OK, so a little while ago I asked about getting a 5er. I wanted one that had 35" scale without going to narrow string spacing, and under $750. I don't really play a lot of music that actually requires a 5—mostly I can get what I need by going drop-D, but there are a few things here and there so I wanted to have the option, but didn't want to break the bank to do it. The Sire M5 has all that but I didn't think I'd be able to find one since everyone seemed to be out of them. The general consensus was then the right thing to do was look for a used Lakland 55-01. I saw a couple but either they were too much money or I missed my chance by not jumping on them quickly enough (work's been busy).
But last weekend I was on Reverb, again looking for a 55-01, and I did a search on the Sire M5 just to show my son that the only ones available were being marked up $100 (or more) or in Europe with massive shipping charges. Of course there's nothing like trying to show your kid something to have the universe conspire to make you wrong. There it was, a shop with a new M5, no markup. I worried maybe it wasn't a reputable shop, but a little Web searching of Music Store Live in the San Diego area showed pretty much nothing but great reviews, and they do a full setup before shipping it out, so I pulled the trigger.
Honestly I kind of wanted a blue one, but once it actually showed up, that totally went away, as the natural finish really shows off the grain of the swamp ash, and it looks terrific. How terrific? Well, like this:
I might have held out longer for the Lakland but I really wanted the coil taps and the ebony fretboard, as the only time I've ever played ebony was a StingRay in a GC, and I really liked the feel of it. And @LowEndLobster has had a lot of nice things to say about the M5. I have an M2, the second bass I ever bought, and while I love the feel of the neck, the pickups are a bit underwhelming. This has the higher-end pickups that are in the M7 and, wow, is it a night and day difference.
Music Store Live definitely did a setup on it, as the action is really low. Little buzzy on the A string so I might raise the action just a teensy bit, but otherwise really good.
It's crazy light, especially for a 5-string. Scale says 8lb, 9oz (with strap, as I forgot to weigh it before putting the strap on), which is lighter than my main 4s (Yamaha BB734a and SMBB Ray34; the Ray is a bit of a boat anchor, though, so that's not saying much). Just really easy to handle.
Loving the coil taps. Going single-coil on both pickups gives a credible impersonation of a jazz bass, including just a little tiny bit of hum. All three settings (parallel, serial, and split) sound quite distinct, so between that and the preamp there's just a million things going on with this bass in terms of tone.
Adjusting to a 5 will take a little bit. The neck, while wide, is nice and thin, which is good since I don't have particularly long fingers. No problem reaching the B string, even for me. Nice satin finish on the back of the neck, super good feel going up and down. And that low B, well, that's just thunderous. I'll need to find a few more songs that actually need it. Oh, yeah, the neck is a nice five-piece:
I feel like I lucked out a bit on the specific piece of ash that I got; I just love that pattern.
I'll probably change out the strings. Not that there's anything actually wrong with the stock strings—it came with Ernie Balls, which are fine. However, not too long ago I put a "balanced tension" set on my Ray (D'Addario EXL130BTs), and I really like that more uniform feel—why this isn't the default in strings is a mystery. Anyway, I'll probably so the same here. Yes, I know they don't sell a set of BTs for a 5-string, but I worked out the math and the appropriate B to match the 170BT set is a .145, so I'll get a BT set and just order the 145 separately. A pain, but it'll get the job done.
Anyway, enjoy the rest of the pics!
But last weekend I was on Reverb, again looking for a 55-01, and I did a search on the Sire M5 just to show my son that the only ones available were being marked up $100 (or more) or in Europe with massive shipping charges. Of course there's nothing like trying to show your kid something to have the universe conspire to make you wrong. There it was, a shop with a new M5, no markup. I worried maybe it wasn't a reputable shop, but a little Web searching of Music Store Live in the San Diego area showed pretty much nothing but great reviews, and they do a full setup before shipping it out, so I pulled the trigger.
Honestly I kind of wanted a blue one, but once it actually showed up, that totally went away, as the natural finish really shows off the grain of the swamp ash, and it looks terrific. How terrific? Well, like this:
I might have held out longer for the Lakland but I really wanted the coil taps and the ebony fretboard, as the only time I've ever played ebony was a StingRay in a GC, and I really liked the feel of it. And @LowEndLobster has had a lot of nice things to say about the M5. I have an M2, the second bass I ever bought, and while I love the feel of the neck, the pickups are a bit underwhelming. This has the higher-end pickups that are in the M7 and, wow, is it a night and day difference.
Music Store Live definitely did a setup on it, as the action is really low. Little buzzy on the A string so I might raise the action just a teensy bit, but otherwise really good.
It's crazy light, especially for a 5-string. Scale says 8lb, 9oz (with strap, as I forgot to weigh it before putting the strap on), which is lighter than my main 4s (Yamaha BB734a and SMBB Ray34; the Ray is a bit of a boat anchor, though, so that's not saying much). Just really easy to handle.
Loving the coil taps. Going single-coil on both pickups gives a credible impersonation of a jazz bass, including just a little tiny bit of hum. All three settings (parallel, serial, and split) sound quite distinct, so between that and the preamp there's just a million things going on with this bass in terms of tone.
Adjusting to a 5 will take a little bit. The neck, while wide, is nice and thin, which is good since I don't have particularly long fingers. No problem reaching the B string, even for me. Nice satin finish on the back of the neck, super good feel going up and down. And that low B, well, that's just thunderous. I'll need to find a few more songs that actually need it. Oh, yeah, the neck is a nice five-piece:
I feel like I lucked out a bit on the specific piece of ash that I got; I just love that pattern.
I'll probably change out the strings. Not that there's anything actually wrong with the stock strings—it came with Ernie Balls, which are fine. However, not too long ago I put a "balanced tension" set on my Ray (D'Addario EXL130BTs), and I really like that more uniform feel—why this isn't the default in strings is a mystery. Anyway, I'll probably so the same here. Yes, I know they don't sell a set of BTs for a 5-string, but I worked out the math and the appropriate B to match the 170BT set is a .145, so I'll get a BT set and just order the 145 separately. A pain, but it'll get the job done.
Anyway, enjoy the rest of the pics!
