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Sire Marcus Miller V7 power doubt.

dclau

dclau

Guest
Apr 11, 2016
12
6
48
#1
Hey there.
I own a MM V7 and I've been playing it for 3 years now and I think it is a great bass for the price. The action, the versatility, the pre-amp are all great. However I still have a massive doubt on the gain/volume.

I play in a church in the UK and we bass players share a mid-range (and probably discontinued) Trace Elliot (head amp + 4x10 cabinet), it's a pretty nice amp and powerful amp. The thing is that I normally play my V7 through it and even thought I have an 18V preamp, no matter how I set it up I never seem to match the others bass guitarists basses' power, volume and low end, not in active mode, let alone passive. One of them plays a Fender Tele-bass/Precision MIJ, and the other one plays a german made Warwick Corvette V, both passive and I still sound weaker! The only way to match them is playing with my other bass (Ernie Ball MM Stingray, 3 band pre-amp).

Believe me, after 3 years I've tried all combinations possible in my pre-amp and the only way to get closer to the rest is cranking up the bass and the volume, gaining a bit of control using the midds a bit.

Anyone else having the same issue? Is it a technical problem? Is it me?

Thanks in advance fellas.
 
#3
Yes, there's a blue cube trim pot on the circuit board to adjust the active volume, maybe that's set too low? But I really don't understand the problem, I wonder if something else is going on - my Sires in passive are just as loud as most of my other basses. One exception is my Cataldo G8R 12er, but that has Thunderbucker 66s in it, very very hot passive pickups. Other than that, the Sires are volume-competitive.
 
#5
Hi ya had a same issue on V3 very quite compare to my custom made 6 string ( norstrand pickups + john east el.) yes different caliber of fish . did try to swap preamp for j east J retro. completely different world with that preamp in sire v3 ). but too much price to pay/ so i cranking up volume or just use drive to boot signal when using sire. just a bit of drive to bite extra volume.so maybe try to find someone who will be willing swap electronic for a test and see..John east is around 200 € but u get in my opinion best in class. capable of any sound. and fit in without any drilling etc. just solder cables /and its done. comes with plate pots all in..
 
#8
Well I have the same setup, MM V7 4 string and a Trace Elliot.
First of, I use the active input on the trace, I keep the preamp gain control knob up at nine, ( to drive and push the amp) and then use the amp volume to taste !
The V7 is on active, the volume is more or less full up and never below 8 or 9, all other controls are set flat and if I want to cut through the mix I sometimes use the mid controls on the bass. I have loads of volume.
Try the Sire in another amp, just to make sure it's not the bass. Did you check the batteries, are they ok?
 
#10
One more idea, what strings are on your V7, steel or nickel?
I have stainless steel on my Fender P and nickel on my Sire V7.
With the V7 switched to passive or active, I experience a similar volume difference using same amp settings. The P bass almost sounds neutered compared to the V7 in both volume and tone.
Just an idea...
 
#12
My Sire M7 2gen is quite a bit quieter compared my two other passive basses. It's quieter both in passive and active mode. Cranking the blue pot all the way makes no much of a difference as it was almost maxed out already. Still a shy bass.
 
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#14
Vegeta Alten said:
Is it safe to adjust the trim pot ? Would it cause any impact in the long run if we set it to high ? Mine sounds a bit low too
Click to expand...
Increasing the value of the trim pot will increase the gain of the preamp. It is there so you can adjust it as you see fit. The only thing I might see as a result is maybe it might use more battery power with increased gain(?), but I know nothing about electronics so it’s a guess on my part.
 
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#16
Thanks Vegeta, because I checked the "blue trim pot" , and it was turned all the way up. But I forgot about the pickup height adjustment. When I did that the power improved a bit. I was about to take this thing back to Guitar Center.
 
#17
The blue trim pot on my Sire V7 2nd gen was just over half-way - this made the active volume with flat EQ almost the same as the the passive volume output. I always thought it should be louder when active is on but in a gig situation when the battery dies you wouldn’t want that, but I only use it for studio recording.

Does anyone know if increasing the trim pot uses more battery power? The reason I thought it should be louder when active is that some of my pedals and front-end of amp have switches for active basses as they expect a hotter signal going in. So if the level is low then you may need to increase gain on the amp significantly. I suppose then it’s a trade off between any potential noise introduced by bass preamp vs amp preamp. I think it might be better to have a higher active output in my case and will make the necessary adjustment - not sure if anyone else has thoughts on this and whether a higher output might be better for level setting and active basses working with the active setting of pedals etc? Thanks
 

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