NBD: Sire Z7-5

[Baker69]

Earlier this week, I was between ordering one of the Z7s and a Ray 35. Ultimately ended up ordering the Ray 35. That said I thought about the Z7 enough to share my thoughts on the colors.

On the Z7, natural is nice because it gets the roasted maple neck. I know this is not a necessary feature, but I like the darker maple color. The downside of natural is that I have seen some pretty horrible grain matching on a few Sire's. If you go natural and grain pattern is important to you, then I would try to get one where you can see the actual instrument you are buying first. That may not be easy to do with these selling out at many retailers.

I like that the purple has a matching headstock on the Z7. I just wish it were more purple and less pink (maybe it is in person?). This is probably the one I would have gone with if I had ended up ordering the Z7, but I am a sucker for a matching headstock.

I am awaiting delivery of a Z7-5 in natural, I think it’s a bit of a crap shoot as to how the grain will be on it and how they match it up. I’m a lefty so viewing before buying is very rarely an option open to me on any bass. The roasted maple neck looks superb against the natural finish, I don’t know why this neck isn’t available on the other colour finishes?

 

[Baker69]

that is one pretty bass! Holy knobs batman!

I’m not sure on the “new” Sire knobs, I will decide when I get my Z7-5 as to whether I swap them out. On my P7 I changed the black rubbery/plasticky knobs for chromed metal one’s and are hugely better although they are quite heavy.

I don’t know why on the Z3’s Sire have used chrome knobs but decided to use black aluminium knobs on the Z7’s???

 

[LowEndLobster]

Z3 and V3 use different tuners than the rest of the lineup including the Z7. The 7 is compatible with the gotoh tuners, the Z3 isn't unfortunately

 

[Baker69]

Z3 and V3 use different tuners than the rest of the lineup including the Z7. The 7 is compatible with the gotoh tuners, the Z3 isn't unfortunately

Love your video review on the Z3, looking forward to seeing what you think about the Z7.

 

[mcnach]

Surprised to read that you are happy with the tuners as according to Lobster’s Z3 video review stating that they are “awful”? I have a Sire P7 and I’m quite happy with the stock tuners, I’m assuming they’ve used the same type on the Z3’s and Z7’s. I’ve just ordered a Z7 in natural finish so it will be interesting to see if the tuners are any different. I find my P7 5’er to be quite heavy, I hope the Z7-5 is a bit lighter, if not I may consider fitting GOTOH GB528 tuners as Lobster recommends.

I’m hoping the neck pickup is a bit more usable than you suggest as I’m working on my Z7-5 as being sort of a Swiss Army knife bass. I don’t really fancy swapping the pickup out at such an early stage but I will do if I think necessary. It will be interesting to see if anyone does this and what pickup is substituted. With regards to pickup volume the neck pickup volume seems fine on the demo’s I’ve seen, perhaps you will need to favour the neck pickup slightly to gain extra volume rather than having both pickups at the detente?

I think Sire ship their basses with D’Addario strings but they don’t seem to be as good as say a brand new set of D’Addario’s for some reason, I always use EB Slinky’s on my P7 and they seem to suit.

The Z3 and Z7 don't have the same hardware, it appears. The ones on my Z7-5' are very smooth and nothing to be concerned about.

Weight seems to vary a lot but mine was 8.0 lbs, pretty good for a 5 string. Good luck with yours :fingers crossed:

 

[Baker69]

The Z3 and Z7 don't have the same hardware, it appears. The ones on my Z7-5' are very smooth and nothing to be concerned about.

Weight seems to vary a lot but mine was 8.0 lbs, pretty good for a 5 string. Good luck with yours :fingers crossed:

So it seems. My Z7-5 is due at the end of January (at the moment), hopefully it won’t be too heavy and comes with good tuners like yours! 8lbs is a really good weight.

 

[Baker69]

So it seems. My Z7-5 is due at the end of January (at the moment), hopefully it won’t be too heavy and comes with good tuners like yours! 8lbs is a really good weight.

Just had an update to say my Sire Z7-5 won’t arrive now until mid April.

 

[Bob Coldwell]

Just had an update to say my Sire Z7-5 won’t arrive now until mid April.

I've been eyeing an out of stock M5 at Thomann Music, and the arrival date on that keeps getting pushed back too.

 

[bholder]

Delays are frustrating, but it's a good sign the Sire business is going well - these things sell faster than they can make them!

