Robert Trujillo with Cliff Burton Tribute Black 'n' Gold

During Metallica's Orion Festival appearance in Detroit, they played "Kill 'Em All" from start to finish. For "Anesthesia" and "Whiplash" Robert Trujillo played the Cliff Burton Black 'n' Gold model. While admittedly not the best performance, it's still pretty cool to see him playing it. It seemed there might have been some technical difficulties with his distortion as well. I hope he gets another crack at playing it a little more cleanly next time (and with a pro-shot video hopefully)!

New Aria SB model: SB-1000ST

Well, hot on the heels of the SB Black 'n' Gold Cliff Burton Tribute, Aria Guitars have come out with a slightly more budget minded Super Bass. This one is called the SB-1000ST. This is a departure from the SB line in a couple very important ways. First, gone are are the MB model pickups. In their place are MusicMan style pickups. Second, the neck-through design has given way to set neck construction. However, the body and headstock have maintained the classic SB look. The chrome hardware is branded "Aria Pro II", just like the new IGB-50 Rose models.

Other specs include: alder body, three piece maple neck, rosewood fretboard with 24 frets, 34" scale, AMMB pickups, with volume, tone, and pickup balance controls.

So far, only black and white finishes are listed on the Aria website.  Check the Aria site for a few more high res pics. The initial price is 136,500 Yen but the street price will likely be lower. 

Custom & Unknown Arias: Part 5 - Wariawick?

Recently I came across this strange Aria, or "Wariawick", as I like to call it. At first I thought it was just an Aria Integra neck bolted on to a Warwick style body. Wrong! As you can see, this is a neckthrough bass!

The headstock bears the "AP" or Aria Custom shop logo, so this must have been a one-off or a run of very limited instruments.  Actually, I just noticed it doesn't have the AP logo! It has the "I" logo, which was found on some late 80s Integras. It also features Bartolini pickups and Gotoh hardware. 

Has anyone seen other Wariawicks? 

Aria Releases Official Cliff Burton Signature Black 'n' Gold Bass

At long last, an official Aria Pro II Cliff Burton Signature Bass.

Although Aria Guitars have produced other "unofficial" Cliff Burton models (SB-1000CB, SB-CB), this is the first official signature that has both Metallica's and the Burton family's blessing. Of course it is a Re-Issue of the Black 'n' Gold I, which was made from around 1982-1987. It looks pretty good from the first batch of pictures! Aria has really tried to pay attention to the details this time around. Although my one little nitpick (so far): the knobs are not the original SB style. They look like the bevel top knobs used on current SB Re-Issues. Again, not a big thing, just something I noticed. However, they did get the "Aria Pro II" logo on the tuners, which is a pretty cool detail (for geeks like me at least).

As I wrote regarding my own Cliff Burton Tribute SB-1000, the first attempts made by Aria, while cool, didn't really look like the basses Cliff actually played. Those early attempts had all black hardware and SB-1000 electronics which the Black 'n' Gold did not have. This new signature does have the correct look (except for the knobs!), even down to the RotoSound strings with the red silk wrap. It appears the original SB style "quick hook bridge" is back, which was a big part of the original SB, in my opinion. This is a welcome addition and hopefully they put the original style bridges on the other SB Re-Issues as well. The "Cliff Burton" signature on the back of the headstock is a nice touch, too. It's also something that appears to make Cliff's dad, Ray, happy, which is cool. Who wouldn't want their late son remembered?

As far as the technical specs (see Metallica link below), the nut width is 40mm according so I will need to measure my Black 'n' Gold the next time I have access for a comparison! The pickup is listed as a MB-V while the original was listed as MB-II. Personally, I don't care what they call it as long as it sounds like an SB. The real test will of course be if has the SB tone! So, if anyone has the chance to go to NAMM (Zuma?!) give us a review, please!

I'm sure this will not be a cheap bass, but it's cool to see something like this and hopefully I'll be able to try one out one of these days!

Also, for comparison, here is one of Cliff's actual Black 'n' Gold basses that was on auction in 2008. Final price: $17,187.50! Let's hope the Re-Issue isn't that much! I haven't seen any pricing information yet, but if you are able to attend NAMM in Southern California this year (Friday, January 25 at noon), you can get a first hand look and meet Ray Burton, Cliff's father.

