Ibanez ATK305

Made in Indonesia, 2008. Fretted, 5-string.
Beautiful black sparkle finish.
One Musicman-style humbucking pickup, attached to a giant bridge,
thru-body construction.
Active.

Well, like Pastorius said, the sound is in your hands basically.
This bass though has got the MusicMan StingRay crunch, clarity and power.
I own a StingRay, and this non-expensive Ibanez bass is a fantastic emulation of the power of a StingRay, keeping its own character though.
I am totally happy about the way it sounds, because according to me, you can get tired of that very specific MusicMan sound, and the Ibanez is just more versatile.
Its got a musical three-band EQ.
A unique triple coil pickup and Tone Character Switch used on the Ibanez ATK305 offers easy rapid and radical changes in tone. A 3-position switch moves from tradition single coil sound with a high cut filter to bright single coil sound to attacking humbucker sound with the two pickup coils in parallel. The ATK305 triple coil pickup and active 3-band EQ allow you to dial in tones from massive lows to shrieking highs. Well-designed pickup and control placement facilitate easy slapping and popping

I use this with a MarkBass CMD151, but it would sound cool on every amp, depending on your tastes.

The sound is from mellow to bright, crunchy, powerful, well defined, with great attack, and I'm not exaggerating.
I'm amazed actually.

Everything seems solidly manufactured, the tension was too high though.
No problem, as you should always adjust the intonation, neck relief etc. etc. to your tastes.
The bass is very even, pickup well-adjusted.
No flaws at all, just this amazing black sparkling finish... sigh...

This bass is a live animal, I'm sure. It's already cutting in the rehearsal room. The b-string is defined and powerful.
It all looks like real tough quality, not to say like a tank !
I really hope this bass will last me 20 years+.
Everything solid, from the strap buttons to the tuners etc etc.
Use without a backup ? Possibly.
But no-one does play without backups; would be foolish; even on a 15'000 dollar bass something can happen to you, like I once lost my e-string during a gig, still don't know why.

They never answered my mails etc, but sent very fast, at a good price.
I recommend this store, even though they seem not really communicative.
And I'm really glad they ship fast, smoothly, better than neglected promises, right ?

I've been playing for 21 years (sigh).
I own 13 other basses, and I'm awaiting one more.
Kind of an addiction that is.
In my collection (amongst others: Modulus Quantum 6, MusicMan StingRay, Dean Jeff Berlin bass, Yamaha TRB1006, Fender Preci with Jazz neck, Tobias 5-string), this very SWEET Ibanez ATK305 is almost ahead of a nose, so to say.

Bought it in (I think) '96 in the Guitar Shop in Ghent (Belgium), after owning an Ibanez Soundgear.. The main argument for switching were my big hands and the really slim neck of the soundgear, and the expression of the shopkeeper : "with a bass, you should be able to knock a farmer off his horse", and the ATK really fits this requirement !! I like the finish on it too, it's the darkbrown see-thru... the prettiest bass I've ever seen..

Nothing but praise here.. Ran thru my Ampeg svt 350 and 810 cabinet, this bass really blows away every guitar player that ever came too close :-) On some occasions I use a flanger and an overdrive, but nothing to reshape the basic tone.. so, thumbs up again

The only remark I have here, is that the fretwork wasn't filed at all, but I never saw this as a flaw, because I can feel where I am on the neck instinctively (I never knew they weren't filed and when I found out, I preferred to keep it that way... Makes my ATK a little more special, also the back of the neck had no finish, but is now nicely polished with years of my own blood, sweat and tears...

Not one remark ! Just today I brought it to a dealer with the question if it could need any adjustment but it was perfectly ok (after 8 years without any maintenance !!!) The only thing that loosen regularly are the strap-buttons, but those are replaced straplock buttons, so Ibanez is not to blame for that...

No opinion 'cause it never occurred (see previous)

I wouldn't want any other bass, at least not in this prize class (one can always dream about alembis or smith basses, right). In the 8 years I've been playing this baas, I never regretted bying it : sound, looks, reliability, agraric defense, huuuuuge body and neck : all just great !!

My ATK 305 is a Korean model in translucent amber, over a three piece body of some of the most gorgeous ash I've ever seen. This ash largely contributes to what is probably the heaviest bass I've ever had the pleasure of playing.

It has the familiar single humbucker pickup in the Music Man position, with a three-way coil selection switch identical to that of the Stingray 5, but with a phantom coil to repel noise in the single-coil mode. The bridge is a gigantic piece of metal which extends from the heel of the bass almost all the way to the neck, which is undoubtedly a large factor in the weight of the bass. Strings can be run either through body or through bridge.

