Cliff Burton SB aria 4oth anniversary release

[christhammer666]

Aria are releasing a 40th anniversary Sb bass to honour Cliff

Bet it will steep price wise but id love to give one of these a go

[Cosmo Valdemar]

It's hard to tell from the pic but it looks like a modern SB1000 painted black rather than a period-correct reissue. The near-parallel string spacing was one of the features that made the originals so special.

[LeftyJ]

Agreed!

 

I also associate Cliff Burton more with the SB Black 'n Gold, and not with this more "plain" SB reissue. There have been earlier signature models and tributes, and they were all based on the Black 'n Gold. 

[Bassassin]

There's been a few. A detail-perfect reissue of the passive SB Elite 1 B&G that Cliff's best known for, and as well as that a sort of Elite/SB1000 mashup that had the SB active electronics, with the Elite/SB-R inlays & conventional neck proportions. Got an idea there was a more modest spec budget version as well at some point, a bit like the current SB-One.

 

But yes -  this current thing does look like it's the current SB1000, only painted black. Nice to see that that it has the period-correct bridge & knobs, even if the neck shape's all wrong!

[Dood]

Blimey, who is THIS young whipper-snapper?? (I’d just like to add that this video is older than 8 years!) - I’m not sure what happened to the Cliff Burton bass review. 

 

 

[razor5cl]

I've lusted after an 80s Aria Pro II for years and years, ever since seeing that Day on the Green live clip which got me into the bass in the first place!

 

However it feels a bit rich paying the big bucks for one. Something more affordable would be right up my alley, even a decent used alternative with a few mods thrown on it.

[Misdee]

I'd be very interested to know how these reissue Aria SB100 basses compare with the originals. I notice these Cliff Burton models are made in Indonesia rather than Japan where the regular SB1000 basses are made nowadays. Are the pickups and electronics ect the same as the original ones and do they sound the same?

 

 I'm showing my age now, but the SB1000 was a new model around the time I started playing and it was an iconic bass for me in those days. There were three (one in each finish) in a local music shop. I used to love to look at them, especially the one with a red stain finish. Oh, how I longed for one, but alas they were way beyond my pocket.

 

Lots of top players like Jack Bruce were using them and reviewers (in the back pages of mainstream rock music papers like Sounds, not really any specialist UK guitar magazines in those days) said they exemplified stellar Japanese build quality that was putting companies like Fender to shame. Aria used to be a byword for quality in those days. 

[LeftyJ]

I'm curious about that as well. Someone on a Dutch bass forum that I frequently visit has just imported one of the Indonesian SB700's from Japan in a sale and I'm looking forward to his review. He hasn't said a lot about it yet, other than it's a good and very solid bass, plays great, but the ergonomics and the way it balances require some getting used to (coming from mostly FSO's). Looks very authentic, appears to have the same barely-tapered string spacing as the original (he measured 17 mm at the bridge and it's not exactly narrow at the nut).