Ibanez ATK300

Made in Indonesia. Paid $400 Cdn on sale. Doesn't sound like the recipe for a terrific bass, but it is.

Everything you need without bells and whistles.

If you are happy with the limited range of colors, grab one NOW!!! I am a sucker for the natural finish.

Ergonomics are great, with a feelable detent at the midrange of the 3 tone controls.

Active electronics, especially with a tube amp, will give you any sound you want between the hollow Beatle-bass thump and Ric growl.

It sounded great with my little Ampeg SVT150, but really comes to life with the Traynor YBA 200 watt all-tune amp and matching 2x15 + 1x10 + horn cabinet.

The only change I made was to switch to GHS brite flats, since I found the original round strings that came with the bass were a little old and squeaky.

Electronics are very quiet. Supposedly single coil, but you can walk right up to the front of the speaker cabinet and not worry about microphonics or other noise.

Just needed a little intonation adjustment after I changed the strings.

The bridge is extremely easy to adjust, tuner action is smooth, though gears are exposed, not sealed.

Built like a tank.

If you can't trust this construction, then you'll never trust anything.

I would bring a spare 9 V battery along to a mission-critical gig, but then maybe I'm being a little paranoid. Battery is easy to change, but you need a small screwdriver. It's a telling quality detail: the battery cover screws into metal receivers that are permanently countersunk into the wooden body. 95% of other makers would have let you screw the cover directly into the wood, wearing out the screw holes within a few years.

Normally I install Schaller strap locks on all my gear, but this was the first one I've ever received where the pegs were MORE substantial than what I was about to put on.

No dealings with factory and dealer seems friendly enough.

Been toying with bass for a few years. Have owned a Jay Turser Beatle clone, a Godin 5-string with active pickups, a Ric 4003. All were great in their time, but the ATK is the one I still use, and it spans them all as far as my tonal tastes are concerned.

It's a little heavy to lift, but very well-balanced, so with a decent strap you really feel comfortable playing it. Ergonomically, everything seems to fall into place perfectly: frets, knobs, pick-guard. No stretching or hunting for lost controls.

cheaper than a music man but sounds just as good if you bought a music man you ripped your self off

if you enjoy any style of music and are in a band that covers a wide range then this has to be a bass you seriously have to consider buying

i have to say that right out of the box i havent changed a thing since i bought it in 1996 .

only bass i have ever takan on gigs with only a spare set of strings .On strings since i've found ghs boomers i dont even need these.they are truly mighty

I've been playing bass for thirty years now,in a variety of bands.I have had several basses over the years but I sure wish i'd started with this.If I had it would look like that old beaten up thing Sting plays. After reding some of the reveiws tho when you complain about the weight of this bass ... TRY GROWING A **** AND HARDEN UP !!!!

maple neck and fretboard. ash body one triple coil pickup. active electronics

round fat bass tone. sounds great with a band

excellent fret work. very playable neck

built like a tank very good workmanship throughout

never had to deal with them

been playing for thirty years this is my favorite bass simple,playes great,and sounds fantastic

2007 Indonesion Reissue of the 90's Ibanez ATK300. From the Cort factory I believe. None the less this is a well built bass guitar, don't be fooled.
22 frets, 4 string, triple coil humbucking active pickup.
These reissues have light ash bodies, so they aren't as heavy as the originals. The neck is thicker at the nut as well compared to the originals, which suits me just fine.

The sound is very versatile thanks to the active triple coil pickup. I can get burly musicman growl, precision bass punch and jazz bass throat with ease - and everything in between. The best thing is it isn't any of the aforementioned basses - it has its own incredible vibe sound wise. I play all kinds of rock, which is what this bass is great for and then some. Its great to slap and pop, and decent for more mellow jazzy tones too. I play this bass through a BBE optical compressor, a sansamp BDDI to an SWR Bass 350 into an Ampeg 6x10 HLF. The sound I use is punchy with great growl... even when i play fingerstyle. There's no need to play with a pick to get that mid range growl anymore, which is fantastic.

Comes with Elixir coated strings which might be the reason it sounded so good in the store... a good move by Ibanez as you tend to try out guitars in a store only to find there strings are way past their shelf life - sucking the tone royally. Some minor fret buzz on the higher frets but reasonably well set up. I would get a good setup done though before I record or gigged heavily. Otherwise the neck plays like butter... i have never liked a bass as soon as I picked it up but this was a huge exception.

Bass is built solid. Replaced the strap buttons straight away with Jim Dunlop strap locks, but I automatically do that for all my guitars. I would bring a backup guitar. This is an active bass, so the battery might die or the electronics play up. You should always gig with a backup guitar, regardless. Trust me.

haven't had any troubles.

Been playing for 10 years. I have always gigged and recorded with a Fender P Bass loaded with a Duncan Quarter Pounder, but since owning this bass that has changed forever. The neck on this bass is pure bliss... my fingers glide across it with ease, each note as well defined as the last. And these basses are a steal at the price. I would replace this bass in a heartbeat if it were stolen or lost.

