Product: Aria Pro II IGB-68
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted
08/31/2001
at
04:34am
by
Paul
Email: fried_cat at hotmail<dot>com
Features
:
8
Ash, carved top body (very comfortable shape, nice contours to rest arm/thumb etc). Maple bolt-on neck (14 degree pitched head). Rosewood fingerboard. 24 medium sized frets. 34" scale. MBH-4 Humbucking pickup (big thing like on stingray's). Controls: volume, active treble, mid and bass, coil tap switch and bypass switch (For the active electronics). Matt chrome hardware.
Sound
:
7
This bass is good for any type of music. I do alot of tapping with mine. Sounds best with the bass cranked all the way up, mid lowered and treble also cranked. Electronics buzz when Coil-tap switch is used (no humbucking). Very bad noise when used through a compression sustainer or flanger whilst not humbucking and active. Sounds really good through effects (humbucking or not) when bypassing the active circuitry. Better sound all round with flatwound strings (dullness in sound when slapping can be compensated for using the active treble and mid).
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
6
Action was perfect. Pickup was well adjusted but the bridge on my model wasn't aligned properly. Took it to a luthier and had it fixed properly (filled the holes where it was screwed in and screwed it back into correct position). The stained wood finish wears off in certain areas where you rest ur thumb (pickup is too far back to rest it there, and neck is only 8mm or so above the body). Waxing the body seemed to help. I must have got a bad one from the factory cos ones I saw later were much better. Oh and finally, dont bypass the active whilst plugged into an amp! (Unless u dont mind destroying ur amp with a massive pop).
Reliability/Durability
:
9
I can jump around with this bass and it feels quite secure (plus it weighs VERY little). The controls feel very solid but i've managed to break a tuning peg already (Didn't have it in a hard case when i took it on an aircraft!). Despite all the bad things I'm saying about this bass, I have complete faith in it when playing live. I just treat my instruments with less respect than i should.
Customer Support
:
3
Seems to be impossible to get any technical information from this company. Limited life time guarantee (that seems to cover everything except damage, wear, wiring, cracks in wood due to ageing?! Why have a warranty? It doesn't cover anything). The shop I baught the Bass from were the most helpful people possible considering no one has any useful information on the product.
Overall Rating
:
10
I've been playing for 8 years now. I started off with yamaha's, I switched over to aria.. I really dont know anymore. I like em both. I think a 5 string Yamaha RBX-765a would have been my other choice (cheaper, but they look ugly with all that gold hardware), but the IGB-68 has a really nice feel and sound. Wasn't too impressed with the sound of the cheaper IGB's but they still have the same nice feel. Anyways, dont do drugs and recylce your waste produce. Peace :)
