Aria or Westone

[Bassassin]

Broadly, the Westone's overpriced and the SB700 (which is essentially a passive SB1000) is a bit of a bargain, if it's in good nick, working properly & has all its original bits.

 

Quality-wise there's nothing in it but the Aria SBs were pro instruments with far more prestige than Westone (Matsumoku's own brand & always 'affordable') ever had. If you don't get on with the Aria (the chunky, near-parallel necks on SBs are very Marmite) you'll get your money back easily enough - I'm not so sure about the Westone.

[Boodang]

Well, if you want some flexibility with the tone it's definitely the Westone. And later you can always install a more versatile onboard preamp like an Audere which would complement it nicely. 

But as @Bassassinsays, the Westone is not a bargain. Having said that, bargain or not, if you want it then who cares!

Edited January 26, 2022 by Boodang

[King Tut]

Something to bear in mind is that the Westones have a short top horn which for me, screws up the ergonomics and pushes the neck out to the left. On that basis alone I'd go for the Aria.

[Quin]

ironically enough, i was finally convinced to go for the aria, but it's just been sold when i looked it up again... it was for sale for weeks without anything happening so the timing is a bit disappointing.. well, I am starting to doubt going for the westone seeing that it looks a little overpriced, i might be better of waiting for something else. thanks anyway for all your advice kind people

[kodiakblair]

1 hour ago, Grimalkin said:

What I should have bought, is a Tune Bass Maniac

Aye , serious bits of kit but 2-3 times the price.

 

39 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

I think the P pickup on the Westone, is a little far forward than you might like,

Centred on the same spot as 51 single coil P-basses .

[Cato]

1 hour ago, Quin said:

sorry I forgot to mention that I'm dutch, so it was in euro. If im not mistaken 700 euro is like 590 pounds and 500 euro is 420 pounds. Ill add some pics of the basses to avoid any confusion because there are way too many diferent thunder II's haha. and yeah I am really tempted to get the Aria but I have no suitable case and can only use public transport because I'm still a student. Both of them are in a surprisinly good condition too. Im really surprised by all the comments so thank you all :)) 

 

That Westone is stunning.

 

[itu]

3 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

Those 80's Japanese basses will only appreciate to a certain point. Like all vintage stuff, once us oldies that have fond memories of them first time around retire, their prices will probably decline back to their intrinsic value.

Just like Teles, Ps and Jays, although these have to be on their second or third round.

[jezzaboy]

2 hours ago, tubbybloke68 said:

£700 is an awful lot for a thunder II A in my humble opinion x

Agreed. I wold have thought £350 -400 max. There is a guy on Gumtree from Edinburgh wants £695 and £795 for 2 Westones 

 

I bought a Thunder 1 for £50 from Crack converters 10 years ago.

[Rich]

I have a somewhat modified Thunder 1A - it plays really nicely and sounds huge, especially with the pickup in series.

BUT.

It is indeed a weighty old beast and, unfortunately, the neck dives like an Argentinian footballer. That top body horn is just too short.

Can't comment on the SB as I've never even laid a finger on one, but that string spacing does look awfy narrow. 

[Quin]

One last question, how much of a price difference is there between the Thunder II and III? as it is pretty much the same model. I guess 580£ is still overpriced for a thunder III isnt it?

[Sparky Mark]

37 minutes ago, itu said:

Just like Teles, Ps and Jays, although these have to be on their second or third round.

For me the major difference is that Fender guitars have been associated with so many iconic artists since the the 1950s; I can't think of any bassists of iconic stature that have the same relationship with these 1970s/80s Japanese basses (John Taylor included).

[kodiakblair]

1 hour ago, jezzaboy said:

There is a guy on Gumtree from Edinburgh wants £695 and £795 for 2 Westones 

Pretty sure those have been up for 2 years now 😄

 

52 minutes ago, Quin said:

One last question, how much of a price difference is there between the Thunder II and III? as it is pretty much the same model. I guess 580£ is still overpriced for a thunder III isnt it?

There were 3 versions of the Thunder II , a twin split coil model then a PJ model. In 1983 the Thunder II PJ was renamed the Thunder III and the Thunder II became a medium scale (32") with 2 single coils. Each version also had the option for fretless.

 

I was £300 for this Thunder III back in Feb 2020.

 

 

[Grimalkin]

2 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

Aye , serious bits of kit but 2-3 times the price.

 

Centred on the same spot as 51 single coil P-basses .

 

I briefly tried a Tune BM at the same time I bought the Aria SB-R60. As I remember the Tune was £699, the Aria was £300, in the mid-'80s. I finally bought a BM that came up locally a couple of years back. It's one of the 'mixed' Tunes, Korean bridge but original Japanese crescent neck pocket. Very nice weight, the 'D' neck profile is one of the most playable 4 string necks I've tried, balance is spot on. There's a lot to like.

