Paulhauser Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 (edited) Seems like Atelier Z basses are a bit rare occurence on this forum so I thought about writing a bit about my recent purchase Having owned quite a few Japaneese basses over the years, mainly ones from the Fujigen factory like Yamaha TRB, Ibanez Prestiges, FGN basses, Fenders but others like a Sadowsky Metro as well, I have long been an admirer of the quality of the craftmanship that is put into these instruments over there. There is a bunch of smaller 'boutique' workshops like Atelier, Sugi, Devise that produce basses of the highst quality and standards - with prices to match. I've been long eyeing Atelier basses as I like their take on the classic Fender jazz design and they seem to carry everything that I like in these modern 'superjazz' basses. There are so many brands to choose from if one is heading into this direction and the options are almost endless, but I wanted to have something which is a bit unique here in Europe and wanted to know the next level of CIJ basses. So after months of checking out Ikebe's website (one of Japans biggest instrument store) this bass came up, I had the funds, the stars aligned and I made the purchase and imported this home. This was my second time dealing with Ikebe and I have to say they are top notch in customer service. It was a seamless transaction. Anyway, on to the most important thing. The bass is a Atelier Z M265 custom model. The M265 is basically their '70 5 string jazz bass. Ash body, one piece maple neck/board with block inlays and binding. they use in-house Atelier pickups and a selection of 2 band preamps. Hadware is a high mass Atelier bridge and Gotoh tuners. This custom M265 is a bit different, most notably in that it has a 3 band EQ (Bartonlini) and abalone inlays plus a brown red burst finish (which is more like amber in real life, the pics show this a bit more red that actually is) It is quite light and is a joy to play, the neck is really comfortable. It balances really well, that was one of my concerns as I was not able to try and see. I especially like the clean pickguard, it lets the grain shine through. The sound is a bit of a tipical '70 ash/maple, quite clean, sweet deeps with great highs and the slap is like Miller, only I don't have the chops.... It can get gritty if I dig in and it reacts very well to the different dinamics. The mid cut/boost is a nice addition, can't remember every having a jazz with a mid control but certainly helps at certain situations with the slightly scooped ash/maple sound. I bougth this bass untried and without ever trying an Atelier bass but it delivered on its promise big time. These above are my initial observations and for the time being I am very happy and a bit relieved as this distance purchase turned out great. Of course just like with other basses only time will tell how we are going to be in the long run. And now the pics (taken by Ikebe) Edited April 25, 2018 by Paulhauser typos 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cato Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 I really like the looks and spec of these Atelier Jazzes. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alembic1989 Posted April 25, 2018 Share Posted April 25, 2018 That's a lovely looking bass.. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 I saw Incognito recently and Francis Hylton was playing an Atelier jazz bass through an Aguilar 751 head . sounded amazing. Lovely looking bass, I'm sure this sounds amazing 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EddHytheTown Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 Stunning! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cato Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 (edited) I was browsing Bass Direct earlier and came across this. http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Atelier_Z.html If I had a spare £2000 my order would already be in. Edited April 26, 2018 by Cato Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulhauser Posted April 26, 2018 Author Share Posted April 26, 2018 8 minutes ago, Cato said: I was browsing Bass Direct earlier and came across this. http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Atelier_Z.html If I had a spare £2000 my order would already be in. Yes, these Jerry Barnes models are killer. It has all the things I like in a '70 jazz and some more. Knowing now from experience how good Atelier Z basses are if I was on the market for a 4 string jazz, these would be high on my list (and the chambered Atelier DAL models, too) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cato Posted April 26, 2018 Share Posted April 26, 2018 6 minutes ago, Paulhauser said: Yes, these Jerry Barnes models are killer. It has all the things I like in a '70 jazz and some more. Knowing now from experience how good Atelier Z basses are if I was on the market for a 4 string jazz, these would be high on my list (and the chambered Atelier DAL models, too) Yep 70s aesthetics combined with top end electrics and build quality. If I was speccing a custom bass it would be just about identical to one of these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nemo Posted April 29, 2018 Share Posted April 29, 2018 (edited) Congrats to your new Atelier! As a former owner of the M265 I thought I will chime in. These basses are great, but tend to be very heavy, mine had nearly 12 lbs (ash body, maple neck and fingerboard). You are lucky that yours is on the light side. Also the aestetics screams 70's bass, but the bridge pickup is in 60's position. The string spacing is 18 mm on a their fiver. Just my 2 cents for any potential buyers to look for. Anyway, this is top notch quality instrument and I sometimes miss mine that is gone now. Neck is very playable, sort of flat front to back and sound is amazing. Low B is killer. Enjoy this beautifull bass! Edited April 29, 2018 by nemo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulhauser Posted April 29, 2018 Author Share Posted April 29, 2018 46 minutes ago, nemo said: Congrats to your new Atelier! As a former owner of the M265 I thought I will chime in. These basses are great, but tend to be very heavy, mine had nearly 12 lbs (ash body, maple neck and fingerboard). You are lucky that yours is on the light side. Also the aestetics screams 70's bass, but the bridge pickup is in 60's position. The string spacing is 18 mm on a their fiver. Just my 2 cents for any potential buyers to look for. Anyway, this is top notch quality instrument and I sometimes miss mine that is gone now. Neck is very playable, sort of flat front to back and sound is amazing. Low B is killer. Enjoy this beautifull bass! Thank you! This one is 4.33 kgs and balances really well. I was aware of Atelier Z's reputation of being heavy but that must have been a thing of the past to a certain extent as most of their basses I was considering buying were under 4,5 kgs. I happen to like 18mm, this was actually one of the features I was looking for in my 'perfect' 5 string jazz. