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Aria Sinsonido Portable Bass

#21
Impressions after lots of other playing, and putting on flats:

- She has reached Keeper status - the Made In China sticker is rubbed off. :)

- I think it kills every Acoustic Electric bass I have played. Yeah, I know that's not what the bass is necessarily about, but it has an Acoustic Electric vibe to the sound - only superior to the ones I have heard/played.

- For me, the neck is a dream. Again, I wish this could be made with an adjustable bridge. If that existed, I'd get a fretted version, and it would become my gig bass.

- I'm playing it without the funky bars, strapped on, almost vertically. It's a pisser.

I'm surprised it's not more popular. It's a great bass.
 
#24
Iota,

Man I can't believe I just noticed this thread... I guess I've been too busy posting on the Ric Turner thread.:p

Thanks for posting the clip. That thing has seriously good tone. Surprisingly good.

I saw these things when they first came out 'cause I'm a freak for 32" scale (IIRC the Sinsonido is 32"-- is that correct?)

How were the controls set when you recorded the clip and what were you playing it though (preamp/di direct, mic'd amp etc.)?

Thanks,

Matt
 
#26
dunamis said:
Iota,

Man I can't believe I just noticed this thread... I guess I've been too busy posting on the Ric Turner thread.:p

Thanks for posting the clip. That thing has seriously good tone. Surprisingly good.

I saw these things when they first came out 'cause I'm a freak for 32" scale (IIRC the Sinsonido is 32"-- is that correct?)

How were the controls set when you recorded the clip and what were you playing it though (preamp/di direct, mic'd amp etc.)?

Thanks,

Matt
Click to expand...
Dunamis -

The Sinsonido is a full 34" scale -- it just "feels" shorter because the bridge is near the extreme end of the body and of course, the bass is headless.

That clip was recorded straight through my amp (Yorkville XM200T combo.) The tone controls on the amp were set totally flat. The tone control on the bass was rolled all the way off -- the treble was totally cut. The strings on the bass were LaBella Deep Talkin Black Nylon Tapewounds.

The Sinsonido is a really cool little bass that a LOT of folks slept on. I only sold mine because I don't do nearly as much traveling as I used to.
 
#28
Good to see some discussion of this bass. I've had one for more than 6 months now, and like it more and more. On the points above:
Flats. Yes, the slots in the nut (and, more to the point, the bridge, which is where the pickups are) look a bit narrow: I guess the La Bella ones mentioned are lighter than the big ones on my P?
Pickups. They are piezo mics as part of the bridge. You can get an excellent tone even with roundwounds.
The headphones are little folding ones in a leatherette bag. You can use any phones of course, from proper hi-fi ones to those off your music-player.
The top strap button is on the back of the body. Yes, I started playing it without the frames, but I use them now, especially for gigs, because the top one fits under your fore-arm and holds the angle of the neck steady. Otherwise the bass tends to roll away from you, and even if you don't need to look at the fretboard this feels a little odd compared with other basses. Of course, this doesn't matter if you are sitting down (in your car waiting for the kids!)
Intonation. As mine is set up now it is about 8% sharp on all strings at the 12th fret. I tested the P bass I mostly use and it wasn't perfect either. What the blazes..I'll get it to a tech before I play at the Albert Hall. So, plenty of time for that.
And I agree the little plastic knobs are a bit worrying. I suppose they went for lightness. I shall leave mine until they give a problem.
My bass had been in a shop for a while, and the neck felt dry..a little lemon oil put that right.
But overall, the mahogany body and unusual shape are attractive. No problems with volume at gigs..and it attracts more attention than my usual beautiful bass.
 
#30
IotaNet wrote:

Frank -
I am really curious about how your Aria is holding up for you, especially on gigs. How does it work on the bandstand?
Also, how do your bandmates/audiences respond to it?
I'm interested in your thoughts.

It's holding up very well. I have No concerns about durability or the quality of parts like the tuners. I'm usually fussy with tuners, but the stock ones are excellent.

Stability wise, it's a rock. I tune it and it Stays in tune.

Everyone who has picked it up has marvelled at it. Our guitar player loves it and the tone. At gigs, I get questions, and the response is always very, very positive. I'll probably be personally responsible for a few Sinsonido sales.

Tonewise, I think it's a very flexible instrument. It has a naturally woody tone that I want to exploit further, but I can also dial it for legitimate aggressive tone, which works wells with some of the band's material.

The bass is so good that it pushed a many-year bass player from short scales to 34's! Without putting more money into equipment - money I didn't have - I purchased a Second Fretted one with the sale of other equipment.
I am now playing this bass exclusively. [Have to - I don't have any other basses now. :) ]

How's that for an update? :)
 
#34
Osprey said:
Yes, good update Frank. Great to hear it's a success. BTW..what strings are you using?
Click to expand...

I started with Rotos, but I did not like them.
They were not built well, and the E string was terrible.
I may have had a rare bad set, but I wasn't going to spend any more money finding out.

I'm using what has always worked for me - DAddarios.

ENR 71 Half Flats on the fretless
EXL 170 Nickels on the fretted
 
#36
SBassman4x said:
BTW, what about you? What are your gig experiences with it?

I'm using rounds on my fretted, but I'd like to try flats. There are comments on this thread about flats..any more advice from those guys about which sort the bass likes?

As to gigs: although I love the Sinsonido, and take it along determined to give it a good workout, so far I've always chickened out and only played it for quite straightforward numbers where I can stay below the seventh fret. I'm quite sure I could get more confident if I practised on nothing else for a week or so, but just now I worry about losing track of where I am since it ends so suddenly after the nut! It's good to have the variety of tone to use too, and I suppose if/when I use it as my main bass I'll get more out of that across a range of numbers. As you say, it attracts a lot of attention, especially when people have heard that it can do the job in the band just like a "normal" instrument.
Click to expand...
 
#37
I've had one for over a year. My wife bought it for me. (she's buying a G&L ASAT semi-hollow for me this year). Funny seeing this thread today; I just called Aria tech support to get a new volume pot. The one on my bass quit working (it would get louder then softer as you turned it up). Not only were they very nice and responsive, they're sending out a whole new preamp board free of charge! Talk about great support. These things have a "lifetime" warranty, whatever that means.

Anyway, as for the bass itself, I really like the sound of it; good contrast from all my other electrics (p's and j's). It's fretless and has a nice "mwah" sound with an acoustic vibe. The stock strings it came with started eating up the fretboard, so I went with black nylon tapewounds and it sounds great!

I'm a very satisfied customer.
 
#38
Funny this thread should show up. I just played one of these on Friday, what blew ME away was the slap tone....YES, I did say SLAP tone! I played it through an Ashdown combo, it had heavy guage round wounds, dont know what kind but I was bringin the funk with that bass!! I could'nt believe how clean and strong the condensers picked up. Man if it were a five string it would be right here with me this moment. Does Aria have plans to make a five?...six? This would be cool.
 
#40
Lo end PUNCH said:
Funny this thread should show up. I just played one of these on Friday, what blew ME away was the slap tone....YES, I did say SLAP tone!
Click to expand...

Blew me away, too. I actually had it for a while, never even trying a slap or pop, thinking it just wasn't that kind of bass.
Then, at practice, our guitar player picks it up and pops it a couple of times. Yikes! It was perfect. So now I'm popping it on occasion. :)
 

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