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Aria- making a comeback?


Grahambythesea

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13 minutes ago, Grahambythesea said:

After years of producing budget instruments and abandoning their iconic 80’s basses are Aria trying to compete for the quality market again? I see they are offering Japanese made basses for a little under a grand but have they left it too long?

This is from the GBL website.

A0BE4358-1C4B-40A9-81D8-B5EA91D47AD5.jpeg

Sorry to say that this looks like a £149 bass...🤭

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16 hours ago, Grahambythesea said:

After years of producing budget instruments and abandoning their iconic 80’s basses are Aria trying to compete for the quality market again? I see they are offering Japanese made basses for a little under a grand but have they left it too long?

This is from the GBL website.

A0BE4358-1C4B-40A9-81D8-B5EA91D47AD5.jpeg

That is hideous. I'd rather play air guitar than that monstrosity.

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That blue thing looks bloody awful and I'm a fan of that shape, the old standard IGB 68 looked better than that. They used to do the odd limited run of nice looking basses, dunno if they were just for trade shows or if any made it out to shops on a regular basis. Stuff like this:

130519-126475-thickbox.jpg

There was the Rosie which was pretty easily available a few years ago:

ARIA-IGB-Rosie.png

 

Bit puzzling why they've gone for such a cheap looking bass for their new flagship when they can clearly come up with much better designs. The RSBs look cool, shame the cheaper models don't have the clear pickguards though.

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5 hours ago, Grahambythesea said:

It isn’t my taste either but I thought it was a slightly better shape than this one! 😱   I guess by the reactions so far it won’t be much of a comeback. Hope GBL have them on sale or return. 

 

 

A1021786-7342-4D6B-8FE5-118D62A245E1.jpeg

The OCD in me sees the strings as not being in the middle of the body.  Couldn’t do with that.

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I don't think Aria ever stopped making high-end basses - they just haven't been exported much outside Japan, presumably due to the apparent lack of interest in anything that doesn't look like a Fender from the 50s or 60s.

I do like the sparkly blue & silver IGB, but then I'm a sucker for a bit of tacky vulgarity. The other one is (I think) their current take on the RSB - these have been available for the Japanese market for a good few years. Don't particularly like the shape (the original RSBs were the same shape as the classic SB) but the finish is lovely.

More of a fan of the home market version tbh. :)

rsb1505m_spk_body_product_807x1030.jpg

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9 hours ago, lemmywinks said:

That blue thing looks bloody awful and I'm a fan of that shape, the old standard IGB 68 looked better than that. They used to do the odd limited run of nice looking basses, dunno if they were just for trade shows or if any made it out to shops on a regular basis. Stuff like this:

130519-126475-thickbox.jpg

There was the Rosie which was pretty easily available a few years ago:

ARIA-IGB-Rosie.png

 

Bit puzzling why they've gone for such a cheap looking bass for their new flagship when they can clearly come up with much better designs. The RSBs look cool, shame the cheaper models don't have the clear pickguards though.

Now those I like very much!

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1 hour ago, prowla said:

I've got an Aria PE Elite guitar - it's quite nice.

Et4Fuk9.jpg

 

OK, so it's not an original 70s PE-1000, but I'll manage to live with the disappointment.

Nice, very, early period, Andy Summers (bottom, mid-left).

 image.png.b237786ed58ad449f61340efb9870779.png

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That new model looks awful, they should do a range based on what they’ve done with the SB1000. I had a RSB Deluxe back in the 80s and it was phenomenal, neck like lightning. Last year I got a ‘86 R80 which is probably the most playable bass I’ve ever owned. MASSIVE opportunity here for a forward-thinking CEO to make a huge impact.

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1 hour ago, Defo said:

That new model looks awful, they should do a range based on what they’ve done with the SB1000. I had a RSB Deluxe back in the 80s and it was phenomenal, neck like lightning. Last year I got a ‘86 R80 which is probably the most playable bass I’ve ever owned. MASSIVE opportunity here for a forward-thinking CEO to make a huge impact.

The SB1000 was probably the best Japanese bass ever made. I had an SB700 in the 70s/80s. 

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10 minutes ago, prowla said:

The SB1000 was probably the best Japanese bass ever made. I had an SB700 in the 70s/80s. 

Better than the recent Yamaha TRB 5Pii or their current flagship BBNE2 or even than the older BB1200S or BB5000A?

I'm sure the Aria SB1000 was a great bass in its day but I'd politely suggest that Yammy picked up the ball when Aria dropped it and have managed to score very successfully several times since. 

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8 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Better than the recent Yamaha TRB 5Pii or their current flagship BBNE2 or even than the older BB1200S or BB5000A?

I'm sure the Aria SB1000 was a great bass in its day but I'd politely suggest that Yammy picked up the ball when Aria dropped it and have managed to score very successfully several times since. 

I had an ‘80 SB1000 and an ‘81 SB700.

much preferred the 700 and wish I still had it.

but the BB’s are much more my thing.

 

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