Last night for our 'work' band practice, one of the guitar players who has a bunch of gear brough in his ATK305 for me to try on a couple of songs. He has been kind of trying to learn slap, so he set the action ridiculously high. Long story short, I used it on a few songs but it was hard to work around. I offered to set it up right, so I was wondering if any of you knew of any particular setup issues to be prepared for? (along those lines, he complains of the preamp eating batteries- any known issues/ fixes for this issue?)

As far as the bass itself, i'm not an Ibanez person, but I liked playing it. My only real Ibanez experience has been with the Soundgear series, so I was not expecting the ATK to feel like it did.

The 3 coil humbucker and the 3 band EQ was interesting to play around with. It had a good full tone out of the low B- even my little POS Behringer amp handled it well. It was a butterscotch color (Translucent Amber, I think it's called), Maple fretboard, ash body, thru- body (but he had it strung thru- bridge) After a good setup, it'll play fast.

Have any of you used the ATK? I'm now considering getting one for a 5er. I had planned on a Jazz style, but using the ATK has piqued my interest in one.

I have an ATK305. Got it off eBay cha-eep. Great bass, particularly for rock. It sounds huge. It's not my #1 bass, but I used it on a rock gig this past winter and it brought the rawk. \m/

I haven't had to set it up. Came with relatively low action. The string spacing is just a bit tighter than I prefer, but very manageable.

I have not had to change the battery. I don't play the bass regularly, but I've had it a couple of years. Does he leave the bass plugged in when not playing it? This is the most common cause for quick battery death by an active bass.

Peace.
--s-uu

I owned the 4 string version for a couple of months, and was sweet. I was suprised when it came off the truck, it sounded monstrous. I'm not sure what models are for sale (or what models are in production for that matter), but if you can get one for sub $400, you'll love it.

http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads...nal#Post2042954

As far as the battery draining issue goes, I believe we had a thread about this a couple of months back, but the obvious would be 1.) unplug the bass in between plays, 2.) check to make sure everything is wired/soldered correctly, and 3.) Never take anything a guitarist says seriously.

I'll take #3, please.

Peace.
--s-uu

If you want to play slap the action should be low, not high.

I explained that to him. Wew didn't have a lot of time to go over it in detail, but I did explain how having high action actually hinders good slap.

As far as the battery drain, several months ago he had asked me about it and long story short, he had been leaving it plugged in at his studio. He's quit doing that, but still claims it's dying too quick. It may be his batteries, too. I do know the input jack itself doesn't feel very tight when I plug my cable into it.

As far as #3 goes, this guy's an engineer and pretty sharp. He picks up on things pretty quick, for the most part.

Thanks for the tips.

I have a SGR, and it used to eat batteries too. I tore it down, and realized it was grounding out at the plug. It was basically making a circuit at the jack. Which also explained the crackling I was getting. I threw a hot stick at it, re-soldered the connection and voila! Now my batteries last months, instead of days.