Sire Bass Club!

[BassMorpheus]

He used to play a Sadowsky.

My $.02 cents,

When you have a bass which gets very close to the Sadowsky sound (85-90%), at a fourth of the price, would you take it out on gigs and leave the more expensive bass at home? The Sire bass is a monster, at the same time if the bass is lost at the airport or stolen, it can be more readily replaced. No knock to the boutique shops, but one could own 4-5 Sire basses for one entry-level boutique bass. This is coming from a guy who owns a U.S. Lakland Joe Osborn (Dan Lakin shop) which cost about $5k to replace in today's market! Besides my P7, I definitely see more Sire basses in my future!

 

[ccjacks3]

I just switched the amp's PSU cable and the buzz vanished, but gave me some kind of an unwanted distortion.
The distortion stayed when I switched back to the old cable, the buzz is gone.
At this point I'm super frustrated because I've no clue if it is the bass or the amp.

Were you able to figure out what was going on??? I just ordered my 5-String M2 and I'm curious.

 

[IsleyBros]

He used to play a Sadowsky.

What a beast

 

[bholder]

He used to play a Sadowsky.

Dang. I need to go practice more.

 

[whamni]

He used to play a Sadowsky.

This has been done many times before, if you're old enough to remember this....

 

[whamni]

The V7 4-string models (original and vintage) both have 20mm spacing. I've had both and measured both. Also confirmed by measuring a p bass and a stingray, both having 19mm spacing. Across all 4 strings, total distance on p bass and stingray came in at about 58 mm, the V7s come in at around 61-62mm (using 40-100 strings).

I think many V7 4-string owners have gotten used to the spacing. I never quite got there, but now that the Hipshot bridge let me dial in a 19mm spacing the bass feels/plays better for me.

I know this is an old post, but I've been looking the forum for someone else who had changed to a Hipshot A style. Well you're not alone with the 20 mm spacing, and like you I love the V7, but, I just cant get used to the spacing, even now after a year playing. I had a 79' Music Man for over 30 years and it was 18mm. The Hipshot is crazy money here in the UK compared to the states. Looking at the photos, it looks like the A Style 5A4FM2BC am I right and do you have the string though holes all lined up to use ?

 

[Kilgore777]

This has been done many times before, if you're old enough to remember this....

Thanks for sharing! I am old, but haven't seen that.

I love how nonchalant the bassist is during the drum/bass part.

 

[PosterBoy]

Hello I'm new here, thanks to this massive thread and youtube, I have a Sire V3 AWH arriving tomorrow.
My first bass, after many many years playing guitar. Primarily to be used for recording, I think learning to play bass (I already have a good set of Truefire instructionals) will be more fun than the frustrations of trying to program midi bass lines that sound natural in the long run.

 

[bholder]

Hello I'm new here, thanks to this massive thread and youtube, I have a Sire V3 AWH arriving tomorrow.
My first bass, after many many years playing guitar. Primarily to be used for recording, I think learning to play bass (I already have a good set of Truefire instructionals) will be more fun than the frustrations of trying to program midi bass lines that sound natural in the long run.

Welcome to the low end! You've got a good start, and I agree, playing bass is likely going to prove easier than programming midi bass...

 

[Missing Link]

Got a m2 trans blue maple fretboard 5 string FINALLY a few weeks ago. Waited a LONG time(from Sire), but it is REALLY nice. The box was beat up, but the bag and bass were not damaged. I had black metal knobs waiting for it and it did need a setup, but played really nice after adjustment. Used a fret rocker and noticed 5 or 6 frets that needed leveling, so I did. ALSO lowered the nut action just a tiny bit. After that it plays smooth and clean and LOW and is just an amazing value even with the extra attention it needed. I measured the scale, and it is 35". The only thing I noticed that I would change(besides the knobs) if I could would be to make the fret markers stand out a little more - the white color makes them almost invisible in the maple. This is just personal preference so not a big deal. The trans blue finish is stunning. Well done, Sire.

 

[Plutonium244]

Got a m2 trans blue maple fretboard 5 string FINALLY a few weeks ago. Waited a LONG time(from Sire), but it is REALLY nice. The box was beat up, but the bag and bass were not damaged. I had black metal knobs waiting for it and it did need a setup, but played really nice after adjustment. Used a fret rocker and noticed 5 or 6 frets that needed leveling, so I did. ALSO lowered the nut action just a tiny bit. After that it plays smooth and clean and LOW and is just an amazing value even with the extra attention it needed. I measured the scale, and it is 35". The only thing I noticed that I would change(besides the knobs) if I could would be to make the fret markers stand out a little more - the white color makes them almost invisible in the maple. This is just personal preference so not a big deal. The trans blue finish is stunning. Well done, Sire.

That 35" scale yields a nice, tight B string. I notice how my M7 35" scale has a tighter B than my V7, although the V7 B string is not by any means bad in terms of yielding a good, clean, balanced, controllable B string note.