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pierreganseman Posted April 30, 2018 Share Posted April 30, 2018 14 hours ago, Paulhauser said: Thank you! This one is 4.33 kgs and balances really well. I was aware of Atelier Z's reputation of being heavy but that must have been a thing of the past to a certain extent as most of their basses I was considering buying were under 4,5 kgs. I happen to like 18mm, this was actually one of the features I was looking for in my 'perfect' 5 string jazz. We are currently dealing Atelier Z Basses and "good weight" still has to be custom ordered otherwise they will build a 5,3 kilo 4 string if not pointed out. Its quite common to see 80's builds that are 6+ kilo (lol).... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulhauser Posted April 30, 2018 Author Share Posted April 30, 2018 6 hours ago, pierreganseman said: We are currently dealing Atelier Z Basses and "good weight" still has to be custom ordered otherwise they will build a 5,3 kilo 4 string if not pointed out. Its quite common to see 80's builds that are 6+ kilo (lol).... Hi Pierre, thanks for your insights. I was looking at your page www.bassfreaks.net for some info on Ateliers and its a great thing that you carry them. I'm very impressed by this bass so far and would be glad if they had a greater European presence. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pierreganseman Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 (edited) 12 hours ago, Paulhauser said: Hi Pierre, thanks for your insights. I was looking at your page www.bassfreaks.net for some info on Ateliers and its a great thing that you carry them. I'm very impressed by this bass so far and would be glad if they had a greater European presence. Ah so you know what I do lol. Yes started about 2 and a half years ago with something like 6 basses. Now its beyond surreal to be carrying Moon , Atelier Z .... jesus christ .... O_O a light Moon and Atelier Z is basically 4,2 to 4,5 kilo , anything less will be a mistake ..... i adore them , the demo we did with a 4 Marcus miller style and the 5 JB M265 60's are my two basses ..... i love what they do but it takes time and people need to hear and see to start to believe. enjoy the bass Edited May 1, 2018 by pierreganseman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulhauser Posted May 1, 2018 Author Share Posted May 1, 2018 That is a great video, love that white M265 By the way, how does the Atelier DAL5 with the chambered alder body compares to the M265 in terms of sound and feel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulhauser Posted August 21, 2019 Author Share Posted August 21, 2019 Update: after owning and using this bass for 16 months I have to say this is a keeper and as such it effectively killed my GAS for super 5 string jazzes. The feel of the neck is especially lovely, it is high gloss finish but has such a warmth and ease to it, unbelieveable. As I've said I'd bought this bass untried and unheard, never ever even had an Atelier Z in my hands but I wish all the "blind" purchases would be such spot on like this. Can't recommend Atelier Z's enough, they very well worth their prices! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baessist-z Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 (edited) Congratulations to your new M265 Custom! 🙂 Indeed! I also purchased a Bnew Atelier-Z e#286 Evolution 5s , Last 29th of September 2019. Untried too, but my previous bass is a used Atelier-Z m245 4s so I have an Idea already , but this time Atelier-Z e#286 has more advance Electronics, equipped with Bartolini Xtct + Bartolini MCT375. It has Master tone (can be used both in active and passive mode) and the delight of having MID control knob. Overall I'm very happy with my purchased. It exceeded all my expectations. Indeed this Atelier-Z E286 is certainly an upgrade and worthy for it's model name "Evolution". Atelier-Z is ❤️ Edited November 1, 2019 by baessist-z Additional pictures and information amd wromg grammar 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulhauser Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 4 hours ago, baessist-z said: Congratulations to your new M265 Custom! 🙂 Indeed! I also purchased a Bnew Atelier-Z e#286 Evolution 5s , Last 29th of September 2019. Untried too, but my previous bass is a used Atelier-Z m245 4s so I have an Idea already , but this time Atelier-Z e#286 has more advance Electronics, equipped with Bartolini Xtct + Bartolini MCT375. It has Master tone (can be used both in active and passive mode) and the delight of MID control knob. Overall I'm very happy with my purchased. It exceeded all my expectations. Indeed this Atelier-Z E286 is certainly an upgrade and worthy for it's model name "Evolution". Atelier-Z is ❤️ Thank you! And congratulations to you, too! Wonderful bass you have there, enjoy! I'm sure it sounds fantastic! What does the switch do? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baessist-z Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 (edited) On 01/11/2019 at 15:08, Paulhauser said: Thank you! And congratulations to you, too! Wonderful bass you have there, enjoy! I'm sure it sounds fantastic! What does the switch do? Thank you so much! Btw Here's the Controls: FV/RV(stack), Master Tone, Mini-Switch(Active/Passive), MID, Treble/Bass(stack) Btw, I ❤️ the Abalone inlays in your M265. So Gorgeous! 👍😍 Edited November 2, 2019 by baessist-z Additional info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulhauser Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 2 hours ago, baessist-z said: Thank you so much! Btw Here's the Controls: Front Vol/Rear Vol, Master Tone, Mini-Switch(Active/Passive), MID, Treble/Bass Btw, I ❤️ the Abalone inlays of your M265. So Gorgeous! 👍😍 Interesting.... mine has the same controls bar the master tone. Mine is front vol, rear vol/push-pull active passive, mid, bass/treble stacked pot. Yes, I love the abalone inlays too! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pierreganseman Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 38 minutes ago, Paulhauser said: Interesting.... mine has the same controls bar the master tone. Mine is front vol, rear vol/push-pull active passive, mid, bass/treble stacked pot. Yes, I love the abalone inlays too! master tone and extra mini switch are custom options. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulhauser Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 8 minutes ago, pierreganseman said: master tone and extra mini switch are custom options. Thanks Pierre! BTW when are you selling your white 60's to me? 😄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pierreganseman Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 1 hour ago, Paulhauser said: Thanks Pierre! BTW when are you selling your white 60's to me? 😄 current build time is running about 6 month. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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