I had been playing bass for about 3 years on and off when i bought this. After shopping around a lot i decided this was the one. the neck feels awesome. Its comfortable, especially on the higher frets.

compared to my ol bass this one sounds great. Its really solid and comes through real well with the other instruments. I find it easy to play smoother, harmonious lines, or eaven funk style with a slap and pluck. all the different settings sound grear, no objections.

The action on this bass feels very good. It plays smooth and i find it easy to navigate the fretboard. The original reason i bought it was for how good i felt to play with the spacing and im still impressed. Some say this bass is heavy, and it is. But the weight helps it to feel solid and gives it a strong feel. I got the all black finish but it looks good in all colors.

so far no problems here. As of now I dont expect many to occur. i give it an eight due to lack of long term use.

ive had no reason to contact the company.

after 3 years of playing on and off i didnt know where to go for a new bass. after getting this the ATK I began playing again, revolutionized my style, and greatly increased my skill. My band is taking of and i can proudly say that we are very bass heavy, thanks to this instrument. I suggest it for any bassist out there.

There's been a lot written about the specs of this bass, so I won't add to it, other than to say this was a solidly-made, well put-together guitar with a lot of variety to the sounds. The weight of the bass was definitely a problem, but sometimes the answer was to work out a bit more.

Of special interest was the pickup, which was active, and had three distict tonal ranges, from nice and thumpy to full on gack attack. Sustain was excellent, due to the huge bridge. For the price I paid it was great... for a while... the big problem for me I'll explain later.

I play a variety of styles, from angular punk to soul and pop. This bass could handle all of them, and quite well. I used everything from Traynor YBA-3 Tube amps to Gallien Krueger 400 RB heads (both run through a 4-10 cabinet) and this bass sounded great for all of them.

At least it did for a few years. When in the studio, we began to notice an awful lot of crackle coming out of the bass. We thought it was the input jack and replaced... still there. I took it to a repair shop in town (great service) and they openned up everything. They couldn't fix it. Why? The pickup was active and used a circuit board that was slowly frying. Repairing the bass would involve inserting a new circuit board.

Without repairs, the bass was about to become essentially useless.

I'll give this thing a 9 for when it worked.

Great. No problems out of the box.

This is where the bass really let me down. Everything was fine except the most important part: the pickup. This became a real problem because it was very difficult to repair. Read more for how it went down.

The slowly frying pickup meant that it was only serviceable by Ibanez, who by that time had stopped making the ATK. Service was estimated at at least $300 (almost 1/2 of the original sale price) plus an "undefined" waiting period. Not wanting to do this, I decided to sell the bass. But unlike almost every instrument I've owned, I sold this for far less than I bought it for ($200) simply because the problem was very difficult to fix. Not impressed.

I wish I had done more research on the pickup. Active electronics are great and all, but unlike a normal bass, they are difficult to fix. Ibanez did not make it any easier. I ended up buying an Ibanez Roadstar 2 (a great P-style bass made in the early 1980's) and everything that's gone wrong was easily fixable.

If this thing still worked, I would have gladly given it a 8 or 9.

1996. Japan
Upgraded with 1 fender noiseless neck J-PU, with extra swich to put it on.
With that extra PU it sounds much bigger (with balls) and louder, you can even get J-bass sound if it's on and the otiginall swich is on single mode.

I play music from blues, reage, trash metal... and it sounds great for all types of music.

With ATK I have fender p-bass standard, 1 custom made fretless and vintage (1779.) yamaha SB500, and atk is my favorite.
If it were stolen or lost, I would buy it again, and upgrade that one too.

1997 made in Korea. 22 ft. 3 EQ 1 master knob. Kent Armstrong "Motherbucker" pick-up. Ibanez electronics.All maple bolt-in neck, Ash (electronics)/ maple (bridge) body.

I used to think it sounded awesome until I got fustrated at my bass sound a while ago and decided to change the original pick-ups and electronics: Now it sounds like a pro bass and, exploits the special bridge contruction and maple body sound. Word to the wise: Seymour Duncan Bass-Lines SMB-4D MusicMan replacement ceramic pick-ups ARE awesome with this bass...match made in heaven!

Cutaway sucks bigtime otherwise very well finished and plays like charm when ajusted properly. A bit heavy (ok very heavy): trade-off for sound I guess.

This bass will withstand decades of polar/tropical conditions before it cracks.

:) no kidding...my 3 kids can testify. It's resting on a 100$ stand that drops (as my heart does), once in a while, on the floor due to heavy trafic. This happened at least 5 times without even scratching it. No fragile bass for me 'till they're outa the house.

Hasn't broken down...will probably be burried with, so that's at least 50 years of half-life expectency...should be nicknamed "Chernobyl".

