Bass of the Week: Pavel Musical Instruments Aryel

This week we take a look at Pavel Musical Instrument’s flagship singlecut bass, the Aryel. Described as the “Roaring Lion” of basses, the bass’s upper horn section connects to the neck at the 12th fret, which the company says adds more tone transmission to the body.

The Aryel is hand-built to order in Texas and comes in Deluxe and Signature models. The Deluxe offers 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-string versions and a 3-piece body with a book-matched 5A top of your choosing. It has a 35? scale with a 3-piece neck built of 2 pieces of maple with either a pau ferro, purpleheart, rosewood, or wenge center, while the fingerboard can be ebony, birds eye maple, or rosewood. The Signature series steps things up with a 7-piece body accented by a book-matched grade top and back and a 5, 7, or 9-piece multi-laminated neck.

Pavel supplies its own Signature soapbar pickups in flamed ebony shells. Standard electronics include a choice of a Pavel/East 3-band preamp, a Bartolini NTMT, or Aguilar’s OBP-3 3-band preamp. Hardware includes Hipshot Ultralight “Y” tuners and a high mass brass Hipshot bridge.

Prepare to drool. For more, check out the Pavel Musical Instruments website.

Pavel Aryel Bass Photo Gallery:

Pavel Aryel Bass Demo:

Pavel Aryel Bass Specs:

Deluxe Series:

• Body Shape: Custom Asymmetric Single Cutaway body design
• Strings: 4, 5, 6 and 7
• Body: 3 Piece
• Top: Book-matched 5A top w/accent veneer over body wood
• Scale: 35?
• Neck: 3-piece neck (2 pieces of Maple with Pau Ferro, Purpleheart, Rosewood, Wenge center)
• Neck Profile: Medium
• Frets: 24 + 0 small high-mass frets
• Inlays: Shell side dot inlays (MOP or Abalone) on
• Fingerboard: Ebony, Birds Eye Maple or Rosewood fingerboard.
• Tuners: Hipshot Ultralight “Y” Key Tuners 2+2, 2+3, or 3+3.
• Bridge: High mass Brass Hipshot bridge.
• Pickups: Pavel Signature soapbar pickups in “Flamed Ebony” shells.
• Electronics: Pavel/East 3 band preamp, Bartolini NTMT or Aguilar “OBP-3” 18 volts 3-band preamp with push/pull Volume for passive switching and 2 mini toggle switches for Parallel/Single/Series sound on each p/up accented with Ebony knobs.
• Hard-shell Case

Signature Series:

• Body: 7 Piece body
• Top: Book-matched Master Grade top AND back with a exotic center body core accented w/ two contrasting veneers between the top and the back
• Headstock capped w/ matching body wood and accent veneers.
• Neck: 5, 7 or 9 piece multi-laminated neck.
• Exhibition Grade tops