Budget Aria SB1000?

[Lozz196]

And tort vs non-tort.....................

[Lozz196]

  On 17/03/2025 at 08:23, NancyJohnson said:

 

With hindsight, I'd say the most important thing with gear is just find a bass that [you] love the shape of, something that makes you actually want to pick it up and play, something that makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck when you pop the latches on the case.  This is one hundred percent the most important thing.

 

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That`s the feeling I get with my fave US Precision (and tbh pretty much all Precisions from the 2013-16 US Standards range) I just find when I`m playing it I`m totally immersed in the playing and in the moment, with my other basses although I enjoy playing them it`s not the same. 

[Chopthebass]

You can buy an Aria pickup from Bass Direct for 80GBP. 
and Aria in Japan can sell you the current preamp complete with all controls. 

[GreeneKing]

  On 17/03/2025 at 05:07, NancyJohnson said:

 

I'm sorry, but no.

 

Forget the actual bass or guitar that you're using for a minute, here.  To get 'the Pink Floyd bass sound' (whatever that actually is), what is your signal chain?  And, Roger Waters or Guy Pratt?  

 

My point is (and always has been) that, by and large, the clean tone of the vast majority of basses is more or less the same.  In a effort to reinforce this, we did a blind test a few years back with over a dozen basses and the scores for identification were extremely low.  Members here couldn't hear/tell the difference between Jazz or Precision or Rickenbackers or whatever. 

 

A Precision Bass alone will simply not give you 'the Pink Floyd bass sound' any more than it will deliver 'the Phil Lynott, Bruce Foxton, Steve Harris (etc) tone' without certain characteristics in the signal path.  It's just a tool to facilitate it.  Any bass will do it.

 

 

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If anything gets to ignite a response from me it’s an opinion stated as fact 🙂

 

I’d agree that simply using a pickup and strings produces a tone that is broadly similar. 
 

Unadulterated Jazz, Precision and Rickenbackers are fairly similar especially if played in a ‘conventional’ mode and manner. 
 

But, many basses have active tone control onboard. I could play my P - Retro equipped Warmoth Precision in a mode that would leave no doubt in a back to back that it wasn’t a standard P bass. Yes I could be wrong, it’d be interesting to see. 
 

Likewise the Zoot ZB1000 in series mode with the active varitone set to one of two or three positions would begin to sound like a different instrument entirely. 
 

In the mix in a rock covers band? Yes it all becomes a bit redundant so long as the bass can actually be heard. 
 

All my opinion of course. 
 

Peter

[prowla]

  On 19/03/2025 at 05:06, GreeneKing said:

If anything gets to ignite a response from me it’s an opinion stated as fact 🙂

 

I’d agree that simply using a pickup and strings produces a tone that is broadly similar. 
 

Unadulterated Jazz, Precision and Rickenbackers are fairly similar especially if played in a ‘conventional’ mode and manner. 
 

But, many basses have active tone control onboard. I could play my P - Retro equipped Warmoth Precision in a mode that would leave no doubt in a back to back that it wasn’t a standard P bass. Yes I could be wrong, it’d be interesting to see. 
 

Likewise the Zoot ZB1000 in series mode with the active varitone set to one of two or three positions would begin to sound like a different instrument entirely. 
 

In the mix in a rock covers band? Yes it all becomes a bit redundant so long as the bass can actually be heard. 
 

All my opinion of course. 
 

Peter

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And that's a fact!

[Prostheta]

Apologies for being late to the fight, gents.

 

  On 17/03/2025 at 16:02, Chopthebass said:

You can buy an Aria pickup from Bass Direct for 80GBP. 
and Aria in Japan can sell you the current preamp complete with all controls. 

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This is very true, and a great option for anybody who doesn't want to get their hands dirty putting together a varitone (Fabergé eggs are less of a challenge). That being said, I am of the opinion that the modern pickups are not as good as the originals were, or at least an original pickup that is in good condition. Kent Armstrong makes excellent repros (https://www.armstrongpickups.com/collections/kent-armstrong-bass-pickups) including a bunch of options that were not even available, such as an MB format MM Stingray pickup (I have a genuine Rautia white case MB-MM somewhere in the lair) and the MB-II/III equivalents which were in principle a pair of J-ish style bobbins like the MB-I/1E, but half-loaded with slugs/bobbins in a P-bass sensing pattern. My RSB-600 test bass runs an MB-II with an SB-1000 circuit, and that thing is gutsy. The wider half-loaded coil has a different character to a proper split P, however I don't know if Kent loads his identically to the originals. There have been excellent comments on them though, so they're an option.

 

This might sound self-serving, but believe me, it's only snobbery 😉 but the reissue electronics are absolute trash. Aside from the LED blinker (which most 80s SB-1000 owners want for a straight retrofit) the preamp itself is as cheap as they can make it. Still using op-amps whose topology was cutting edge when Ozzy first crawled out into the smoggy Birmingham sun, plus rotary switches and pots that are cheaper than a three-dollar pistol. If one wants to restore a vintage SB-1000 to a high-end spec, I'd recommend going for a 70s-style circuit (passive mode backup is a silly place with those dual value pots) build over good quality pots, an NSF GX 321-379 rotary and one of my retrofit preamps. Like I said, this sounds dangerously close to being self-serving, but honestly....it's snobbery. Which I am aware completely goes against the thread principle being "Budget Aria Pro II SB-1000"....

 

  On 31/10/2024 at 06:31, Doctor J said:

The epoxy sealed pickups are notorious for dead coils. They are like a Precision pickup under the case, a coil for E and A at the front and another coil for D and G at the back. When one coil dies, which is sadly quite common, the pickup is useless. I tried one of Aaron Armstrong's replicas but it sounded nothing like the original, not even close.

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The MB-II/III/IV pickups were a P-bass sensing pattern under the case, but with the same interlocking ABS bobbins and wind format used in the MB-I/1E. The SB-1000 pickup is a big fully-loaded ceramic humbucker.

 

This is an MB-IV under the hood. These were not encapsulated like the first three/four variants:

 

 

Not the best photo, but illustrates enough about how Aria Pro II/Matsumoku didn't waste anything when it came to recycling parts and making multiple options over the same underlying design. This was the point where Matsumoku started to tighten their belts in design. The SB-1000 pickups had two ceramic bars, whereas the later pickups cheaped out by not encapsulating (in fact, a good thing) and using one AlNiCo magnet plus a steel spacer.

 

What I wouldn't give for a NOS box of those ABS cases.

Edited March 20 by Prostheta