED side dots installed. 

 

The side dots need to be under quite bright lights for a while to work and don't last that long, they're not as good as luminlays and a few people had issues with them.

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5 hours ago, Born 2B Mild said:

 

Just got and gigged my first wonky. I've named her 'Chicken'.

 

I've had a few Ibanez basses before, but this is the first with Nordstrands, which I consider a definite improvement.

PXL_20231108_145358542~2.jpg

That as a neck-thru lefty could get me looking away from my Schechter basses.

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