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tawoirgard « Very good violin »
Published on 09/25/12 at 09:13I bought my second hand Aria Pro II Viper VP-40 ("deep" purple) in 1994 for 2500 French Francs, the equivalent of € 380 with a hard case.
It's a model made in Japan
Number of Frets: 24
Type of bridge: Floyd Rose
Neck type: C, the "shred of the time."
Frets: higher than on a guitar shred. Merit may be a slight work to reduce their height.
Pickups: SSH. Not exceptional. Only the midlle pickup sounds not too bad.
Very good overall quality of manufacture. This is a guitar that ages very well. 9/10
UTILIZATION
Neck: Slightly less comfortable than my Ibanez S770FM but when the action is set very low it behaves very well !
Ergonomics: I like
Access to the latest freight: not bad at all
For sound:
------------
I made the choice to finally change all three pickups.
Current configuration:
Neck position : Seymour Duncan Little 59 (splittable humbucker). The tone knob had already a push-pull switch, I decided to split the neck pickup through it. Single coil mode (split) it sounds pretty strat mode and not split it almost sounds like a (Gibson) classic 57 : very hot and quite clean jazz.
Middle position : a Seymour Duncan vintage strat. Excellent for country
Bridge position : A (genuine part) Gibson Classic 57+ (zebra model). Very clean and warm sings well in saturated harmonics. I love this pickup !.
With this combination which cost me an extra of less than 250 €, now I have the most versatile guitar of my collection.
(To be precise) in addition to the Aria pro II, I own :
- Ibanez S770FM (2010)
- Epiphone Les Paul Standard 1995 (Made in Korea) on which I put a Gibson Classic 57 in neck and Gibson Burstbucker III bridge
- Hagstrom HJ500 2008 on which I put a Gibson Classic 57+ (neck) and a Gibson Burstbucker Pro (bridge)
- Greg Bennet Royale [sammick] (1) 2008 on which I put two Gibson Classic 57
- Fender Jazzmaster 1962 (my birth year) Fiesta red on which I did not change anything.
- Gibson ES-335 1974 sunburst (I would have preferred a Cherry one, but it was difficult to find). Same, I have not changed anything.
- A Squier Strat 2007 sunburst (model copied from those of the 70s, with a large head (like J. Hendrix's) and rosewood fretboard on which I think I will not change anything except maybe the color (because we see that the body is in 4 parts (the wood veins do not match well) : this guitar is a bomb. I bought it used for 150 € with its 15W Fender made in USA! The big clean sound. A little less good with an overdrive but this may be because I'm too used to the Gibson style humbuckers and I have not found the right tunings ...
To say it again, the Aria Pro behaves very well compared to her friends, especially since the change of pickups making it quite a friendly and versatile tool.
I forgot: unlike others this guitar is well (weight)balanced. Some others have a propency to lean headwise or bodywise. In terms of comfort of play, it is a very important point to take into account, not only when playing with the guitar on the knee but also in standup position (with the strap) !
SOUNDS
Without modification, not too bad : say (generously) 7/10. The single coil pickups are pretty warm. But when you have tried other guitars, you can feel that something is missing.
After the changes I made, see 2): it goes 10/10
I play a lot today with a Roland Cube 80 XL, otherwise I like my setup with VOX Tonelab ST pedal plugged into two stereo amplifiers coupled Roland KC-550 (stereo) (=2x180 Watts RMS on 15 inch + tweeter, so a sound of great thickness in low volume)
OVERALL OPINION
I love this guitar.
My daughter did not want it to because of the color (you know, girls!)
When I decided to look into it seriously, and I tuned it (tuning of the voltage Floyd tension (it had moved ater these years) + intonnation and tuning the neck) for it to accept 10-52 strings set.
"She" behaves now very well and sounds much better than with the 8-43 strings set in place when I purchased it.
Since the pickup change it became THE guitar that fits everywhere. She follows me when I move.
