Aria SB 404SN

ARIA – SB 404 SN – £399 5string £449

I remember back in my younger days, that Aria as a company was considered the entry-level guitar or bass for aspiring rock/metal kids. Over the years, with artists like Steve Bailey endorsing their basses, Aria have abandoned some of the more obvious rock/metal body shapes and finishes for an altogether classier look, but can they back up this mature image with quality?
The natural wood finish on this model looks modern and cool and doesn’t suggest that it is simply a rock bass. It does look a bit dry though (maybe a little varnish would add a slicker feel?) but as it stands it looks very organic and the grain on the wood is great. It’s the kind of body shape and finish that shouldn’t alienate any potential customers. Couple that with the immaculate 5-ply Maple/Nato neck (which adds another 2 strips of maple as it meets the body ‘wings’) and you have a bass that looks like it couldn’t possibly retail for less than £400. Has there been some kind of mistake??
Instantly my suspicions were aroused –although simple, clean and clear in design, this bass looks so good, it must be horrible to play, sound awful or have some terrible hidden Achilles heel that keeps the price tag down….
The body is Ovankol – a dense wood that makes the bass feel a little heavy, although it’s well balanced, and rests comfortably next to the body whether sitting or standing. The Maple/Nato neck feels sleek and not too chunky and the 24-fret rosewood fingerboard provides easy access all the way to the top. The fret job is generally good – only a few fret edges showing on the sides of the fingerboard, with everything feeling nice and smooth – no sharp edges on any of the frets, no dead spots, and overall, the neck was even and playable from top to bottom.
The headstock is a no-frills affair, with 4 Gotoh-style black tuning pegs, all of which responded without problems, and the bass held it’s tuning reasonably well, even after a couple of de-tunings and a good hard rock-out.
Removing a black panel on the headstock gives access to the truss rod. Strings have to be loosened or removed, then tightened after adjustment, which makes even slight tweaks a bit of a chore, but is common on basses in this price range.
The hardware is plain black throughout with all of the control knobs feeling very solid, and all functioned smoothly without noise. The two soapbar-type pickups look nice and chunky and are reasonably well spaced to allow you to rest your thumb while getting toward the bridge for a bit of tight funk or toward the neck joint for a rounder tone.
The bridge here consists of four separate pieces, allowing each string to be easily accessed and adjusted, without upsetting any of the others, with small Allen keys being the order of the day, should you wish to tweak the action or intonation. The factory set-up on this bass was moderate and playable – low enough to be comfortable, but not so low as to feel flappy or have me worry about buzzing if I had to dig in hard.
On the back, the battery casing for the active circuit is situated next to the control cavity and features a flip cover, so no messing around with screwdrivers if your battery goes down onstage. The control cavity itself is quite neat and the bass managed to be extremely quiet, even when I held it next to my computer. (Usually a terrible source of noise!)
Once I plugged in and played a little I began to realise why this bass isn’t retailing for more. Don’t get me wrong – it doesn’t sound bad – it’s simply quite limited in what it can deliver. The bridge pickup soloed is clear and defined but lacks a bit of kick in the low end. Turning up the bass boost doesn’t really solve this problem, as it seems to boost frequencies that are just a bit too low – more in the woof end of the spectrum than in the meat, where it needs help.
Similarly, soloing the neck pickup gives a deeper sound, but one that lacks definition. It’s a tone that could very easily get lost onstage and have you turning up your amp to ridiculous levels just to hear what’s going on. Boosting the treble doesn’t help here because the boost frequency is a little too high. The high mids that would give it a bit of rasp and let the articulation of your playing cut through just aren’t here.
However – it must be noted that when you blend the two pickups it gives what each of the pickups alone miss out on – a pleasing mix of low end fatness and high mid definition. I found with a little amp tweaking and a slight roll off centre toward the bridge pickup I could get a nice punchy fingerstyle funk sound, and the treble boost brightened things up here for more defined funk or rock pick playing. It even manages a passable slap tone, although it’s never going to give Marcus Miller sleepless nights.
Sounds-wise this isn’t a bad bass, but it is very limited. Once you go too far toward one particular pickup you start to compromise some element of the sound, that must be made up for, either on your amp or pedals, and the EQ on the bass just doesn’t help in the necessary places.

If you need a versatile bass to do studio sessions or a wide variety of work in different styles you’ll probably need to aim for a slightly higher price range, as the sounds on offer just won’t be enough.
However, as a rock or pop bass that you use for getting one or two well balanced sounds, and then beating the life out of onstage, the Aria SB 404 SN is great – it looks good, plays well, feels rock-solid and reliable and it won’t break the bank.

Specifications: Aria SB 404 SN

Made in: UK
Body: Ovankol
Finish: Natural finish
Neck: Maple / Nato 5ply
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Frets: 24
Scale Length: 34
Hardware: Active
Pickups: BDS-5 double coils
Controls: Master volume, treble, bass, pickup blend,
Options: 5 string available – £449
Ratings (out of 20)

Build Quality: A little heavy for my liking, but sturdy and it feels very reliable – well presented with everything in it’s right place… 16

Sound: Somewhat limited, but it does deliver a few useable tones that sound strong and defined. 13

Playability: This bass was never meant for delicate solo bass recitals, and as a rock bass it needs to be playable but feel solid and like it could take a beating. It does. 16

Value: For under £400, this is a great buy for someone who isn’t a tone junkie. It does a small number of things very well. 18

Wow Factor: The 5 ply neck through body on this bass is unbelievable for the price – throughout it has a simple design but is immaculately presented. 19

Total score: Personally, when choosing a bass I need more sonic colours in my palette to cover lots of different types of work. However, if you plan to specialise in rock or rock/pop or you just need a no frills backup bass and you don’t have loads to splash out, the Aria SB 404 SN would be ideal. 82