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NBD! Sire Marcus Miller V3P

JakobT

JakobT

Jan 9, 2014
6,353
16,021
Oslo, Norway
#1
It’s been a year or two since I bought a new bass, but today I treated myself and got something new.
I haven’t had a proper jazz-style bass in my arsenal since the pandemic, and when I saw this hanging on the wall at my local music store, I couldn’t resist.

This is my first Sire, and an entry-level one at that, but after putting it through its paces for an hour or so, I must confess I’m very impressed. The fit and finish is absolutely immaculate, on par with Fenders that cost more than twice as much, and the rolled «edgeless» fingerboard is incredibly comfortable to play. It sounds exactly like a jazz bass should, and weighs in at a very reasonable 9.3 lbs. I’m not totally in love with the stock strings, but I’ll give them a little time to settle in, and if I still don’t like them, it’s an easy fix.

Plus, It’s matt black - my all-time favourite colour. what’s not to like? 😉

IMG_1289.jpeg
 
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#4
munkeyfish said:
Does the matte black show finger prints easily?
Click to expand...
Well, yes. Black, whether matt or glossy, shows up fingerprints fairly easily. It doesn’t matter that much to me since I don’t touch my basses much in places that shows fingerprints anyway. I do expect it to go shiny in places, for example where I rest my arm during playing. But that’s normal for matte black basses.
 
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#6
JakobT said:
It’s been a year or two since I bought a new bass, but today I treated myself and got something new.
I haven’t had a proper jazz-style bass in my arsenal since the pandemic, and when I saw this hanging on the wall at my local music store, I couldn’t resist.

This is my first Sire, and an entry-level one at that, but after putting it through its paces for an hour or so, I must confess I’m very impressed. The fit and finish is absolutely immaculate, on par with Fenders that cost more than twice as much, and the rolled «edgeless» fingerboard is incredibly comfortable to play. It sounds exactly like a jazz bass should, and weighs in at a very reasonable 9.3 lbs. I’m not totally in love with the stock strings, but I’ll give them a little time to settle in, and if I still don’t like them, it’s an easy fix.

Plus, It’s matt black - my all-time favourite colour. what’s not to like? 😉

View attachment 7210792
Click to expand...
I hear absolutely lovely things about the Sire basses. I'm eyeing a V5R sunburst.
 
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#8
JakobT said:
It’s been a year or two since I bought a new bass, but today I treated myself and got something new.
I haven’t had a proper jazz-style bass in my arsenal since the pandemic, and when I saw this hanging on the wall at my local music store, I couldn’t resist.

This is my first Sire, and an entry-level one at that, but after putting it through its paces for an hour or so, I must confess I’m very impressed. The fit and finish is absolutely immaculate, on par with Fenders that cost more than twice as much, and the rolled «edgeless» fingerboard is incredibly comfortable to play. It sounds exactly like a jazz bass should, and weighs in at a very reasonable 9.3 lbs. I’m not totally in love with the stock strings, but I’ll give them a little time to settle in, and if I still don’t like them, it’s an easy fix.

Plus, It’s matt black - my all-time favourite colour. what’s not to like? 😉

View attachment 7210792
Click to expand...
The painted headstock makes it 👍 congratulations on what looks like a nice new jazz.
 
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#11
UPDATE: After having played it for a couple of days, I decided to give it a set-up and a change of strings to my usual Ernie Ball Slinkys. I only had to tweak the action a trifle, no adjustments to the truss rod. It now sounds even better, and is an absolute dream to play.

How Sire did it at this price beats me. I can’t find any obvious cut corners at all. I thought it possible that the hardware might be one such place, but no. The bridge is solid, and the tuners work really smoothly. It’s not just «for the money» good, it’s simply good. It can give any one of my Fenders a run for its money. A very worthy addition to my arsenal.
 
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#12
JakobT said:
UPDATE: After having played it for a couple of days, I decided to give it a set-up and a change of strings to my usual Ernie Ball Slinkys. I only had to tweak the action a trifle, no adjustments to the truss rod. It now sounds even better, and is an absolute dream to play.

How Sire did it at this price beats me. I can’t find any obvious cut corners at all. I thought it possible that the hardware might be one such place, but no. The bridge is solid, and the tuners work really smoothly. It’s not just «for the money» good, it’s simply good. It can give any one of my Fenders a run for its money. A very worthy addition to my arsenal.
Click to expand...
I agree, cannot figure how they can sell these basses at this price, without cutting corners, and I haven't been able to find any shortcuts in my P5. LowEndLobster did some upgrades to the bridge and tuners, but I find neither of those need an upgrade. I found it funny that the high-mass bridge he chose cost almost half of what the P5 retails for? Mine is strung with flats through body and I cannot see the benefit of a high-mass bridge anyway in this arrangement. The tuners are chromed steel, not pot metal like some of the Indonesian basses. Some reviews say the Sire proprietary pickups lack volume and growl, but I find them adequate, though I've never played a "real" Fender P-bass, so have no point of comparison. Compared to my Ibanez SR and Fender Jazz Plus, the Sire P5 seems plenty loud.
 