So: 9/10 to 10/10 as the overall score, taking into account the durability. (She is 20+ years old ...)
It's a model made in Japan
Number of Frets: 24
Type of bridge: Floyd Rose
Neck type: C, the "shred of the time."
Frets: higher than on a guitar shred. Merit may be a slight work to reduce their height.
Pickups: SSH. Not exceptional. Only the midlle pickup sounds not too bad.
Very good overall quality of manufacture. This is a guitar that ages very well. 9/10
UTILIZATION
Neck: Slightly less comfortable than my Ibanez S770FM but when the action is set very low it behaves very well !
Ergonomics: I like
Access to the latest freight: not bad at all
For sound:
------------
I made the choice to finally change all three pickups.
Current configuration:
Neck position : Seymour Duncan Little 59 (splittable humbucker). The tone knob had already a push-pull switch, I decided to split the neck pickup through it. Single coil mode (split) it sounds pretty strat mode and not split it almost sounds like a (Gibson) classic 57 : very hot and quite clean jazz.
Middle position : a Seymour Duncan vintage strat. Excellent for country
Bridge position : A (genuine part) Gibson Classic 57+ (zebra model). Very clean and warm sings well in saturated harmonics. I love this pickup !.
With this combination which cost me an extra of less than 250 €, now I have the most versatile guitar of my collection.
(To be precise) in addition to the Aria pro II, I own :
- Ibanez S770FM (2010)
- Epiphone Les Paul Standard 1995 (Made in Korea) on which I put a Gibson Classic 57 in neck and Gibson Burstbucker III bridge
- Hagstrom HJ500 2008 on which I put a Gibson Classic 57+ (neck) and a Gibson Burstbucker Pro (bridge)
- Greg Bennet Royale [sammick] (1) 2008 on which I put two Gibson Classic 57
- Fender Jazzmaster 1962 (my birth year) Fiesta red on which I did not change anything.
- Gibson ES-335 1974 sunburst (I would have preferred a Cherry one, but it was difficult to find). Same, I have not changed anything.
- A Squier Strat 2007 sunburst (model copied from those of the 70s, with a large head (like J. Hendrix's) and rosewood fretboard on which I think I will not change anything except maybe the color (because we see that the body is in 4 parts (the wood veins do not match well) : this guitar is a bomb. I bought it used for 150 € with its 15W Fender made in USA! The big clean sound. A little less good with an overdrive but this may be because I'm too used to the Gibson style humbuckers and I have not found the right tunings ...
To say it again, the Aria Pro behaves very well compared to her friends, especially since the change of pickups making it quite a friendly and versatile tool.
I forgot: unlike others this guitar is well (weight)balanced. Some others have a propency to lean headwise or bodywise. In terms of comfort of play, it is a very important point to take into account, not only when playing with the guitar on the knee but also in standup position (with the strap) !
SOUNDS
Without modification, not too bad : say (generously) 7/10. The single coil pickups are pretty warm. But when you have tried other guitars, you can feel that something is missing.
After the changes I made, see 2): it goes 10/10
I play a lot today with a Roland Cube 80 XL, otherwise I like my setup with VOX Tonelab ST pedal plugged into two stereo amplifiers coupled Roland KC-550 (stereo) (=2x180 Watts RMS on 15 inch + tweeter, so a sound of great thickness in low volume)
OVERALL OPINION
I love this guitar.
My daughter did not want it to because of the color (you know, girls!)
When I decided to look into it seriously, and I tuned it (tuning of the voltage Floyd tension (it had moved ater these years) + intonnation and tuning the neck) for it to accept 10-52 strings set.
"She" behaves now very well and sounds much better than with the 8-43 strings set in place when I purchased it.
Since the pickup change it became THE guitar that fits everywhere. She follows me when I move.
So: 9/10 to 10/10 as the overall score, taking into account the durability. (She is 20+ years old ...)