I'm sure there will be plenty of cynics out there who just decry this as another Metallica money grab, but in other news, water is wet...If Fender can make Jaco and SRV re-issues, then why not this?

More information and pictures can be found at Metallica's website. I'm still awaiting a link to Aria's site about this. I will update when it becomes available.

Update: More information and pictures from Aria Guitar's website.

Apparently this will be a limited edition of 250 instruments at a price of 588,000 Yen. However the street price looks to be 499,000 Yen.

Famous Arias: Part 2 - Cliff Burton's Black 'n' Gold I

Some time ago, I blogged about Cliff's SB-1000 surfacing in my first - and to date only - installment of "Famous Arias". Well, recently it came to my attention that one of Cliff's Black 'n' Gold I basses was auctioned off back in 2008. The serial number is 4123392 which indicates it was made in 1984. I believe these later Black n Golds were more similar (maybe identical, aside from the bridge) to the SB Elite models - which had a more narrow width at the nut (40mm) and a slighter smaller body.

Here is the original auction link from Julien's Live auctions.


Unfortunately there is only 1 picture, but from that picture I believe the bass in question to be the bass pictured below because of the apparent chip on the upper left corner of the headstock. In the auction photo, it looks like someone took a marker and blacked it out, but it is clearly less shiny than the rest of the finish. I'm not sure why anyone would try to touch up something that could be used in the authentication of the bass... It looks like someone messed with the intonation, too, but I digress...

I am pretty sure the 2008 auctioned bass is the one that ended up at the Rock in Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Hard to be sure from the angle, but the upper left hand corner of the headstock does look a little less shiny and the missing volume knob and the ugly replacement "speed" type of knob are exactly the same as the auction from 2008. If I could only see the saddle placement on the bridge...

New Aria Pro II Integra model: IGB-50 ROSE

It looks like Aria is introducing a new Integra bass for the new year: the IGB-50 ROSE. This is an interesting addition to the long running Integra line. It features a rosewood top with alder body, and a 5 piece maple/rosewood neck. I can't remember seeing rosewood as a topwood on a bass before. This model has a few nice features. Aside from the rosewood top, the neck is now 5 piece construction. I think this a major improvement over the scarf joint design found on most Integras - and also more aesthetically pleasing! The pickups are "Duncan Designed" SB-102s with volume, bass, treble, and pickup balance controls. Another small detail of note is that the hardware is now branded "Aria Pro II". I have not seen the AP branded hardware since the late '80s / early '90s. It looks to be Gotoh made, but I can't be sure. The bridge looks similar to a Gotoh 201.

You can get more specs at the Aria Japanese site. I have no idea if these will be available in the US or Europe, but I've seen them for sale at J-Guitar and other Japanese online retailers.

Update: there is also a 5 string version available.

Aria Pro II Black 'n' Gold I Sound Demo

Here are some sound samples from my Aria Pro II Black 'n' Gold I. My goal for this sample was to try and reproduce Cliff Burton's tone. Here are some clean tones recorded into my Mac using a Lexicon Alpha interface. I used Garage Band for the recording. Here is the same recording, with Garage Band's "Amp fuzz" effect applied. With this effect, I tried to approximate Cliff Burton's live tone. This was the exact tone I was going for, from the Master of Puppets tour, in London, September 21, 1986. 

Aria Pro II IGB Neck-through Demo

Phil from Ireland sends in pictures and sound samples of a rare neck-through Integra series bass. Phil says his bass was made in Korea in 1998. This is the first IGB with this headstock I've seen in neck-through construction. It's quite the looker! Not only does it look good, it sounds good. Check out Phil's samples here:

http://soundcloud.com/philipjcoleman/aria-bass-sample

Thanks to Phil for sending in pics and sound clips of this rare IGB!

More demos: Aria Pro II SB-Integra (take two!)

