Aria Basses - fallen from grace??

[drlargepants]

This is my late 80s/early 90s Pro II. 

Korean, worth bugger all, but plays very well still. 

A black and gold would be nice, but I’ve got too many guitars as it is. 

[kendall]

This old XRB series of mine was rescued from someone who gave it a bad paint job.  I replaced the pick ups with some Dimarzios, set it up for low tunings (bottom 4 strings from a 5 string set), cleaned up the electrics, tuners and bridge.  Intended to respray it but am too lazy and kind of like the beat up look it has.

It plays great, straight neck, nice tone and the pointy headstock is great for reliving the 80's heydays!

[BrunoBass]

The guitarist in a band I was in years ago always hankered after an Aria guitar he’d seen Andy Summers playing. The model in question was, according to him, an ‘Aria Proll’ (rhymed with ‘doll’). Still makes me smile whenever I see an Aria Pro II. 

[Al Krow]

51 minutes ago, PaulGibsonBass said:

The guitarist in a band I was in years ago always hankered after an Aria guitar he’d seen Andy Summers playing. The model in question was, according to him, an ‘Aria Proll’ (rhymed with ‘doll’). Still makes me smile whenever I see an Aria Pro II. 

But he was clearly the opposite of an Aria Troll then? 

[BrunoBass]

44 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

But he was clearly the opposite of an Aria Troll then? 

Not sure what you mean by that?

[Al Krow]

Didn't mean too much at all...

He clearly IS a fan of Arias and therefore NOT a Troll of the brand. Troll also rhymes with Proll. I clearly need to work on my humour! 

[TheGreek]

I thought you meant he was a MK11 Tro....

[bartelby]

I wish Aria UK had the Selected Wood series!

Just look at these two! 

[fleabag]

I'm in the Arai SB club, well i used to be.

Had the SB 600, open book headstock, ( as opposed to the Batwing ) and it was a set neck, single pickup.  Lovely to play if you like slim necks ( and boy are they slim )

and 16.5mm string spacing, which i adored. The only trouble with it, from a personal taste POV, was the lack of mids.  I think the single pup was in the wrong position, but thats just my opinion. I would certainly like to own the SB 900, which did have the twin pups.

 

Edited May 2, 2018 by fleabag

[schmig]

Have owned or played a SBR-150 and several SBR-60s, I reckon the SB-ELT / RSZ (not sure which I have) is the nicest of them...

 

 

[EMG456]

On 02/05/2018 at 15:16, bartelby said:

I wish Aria UK had the Selected Wood series!

Just look at these two! 

SB 1000 was my main bass late 70s to mid 80s but I haven’t had one since then. These two are giving me a huge attack of Aria GAS!

[fretmeister]

I always wanted a Cliff Burton model.

 

bit pricey really!

[12stringbassist]

I should use this more often....

[Deedee]

Just now, 12stringbassist said:

I should use this more often....

I had/used a black and red version briefly in the early ‘90’s. Built superbly with very powerful pickups as I recall.

[Bassassin]

2 hours ago, schmig said:

Have owned or played a SBR-150 and several SBR-60s, I reckon the SB-ELT / RSZ (not sure which I have) is the nicest of them...

 

 

 

I have one of these, lovely, lovely bass:

 

I also have an '84 RSB Deluxe II, which I've had from new. Was pretty much my only bass for 10+ years but retired when the neck developed an alarming and irepairable twist. It's currently wearing an RSB Straycat neck, which is sadly a completely different profile - so I'm looking for a proper replacement.

 

And finally - that there Cliff Burton bass, an '83 SB Elite I B&G - absolutely beaten to hell and back, modded with a Bart J pickup, rewired by an imbecile and half the original MBII pickup dead, as they are seemingly wont to do. Despite all that, the neck is perfect and it's gorgeous to play. Just very quiet... It's currently in bits waiting for me to have time/motivation to do a sympathetic pseudo-resto, which will largely involve filling the hole where the J pup is, dropping in a Rautia replacement pickup, wiring it properly and giving it a tidy up. And one day, finding a pair of the original knobs - as well as that RSB neck...

[KingPrawn]

I'm lucky enough to own a 1978 Pro ii, built out of Matsomoku factory. Its a dream to play. loads of mojo. Pups upgraded years ago to Dimazio pickups. Loads of punch and tone.  Not sure of its value? but a keeper none the less.

[neilp]

My SB1000. Iconic, in my opinion. Nothing comes close

[Corktip100]

I have an early 90's IGB.   As a callow youth, I tried to modify it (and bodged it), and it's on its second neck.  It's been dropped, it's been lent to at least two people and yet for a bass that cost me 200 quid new about 28 years ago, it's still going strong.  It has been christened "The Bass That Won't Die".

 

I love it.

[Crusoe]

Aria Pro II... that's a name I've not heard in a long time (strokes beard wistfully)

[Davio]

On 29/01/2018 at 19:50, grandad said:

My 1981 MIJ Aria Pro II CSB380 has the best neck of any bass I've ever owned. The overall build quality and finish is very good. I'm the 2nd owner and it's a keeper.

I recently saw one on ebay for about £400 so the prices have crept upwards, though this one was in very good condition from a seller in Japan.

I have had the same Bass as yourself for over 30 years and it fits like a glove. I still play it every day, gig it and record it and I originally paid £130 for it off a mate and it's going Knowhere anytime soon. It's only had the frets levelled about 20 + years ago due to fret buzz so it owes me nothing.

[toneknob]

Here's my Korean-made MAB-40 from the early 90s. My first "proper" bass after entry-level P copy. The photo doesn't quite do justice to the metallic purple sparkle finish. Also those Trace Elliot strings have been kept on to match the strap. Also note multiple Producer Switches

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Here's my recently acquired SB700. It plays like an absolute dream - the narrow bridge/wide nut makes so much sense to my fingers these days, whereas I used to find it too tight in the old days. 

 

The pickup is possibly a little too refined and focused for me - I slightly prefer the MBIII in the Elite and R60 models, a bit more grunt and attitude, so I'm considering popping in a Rautia or Armstrong replica... but we'll see.

 

 

[Norris]

9 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Here's my recently acquired SB700. It plays like an absolute dream - the narrow bridge/wide nut makes so much sense to my fingers these days, whereas I used to find it too tight in the old days. 

 

The pickup is possibly a little too refined and focused for me - I slightly prefer the MBIII in the Elite and R60 models, a bit more grunt and attitude, so I'm considering popping in a Rautia or Armstrong replica... but we'll see.

 

 

Rautia is apparently the more authentic replacement of the two (and what I put in my SB1000, but only because the original pickup stopped working). The Armstrong is a soapbar in the right sized cover

 

Lovely bass btw

[diskwave]

Well they were the first of what we now call boutique, but they were never quite right. My old SB1000 which I bought new in 1980 was a beautiful thing but it  was too heavy and the neck was too narrow and too skinny really.....still, had a lot of fun pretending to be JT. Those old SB's are things of beauty.

[bartelby]

9 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Here's my recently acquired SB700. It plays like an absolute dream - the narrow bridge/wide nut makes so much sense to my fingers these days, whereas I used to find it too tight in the old days. 

 

The pickup is possibly a little too refined and focused for me - I slightly prefer the MBIII in the Elite and R60 models, a bit more grunt and attitude, so I'm considering popping in a Rautia or Armstrong replica... but we'll see.

 

 

 

 

Rautia aren't taking new orders at the moment.