 

[Brynjar Pihl]

Hello from Norway !
Got my new V9 5 strings a week ago....NICE !!!
Easy to play...tight low B.

 

[ccjacks3]

Got a m2 trans blue maple fretboard 5 string FINALLY a few weeks ago. Waited a LONG time(from Sire), but it is REALLY nice. The box was beat up, but the bag and bass were not damaged. I had black metal knobs waiting for it and it did need a setup, but played really nice after adjustment. Used a fret rocker and noticed 5 or 6 frets that needed leveling, so I did. ALSO lowered the nut action just a tiny bit. After that it plays smooth and clean and LOW and is just an amazing value even with the extra attention it needed. I measured the scale, and it is 35". The only thing I noticed that I would change(besides the knobs) if I could would be to make the fret markers stand out a little more - the white color makes them almost invisible in the maple. This is just personal preference so not a big deal. The trans blue finish is stunning. Well done, Sire.

My M2 is in the mail and I can't wait!

Question for you; do you know the string spacing and pickup dimensions??

 

[phillipkregg]

My $.02 cents,

When you have a bass which gets very close to the Sadowsky sound (85-90%), at a fourth of the price, would you take it out on gigs and leave the more expensive bass at home?

For me it depends on the situation...

The Sire is very heavy, hovering close to 11 lbs. If I'm gonna be standing and playing for a while, it's gonna be my Sadowsky modern that weights a little over 8 lbs. If the location is sketchy though, or I'm not sure where I'll be leaving my gear, I'm gonna take the less expensive bass for sure.

As far as sound goes, I've had 3 Sadowskys and 2 Sires. While they all sounded great, the Sire does not - to my ears - sound anything like the Sadowsky. The preamps are just voiced differently. The sound is great on both, so you can get killer tone with either, but weight is a definite factor for me.

 

[Missing Link]

My M2 is in the mail and I can't wait!

Question for you; do you know the string spacing and pickup dimensions??

O.K......I measured these on MY bass and here are my approx. values - string spacing at the nut - 9.5 mm. At the bridge saddle - 18.5 mm. The pickups measure approx. 37mm by 110mm. At least by my old eyes anyway.

 

[jmjames]

Has anyone needed to shield their P7? Mine has a crackle/hum that goes away when I touch any of the metal... also noticed that rolling off the tone and/or treble make it go away too. From what I've read, that sounds like I need to shield it? Or do I need to contact Sire?

J.Ja

 

[Maxdusty]

Has anyone needed to shield their P7? Mine has a crackle/hum that goes away when I touch any of the metal... also noticed that rolling off the tone and/or treble make it go away too. From what I've read, that sounds like I need to shield it? Or do I need to contact Sire?

J.Ja

You may want to check on the ground wiring on that. I have the cheapest model V3 and it doesn't do that- there's no grounding issue at all, sure it's got the typical hum as in most jazz basses without noise cancelling pickups when the volume isn't balanced equally on both pickups, but grounding, no. Sounds like there might be something in yours that might need looking into, probably not properly grounded or there's a wire that's coming into contact with something it's not supposed to.

 

[jmjames]

You may want to check on the ground wiring on that. I have the cheapest model V3 and it doesn't do that- there's no grounding issue at all, sure it's got the typical hum as in most jazz basses without noise cancelling pickups when the volume isn't balanced equally on both pickups, but grounding, no. Sounds like there might be something in yours that might need looking into, probably not properly grounded or there's a wire that's coming into contact with something it's not supposed to.

My understanding based on The Internet (never the most reliable source...) is that a hum/crackle when touching the metal is a bad ground, a hum/crackle when NOT touching the metal means "needs shielding".

How do I tell which situation is which?

J.Ja

 

[Andyman001]

If you can reduce the "noise" by rotating while you are playing, you could lessen it with shielding.

 

[Maxdusty]

My understanding based on The Internet (never the most reliable source...) is that a hum/crackle when touching the metal is a bad ground, a hum/crackle when NOT touching the metal means "needs shielding".

How do I tell which situation is which?

J.Ja

I'm not an expert on electronics by any means, but from my experience of buying a number of basses, most basses other than the really, really cheap ones may hum when brought too close to other electronic devices but they don't crackle or it's not supposed to - in those cases, shielding may help with the situation. When it crackles, it sounds far more likely that there's a short in the electronic circuitry - could be a loose wire. a wire being soldered in such a way that it's coming into contact with something it isn't supposed to be touching, or could be a defective part altogether such as a pot or the output jack where the short may be inside that part. If it crackles when you touch or move the cord or the bass, it's often a problem with the output jack. I would also make sure it isn't the cord that's defective, I recently bought a guitar where it was listed as having electronic problems by the seller who tested it once but had to borrow a cord from someone else, I took it home and it was working perfectly for me.
Based on other Sire players experience with their basses, the Sire basses do not hum excessively or require additional shielding- and they're not supposed to crackle or else you'd see a lot of us complaining about it.