[kodiakblair]

1 minute ago, Grimalkin said:

As I remember the Tune was £699,

Bass Centre were asking £899 for Tune BM's when they first appeared , back then list price for Thunder III was £369.

[Rayman]

You can pick up a 90s/00s Aria for a couple of hundred quid, and it'll dump from a great height on basses 3 times the price IMO. Having just spent an hour on my IGB68/5 I couldn't be more convinced. 

[itu]

1 hour ago, Sparky Mark said:

For me the major difference is that Fender guitars have been associated with so many iconic artists since the the 1950s; I can't think of any bassists of iconic stature that have the same relationship with these 1970s/80s Japanese basses (John Taylor included).

True, there are not many. I do remember one Burton and his black bass.

If we widen the brands to Jabanez, there are a few more, like G. Willis, G. Sumner, V. White, and P. Lynott among others.

[Owen]

5 hours ago, Quin said:

 

 

That looks like a tight bridge spacing. I have only played one Aria from that era. A student brought it in to work. It was his dad's and clearly loved by all the family. I was intrigued because I had never seen one close up. I could not get it back in the case quickly enough after making some polite chatter about it. The bridge spacing was (for me) extraordinarily wrong. Just astoninishingly so.

[Sparky Mark]

1 hour ago, itu said:

True, there are not many. I do remember one Burton and his black bass.

If we widen the brands to Jabanez, there are a few more, like G. Willis, G. Sumner, V. White, and P. Lynott among others.

I agree those artists played Japanese basses at some time but those aren't the models they are now associated most closely with.

[Doctor J]

Another thing to be alert to with old Arias is that those MB pickups, great as they are, are prone to dead coils. Despite being soapbar shaped, the coil pattern is the same as a Precision - one coil for E and A strings, one coil for D and G. The quickest way to know is test the serial/parallel functionality. If one side of the switch doesn't work, it's usually the series side sending the signal into that dead coil, not a faulty switch. They're sealed with epoxy, too, so there's no way to repair them. There are replacement pickups now available but they're not cheap and I've yet to find one which sounds the same as a real MB pickup - definitely keep this in mind if you're ever looking at an old Aria with two pickups.

[Bassassin]

12 hours ago, Owen said:

That looks like a tight bridge spacing. I have only played one Aria from that era. A student brought it in to work. It was his dad's and clearly loved by all the family. I was intrigued because I had never seen one close up. I could not get it back in the case quickly enough after making some polite chatter about it. The bridge spacing was (for me) extraordinarily wrong. Just astoninishingly so.

Aria SBs do have very narrow bridge spacing and a wide (46mm) nut - the necks are near-parallel & very chunky. I'm not a fan. However the SB-Rs & SB Elites (the ones with the big oval inlays) have more conventional dimensions - 40/42mm nut & 18mm string spacing, and nice shallow-feeling necks. I have a post-Matsumoku SB-ELT which has a 38mm nut.

 

The bolt-neck RSBs have a 38mm nut, are pretty light compared to the through-necks, and if you can find a twin pickup RSB Deluxe, are very versatile for a passive bass.

 

 

[fleabag]

IRRC, the string spacing on the SB range was something like 16.5 or 17mm, but a wide nut as noted above by the Assassin.  Its just preferences at the end of the day. Not everyone has hands like hambones.  19mm suits many people, as does smaller spacing.  I have an SB-900 here and although the neck width doesnt change an awful lot from nut to bridge, it is chunky

 

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by fleabag

[skankdelvar]

If the OP is paddling in the waters of 70's-80's Jap basses it might be worth thinking about the Vantage brand (Matsumoku?). They were around for a fair length of time, came with various pick-up configs and they tend to cost less than their better known contemporaries.

 

There's a single pup Vantage on UK eBay right now for £295 or make an offer: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255201400775?hash=item3b6b3057c7:g:9NMAAOSwpjBhe8sk

 

I had a double P Vantage (like the one below) for a few years. Really well constructed, played nice, sounded good. Sold it to the BigBeefChief for about £100-£150 ten years ago.

 

Vantage: Nice

 

 

[fleabag]

I bet BBC ate it.  Am i right your Skankness ?

[Rayman]

I remember the likes of Vantage and Westbury all being a cut above the usual crap around in the 70s/80s. 

[RhysP]

21 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

If the OP is paddling in the waters of 70's-80's Jap basses it might be worth thinking about the Vantage brand (Matsumoku?). They were around for a fair length of time, came with various pick-up configs and they tend to cost less than their better known contemporaries.

 

There's a single pup Vantage on UK eBay right now for £295 or make an offer: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255201400775?hash=item3b6b3057c7:g:9NMAAOSwpjBhe8sk

 

I had a double P Vantage (like the one below) for a few years. Really well constructed, played nice, sounded good. Sold it to the BigBeefChief for about £100-£150 ten years ago.

 

Vantage: Nice

 

 

That's nice.

Vantage were really good quality instruments.