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NBD: Sire Marcus Miller V5 Alder-4 NT

scottfeldstein

scottfeldstein

Roots and fifths and a little extra.
Jun 20, 2011
6,544
4,412
57
San Marcos, California
endlessblue.bandcamp.com
#1
Everyone who is even remotely interested in moderately priced jazz basses knows about the Sire V5. It's why I couldn't find one at any of the usual suspects. I had to order this one from Thomann. And I had to buy new. Something I haven't done in many years. But at this price, who's complaining? I got it for $398 plus a very reasonable $68 shipping.
  • It's no lightweight. The Alder body helps bring this bad boy to 9 pounds.
  • Roasted maple neck is gorgeous.
  • Block inlays and a bound neck are sexy AF. (Although, are these painted on? Not sure.)
  • Fretwork isn't bad and the rolled edges on the fingerboard are a nice touch
  • Bone nut! But it's cut kinda weird. The bass side is at least 22 thou and the treble side is, well, I'll have to measure it more carefully but it seemed like it was well under 18 thou. But it looks and feels great, so...
  • The string heights are surprisingly low: The E, A, and D are all just above or just below 4/64s. The G is just above 3. They're a little uneven, though. Gonna have to bring down that A a tad.
  • The neck relief is...well, it's barely there. It's maybe 8 thou.
  • There are 2-3 frets that don't ring out completely buzz-free, but nothing that would make me reach for my tools.
And it sounds...like a jazz bass. Every note, everywhere on the board, I hear it and it says "jazz bass." I think these are somewhat based on Miller's 1977 Fender, so it would have the back pickup a little closer to the bridge than later Fenders. Maybe y'all know better than me. The two j pickups sound great. The neck pup almost gets a p-bass sound. Very nice. And it's a passive bass, of course.

I'm a little puzzled by the ashtray pickup cover. It comes with screws but there are no holes on the bass. Not sure if I would keep it on, but I would have liked to try it. But if I have to use a power tool in a responsible way, I might just not bother.

Edit: the tag tied onto the headstock has a QR code on it. When you point your camera at it you get a link to a web page that lets you download the PDF manual. Slick. Air Drop to my MacBook and Bob's your monkey.

SireMMv2.JPG

SireMMv2.1.JPG
 
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#2
scottfeldstein said:
Everyone who is even remotely interested in moderately priced jazz basses knows about the Sire V5. It's why I couldn't find one at any of the usual suspects. I had to order this one from Thomann. And I had to buy new. Something I haven't done in many years. But at this price, who's complaining? I got it for $398 plus a very reasonable $68 shipping.
  • It's no lightweight. The Alder body helps bring this bad boy to 9 pounds.
  • Roasted maple neck is gorgeous.
  • Block inlays and a bound neck are sexy AF. (Although, are these painted on? Not sure.)
  • Fretwork isn't bad and the rolled edges on the fingerboard are a nice touch
  • Bone nut! But it's cut kinda weird. The bass side is at least 22 thou and the treble side is, well, I'll have to measure it more carefully but it seemed like it was well under 18 thou. But it looks and feels great, so...
  • The string heights are surprisingly low: The E, A, and D are all just above or just below 4/64s. The G is just above 3. They're a little uneven, though. Gonna have to bring down that A a tad.
  • The neck relief is...well, it's barely there. It's maybe 8 thou.
  • There are 2-3 frets that don't ring out completely buzz-free, but nothing that would make me reach for my tools.
And it sounds...like a jazz bass. Every note, everywhere on the board, I hear it and it says "jazz bass." I think these are somewhat based on Miller's 1977 Fender, so it would have the back pickup a little closer to the bridge than later Fenders. Maybe y'all know better than me.

I'm a little puzzled by the ashtray pickup cover. It comes with screws but there are no holes on the bass. Not sure if I would keep it on, but I would have liked to try it. But if I have to use a power tool in a responsible way, I might just not bother.

Edit: the tag tied onto the headstock has a QR code on it. When you point your camera at it you get a link to a web page that lets you download the PDF manual. Slick. Air Drop to my MacBook and Bob's your monkey.

View attachment 4779264
View attachment 4779265
Click to expand...

Congratulations. 9lbs look good and well balance for jazz bass. The Cort GB64J I pick last year which has pretty close spec , dark roasted maple board and natural body to V5 , weight close to 10lbs.
 
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#3
Yahboy said:
Congratulations. 9lbs look good and well balance for jazz bass. The Cort GB64J I pick last year which has pretty close spec , dark roasted maple board and natural body to V5 weight close to 10lbs.
Click to expand...
For sure. Not complaining. When I sling it up with a 3" wide Levy's Leather strap it's very comfortable.
 
