- Feb 11, 2015
- 35
- 85
- Disclosures
- Endorser/Ambassador for Jon Kammerer (jonkammerercustoms.com) (TonePod.com)
SIRE V5 24-5 & P5R 5 REVIEW:
Specifications V5 24-5:
Body: Alder
Bolt-on neck: Roasted maple
Neck profile: C
Fingerboard: Maple
Fingerboard inlays: Blocks
Fingerboard radius: 241 mm (9.5")
Nut: Bone
Nut Width: 46 mm (1.81")
Scale: 864 mm (34")
24 Medium frets
Pickups: 2 Marcus Vintage-J Revolution Single Coils
2 Volume and 1 tone controls
Pickguard: Aluminium Gold
Marcus Miller Vintage-S Bridge
Mechanics: Premium Open Gear
Hardware: Chrome
Colour: Tobacco Sunburst
- The weight of the bass reviewed here came in at 4,45kg. on my luggage scales.
- The current price for a V5 24-5 in this colour at Thomann is 659€ and this includes a chrome pickup cover for the neck pickup and some basic tools to set-up the trussrod and bridge saddles.
Note: Except for the V10 and P10 series Sire basses do not come with a case or gigbag (they do in the US, but not in the EU), so keep in mind you'll need to buy a seperate gigbag or case in case you don't have one yet.
Specifications P5R-5:
Neck: roasted maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Neck profile: C
Scale: 34" (Long Scale)
Fingerboard radius: 241 mm
Nut width: 48 mm
Bone nut
20 Medium small frets
Pickups: Marcus Vintage-Fat Precision Revolution Split Coil
Volume and Tone controls
Tortoise pickguard
Marcus Miller Vintage-S Bridge
Chrome hardware
Colour: Cream White
- The weight of the bass reviewed here came in at 4,34kg. on my luggage scales.
- The current price for a P5R-5 in this colour at Thomann is 498€ and this includes some basic tools to set-up the trussrod and bridge saddles.
Note: Except for the V10 and P10 series Sire basses do not come with a case or gigbag (they do in the US, but not in the EU), so keep in mind you'll need to buy a seperate gigbag or case in case you don't have one yet.
So now that we've got the technical details out of the way we can move on to the actual review.
First up I'ld like to mention that the changes Sire made to the pickups and necks are really taking these basses to the next level.
Both the newly designed P and J pickups (for the passive series) have a significant amount of extra lows and low mids and sound less "thin" and "modern" than the previous versions which already sounds like a big improvement to my ears.
Also, the roasted maple necks with the satin finish on the back and the rolled fretboard edges make playing these basses so easy and comfortable that the neck-feel alone almost justifies the cost of buying one (or more) of these basses.
The V5 neck has a nice tint to it that lies somewhere in between a dark roasted neck (like the one on the P5R) and a lighter roasted neck as you can find on many of the V5's and has some very nice grain and even some striped patterns in there you usually only find on more expensive "grade A" maple necks.
The neck on the V5 is noticably slimmer than the beautifully dark roasted maple neck on the P5, but to my surprise it's also a bit deeper, making it lean more towards a comfortable D-shaped neck whereas the P5 neck is a bit wider and feels more like a flat C-shaped neck.
Personally I loved both neck profiles, with a slight preference for the P5 as I prefer wide and flat neck profiles in general.
The set-up on both basses was close to perfect straight out of the box, with the action being slightly higher on the V5 24, but nothing 5 minutes of adjusting the height of the bridge saddles couldn't fix.
The set-up on the P5 is as close to perfect as I've ever found on a production instrument straight out of the factory and I haven't found a reason to adjust anything on this bass so far. I literally took it out of the box, tuned the strings and started playing it, and it has been very hard to stop playing ever since.
Regarding the pickups;
The biggest difference here is noticable on the P5R as the original P5 pickup was a little mid forward and lacked some low-end and some warmth, while this newly designed P5R pickup (which will now also be used in the regular P5's with the maple fretboard) has plenty of low end and added warmth in the sound, which makes it more suited for more vintage sounding styles of music while still retaining the note definition and clarity needed to slice through the mix like it was butter.
Even though I usually end up swapping the pickups on almost all of my Sire basses, this P5R has me wondering if I should do that this time as the pickup it comes with from factory really sounds great in a band context and might not need an upgrade at all.
With the V5 pickups I can also notice a similar high roll off and some added lows when compared to the previous versions of these pickups, but the difference is less pronounced and obvious than when comparing the new P-pickup with its predecesor.
The only flaws/dislikes I could find were a little discolouration on the side of the roasted maple P-neck and the fact that the end of the fretboard and the neck pickup are so close together on the 24 fret jazz bass that it can make slapping -in the right spot- a bit more of a challenge.
Also, the tuners are still quite heavy causing some neck dive,
but as Gotoh recently came out with some super lightweight drop in tuner replacements for these Sire basses (Gotoh GB528) replacing the tuners with some lighter and better ones now became a lot easier for the modders amongst us.
All in all both basses play and sound great straight out of the box and wether you're more of a P-bass fan or a Jazz bass fan, you can't really go wrong with either of these i.m.o.
Since I've grown to like the Pbass sound more than the Jbass sound over the last couple if years I couldn't help falling in love with the P5R and therefore I will be keeping this one. Considering it's one of the few decent 5-string Precision basses on the market under 2000€ and it being this good (compared to a MIA std. Precision 5 and a Fender American Pro 1 it definitely held it's own) for less than 500€ it really is a no brainer for anyone looking for an affordable 5-string Pbass i.m.o.