Hello again, here is a demo of yet another SB-Integra (MIJ 1986). This time, it's from a different bassist, Mike, who shows off what the Integra can do. Mike gets the classic SB-Integra tone in his demo. He has three tracks to check out: one is a clean track, the second has some distortion added, and the third puts it all together with a  cool drum track. He recorded direct into his computer using Pro Tools with the following equipment:

Direct Box - A Designs REDDI

Amp Sim - Audiffex Gallien-Krueger Bass Amp

Drums - Steven Slate Drums 4.0

Here's a snapshot of the AHEQ-2 circuit of the SB Integra Mike used:

Thanks to Mike for recording another cool demo to show off the SB-Integra series. Enjoy!

http://soundcloud.com/bigsnack/sets/aria-integra/

More demos: Aria Pro II SB JR-600

Greetings! Here is a demo I made for my Aria Pro II SB JR-600. The JR, which stood for "junior", was a short-lived series from the early 1990s. This particular bass appears to be from 1990 and is finished in "pearl black". Pearl black has a more sparkle effect to it, versus the regular black finishes resulting in almost a "gun metal gray" finish in certain lighting. Also, while the neck plate says "Japan", I'm not convinced the bass was made in Japan, based on the history of Korean made instruments from this era.

In my opinion Aria had a great idea to make a cheaper version of the SB basses, and while this is a very nice bass, it probably could have been better.  First, to keep more of the SB character, I think it would have been better had they made it with an SB style pickup. That said, P/J pickups do give a nice variety of tones. Second, I wish the neck had been of three piece construction versus the scarf joint construction (another clue that it might be Korean made). In my experience the scarf joint construction Arias of this period were vulnerable to warpage creating some real headaches to get them playable. Overall, these basses are worth a try, especially if you can find them at a bargain price (say $200 or so).  Of course, instruments in pristine condition with no issues can expect to go for a higher price.

The specs can be found here from this 1991 Aria catalog. One thing that is different from the specs is the Badass II bridge that I had installed as an upgrade. I used Dunlop "Trujillo" steel, roundwound strings for the demo. The details of the recording can be found on the video but basically I recorded a clean track of riffs with the various pickup settings, and then some riffs from "Enter Sandman", "Paranoid", and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" to show the versatility when used with a Dunlop MXR-80 DI pedal.

More pictures of the SB JR-600 can be found here: http://s227.photobucket.com/albums/dd117/vintagejapanbass/Aria%20Pro%20II%20SB-JR600%20Black/

Aria Pro II IGB-600 Demo

A demo for the IGB-600. Not my best playing or recording but you'll get the idea of how it sounds compared to the SB-Integra.

Aria Pro II SB-1000CB Demo

Here's a demo I made of the SB-1000CB to show some of the tones available from this model. 

Aria Pro II SB-Integra Demo

Here is my demo of an SB-Integra...Apologies in advance for shoddy playing! 

"See what happens when you do Coke and play bass?"

Here's a video of Billy Gould during the recording sessions of Faith No More's seminal album Angel Dust. In it, Bill plays an Aria Pro II IGB-600 while recording "Caffeine" and gets a little...excited. There's also a lot of uncomfortable interview moments for which the band became famous for. 

Faith No More [Making of Angel Dust] Mike Bordin, Roddy Bottum & Billy Gould Interview 1992 from The Holy Filament on Vimeo.

Excellent New Aria Blog

Well, things have been pretty slow on my blog for quite some time due to my grad school studies. I probably won't be able to do many updates for the next several months...


However, there's a new Aria bass blog to take up the slack! The blog is loaded with technical info on Aria bass pickups and electronics! He has plans to make some replacement parts for the SB series so check out his blog for more info...


http://ariasbblackngold.blogspot.com/

Aria Pro SB-Elite II Electronics Modification

Trevor, who earlier documented the neck repair of his SB-Elite, now has a great site which documents how he modified the electronics with a varitone filter based on the SB-1000. The catch was that he did it in passive mode. For a step by step look at the process, please check out his site. He includes a schematic as well as sound clips of the results. Trevor says it is pretty safe mod because there's no routing required and therefore you won't permanently alter your bass if you ever want to return to original specs. The bass is a post-Matsumoku Elite which was similar to the originals but with a more simplified control layout. FYI you can see the difference between the two Elite models on Trevor's site. Here is a sneak peak of the mod.

Thanks again to Trevor for documenting this so others may try it or simply see how it was done. 

If you want to show off your Aria projects send me the link/pics! I have a feeling there will be some more projects to come, so stay tuned. 