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#5
Bassic_desires said:
Thankyou for your thoughts and discussion. I’m thinking about a Jazz and tossing-up between Fender and Sire. For the money, the V5 seems to be excellent value.
Click to expand...
Yes, the reason I went with Sire is because I think you get more bass for your dollar. I feel like I just paid $400 for a $700 bass.
 
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#6
Another great about the roasted neck is make the slim J neck better stable from temperature/humid change.
To be fair, compare to current Indo Squier CV bass with similar price tag , only the fat neck on CV50P are better stable, but still not as great as roasted neck on my Bacchus BJB1RSM.
 
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#12
JRA said:
i'll bet it is --- it sure looks like it's capable! that's a handsome ax, but if you can tweak it into a killer player = you win! congratulations on your new instrument! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Thanks! I'm going to do some initial setup experimentation on it this weekend. Maybe take the relief up to 10 or 11 and see what I can do with the string heights at that point. I have a new set of Slinky 45-65-80-100 ready to go, but I think I'll wait a couple of weeks to see how things shake out. After all, it's not like I need to clean the fingerboard or anything. This sucker is new. And I bet the strings aren't very old, either, given the way these fly off the shelves. I'm not used to acquiring instruments in that condition!
 
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#18
Congrats! 3 of my students have Sire jazzbasses and like them very much, and these Sires stand out far ahead among other students instruments or music school Squiers/mex Fenders. It's a serious bass, I'm happy these are still quite cheap. I liked them too! (I play Fender jazz old as I am, the bass is growing vintage, I'm just growing grey.)
All 3 were bought from Thomann and all were set too low, all needed some reasonable setup.
The students get a bit confused with the active/passive knobs. It's a bit too difficult for them to understand.
Nobody bothered with the ashtray, as noone really took it important to look like Marcus Miller's bass, and other ashtray reasons are hard to find.
I like the darkened neck, that is pretty cool!
 
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#19
scottfeldstein said:
I'm a little puzzled by the ashtray pickup cover. It comes with screws but there are no holes on the bass. Not sure if I would keep it on, but I would have liked to try it. But if I have to use a power tool in a responsible way, I might just not bother.
Click to expand...

If needed, I can send you the measurements for the cover holes in the body (assuming Sire uses the same cover hole as Fender) from the CIJ Marcus Miller I own. Let me know.
 
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#20
scottfeldstein said:
Everyone who is even remotely interested in moderately priced jazz basses knows about the Sire V5. It's why I couldn't find one at any of the usual suspects. I had to order this one from Thomann. And I had to buy new. Something I haven't done in many years. But at this price, who's complaining? I got it for $398 plus a very reasonable $68 shipping.
  • It's no lightweight. The Alder body helps bring this bad boy to 9 pounds.
  • Roasted maple neck is gorgeous.
  • Block inlays and a bound neck are sexy AF. (Although, are these painted on? Not sure.)
  • Fretwork isn't bad and the rolled edges on the fingerboard are a nice touch
  • Bone nut! But it's cut kinda weird. The bass side is at least 22 thou and the treble side is, well, I'll have to measure it more carefully but it seemed like it was well under 18 thou. But it looks and feels great, so...
  • The string heights are surprisingly low: The E, A, and D are all just above or just below 4/64s. The G is just above 3. They're a little uneven, though. Gonna have to bring down that A a tad.
  • The neck relief is...well, it's barely there. It's maybe 8 thou.
  • There are 2-3 frets that don't ring out completely buzz-free, but nothing that would make me reach for my tools.
And it sounds...like a jazz bass. Every note, everywhere on the board, I hear it and it says "jazz bass." I think these are somewhat based on Miller's 1977 Fender, so it would have the back pickup a little closer to the bridge than later Fenders. Maybe y'all know better than me. The two j pickups sound great. The neck pup almost gets a p-bass sound. Very nice. And it's a passive bass, of course.

I'm a little puzzled by the ashtray pickup cover. It comes with screws but there are no holes on the bass. Not sure if I would keep it on, but I would have liked to try it. But if I have to use a power tool in a responsible way, I might just not bother.

Edit: the tag tied onto the headstock has a QR code on it. When you point your camera at it you get a link to a web page that lets you download the PDF manual. Slick. Air Drop to my MacBook and Bob's your monkey.

View attachment 4779264
View attachment 4779265
Click to expand...
I'm a huge Sire fan. Congrats on your Jazz - have fun with it!
 
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