My model sports a Bartolini preamp, which replaces the stock preamp which broke some time ago. The original preamp was 3-band, with a master volume and coil tap switch. Points off due to the dodgy original preamp. The new Bartolini isn't exactly a step up due to it not being designed with the Bass specifically in mind (as the original clearly was) - It takes some tuning to make the Bart sound usable, while the original Ibanez preamp sounded great with everything in the middle.

Short desc: 34" Scale 5 String/ (HEAVY) 3 pc ash body, 2 pc maple neck, laminated maple fretboard, jumbo frets.

This bass can almost nail the Stingray 5 sound, but it a tad more metallic and even due to the huge bridge. Sustain for weeks, far more than any Stingray 5 I've ever had the pleasure of playing, but has decidedly less 'growl' than the Stingray. The 'attack' coil position (parallel p'ups) is the one most bassists will use. The series mode has more bottom but less bite, and the single coil position feels especially brittle to me.

I've never needed a compressor with this bass - response is ridiculously even up and down the fretboard - again probably a result of the sheer mass of the bridge and body. The strings through bridge option adds more bite to the sound, but more as a result of the angle of the string over the saddles than anything else.

With the replacement Bartolini preamp, anything but treble at -5 and bass at +5 sounds brittle and noisy - again this is not a problem if you're not me, but in my reccolection, the original Ibanez preamp seemed pre-tuned to the trebly tendency of the bass.

Compared to the Stingray 5, I'd probably take the Stringray 5 for slapping, and the ATK 305 for a more even-tempered fingerstyle feel.

The body on this bass is fantastic, and the lamination over the ash is perfect. The neck was sloppy in the fretwork, however, and the tuning pegs need periodical tightening as they loosen themselves over time (moreso than the usual).

The pickup was set especially low on my ATK, so I made an adjustment that has improved the playability AND sound (esp. on the low B) 100%. I inserted a small wooden shim beneath the pickup to raise it a fraction of an inch toward the strings. Not only did I gain a thumb-rest (which i'm used to having on my EB/MM 4, but the B really came alive afterward. I'd reccomend every ATK user try this trick.

The output jack is disgraceful, and i've found that I've needed to tighten it once every 1-2 months. When I get around to it, I'm replacing it with a switchcraft jack, which means I will have replaced every piece of electronics on the bass save the pickup. This is not a testament to Ibanez quality, but the body wood makes up for it.

The body of this bass will withstand the next nuclear war.

The electronics have already given in on more than one occassion. If Ibanez had really invested in the guts of this bass, they could have had more of a contender here. I wouldn't really gig this thing out without a backup, for fear of the pickup starting to go (which it has yet to do.)

Can't say.

This is my only 5 string, and from a sound perspective, it will certainly do. It has the Stingray 5 sound, but with some temperment, and i'll honestly say it's the best LOOKING bass in my collection. The spotty history of the electronics dock my rating, but for $300, I think I really got something special. I won't be selling this bass ever.

This five string is one of the best i have ever played. Its single humbucker gives it exelent sound and with its 3-way pickup selector you can tweak the sound to fit your needs. Also it has a very nice active eq. Only disadvatage is that it is kind of heavy...

This is the best sounding bass I have ever played. Running through my Gallian-Kreuger Backline halfstack I get a nice rich warm sound not seen in my other trys.

Very nice... no adjustments were needed.

This is one solid bass... An all out nice piece. This will be around me for a long time and with no major adjustments ever needed.

N/A

Very nice. This is my 4th bass and my favorite of them all... I will be sticking with Ibanez for a long time..

This excellent 5-string was made around 96 in the japanese Ibanez factory. It has 22 frets and is made from finest quality esh (2-piece body) and has a 3-stripe maple neck with a white also maple fingerboard. I changed the strapholders to Schaller security locks, original screws fitted exactly. Tuning mechanics are big open-style, and the bridge is probably the biggest bridge an electric bass has ever seen. It's a huge chromed metal plate that covers nearly the half lenght of the body core, it's also a frame for the pickup. You have the possibility to pull the strings through the body. It features just active electronics, that means without a battery you won't hear anything.
The pickup is the famous massive ATK-triplecoil, combined with a 3-position miniswitch. Besides this you have a 3-band active equalizer for bass, mid and high frequencies. Of course there is the master volume, and that's it. This is not a leight-wight bass, it's rather heavy !!