If you're in the market for a new bass I would definitely advice checking some of these new Sire's out as you could easily be surprised with the tone and playability that these new Gen3 series have to offer.
Greets & Grooves!
Don
Specifications V5 24-5:
Body: Alder
Bolt-on neck: Roasted maple
Neck profile: C
Fingerboard: Maple
Fingerboard inlays: Blocks
Fingerboard radius: 241 mm (9.5")
Nut: Bone
Nut Width: 46 mm (1.81")
Scale: 864 mm (34")
24 Medium frets
Pickups: 2 Marcus Vintage-J Revolution Single Coils
2 Volume and 1 tone controls
Pickguard: Aluminium Gold
Marcus Miller Vintage-S Bridge
Mechanics: Premium Open Gear
Hardware: Chrome
Colour: Tobacco Sunburst
- The weight of the bass reviewed here came in at 4,45kg. on my luggage scales.
- The current price for a V5 24-5 in this colour at Thomann is 659€ and this includes a chrome pickup cover for the neck pickup and some basic tools to set-up the trussrod and bridge saddles.
Note: Except for the V10 and P10 series Sire basses do not come with a case or gigbag (they do in the US, but not in the EU), so keep in mind you'll need to buy a seperate gigbag or case in case you don't have one yet.
Specifications P5R-5:
Neck: roasted maple
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Neck profile: C
Scale: 34" (Long Scale)
Fingerboard radius: 241 mm
Nut width: 48 mm
Bone nut
20 Medium small frets
Pickups: Marcus Vintage-Fat Precision Revolution Split Coil
Volume and Tone controls
Tortoise pickguard
Marcus Miller Vintage-S Bridge
Chrome hardware
Colour: Cream White
- The weight of the bass reviewed here came in at 4,34kg. on my luggage scales.
- The current price for a P5R-5 in this colour at Thomann is 498€ and this includes some basic tools to set-up the trussrod and bridge saddles.
Note: Except for the V10 and P10 series Sire basses do not come with a case or gigbag (they do in the US, but not in the EU), so keep in mind you'll need to buy a seperate gigbag or case in case you don't have one yet.
So now that we've got the technical details out of the way we can move on to the actual review.
First up I'ld like to mention that the changes Sire made to the pickups and necks are really taking these basses to the next level.
Both the newly designed P and J pickups (for the passive series) have a significant amount of extra lows and low mids and sound less "thin" and "modern" than the previous versions which already sounds like a big improvement to my ears.
Also, the roasted maple necks with the satin finish on the back and the rolled fretboard edges make playing these basses so easy and comfortable that the neck-feel alone almost justifies the cost of buying one (or more) of these basses.
The V5 neck has a nice tint to it that lies somewhere in between a dark roasted neck (like the one on the P5R) and a lighter roasted neck as you can find on many of the V5's and has some very nice grain and even some striped patterns in there you usually only find on more expensive "grade A" maple necks.
The neck on the V5 is noticably slimmer than the beautifully dark roasted maple neck on the P5, but to my surprise it's also a bit deeper, making it lean more towards a comfortable D-shaped neck whereas the P5 neck is a bit wider and feels more like a flat C-shaped neck.
Personally I loved both neck profiles, with a slight preference for the P5 as I prefer wide and flat neck profiles in general.
The set-up on both basses was close to perfect straight out of the box, with the action being slightly higher on the V5 24, but nothing 5 minutes of adjusting the height of the bridge saddles couldn't fix.
The set-up on the P5 is as close to perfect as I've ever found on a production instrument straight out of the factory and I haven't found a reason to adjust anything on this bass so far. I literally took it out of the box, tuned the strings and started playing it, and it has been very hard to stop playing ever since.
Regarding the pickups;
The biggest difference here is noticable on the P5R as the original P5 pickup was a little mid forward and lacked some low-end and some warmth, while this newly designed P5R pickup (which will now also be used in the regular P5's with the maple fretboard) has plenty of low end and added warmth in the sound, which makes it more suited for more vintage sounding styles of music while still retaining the note definition and clarity needed to slice through the mix like it was butter.
Even though I usually end up swapping the pickups on almost all of my Sire basses, this P5R has me wondering if I should do that this time as the pickup it comes with from factory really sounds great in a band context and might not need an upgrade at all.
With the V5 pickups I can also notice a similar high roll off and some added lows when compared to the previous versions of these pickups, but the difference is less pronounced and obvious than when comparing the new P-pickup with its predecesor.
The only flaws/dislikes I could find were a little discolouration on the side of the roasted maple P-neck and the fact that the end of the fretboard and the neck pickup are so close together on the 24 fret jazz bass that it can make slapping -in the right spot- a bit more of a challenge.
Also, the tuners are still quite heavy causing some neck dive,
but as Gotoh recently came out with some super lightweight drop in tuner replacements for these Sire basses (Gotoh GB528) replacing the tuners with some lighter and better ones now became a lot easier for the modders amongst us.
All in all both basses play and sound great straight out of the box and wether you're more of a P-bass fan or a Jazz bass fan, you can't really go wrong with either of these i.m.o.
Since I've grown to like the Pbass sound more than the Jbass sound over the last couple if years I couldn't help falling in love with the P5R and therefore I will be keeping this one. Considering it's one of the few decent 5-string Precision basses on the market under 2000€ and it being this good (compared to a MIA std. Precision 5 and a Fender American Pro 1 it definitely held it's own) for less than 500€ it really is a no brainer for anyone looking for an affordable 5-string Pbass i.m.o.
If you're in the market for a new bass I would definitely advice checking some of these new Sire's out as you could easily be surprised with the tone and playability that these new Gen3 series have to offer.
Greets & Grooves!
Don
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