Aria Pro II Integra IB-STD Signed By Jason Newsted of Metallica

Back on September 3, 1998 I went to see Metallica play an outdoor show at Portland (Oregon) Meadows. It was quite an experience, to say the least! At the time I was a member of the Metallica Club and volunteered to pass out Met Club info on the day of the show in exchange for a backstage pass/meet 'n' greet. The show itself almost takes a backseat to the experience of getting my Aria Pro II IB-STD autographed by former bassist Jason Newsted.

In the weeks leading up to the show, I decided I wanted to get something really worthwhile signed by the band, and more specifically by bassist Jason Newsted. A CD booklet is fine, but I wanted something a little more memorable which is why I decided on a bass. I didn't want just a pick guard signed either, I wanted the actual body or headstock signed. The problem was I only had a neck through Aria SB bass at the time and figured it would be too hard to smuggle in and carry that thing around for an entire day, not to mention security probably would have barred me from entering the show with it. So I somehow found an Aria Pro II IB-STD for sale. I can't even remember where I got it from, but it was definitely online. I just wanted something that was cheap, unique (not a crappy P-bass copy), and, obviously, a bolt-on neck so I could stuff the body in my backpack (that would sound really bad taken out of context, wouldn't it?). The IB-STD fit the bill perfectly. It was about $200 so I wouldn't be out too much if it was confiscated or stolen, and, being an Aria fan, I knew it was similar to the models used by Billy Gould of Faith No More.

The day of the show I had a bit of a scare on two fronts. Besides wanting to get my bass signed, I also decided to record the show with my trusty Sharp 702 MiniDisc recorder. As anyone who ever 'bootlegged' a show knows, you kind of have to be creative on how you smuggle the recording equipment in. My method of choice in those days was to "crotch it". That is, stick the MD recorder, battery pack and mics down the front of my pants since guards never frisked that part of your body. So, not only was I paranoid that they wouldn't let me in with a backpack, but also that they would find my recording gear! As I was about to enter Portland Meadows, I was told "no backpacks" as well as the usual "no recording devices allowed" warnings everywhere. Luckily, my Metallica Club pass allowed me to bypass the usual security checks and I was allowed to take in my backpack without so much as a light frisk. Disaster averted! If anyone is curious, I was able to successfully record the show. The recording came out fairly well for being an outdoor venue where the mics often pick up wind. Not to mention the usual perils of facing a crowd of lubed up Metallica fans. Thankfully, I am retired from the concert recording game!

So after several hours of lugging around the bass body in my backpack while passing out Met Club fliers/stickers, watching the show, and waiting for the band to come out after the show for the meet 'n' greet, I was finally able to get my bass signed. In that era of Metallica, it was no slam-dunk that all of the members would come out for meet 'n' greets. However, by all accounts, Jason Newsted consistently made himself available for these meetings while other band members would sometimes take the night off. On this particular night, Jason was the only one who came out for our particular meet 'n' greet. I believe the other members were busy doing other fan meetings at the same time. I was very lucky that it was Jason that came to ours and not Lars. I like Lars, but a bass signed by him just wouldn't be quite as cool, would it?

Jason was very cool and took the time to make a rather elaborate signature all the while being peppered with questions from other club members. He used a silver Sharpie that I brought along and he signed it "Metallica 98 Jason" followed by a few little dashes. He said "I'll sign it down here so you can see it while you play." I am glad he did sign it there because if he signed it up top, the signature would definitely rub off while playing. I have no plans to actually play the bass aside from a doodle here or there, though. I would rather have it displayed but am a little worried about the signature fading or flaking off. So for now, it stays in its case most of the time. I haven't seen too many other basses signed by Jason, other than the pick guards on crappy P-bass copies that I mentioned earlier, so I'm pretty proud of this piece of Metallica memorabilia.

I think the "IB" series, which is from around 1988-90, was the follow up to the original 1986-87 SB-Integra series. Later, "IB" became "IGB" which is still used for labeling Integra models to this day. The IB-STD is a pretty cool and unique bass even without the signature. First, it has 26 frets and a phenolic fingerboard. Second, most Integra basses were P/J styles, but this one just has single coil Jazz style pickups and passive electronics. Notice the slanted neck pickup. Third, the logo on the headstock is a split "I" which probably also doubles for "II" as in Aria Pro II. Notice the "Integra Designed by Aria Pro II" logo on the body. I always though that body logo just screamed "1980s!". I'm glad they didn't do that for very long. Overall, the IB-STD feels very well made but the finish flaked off on the back of the bass (see link below). It plays well with a fast neck and sounds really nice. I am not sure if it was made in Korea or Japan, but it still had some of the vestiges of earlier Japanese made basses such as the SB style bridge and "Aria Pro II" Japanese made tuners. If you can find of these cheap, check it out!

