Aria SB-700

Trevor says, “I'm lucky enough to be the proud owner of a beautiful Paduak Red Aria SB700 bass. It was my first ever bass (a present from my parents for my 18th birthday in 1982). It is a 1981 model (#106031) and so has the (I think) more attractive smooth topped headstock design. I realise some love the devil-horn headstock but it's never done anything for me!”

“The Aria was my only bass for a long time (I got a Squier Jazz as a backup in 1990) and was regularly played in church, bands and rock musicals while I was at University. Towards the end of my time at Uni I formed a folk-rock band called Tintagel and the SB was my main bass playing in folk clubs and festivals around the UK. The picture beside is of us playing around 1991.”

“In 1992 I decided to buy a custom built acoustic bass from a British builder called Tony Revell (based in South Wales). Of course, I asked him to base the neck on my SB700 - and it plays like a dream too.”

“The SB is still in really good condition - the only mod was adding a little "active buffer preamp" to it - a Hollis GX10, a little black box that's no longer made. It doesn't really change the fundamental sound of the bass, just makes it sound more focused and clearer. It changes the impedance so that it's a better level for long cable runs - almost like putting it through a really nice, transparent active DI box.”

I think Trevor's other mod is a bit of tape over the E-string saddle to avoid scraping knuckles when playing!?

But there's more!

Trevor has also kindly sent in scans of the tag and guarantee that came with the bass when he bought it. In these days, Arias were distributed in the UK by Gigsville.

Thank you Trevor. All my SBs were bought second-hand, and it's great to see these things!

2) Now one of the earliest contributions to these pages, sent in by Gerhard Linten of Meckenheim, near Bonn, Germany

Gerhard says,

“My Aria Pro II SB 700 was my very first bass guitar. I bought it in 1981 at the age of 18 in a music store in Kreuztal (Musik Vetter), a little town 150 km east of Cologne. Then, I payed about 900 DM (450 Euro) for the bass.”

“What I like most about the bass is the easy way you can play it and of course its wonderful appearance. Even after 21 years, the bass looks like a brand new one. Sometimes I miss the very deep bass frequencies. Unfortunately the bass is a rather heavy one, so that after playing for some hours, your back hurts a little bit.”

(Players who suffer from this might like to try Overwater's new Supasoft strap which is specially designed to cushion and distribute weight evenly. GF.)

“I play bass in a band from Cologne called Schoen und Gut. We play atmospheric rock-pop music, singing in German.”

“Besides my Aria Pro II SB 700, I play a Fender Precision bass and a Johnson Beatles bass, amplified by an Ashdown ABM 115 combo.”

3) After a long wait, someone else has sent in photos of another SB-700.

The photos were not taken in good light, so it is hard to tell if this bass has the same finish as Gerhard's or is darker.

Flush jack socket on this example.

It seems that earlier (pre 1981?) SB-700s paired flush jack sockets with bats-ears headstocks, while later examples featured recessed jack sockets with open-book headstocks? Thanks to Trevor above for suggesting this.

4) Top contributor and SB afficionado Diego from Italy agrees. Here are some photos of his SB-700.

Diego reckons the finish is a bit more yellowish than most of the oak finishes he has seen. I'm sure I've seen SBs in an almost golden finish before. Whether they were made that way or the finish has changed over time, who knows?

Perhaps, he wonders, the wood used is Sen wood?

5) Simon Ford sends in this photo of his SB-700 in Paduak Red, which he bought in about 1982.

6) I often keep an eye on the SBs which come up for auction on eBay here in the UK. In July 2006 this SB-700 belonging to Tanya of Milton Keynes caught my attention. I was taken in particular by this photo of the plastic plate Aria supplied showing the various functions of the controls!

A nice little feature, exactly the sort of thing it's worth hanging on to!

7) Only a short while later, Matt Stevenson of Warwickshire, England sent in these photos of another oak-finished SB-700.

Again we see that plastic plate! Looking closely at the grain of the wood though, I would suggest this is actually the same instrument??

Anyway, Matt says, “Here is my 1980 SB-700. This bass came with the original Aria Pro II Super Bass Series hard case (the one with the lovely green felt interior), the original Allen key/spanner set, Gigsville tagger and the original plastic plate which went over the controls to inform people how they worked!”

I wonder what that little metal spanner-type thing is for?

Matt adds, “I came across your website by accident when searching for pictures of other Aria Pro basses. I've been a fan of them since I started playing over 15 years ago, prompted by John Taylor of Duran Duran.”

“My 1980 SB-700 is a very well looked-after example in the oak finish. Due to the early year (1980) it has the flush jack socket and the "bat's ears" on the headstock.”

Matt plays in a Covers band called Retraspect.

For me, the most enjoyable thing about doing this site is allowing everyone to share photos of these beautiful basses. Matt echoes this, “Cheers mate, keep up the great work on the site. I had great fun looking at some of the lovely Arias in other people's collections.”

8) A photo sent in by reader Mike Snyder of Pennsylvania, USA.

Mike says, “Just wanted to share my photo with you. Bought mine in 1981. Still looks great, plays great. Unfortunately I am considering parting with it cause it's just too darn heavy!”

Dear reader, if you have an SB-700 which is in some way different to those above, please send in photos!