Article from Vintage Guitar magazine, 1996
Part of an article from “Vintage Guitar Magazine”, 1996
SB Series Super Bass, first series (1978-87)
Finally, in 1978 the fairly radical SB Series basses, also known as the Super Bass Series, were introduced, probably the company’s most successful bass design which pretty much defined the ‘80s. They were dramatic offset double-cutaway guitars with long, extended upper horns and angular lower horns, looking forward to the next stage of Aria Pro II instruments. These had the tapered headstock with the “w” cutaway in the top, like the Prototype, and bore The Aria Pro II” logos. Top of the line was the SB-1000 (oak or natural) with long scale, an ash body and a maple neck extending through the body, with 24-fret Jacaranda rosewood fingerboard and dot inlays. The single MB-1 pickup was a quiet active “Noise Killer” circuit which had volume and tone controls plus a 6-position varitone activated with an on/off minitoggle. The SB-900 (natural, oak, walnut) was a 2-pickup version with rotary 3-way select, two volume and one tone control, phase and coil tap.
In late 1979, the Super Basses were joined by the SB-600 (sunburst, black), a plain bolt-neck version of the single-pickup SB-700, with the script Aria Pro II logo. In 1979, pickups began to differentiate, as well, with the SB-1000 featuring new MB-1E pickups, and the SB-900 and SB-700 sporting MB-II pickups. Finishes now included padouk red, oak and golden yellow.
Also briefly appearing in 1979 were two other SBs. The SB-R80, a neck-through with ash body, maple/walnut neck, 860mm scale, 24-fret rosewood fingerboard, two MB-II pickups, two volumes and two tones, two “dual sound” taps, brass nut, and die-cast bridge/tailpiece unit. The SB-R60 was the same with one MB-II and a tap.
…New Headstock (1981)
In the 1981 catalog, the SB Series was somewhat rearranged. All still had the tapered headstock, but the top had lost the gentle “v” in favor of a more pronounced “wavy mustache v”, with the script Aria Pro II logo. The SB-1000 (oak) had acquired a 24-fret ebony ‘board and was still active, with the MB-1E pickup, volume, tone, 6-position varitone with its own bypass switch, and an LED battery power indicator. Missing from this catalog were the SB-900 and AB-700, although they reappear again in catalog from later in ’81, so presumably they did not really drop from the line. The SB-600 (Oak, padouk) had become a fixed-neck guitar with one MB-1E pickup, volume, tone and coil tap.
…SB-Rs and Zebras
The Super Bass Series SB-R80 and SB-R60 were still around in ’81, very much as before except for the new “wavy mustache v” head, with a 24-fret rosewood fingerboard, dot inlays, two MB-II pickups, two “tandem” volume and tone controls, two dual-sound series/parallel switches and 3-way select. The SB-R80 was also included as part of the limited edition Black ‘n’ Gold Series which debuted in ’82, differing only in having fancy oval-and-black-dot inlays of the first Rev-Sounds. The SB-R60 was the same as the SB-R80 with one MB-II pickup.
In the 1984 catalog (printed in ’83) SB-R150 long-scale bass (natural) appeared, lasting for only one year. This was basically an upscale version of the SB-1000, the main difference consisting of having two MB-1E pickups (same electronics), some cool diagonally split oval inlays and wings made of highly figured zebrawood, reminiscent of the RS Series RS-1000Z. The SB-1000 (padouk red, black, oak) remained with its ash body, neck-through construction, 24-fret rosewood ‘board with dots, and single MB-1E. The SB-900 (padouk red, black) had returned but now as a long-scale bass with neck-through construction, 24-fret rosewood ‘board with dots, two MB-II double-coil pickups, 3-way, two volume and one tone control, and two dual-sound series/parallel switches.
…SB Elites (1983-’84)
New in ’83 were the SB-Elite-II and SB-Elite-I basses (both in pearl white, phantom blue, padouk red). These had either alder or ash bodies, neck-through construction, 24-fret rosewood fingerboards, oval/dot inlays and gold hardware. The II featured two MB-II double coil pickups, with two stacked volume/tone controls, rotary 3-way select, and two dual-sound minitoggles. The Elite I had one regular volume and one tone control, plus a dual-sound toggle.
The SB-1000, SB-Elite-II and SB-Elite-I continued pretty much as before in the 1985 catalog, except for a new black finish option on the Elites.
…Super Balanced bodies
In 1986, the SB-1000 and SB-Elite-II remained in the line, the same as before, although by this time the “SB” name had changed meaning from “Super Bass” to “Super Balanced.” The SB Black ‘n’ Gold-II (SB Elite-II) and SB Black ‘n’ Gold-I (SB Elite-I) made a brief reappearance, before sinking into the mists of time.
In June of ’86, the Aria line was consolidated, and four Super Balanced basses remained. The SB-ELT 1 Elite I and SB-ELT 2 Elite II (both black, white, padouk red) were essentially unchanged. The SB-1000 Active I (black, oak, padouk red) was the familiar SB-1000. New was the SB-1000 Active FO, a fretless version. The SB-1000 continued to be listed in the 1987-1988 Guitar Buyer’s Guide.
The Super Basses were made by Matsumoku, which is in part why they were so popular. They were good! However, as we must point out over and over again, Matsumoku stopped making instruments in 1987. So it was that the venerable SB Series basses went into brief hiatus while Aria transferred elsewhere. We’ll pick up the SB story as it resumes in 1988 later on when we catch up with ourselves.