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#15
LeighOnSea said:
On my MB V3active I used a black sharpie / permanent marker to blacken the pickguard screws (after taking them a turn out to avoid marking the pickguard)
I think it now looks nicer
Click to expand...
I never heard the outcome from your set-up on your original bass, from another thread, where you found a luthier in Lisbon? I assume it went well, since you've bought more basses since then? Did the set-up meet expectations? In my experience with a Sire P5, it can make all the difference in the world.
 
#16
JakobT said:
It’s certainly an option, though if I wanted to go that route I’d probably just buy some black pickguard screws.
Click to expand...
😄
Yes, that's an obvious way to do it, but I just wanted to see if I liked it first and it took 2 seconds (or 5) and then if didnt like it a bit of alcohol and an old toothbrush would have brought them back to their original resplendent shinyness.
And of course the real reason is because, being a Cheapskate, I get a certain pleasure from no cost solutions
(errrrrrrmmmmm .......... despite having splurged out on too many bases very early on in my musical learning path)

EDIT: In fact I have just ordered a green pearl pickguard for it from Aliexpress, 20 € (about same in USD)
BassicJazzy said:
I never heard the outcome from your set-up on your original bass, from another thread, where you found a luthier in Lisbon? I assume it went well, since you've bought more basses since then? Did the set-up meet expectations? In my experience with a Sire P5, it can make all the difference in the world.
Click to expand...
I have just started giving my Uni classes again and so haven't had time to get in to the shop yet.
But I will take in my V3 soon.
The P5R, and the P7, ....... and now the V5 (ooooopps!) are all great.
In fact, by improving my fretting technique / timing and changing from flat SS Chromes to the original XL nickel woundwounds on the V3 - the clacking is not a problem anymore
But I will take it in just to see how it goes
 
Last edited:
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#17
LeighOnSea said:
😄
Yes, that's an obvious way to do it, but I just wanted to see if I liked it first and it took 2 seconds (or 5) and then if didnt like it a bit of alcohol and an old toothbrush would have brought them back to their original resplendent shinyness.
And of course the real reason is because, being a Cheapskate, I get a certain pleasure from no cost solutions
(errrrrrrmmmmm .......... despite having splurged out on too many bases very early on in my musical learning path)

EDIT: In fact I have just ordered a green pearl pickguard for it from Aliexpress, 20 € (about same in USD)

I have just started giving my Uni classes again and so haven't had time to get in to the shop yet.
But I will take in my V3 soon.
The P5R, and the P7, ....... and now the V5 (ooooopps!) are all great.
In fact, by improving my fretting technique / timing and changing from flat SS Chromes to the original XL nickel woundwounds on the V3 - the clacking is not a problem anymore
But I will take it in just to see how it goes
Click to expand...
Yes, it might have just been an issues caused by the greater tension of the flats vs the original XL rounds, which is what it came set up for from manufacturer. Plus of course technique/timing. My two basses that involved string type changes (rounds to flats on first bass, and rounds to pressure-wounds on second) got a set-up afterwards because intonations changed. My third bass got different strings but with similar tension(medium rounds to light tapes), and I found that a set-up wasn't needed.
 
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#18
BassicJazzy said:
Yes, it might have just been an issues caused by the greater tension of the flats vs the original XL rounds, which is what it came set up for from manufacturer. Plus of course technique/timing. My two basses that involved string type changes (rounds to flats on first bass, and rounds to pressure-wounds on second) got a set-up afterwards because intonations changed. My third bass got different strings but with similar tension(medium rounds to light tapes), and I found that a set-up wasn't needed.
Click to expand...
The thing is, I have 'improved' the setup on the V3 various times with various string changes so it could well need my good work undoing.
Since it wont break the bank, although I prefer to do things myself, I will see what he can do.
He was a really nice chap too, running a small shop, and anything non-corporate these days I like to support (he says after buying Aliexpress pickguards ....)
 
#20
I like my Fenders a lot, and won’t be parting with them any time soon. That said, my new Sire can hold its own and then some.

One of the reasons I went for this particular model is the fact that it’s passive. Not that I mind active basses per se, but the Sire preamp has always seemed a bit complex and fiddly to me. The MusicMan three-band is about as complicated as I want to get when it comes to preamps. If Sire ever does a passive V5 or V7, I’d be all over that.
 

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