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NBD: Sire Marcus Miller V5 Alder-4 NT

#21
Congratulations! Sire basses are some of the best bargains out there. I play a 5 string p7 that rivals any fender! I swapped out the tuners and bridge,now it's as good as any of my american fenders. And then lays are beautiful!
Try using 2 sided 3m tape for the ashtray covers before you drill holes. Most people hate the covers.
 
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#23
scottfeldstein said:
No, they are not noiseless. I think it's meant as a direct competitor as the Squier "Classic Vibe" 70s Jazz.
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Congratulations on the bass...looks like a winner !

I have a Sire P7 gen2 5, and a Squier Classic vibe Jazz. The neck on the Sire is so good I did whatever I needed to do to keep it as a gigging bass, along with my other gigging basses that cost at least 3x as much. The Squier is very pretty, but a toy in comparison. Sire, for the money, is amazing IMO.
 
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#26
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
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Nice bass but Bob used to be my uncle:laugh:!
 
#29
I want both a 4 and 5 string V5 the 4 to put tape wounds on the 5 because I do not have a 5 string Jazz bass both will get Albridge bridge and J-East pre so i can play them both passive and active. I absolutely love Roasted Maple Necks. Congrats and Enjoy your weekend with the new axe.
 
#31
For setup nerds: I went to do a quick setup on her just now. The neck relief was (as I think I've mentioned before) at about 8 from the factory, but the strings were too high for that spanky rasp that I like. In the end I brought the relief up to 11 and was able to lower the string heights to 5, just above 4, 4, and 4. I couldn't get that G any lower because it would buzz in the 1-2-3 area when I tried.

Bottom line: spanky AF and no buzz. Loving it.
 
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#36
aus_bass said:
Gorgeous. You could always try some double-sided tape, to try the ashtray. Would be a pity to drill holes into that gorgeous body, if you only took the ashtray off, again.
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I actually did try it! Double sided tape proved completely inadequate. I mean it held it on there so I can see what it looks like visually, but it was not enough to rest a thumb on it.

And I'm not concerned about the holes. Holes can be filled with the screws. That black guard already has silver screws in it, all the way around. A couple extra ones aren't going to spoil anything. And besides, I could always use stealthy black screws! My real problem is I don't have a drill.
 
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#37
Thanks for this thread and discussion. I've been wanting a jazz bass for months and should have done it last year when the Sires were about $100 less than now (at Sweetwater). It is still less than a used Fender FSR Jazz I could pick up locally for $600 but it has rosewood fretboard and I really want a bass with maple. The one thing the Fender has going for it is the ash body. I don't have a bass made of ash. BUT I saw the OP bought his from Thomann and there is a V7 for less than the Fender. AND a V5 for $399! It isn’t swamp ash but that roasted maple neck with black inlays is as the OP says sexy AF. So with the savings I also ordered a Harley Benton PB-50 for kicks. (I still don't have a swamp ash bass, but oh well.)
 
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#38
I'm still in love with my MIJ Jag, but I'm a bit leery of taking it out since it's expensive (for me) and hard to replace. I was considering a Squire CV 70's bass, but I've seen too many criticisms of QC (neck shifting, bridge alignment), so I'm looking at Sire. I had a V7 2nd Gen bass; loved it's feel but there wasn't enough hi-mid punch. I then learned that the bridge pup is a little farther from the bridge. That's why I was looking at the 70's model. I'm about to pull the trigger on a V5 (I found I'm not using the preamps on my basses, so a passive seems right for me). Torn between the Maple & Rosewood necks!! Does anyone have opinions on their tones?
 
#39
GreyEagle said:
I'm still in love with my MIJ Jag, but I'm a bit leery of taking it out since it's expensive (for me) and hard to replace. I was considering a Squire CV 70's bass, but I've seen too many criticisms of QC (neck shifting, bridge alignment), so I'm looking at Sire. I had a V7 2nd Gen bass; loved it's feel but there wasn't enough hi-mid punch. I then learned that the bridge pup is a little farther from the bridge. That's why I was looking at the 70's model. I'm about to pull the trigger on a V5 (I found I'm not using the preamps on my basses, so a passive seems right for me). Torn between the Maple & Rosewood necks!! Does anyone have opinions on their tones?
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I'm surprised you couldn't get enough hi-mid punch with the mid frequency sweep control that the V7 pre gives you.
 
#40
Does anyone know of a case specifically from Sweetwater that would hold a 5-string Sire V5 super snugly?
So many cases I've used for other guitars have a bit of wiggle room inside the case. I'm buying a V5 from Sweetwater and I feel like the base would actually be safer in tight styrofoam packaging than in a case with a bit of wiggle room
 

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