The sound in one word: EXCELLENT !!! The character is the type, known by everyone as the MM Stingray sound.
Although in my opinion the sound is not that flexible because of the single middle position pickup, it fits a huge range of musical styles. Especially on stage you can use it for nearly everything, because the main criteria here is to have an always present, clear, non-muddy sound. In the studio it will be perfect for any rock-/ funk style, for sensitive jazz songs maybe you need a more filigran sound than the ATK can deliver.
A special feature on my ATK is, that I modified the pickup mini-toggle a little. Original settings were - outer coils in parallel ("attack"), - single neck coil with middle=dummy! ("bright"), and single neck coil + middle with filtering electronics ("traditional").
It has LOADS of attack in the "attack" setting, it's a brilliant thunderous slap monster in the "bright" setting (add a few lows!!), but the "traditinal" setting didn't convince me that much. It was very close to the "bright" setting (same coil configuration!) with lowered highs. So I changed this to - outer coils in serial - and removed the dampening filter. This setting develops a brachial pressure with sparkling highs, perfect for the heavy styles of music.
All of the settings are not very noisy or anything like that, so no problem for studio use.

I did just a very few adjustments (every player has his/her own technique), I didn't need to change the action (I'm playing with lots of finger-force), so maybe some "softer" players have to lower it a bit. There were no flaws to recognize, very good fretwork, perfect (and -after 6 years of playing- very sturdy) high gloss finish, top-quality wood - especially the neck !
I played lots of very expensive "high end" basses and couldn't note any disadvantages on the ATK.

Like I said, very sturdy (thick) high gloss finish, no rust at all, very stable neck. I didn't need to readjust the trussrod until now, many times it's not even necessary to adjust the tuning !

Don't know.

I'm playing nearly 20 years now, and tested a lot of equipment. I've got a few basses, but I have to say that the ATK is still my favorite! I LOVE: nearly everything, I HATE: the feeling in my backbone after a few hours of playing!
I compared this
one-to-one to a Musicman Stingray 5-string with 3-band EQ: I like the optics of the ATK more (don't like the big pickguard on the MM5, althought the egg-like one on the MM4 looks nice). The sound of the ATK is maybe a bit more versatile because of the pickup-switch-sttings, and the MM had a little bit, but noticeably more hiss !!
Most important argument was of course the price:
640 Euro for the ATK, 1790 EURO for the Musicman at that time - now they are even more expensive !!!!!
Second comparison is to the actual Ibanez model, the ATK 405.
You can't get this growling energie out of the new 405, although it has a second pickup in neck position now. The 405 is more flexible because of that (has especially a great jazzbass-like sound). But the overall Quality (first of all the wood) isn't the same anymore.
Maybe it has to do with the origin: The old ATK 305 was made in Japan, the actual 405 is made in Korea.

The Best feature about this is the sheer variety of sounds this thing can produce. You can configure this thing to get wildly divergent tones and it's ideal for session people who play different styles. The aformentioned reviews offer more detail.

Again, very flexible controls through the pickup. For recording situations, the active pickup can be a little intense, because it sounds so full. I found when recording that I had to adjust my sound considerably to make it fit in context with the rest of the band. Unfortunately, I had grown accustomed to playing in front of this thing's immense presence.

One of the few new basses that has some sort of character to it. Generally all the parts worked just fine. I did find myself breaking lots of strings in live settings when I used a pick.

Here's where the problems are. Didn't have to worry too much about the neck and truss rod too much, but after about 3 years (of some pretty intense gigging), the active pickup began to fry out. I first noticed a strange crackling when in the studio. Live it wasn't so much of a problem, but on record the signal to noise ratio was very high

None of the guitar stores in my area knew how to deal with the active pickup, mainly because the circuit board started frying. The only way to fix it was to send it back to the manufacturer (and of course the warranty was done). Needing a bass immediately, I was forced to trade it in. Warranty was 1 year.

I've been playing bass for about 10 years and this was by far the most flexible instrument I've owned. The main problem is reliability, and ease of access to repairs. It's a curse - you get something unique and cool, but when something goes wrong, it's difficult to fix - because it's unique and cool!

My ATK305 was made in 1998, and is in a brown / light brown sunburst finish with a black pickguard. It has a 34" scale maple neck, with a thick maple fretboard featurin 22 kingsize frets.
It has the famous 3-coil ATK pickup with 2 active coils and one dummy coil in the middle that cancels out the humming.
The signal is routed to a 3-way switch that allows you to put the coils in serial or parallel, the 3rd option is the bridge-coil in single. then the signal comes to a 3-band equaliser.
The body is rather heavy, and has a big bridge, and also features thru-body stringing capability.

