Aria ZZB Custom

Purchased from a prominent Tulsa music shop in 84'. It hung on their wall too long and I felt sorry for it. I bought it after the price went down. It had a Gibson Explorer body shape with very, very slim neck like a Jazz. It had two passive soapbar pickups. The bass had gold hardware with a heavy duty brass bridge with (get this) fine tune knobs on bridge. I have yet to find this feature elsewhere. Damn bass rocked! I miss it. It was cue ball white on top and black on bottom with black neck (color split from lower right to upper left body). Fast, fast action. Sounded killer with my Marshall 200 watt,4-15 stack. In fact, I always changed from my BC Rich to the Aria on stage when it came to solo time. It fricken rocked.

Sound? Well, amazing for under $600.00. Thoroughly impressed. Lows, yes. Highs, yes. Mids, yes. It had it all. Japanese made (next best thing to American) in my opinion except for cars, then it's Japan, hands down. Very versitale and one of the best I've owned.

Gorgeous finish. Not a bad spot on it. Open the case and people would ooh! and awe! in excitement.

Owned it for over two years with weekly practice and occasional gigs without an issue. Very solid.

N/A

I have played off and on for 21 years. I am now married and can not afford the toys I used to but would definately buy this bass again. It was like having a bass costing $1200.00 today. Very high quality and sounded incredible. If I had it today, I would not need another except for collection purposes. If you can find one in great shape, snag it!

Explorer bodystyle, 2 P-type (full-cover) pickups, 32" scale, custom paint job (as on all).

Excellent, cutting rock sound. This bass has a lot of power and bite. Will not cut it for blues or classic rock, however. This is a metal bass all the way.

Very well made. Recessed, gold-plated bridge with fine tuners (which I promptly tossed). Very low action -- very comfortable neck. Despite the previous review, these are 32" (medium) scale basses. The quality of these Japanese 80's Aria Pro II's are up there with anything else in their price range from that period. Mine had (gave it to my niece) a white finish with a blood splatter paint job -- admittedly, not everyone's cup of tea.

Hard-wearing finish. Should've used chrome, though -- a lot of oxidation on the bridge and knobs. Not very well balanced, so if you're gigging with one, don't let go near a cymbal -- it'll drop! I'd give it a 9 if not for the two latter-mentioned problems.

10 only because it's used, I've never dealt with their customer service, so I won't penalize them.

This is the kind of bass that I think has to be rated for what it is -- a heavy metal, "show" bss. It's NOT a good all-around bass, and is not easy to play seated. I put this in the same category as Dean ML's, BC Rich's & Gibson Explorers & V's, so my rating would be as against the comparable BC Rich NJ Series 80's Warlocks & Mockingbirds -- not a Precision, a Jazz, and especially not a Lull or Sadowsky!