Aria Pro II SB-1000 Exhibition Models!

UPDATE: I noticed the Japanese site has removed all of the exhibition models! So I've added all of the photos I have of these basses...

I came across some very unusual Aria SB-1000's on Aria's Japanese site. They are apparently exhibition models and it doesn't seem like they will be produced on a large scale. However, it does look like they are for sale since they have prices listed (around 180,000 Yen!) on the site along with the specs! They're definitely some of the most unique SBs I've ever come across! There's even a model with a Kahler Tremolo! I'm kind of partial to the black 5 string with orange stripes!

Here are some pics, but be sure to follow the link to Aria's site for even more photos!

Family Photo

Here is a recent 'family photo' of my basses in Korea (except my SB-1000CB, but you saw it a couple of posts ago. :) ) From left to right: IGB-85B (modded with SB pickups), SB-Black 'n' Gold II (with Alembic pickups/electronics), SB-R60 (with Alembic pickup/electronics), SB-Integra, IGB-600.

Aria Pro + Alembic = Awesome!

Well, Rudy Sarzo thought so, and I have to agree! Rudy has an SB-Black 'n' Gold II with Alembic pickups in this photo (thanks Nuno!).

Here are my two Aria SB basses that have been modded with Alembic pickups and electronics. I can tell you it is a great combination! I actually got the p'ups/electronics from Aria Pro II SB-LTD basses that had been damaged. Alembic and Aria have a history that goes back to the late '80s/early '90s, possibly due to Rudy Sarzo having his Aria basses modded with Alembic electronics. Aria produced the LTD series for a few years. Click here for some specs.

The first bass I had modified was an SB-R60. The bass, which was produced in 1982, plays extremely well and with the Alembic electronics is just a terrific instrument. I had my friend Lance install a red LED battery indicator on the bass. I also made this a 'stealth' bass by add black Gotoh tuners and a black SB bridge. In the future, I may have an Alembic Q switch installed. G-Cat in Seoul, Korea did the pickup installation.

The second SB I had modded was an SB-Black 'n' Gold II, also 1982 vintage. The truss rod cover says Toshi' Model 5 on it, whatever that means. I had to have this bass refretted in addition to the p'up/electronics swap. It has a little different sound than the R60, due to the double pickup configuration, but is just as great sounding and playing as the R60! Again, I had Lance add an LED battery indicator, but this one is blue. MD Guitars did the mods and repairs on this bass.
Lastly, here is a photo of three SB basses stocked with Alembics. My SB-BnG and R60 along with an SB-LTD, which now resides happily with Nuno!
As usual, more photos can be seen at my photobucket sites. SB-R60 and SB-BnG.

Aria Pro II SB-1000CB Cliff Burton Tribute

Recently I came across a very used, older model SB-1000CB in Japan. The bass had a lot of wear and also a major problem: a warped neck and a maxed out truss rod, making it virtually unplayable. I decided it was a good candidate for a Cliff Burton tribute bass. As you probably know, the 'CB' in the name of the bass stands for Cliff Burton, but the specs of the bass aren't exactly what Cliff actually used. The re-issue SB-1000CB comes with oval inlays, black Gotoh hardware, and of course the active BB Circuit/6 position tone selector. Cliff did use an SB-1000 for a short time (see photo), but it didn't have black hardware or oval inlays. His Black 'n' Gold model did have oval inlays, though. So it seems Aria decided to combine the two models and add some modern touches such as the black Gotoh hardware. I actually like the look of the new re-issue models, but I wanted to try and make the bass look more like what Cliff used.

I pulled out some old Aria Pro tuners, an original SB bridge, and some original SB knobs for the tribute bass. I know the string spacing on the original SB-1000s is different (narrower), but I didn't have one of those bridges and also I wasn't sure it would be a good fit for this neck profile.

The bass was repaired and modified by mdcustomshop.com in Seoul, Korea. The repair included removing the frets, 'dressing' the fingerboard (sanding it down to make it straight), re-setting the truss rod and finally re-fretting the bass. In addition, I had him make a new rosewood truss rod cover since the original was lost. He also had to do some routing to accommodate the original SB bridge. The bass was pretty scratched up when I got it, but he restored a lot of shine to the bass! It's currently setup with RotoSound Swing Bass 45-65-80-105 steel strings. I'm very happy with how the bass turned out - it plays and sounds wonderfully now!

You can see more pictures of the bass here. There are some pictures of the bass before it was modified/repaired, too.

A few more notes about the bass: First, it is very heavy! I don't have a scale, but will weigh it when I get access to one. The neck profile is much different than the original SB-1000s. This re-issue is thinner at the nut and gets wider towards the bridge, more like a standard bass. The original models were a little wider at the nut but did not widen as much towards the bridge, making for a very playable bass in the higher registers. I find the neck profile of this bass to be more similar to the SB-Elite models. The serial number of this bass starts with a 95, so I'm not sure if it means it was made in 1999 or 1995, but it was certainly not made in 2009. The contours of the bass (body and headstock) are slightly more rounded than original SB basses. The Aria Pro II logo is a little bit smaller than the original SBs, too. There are a few other minor differences but overall the bass keeps the look and sound of the originals very well.