The straps are secured with reasonable-sized screws, that fit perfectly in Schaller straplocks ! so you can use the original scews to fasten the straplocks, very nice.

I play rock, metal and even jazz combined into 1 type of music ( you could compare my band to Incubus, Nickelback and P.O.D. i guess ), and this bass fits it like a glove !

What really supprised me when i played this bass for the first time, was the godzilla attack it has. Depending on where you play it, you can get pick-like sounds from this bass by playing with your fingers ! But if you play it closer to the neck ( above the pickguard ), you get real warm and full bass.

If you put the coils in serial ( switch to the front ), you get Fender Jazzbass-like sound. If you put them in parallel ( switch to middle ), you get a perfect replica of that famous Musicman Stingray sound, but with an extra little kick inside :)Put the bridge-coil in single ( switch to rear ), and it becomes a slap-monster. this bass is truely the king of versatility ! But be carefull with that mids controll, the smallest turn of the knob makes a huge difference.

Personally i've strung thru-body, because it adds a little low, and increases the sustain a lot. very recommendable ! :)

The finish is beautyfull, but there are some darker spots in the woodgrain on the back of the bass.
The factory set-up was ok, but i prefer it a little different ( action was a tad too high for me )
The strings on the bass were completely dead when i got it, probably by a lot of people trying the bass out in store..

Putting on some fresh Richard Cocco strings ( imo THE best strings in existance ) fixed that problem very rapidly :D

The bass seems very solid to me.. the neck is bolted on with 5 jumbo screws, which seems like a good sign to me.
The straps are fastened with reasonable sized screws, which i think will last just fine. i dont own the bass long enough to judge about the finish, but i think it will last.

Yeah,i'd certainly go on a gig backup-less with this baby.

I've never had any reason to contact Ibanez Customer Support.

i've played the bass for about 5 years now, and owned serveral basses ( mostly Ibanez.. for some weird reason i just keep buying Ibanez... )
I play the ATK305 thru a SWR workingman's 4004 amplifier and an Eden CX210 speakercabinet. The sound is very nice, but i'd love to hear it thru a good 4x10 + 1x15 some time..

For the music i play, this bass is perfect. Mainly because it has such killer attack, and i play with the overdrive a lot. very good combo :)

As far as I know, production is rather limited for these beasties nowadays. One thing's for sure, when I got mine (June 1997) they'd [the good folk at Ibanez, Korea] limited their colour range to black or black + sunburst (whoopee!).
This beaut bass features a generous sized neck with 22 jumbo frets, not to mention a fat-bombastic humbucker pickup. In turn, controlled by a 3 band EQ, master volume and a 3-way character switch.
Rather easy on the eye, it's got that rugged look about it: not to mention size - talk about the mothership!
The string-thru body is a good addition too.

Personally, I'm into funk/motown/acid/jazz so this funky little number is right up my alley. However it'd be debatable whether this bass is well-suited to the latter aforementioned style!
I usually have this cranking thru an Ashdown head with a quad & 15 inch sub and it's rather primo. A gripe would have to be the onboard mid- control: when will there ever be a bass with decent on-board circutry.
The sound is rather rock orientated but hardly differs beyond that... all in all a very solid sound.
Crisp highs and fat lows makes this a ditty number for some slap action as it's a very percussive axe.
Personal recommendation: boost the bass and treble, lose the mid-level.

Action: it's nice, certainly a damn sight better than my first bass. I've yet to be convinced that the world contains a bass with a perfect B-string. The action on this number is not a dream but I only use it sparingly so that's not so much of a bother.
I do tend to notice one of the frets buzzing but that's nuthin a little metal file can't take care of. :)
One thing to beware of is that this bass is not able to be played passively and so when the battery conks out, you don't wanna be left high and dry i.e carry a spare 9V in your kit.

I've been playing for a good 6 years now and with this axe, 4 years. So far you'd hardly know it's that old - these babies have that timeless quality about them to last thru thick and thin. Suffice to say I haven't actually jumped/slept on this bass but I'm sure it can handle a fair amount of treatment.
A word of advice tho, keep the scratchplate on!

I've never needed to deal with em but I'm sure they're only an e~mail away should the need arise.

If there's a sole, overlying regret it would be that I didn't get it earlier while there was a bigger array of finishes to choose from.
One possible addition would be a set of funky LEDs at no additional cost.
Should this bass be nicked off me, then may the person who does so become as liquid as water!