Aria Pro II SB-1000CB

Made in Japan in 2007? in the Aria custom shop. This bass is an unofficial signature for Cliff Burton (Metallica). The bass is black with black hardware. It is made of ash with a maple and mahogany neck and is of neckthru construction with a smooth "heel" area. The neck has 24 frets on an ebony fretboard with a brass nut at the end. The truss rod cover is rosewood and inset into the headstock, adds a nice touch! ;-)

The electronics in the bass are similar to the original SB-1000's of which this instrument is based on. The bass has 1 x MB-1E dual coil pickup similar to the originals. I love this pickup, there's a step on the side of the pickup that acts as a thumbrest! The controls available are volume, tone, 6 position rotary control, and a switch which disengages the rotary control/extra eq section to provide a straight signal from the pickup. More on this later!

The hardware on the bass is excellent, Gotoh all round. The bridge is a quickloading type and very solid. The tuners are also Gotoh and are very dependable too. The bass rarely goes out of tune.

The neck is roughly the same width at the nut as a Fender Jazz but seems to have a little more meat behind it. Overall the neck has a noticible "C" shape along it. It's a very comfortable neck to play.

I bought this bass used (excellent condition, possibly ex-demo) but did receive the "goodies" that the bass would normally come with. These included tools for adjusting the bass and also a booklet about maintenance and generally about Aria Pro II instruments. The booklet is in Japanese though. I don't believe it comes with a case but mine came with a Ritter gig bag.

Whats not to like about the sound of an SB?
This bass can cover a lot of ground musically, a bit factor in this is the 6-pos rotary control, it gives you a nice array of tones from bright and spanky to deep and almost dub like. In all positions the sound is very full, this is a bass that wants to make its presence felt!

I mainly, play rock and punk in band situations but at home I like to experiment with other styles and I'm partial to some 80's pop. It's a lot of fun playing Duran Duran on this bass because it really nails that tone, mainly because JT used an SB-1000 back then on some of the stuff.

The bass works great in a band situation and can easily cut thru.

I'm currently using the bass with several effects, '76 Morley Power Wah Fuzz, EHX Big Muff Pi NYC RI, Boss CEB-3, and a few others. It sounds great with pedals, especially the wah and fuzz together - pure Burton sound!

As I bought this bass used, although in excellent condition I cannot comment on the setup direct from the factory. I set the bass up as I liked when I received it. I saw no noticeable flaws in the paintwork other than some minor scratches that were there when I bought it. It looks extremely well done, the frets are great and the inlays are very well done also. The inlays are the same as the originals, the eye shape.
I'm giving this an 8 purely because I bought the instrument used.

This bass would withstand live playing without a doubt, whether your back would is another story! It is a heavy bass, I won't lie about that. The finish seems very good, its not overly thick like some cheaper basses but its not ultra thin either. I'm unsure whether it is poly or nitro. The strap buttons on the bass are very solid, they're oversized metal buttons. Do the job great! The truss rod doesn't need to be adjusted very often, I think I've done it twice and thats mainly just because of the seasons here. My other basses are similar.

This is a great bass but I wouldn't gig without a backup, I think that would be foolish. Anything can happen and its best to be prepared. So thats why I have another SB, haha!

I haven't dealth with the company much, I emailed Aria USA once to verify the serial number but they didn't have any information on it. Aria USA is basically just a distributor.

I don't know of any warranty on the instrument and doubt there is one as I bought it used.

I've been playing since May 2002 and currently own another Aria Pro II, that one is an original from the mid to late 80's (post-matsumoku era) and is an SB Elite II. Also, I have another bass which is a parts bass comprising of an SX precision style body and a Mighty Mite fretless neck.

If this bass was stolen I'd definitely buy another. This bass can easily sit in with the rock and metal crowd and a lot of others also. The body is very comfortable and balances extremely well, probably the thing I love the most about it. Its very easy to play because of this.
My favourite feature of the bass has to be the rotary pot, its great!

As I said above, I also have an SB Elite II. The SB-1000CB is a bit darker sounding to the elite, although the Elite II has two pickups and a rosewood fretboard. It's also passive, unlike the 1000CB. The to basses do share a common sound, they have a distinguishable nasally tone to them. Its clear when you listen to both that they're from the same lineage. They compliment each other very well.