Show your Aria basses

[By-Tor]

I've been trying to find a nice vintage Aria, basically an SB1000 from the early 80's.
But anyway, if you have one, show it.

 

[De Teng]

Here's mine, it's got a modification. It is a 1981 Pro II Thor sound TSB 350 (Matsumoku).

Two Bartolini's instead of one Aria pickup. Music Man type can be switched to serial/parallel and single coil mode. Vintage style J type at the neck.

(It's for sale by the way.)

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[David Wilson]

I've been trying to find a nice vintage Aria, basically an SB1000 from the early 80's.
But anyway, if you have one, show it.

You mean one of these ?

 

[The Thinker]

I know of a shop selling the new reissue version in black at a steep discount. If you're interested I can give you the info. It's in the Chicago area, but maybe he'll be willing to ship.

(By the way, I don't work there and I don't get a "spiff". I just know the guy's been trying to unload the bass.)1

I thought of buying it, but the sound wasn't for me. Played great, though.

 

[rogerbmiller]

Here's mine. An all original SB-1000 mint.

I love this thing. My favorite bass, even tops my 1988 Fodera Emperor.

BTW, I am looking for an original Aria Pro II SB-900 and fretless SB-900 or SB-1000. If anyone comes across one or something comparable, let me know and I would be happy to do business with you.

Roger

 

[Reverend G-Money]

here's a god awful photo of me at my very first gig when i was 17. IT's a BW photo but the bass was blue-green burst and gold hardware. one of those ZZB thingys.. it's in a buddy's closet collecting dust now..

 

[fainax]

Does anybody have a clue if it is an SB 900 or an SB R-80?

I recently purchased this baby from a Swedish guy.
It's a dream come true!!!
And it has the original hardcase, too. It has cracks here and there, but it's the original one!

 

[mgmadian]

Not my specific instrument, but here's a generic pic of my Sinsonido... great for what it is/does:
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[rogerbmiller]

Does anybody have a clue if it is an SB 900 or an SB R-80?

I recently purchased this baby from a Swedish guy.
It's a dream come true!!!
And it has the original hardcase, too. It has cracks here and there, but it's the original one!

Beautiful bass you have there.

I believe this is the SR-80. As I recall, one "issue" with the SB series was the narrow string spacing, so Aria issued an identical line with wider necks. You can easily tell these by the oval (wide) dot markers on the fretoboard.

Enjoy these links. These are the best sources of info I have come across on old Aria basses.

http://www.therathole.org/guitars/models/ariaproii/bass.html
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Roger

 

[sb69coupe]

Hey Guys, new member here. I've been playing bass since about 1980, but took an extended vacation from it with job, wife, family responsibilities. Now I'm back playing with a great group of friends just trying to regain my chops.

Anyway, I'm an Aria man from way back. My first "real" bass was this Aria Pro II TSB 400 that I got back in 1981 when I was a freshman in high school. It's all original except that I converted it to a fretless once I got my second bass.


Which brings me to my second bass, an Aria Pro II SB-1000 that I bought in October of 1985. It is totally 100% original and has never been hacked on or modified in any way. All the original electronics work on it, and there is only one minor nick in the finish.

Anyway, I look forward to participating in the forum as I try to regain all the chops that I lost over the long hibernation.

Shannon

 

[nerf]

1982 TSB 350. Picked this up at a pawn shop about three years ago for $67.50. At that point I had never played before, had no idea what to look for. Just checked to see if all the strings worked. I was lucky. After some minor adjustments (that I learned here), the damn thing plays better every time I pick it up. Plan on getting a jazz soon, keep flirting with selling it, but I don't think I can.

De Teng, how much trouble was it to drop that Bartolini soapbar in? The stock pickup in mine works fine, but it is getting old, and you never know...

 

[Avs]

I recently bought a "New Old Stock" Aria Pro II SB from a previous music store owner. The bass has never left the store so scratches are minimal. Dust and rust aside, it's a beautiful baby. The only one problem so far I have is to know exactly which model it is. I check harmony central forum; though it helps a little bit, I am not totally convinced.
Mine is one pickup, passive electronics, one volume, one tone, one switch, gold hardware, and black finish. Can anybody help me? I would love to post a photo later. Currently I lend it to a friend to record the sound of it with the original set of extremely dead string.

 

[Avs]

Based on harmony central reviews, I think there are
SB1000
SB900
SB800
SB700
SB600
Some are bolt-on and others and neck through
Some are one p/u and others are two p/u's
Some are active and others are passive

 

[12stringbassist]

Here's my ZZB - it was the first in the UK after the one that John Taylor borrowed from Aria to use on TV.

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Still mint condition and in use 20 odd years later............

 

[David Wilson]

I recently bought a "New Old Stock" Aria Pro II SB from a previous music store owner. The bass has never left the store so scratches are minimal. Dust and rust aside, it's a beautiful baby. The only one problem so far I have is to know exactly which model it is. I check harmony central forum; though it helps a little bit, I am not totally convinced.

Check out the two links I posted earlier in this thread, they have model information/specs - old catalog pages etc. It's a big help

 

[Avs]

Thanks davidmwilson... it's big help.
Links are in the thread "Aria Pro-II SB-1000". I put one of them here http://www.therathole.org/guitars/models/ariaproii/bass/sb/sb.html
And I find mine as SB Elite-I.

 

[brossmac]

I just got my Fretless Sinsonido a few weeks ago. So far I'm really digging it.

I used to play fretless years ago. I had a 5-string Fender Jazz Special that I liked quite a bit. I sold it while in grad school to pay the bills. In the meantime I inherited a Stingray 4-string fretted. I used it just to have something to play but wanted to get another fretless eventually.

I went with the Sinsonido for several reasons:

1) Inexpensive. I got two kids, etc., etc. This was relatively inexpensive.

2) Compact. So far I like it better without the aluminum frames. It looks cooler and it's easier to put it somewhere where my 18-month old won't try to eat it....

3) Preamp. I can practice with headphones which is nice when the kids are sleeping. I can actually play along with my MP3 player and not wake the whole house.

4) Fret lines. I'm a wimp. I need the visual to help along. If I had more time to practice and really hone my skills I'd go without markers. But as it is, they provide nice shortcuts when I need them.

5) It just looks pretty cool....

The sound is pretty decent. I'm still trying to work on getting some more mwah, but it's good to be playing fretless again....

Brad

 

[69Vette]

but as long as we're showing our Aria's off...

I got this about 12 years ago. I bought a Greco copy a few years later because it was neck thru, so I thought it'd sound better... It didn't. This thing nails the McCartney tone better than my 4003. Aria made some nice basses even in their 'copy' days.

 

[rogerbmiller]

I picked up another SB1000 and a TSB-550 since I posted to this. I don't have any pics of the new SB, but here is the Thor. Check out the OHSC. Dope!

 

[MAJOR METAL]

I really Love mine http://www.talkbass.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=15367