For the price I paid, few...what a value! I'm even looking to modify it a bit more. With the pick-up upgrade, you will put to shame ANY MusicMan owner (K almost... that bass still looks WAY nicer than the ATK does, espacialy in white)

Mines a japanese made model with a solid as hell ash body and maple neck in honey laquered finish. Got the string through option and 3 band EQ like most of the others (im not sure if its on all of them).
Only thing i can fail it on is the 3 piece maple neck, ones only the headstock, but ive heard that this puts less strain on the neck and i only dont like it cos it looks a bit ugly considering how gorgeous it looks from the back, especially the honey laquer headstock which i think im gonna paint black or somethin. thats all down to taste though i suppose

I play predominately punk on it with a pretty think pick (.73 nylon most of the time) but it still belts out a nice chunky growly harsh sound but thats partly due to me using pretty over the top eq settings and dont use much bass (but plenty of lows). I dont use the string through option cos it seems to defy the point of this guitar which is a nasty raw attack! if you play rock kinda music anyway. Id reccomend not using strings any thinner then .95s if you use a plectrum and want plenty of low end as its a pretty tight sounding bass anyway. I use this guitar for my grunge/rock/punk/weird band because it has a very strange distinctive sound, i have a fender bullet which caters for when i want something a bit more mellow and warm(although it has quite a bit more snarl then a precision even though its sorta similar) but sayin that i do use it in a sinister surf punk band. best thing about it is the massive bridge which seems to give it a great reasonance

The set up ive got at the moment (which i think is how it came) is amazing, im not a fan of low action cos i seem to find it harder to play for some reason but even though slighly on the high side its very easily one of the easiest to finger basses ive ever played. Had a horrible setup done at sound control which was really low and fret buzzed very badly so i dont think its really that sorta guitar anyway. the necks sweet and therse no friction whatsoever. Ive only given it an 8 cos of the shitty jack its got, mine was pretty worn out when i bought at it and has totally gone now which would be ok but theres no way of getting to the middle of it to sort it out at all, can buy new ones so its not too bad

This things solid so its gonna take a few hundred nasty drops to break it, nothing i can really say is flimys in any way at all apart from the pickup selector but its solid chrome so i think its got a fair chance of living. My jacks a bit crap as i said but i dunno whether this is down too poor quality or abuse

only asked em if they still stock the jacks and it didnt take them long to reply with the part number etc

been playin for just over 5 years now and ive progressed alot on this guitar (probably due to my old one been awful) but im very happy with it and lots have people have given me good feedback on the sound of it when ive played live. although its a bit of a musicman rip off its certainly done in its own style. i definately wouldnt buy it if i was gonna play jazz or blues but it suits lots of styles very well, even reggea, just sounds a little on the heavy side but that just means it cuts through all the better. price i paid was amazing and id quite happily of paid twice as much for it (if i had the money)

Just wanted to add my comments on what I think is a very underated bass. I sold mine, as I tend not to collect a large quantiy of instruments-and I miss it. I bought my 4 string, sunburst model with a beautiful maple neck. A bit thick-but you soon get used to it, along with the jumbo frets. It was made overseas-not sure if it was Korea or Japan. It was the first bass I played that really gave a big sound. More on that in a minute.

This is the sweet part. Great sound. One of the few basses, I could play in a power trio situation on a live gig-and rise above the drummer-without a lot of squeaky high end, or hiss. I play fingerstyle. I used it thru a set of 4x12s and sometimes 8x10's-I was really just so pleased with the punch of this guitar-and it looked good on stage. The maple neck and sunburst body, especially.
What I didn't like about it, was the weight. I found it heavy-to the point that I was getting lower back pain. Had to sell it. Thinking back, I could have worked on my back with some exercises-but I was fearful that the bass could be doing damage. (all this occured while playing on stage-hell it could have just been stress-from a big showcase gig at the Roxy in Los Angeles. Some writers, say it is heavy -others say it is light and not bad at all.

Good quality workmanship, finish on both body and neck. Go for the Sunburst and "yellow tone" maple neck, if you can. String thru body-really gave you a nice vibration and bass throb against your leg. It had to be cutting a great set of notes! Subtle touches were nice as well.

It is OK for live playing just abit heavy for me and I am a big guy-it could be the balance. I now play an Ernie Ball Sterling-that seems to be better for me. Nice case-and I am looking to replace it. Any comments email me at Mikefor99@aol.com.

Never had to mess with it-although I did have one Ibanez that was cheap and Guitar Center at the time-told me to send the bass back east somewhere. Shoddy. The ATK was pretty much, a perfect purchase.
The company really should have continued the line. I like commitment on an instrument-which is why Fender and Ernie Ball, have done so well. Good news spreads-and guys listen.

Playing fingerstyle-rock, blues and jazz for about 20 plus years. I like my Ernie Ball Sterling (not a Stingray fan)-my all original Gibson EB-3, some uprgaded Fender P Basses. Ibanez like Peavy should try and keep successful instrument lines in production. It also gives authority and credibilty.