 

[OldShark]

Delays are frustrating, but it's a good sign the Sire business is going well - these things sell faster than they can make them!

It seems they still produce only in their own factory to keep the quality up instead of outsourcing production to other factories. If so, that's alright with me.

 

[bholder]

It seems they still produce only in their own factory to keep the quality up instead of outsourcing production to other factories. If so, that's alright with me.

Yeah they tried expanding to other subcontractor factories - it didn't work out - they went back to doing it the right way, investing in themselves and growing their own home-built factories and skill base. When you contract out, it's very difficult to keep up quality standards and hold the budget.

 

[eli]

Congrats on the new bass.
So tempted to try one of these fretless.

Do it! That's what I bought, and I am LOVING it! (Making a new pg in white pearl, though)

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Came in today. Nice setup, neck relief is about perfect, strings could be a little lower but not bad. The neck profile and string spacing is very close to a G&L JB5 I had for a while. If you like a slimmer neck on your 5 string, this one has it. Tone wise it is very "StingRay-ish". Lots of knobs and the one I like the best is a treble roll off under the master volume that works in both active and passive modes. It is nice to be in active and be able to just give it a little trim when it needs it. I know that this is just the honey moon and I'll know more after I gig with it New Years. For now I'm delighted.

Well, how did it do on the gig?

 

[eli]

My strategy for avoiding Sire delivery delays has been only to buy when what I want is in stock somewhere. I put watches on the 'bay and the 'verb, and grab when the grabbing is good. Of course, there's waiting involved either way, but at least i don't get infuriating "shipment pushed back" messages.

I have gotten Sires from Reverb, Andertons, and i *think* Thomann. Crazy quick and reasonably priced shipping from Europe across the pond to the Colonies here.

 

[GreyBeard]

Well, how did it do on the gig?

Descent, I haven't quite found my sound with it yet but with all this EQ it's bound to be in there somewhere.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Descent, I haven't quite found my sound with it yet but with all this EQ it's bound to be in there somewhere.

Probably is. So keep looking. I bought a AM Pro JB over the summer and I’m still working on the best sound on the gig. . Recording wise it’s spot on .

 

[Baker69]

Z3 and V3 use different tuners than the rest of the lineup including the Z7. The 7 is compatible with the gotoh tuners, the Z3 isn't unfortunately

Really looking forward to you doing a review on the Sire Z7. I’ve just been looking at Bullythakidd’s YouTube video on his best basses for 2024 he seems to favour the Z3 model over the Z7 based on the neck pickup on the Z7 being way under-powered and therefore a lot more money for little gain.

I’ve ordered a Z7-5 in Natural and was also considering getting a Black Sparkle Z3-4 string like you reviewed. After Bully’s video I’m wondering whether to change my order to a Z3-5 in Black Sparkle! I do love the roasted maple neck on the Z7 natural’s though, but I do need that neck pickup for a P Bass vibe on certain songs.

If and when you do a review on the Z7’s I’m waiting to hear your thoughts on the neck pickup and if your are in agreement with Bully (and others) on the low neck pickup output and what pickup you would recommend as a substitution?

 

[Baker69]

More thoughts on the ‘weak’ neck pickup on the Z7’s, my Sire P7-5 has a Jazz style pickup at the bridge which I (and others) have always found to be weak and I commented in one posting that I felt was unusable solo’ed. I’m wondering whether the Sire J pickups in general are inherently low in output so when you put it up against one of their split P pickups (as on the P7) or a MM style pickup (as on the Z7) it just can’t compete? It’s obviously not noticeable on Sire’s Jazz style basses as they just have two of these low output pickups.

 

[eli]

I haven't spent quite enough time with my fretless Z7, but my first thought would be raise the neck pickup and lower the bridge pickup to bring them a little more into volume balance. Has anyone tried that?

 

[Baker69]

I haven't spent quite enough time with my fretless Z7, but my first thought would be raise the neck pickup and lower the bridge pickup to bring them a little more into volume balance. Has anyone tried that?

Doesn’t the Z7 have a pickup blend control? I assume you just need to favour the neck pickup on the control more so?

I’ve seen a couple of postings suggesting to swap the neck pickup for a Nordstrand. I don’t know whether Nordstrand pickups are inherently powerful? It’s something I would consider doing, my concern would be the string spacing over the pickup poles. I think the Z7-5’s string spacing are 17.5mm at the bridge so I’m guessing they could be 17mm over the neck pickup but I think Nordstrand Jazz pickup poles have an 18mm spacing.