A few more photos of the IB-STD can be seen here. 

Aria Pro II Integras: IGB-85B & IGB-DLX 5

IGB-DLX 5 & IGB-85B

Jake from Australia sends in pics of his two Aria Pro II Integra basses. They're both early '90s models with the offset headstock design and both have black finish (my personal favorite). The 4 string is the IGB-85B ("B" meant they were equipped with Bartolini pickups), and the 5er is an IGB-DLX 5 or IGB-805 depending on the market they were being sold in.


The IGB-DLX 5 came with single coil pickups that are, at times, known to pick up radio stations! I have one of these basses myself and can confirm that unfortunate fact! Beside that little annoyance, they are great sounding instruments. Some DLX-5s came with a brass nut and all came stock with Gotoh tuners, a Gotoh bridge (with an Aria Pro II badge), and ebony fingerboards (pretty rare for Aria Pro basses outside of the SB-1000). Jake says his 5er plays wonderfully but is considering some after market pickups and going with passive electronics.

Jake modified his IGB-85B with new W4CBC Bartolinis since the originals were long gone. He also configured the passive electronics as follows: Volume, Volume, Tone, with the volume pots being push/pull. When the knobs are depressed the pickups are in dual coil humbucker mode. In this mode he says the bass is dead silent with high output and a full bass tone. When you pull the knobs you can go into a single coil mode, giving a classic Jazz bass tone with slightly less bass and a little more hum. The IGB-85B has become Jake's main bass with his only complaint that it is a little bit too light! Thanks to Jake for the info and pics of his basses!

Close-up of the SB style bridge.

Electronics featuring push/pull pots

Famous Arias: Part 1 - Cliff Burton SB-1000

This is the first in what I hope to be a regular series of posts on "famous" Arias basses. I will post about basses that were owned by famous players and that have come up for sale or are on display in places like the Hard Rock Cafe.

First up, is what I believe to be Cliff Burton's Aria Pro II SB-1000. I have tried to contact the current owner for more details but haven't had much luck yet. If you're reading this, talk to me!

This bass first came up for sale on eBay a couple of years ago. A lot of people were skeptical because of the high price and also the fact that people only recognized Cliff's Black 'n' Gold which had oval inlays and gold hardware. However, I believe this is the bass Cliff used in 1985 at legendary shows such as the Donington Festival, The Metal Hammer Festival (video) and the Day on the Green (video). He may even have recorded Master of Puppets with this bass. It is definitely not a re-issue as the finish, hardware and parts are all consistent with 1985. The finish is more of a very dark green when viewed in direct sunlight which is consistent with the black finishes Aria used in that period. Black Aria Re-Issue basses are more of a true black finish. Finally, the serial number also places this bass from 1985.

Unfortunately with a black bass there is no visible wood grain or any other hints to compare to pictures of Cliff playing the bass, so it's hard to ever be 100% sure. But given that the owner said he got it from Aria's former head of distribution, the rarity of black SB-1000 basses, and the fact that it's from 1985, I think it's authentic. It's likely Aria sent Cliff two (possibly three if you count the SB-Integra that Cliff apparently gave to Billy Gould) models to choose from: the SB-1000 and the Black 'n' Gold. In a 1986 interview with Harold Oimen, Cliff said he preferred the Black 'n' Gold. So Cliff probably just had the SB-1000 sent back to Aria, opting for the Black 'n' Gold model.

As you can see from the photos below, there is quite a lot of wear on the bass, including the bypass switch being broken off. Since Cliff really only played the SB-1000 for a short time, the wear probably occurred after Cliff's time with it.
Apparently the current owner still gigs with this bass, which some people might not like. Personally I don't have a problem with it, and I think the only thing better would be for Robert Trujillo to buy this bass and play it in Metallica. Now that would be cool.

Cliff w/ SB-1000 and Lars in the studio for Master of Puppets