Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Aria Pro II SB1000
- Thread starter coreiakin
- Start date
Not sure if this is your style or geographic proximity, but someone near Seattle, WA is:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
That's not an SB though, it's an RSB. Still a lot of bang for the bucks, but doesn't have the cachet that a through-necked SB has.
@Tine Eie ... Without knowing where you are, all I can suggest is keep a watch on Ebay, Craigslist &/or Gumtree (plus any local equivalents) as well as the TalkBass classifieds.
On the early Duran stuff John Taylor used an SB-600, but later upgraded to an SB-1000 (endorsement deal?). You could also look out for an SB-700.
What're the differences? In a nutshell...
- SB-1000 - Aria's flagship bass from 1979 right through to the end of Japanese production. Through-neck, quite heavy & sort of active (there are different circuit configurations over the years). Main feature is a 6-way switched tone control that's quite useful. 1 Volume & 1 Tone pot. Original Japanese examples are sought after & the price is going up - in the UK they're typically fetching GB£600 to GB£700 depending on condition. The 'Holy Grail' model (the Black 'n' Gold) will command more due to its association with Cliff Burton. There have been several re-issues of it in the last 20 years, all of which are way more expensive than an original, but few of them are really 'proper' re-issues.
- SB-700 - same body as an SB-1000, but passive. Coil tap switch & 1 Vol 1 Tone. These aren't so sought after, so the price is lower.
- SB-600 - Same as an SB-700, but has a set neck rather than a through neck. Again, not really sought after.
A few other points...
- Somewhere along the line it looks like there was a bad batch of pickups, so it's not unusual to see SBs with replacements - avoid these & wait for a good original one to turn up, unless the price is relly low. Similarly, some of the original SB-1000 'BB' active circuits fried themselves & for a long time that was it. However, there's a guy in Finland who's reverse-engineered them & sell them on Ebay - he's also a TB'er.
- The geometry of the SB is a bit weird. SB stands for 'Super Balanced' & they are - no neck dive - but the bridge is set a good 3" in from the edge of the body; this gives the impression that they're a lot longer then 34" scale as everything gets shifted 3" to the left. This can make playing down the low end a bit of a stretch. Also, the string spacing is set so that it's nearly parallel from nut to bridge - the SB-R series have a wider bridge, so have much more Fender-like spread.
- Tonally, all the SB range have a mid-hump response so they sit well in a band mix, even the twin pickup tone monster that is the SB-900, but, again, that's not to everybody's taste.
- Weight. A 3" or wider strap is a really good idea. Aria used some serious bits of tree when they made these - ones with a fancy/strong grain will probably weigh a bit less; if the grain is boring & very straight then the weight's likely to be more. They didn't muck about with the hardware either - the bridge is a big lump of cast brass.
Pete.
Last edited:
I think that particular model is known as the aria pro II rsb deluxe-II. Good luck with the search.
There is an Aria catalog/promo shot of him with an RSB-Deluxe II, but he's best known for the SB-600/SB-1000 connection. The RSBs came out in 1983.
Have some gratuitous footage from 1982 with plenty of SB action:
LeBon's voice is a tad ropey to begin with, but it does improve as it goes on.
I wouldn't have figured a guy with the Deathblade moniker to have the 411 on Duran Duran but you sure know your stuff. Pretty killer tone out of Taylor in that video.
Back in my NWOBHM days I wouldn't have been seen dead admitting that DD (or any of the New Romantic lot) were any good
But as the years have passed I'll give them credit where it's due - they did turn out some pretty decent catchy pop songs that are surprisingly challenging for a player.I'm even prepared to admit that Boy George and Marc Almond are pretty good singers...
...and I own a Michael Bublé album
Despite his seeming obsession for popping octaves on the VII of the chord in just about every song they ever played - I suppose that's some of 'Nard's influence coming through - I actually like John Taylor's work. He really drove that band; and that bass of his always sounded good.
Simon Le Bon, on the other hand, has got to be one of the most 'average' singers ever to front a pop group. I mean, how much more whiney and nasal can a singer get ? This clip does nothing to dissuade me from that long-held view.
Last edited:
Don't worry. There are many good ones out there. Most on E-Bay are selling for around $1200. If you have that scratch then bid on one. There are other Aria's though. another model SB would be just as good but less expensive. I picked up an SB Elite I for $600 and it sounds amazing and looks much like an SB 1000. Two years ago I picked up an Aria Pro II SB-CB, the Korean model, for only $900 and it still had the plastic protecting it. It was still a great bass.
Are you talking about the black SB-1000? That had the open book headstock. The SB-600 (or 700, depending) was the bat wing.
I, too, was really interested in tracking down these basses. I was eventually able to find a black SB-1000 ('84, I think) but it has some electronics problems. I also have a SB-600 which I really like. And the JT reissue they did a few years ago. I can assure you that with enough patience and time you *will* find one just like you want.
The SB-600 has since been updated with original knobs. I also added a (working!) SB-1000 in red. John had one of those too!
Last edited:
It depends... He used more than one.
Batwing SB-700 on the Old Grey Whistle Test 7th July 1981:
As it's a Batwing, it'll be either a 1979 or 1980 example.
Then there's this clip from the BBC programme 'Rockschool' in 1983:
That shows an open book headstock on what I **think** is an SB-600. If it were an SB-1000 with that h/stock, I'd expect to see the LED lit up - the batwing 1000s don't have an LED as far as anyone knows. Trouble is that the video quality is so poor that it's nigh-on impossible to tell.
SB-600s were in production both in the batwing & open book eras - very early ones were bolt on, but that shifted to set-neck fairly quickly.
I also found this:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
That looks like an Elite II in Pearl White & the 1983 date certainly fits with the Elites.
Add into the mix ModuMan's photo of JT with a Padauk Red series-2 SB-1000 (1981 or later) plus Youtube footage from 1984 (black SB-1000), Montreaux in 1985 (Black 'n' Gold 1000 like Cliff Burton's), Top Of The Pops 1987 (B&G again) & you can see that it all starts to get rather complicated. To make things even worse, the official video for Girls On Film has JT with a natural oak SB-900, but there's contemporary 'live' footage with the SB-700. One thing that is apparent from listening to these is that JT's tone doesn't really change regardless of which model he was playing at the time.
So, looking at all that, you can pretty much make a case for any SB being valid, but it probably boils down to a Natural Batwing SB-700 or a Black Series-II (open book) SB-1000. For me, I always associate JT with a black SB.
Pete.
I have found this page to be very helpful. Note the different pickups in the various versions of the SB-600's and such. Aria would change some things pretty frequently and there are some "oddballs" out there from transition periods that have old/new features.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Just wanted to add that the SB Elites have the wider bridge with 18mm spacing, instead of 16mm spacing. The width at the nut is on the Elites is what Aria called, "Super Slim," which is roughly 1.5" (I.e., Jazz bass width). I just got one, and can confirm that the neck shape is slim, as well, which my arthritic hands prefer, these days. Also to note: the SB Elite I is considered Aria's lightest SB model, as the Elite bodies are smaller/more contoured. Mine is an '83 transparent Padouk red with ash wings and clocks in only a bit over 8 lbs, with no neck dive. All the aforementioned factors, plus not having an active tone circuit, is why I spent five years looking for an SB Elite I (just kept missing out on bids). I am quite happy with it and the fact that Guitar Center in the US had one for relatively cheap that included the original Superbass hardshell case.