Aria Pro II SB-800

Here is a nice rarity sent in by fellow Aria fan Tyler - it's an SB-800. This is a unique bass because it is like an SB-1000 in every way except for one: it is a bolt-on, not neck-through. It has all the other features of an SB-1000 (active circuit, 6 position tone selector, brass bridge and nut, etc). I believe the Aria SB-600 was the bolt-on version of the SB-700, but neither the 600 or 800 models lasted very long for some reason. There is even an SB-800 ad that I had not seen before! You can check out a few more pics here. In addition, there are some more excellent pictures taken by Dave at davesbassplace.com. Click here to see more details of this bass such as the 6 bolt (including two hidden under the neck plate!) system. The Aria advertisement for this model can be seen at matsumoku.org.

Aria SB-1000 5 String

For those who weren't aware, Aria recently released a 5 string version of their famous SB-1000. Check out the specs and more photos here.
The big difference I see (aside from an extra string!) is that the pickup is not at all shaped like the 4 string versions. As always, if anyone has actually played one of these, let me know what you think of it.

Billy Gould's Aria Integra Bass For Sale?

Being a big Billy Gould fan, I was very interested when fellow Aria bass fan Nuno sent me an email that said the exact bass Billy Gould used at the Rock in Rio II festival in 1991 was for sale here.
I have no way of telling if the bass was really played by Billy or not, but it certainly is the right model (IGB-600 or IGB-DLX in the US). The knobs have been replaced and the truss rod cover is missing. The Brazilian seller doesn't appear to give any proof of authenticity. He is asking about $700 USD (not $1300 like I originally thought!). I'm a huge fan, but unless I had proof and lots of extra cash, I don't think I'd bite on this one! For comparison, here is a pic of Billy with one of his Integra IGB-600s (I assume he had more than one while on tour). Unfortunately there isn't much to go on comparison wise since the bass is black and therefore has no wood grain or other distinguishing characteristics. Black paint, black hardware. Billy's was missing one knob at the time of the photograph. Do you think it's the real deal?

Aria IGB-NEO Bass

Aria has a new Integra model called the IGB-NEO. As far as I know, it's only available in Japan and lists for just under 70,000 Yen. It's different than other Integra models in that it has just a single EMG-HZ pickup and has a few more 'high end' features. Here are the specs from the Aria Japan site:
IGB-NEO
Body: Ash
Neck: Maple
Nut: Graphite
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Machine head: Gotoh GB-707
Frets: 24F
Scale: 860mm
Pickups: EMG MM-HZ
Controls: Volume(CTS) x1,
　　　　　　Tone(CTS) x1,
　　　　　　series/parallel/tap mini switch
Tailpiece: Gotoh J510SJ
Hardware: Black
Finishes: See through green, black and purple.
They look pretty good, if anyone has a chance to try one, let me know how it sounds!

　　　

Aria's 50th Anniversary Bass

I found some photos of Aria's 50th Anniversary bass at tcgakki.com, which is a great place to check out Aria basses for sale. The 50th Anniversary model (1956-2006) is basically an Integra series bass finished in gold. I believe there was a 40th Anniversary model but I still need to find pics of it.

Aria SB Pickup Dissection

I don't know how many times I've heard from other Aria SB owners who had a dead or half-dead pickup. Unfortunately it is a common problem with those great basses and there is no way to fix the pickup. The pickup is encased in epoxy, so you really can't open the pickup without destroying it. I happened to have a dead pickup and so with the help of my friend and guitar wiz Lance, we conducted a crude autopsy on the pickup! It appears as if the pickup is almost like a big "P" style pickup, with 8 poles that are staggered, four poles for the E and A strings and four for D and G. It took a lot of hacking to crack open the pickup! More pictures can be found here.

Aria Battery Checker

Hello Aria fans! For those of you with basses with active electronics, you know that batteries can sometimes die at the worst of times. Instead of changing batteries when there may be a good deal of life left, the Aria Pro II BC-1500 battery checker lets you test the battery life of your instrument (it also works with most pedals, like Boss) to let you gauge how much life is left in the battery. There are more sophisticated battery testers out there for sure, but this one is really simple. The needle indicates the battery life - red means it's about out of life, black means no worries. Like I said, very simple! The checker works fine on my Aria basses with stock electronics, however it does not register at all on my Aria SB with Alembic electronics installed. I have no idea why that may be, it also doesn't seem to register on my Morley bass wah and MXR DI unit. If you have any theories as to why it doesn't work on those, email me! Luckily I have LED battery indicators on the SBs with Alembic electronics. I haven't found much about the BC-1500 on the web, but I do know it was made in Japan (the sticker says so!). It evens come with a handy little case. I haven't found any info on this from the Aria websites, but there is a Japanese site with what appears to be a short review of it here.