Sire V7 VS Fender American Performer VS Santberg California II TT4

I like Sire, no secret, but I find it odd that a bass from Indonesia is ok but one from Mexico is not.

The Sire controls look intimidating at first but are really not so bad to learn.

 

Oh and leave it passive and you only have volume, tone, and balance to master.

 

Sire V7 is a fantastic swiss army knife
Fender US performer is a John Rambo proper Green Berets survival knife
Sandberg is no more than a welldone (german) "californian wannabe"

Cheers,
Wallace

 

The Sandberg will easily be the best of the bunch, IMHO...
Followed by the Fender...

 

I can't speak for the Sandberg, though I hear good things, though I strongly believe the Sire is a far better bargain than any Fender under $1500. Even the American ones, yeah. Don't believe me, just try one yourself.

 

I did try one. Not sure what model but it was a fiver and looked really nice. The tech who was working on it wasn’t happy. Several colorful metaphors were used and the term POS was tossed around. He let me give it a spin. I gave it five min and gave it back. Thanked him and heeded his warning. And I am the proud owner of two MIA Jazz Basses. They play, sound and feel like home.

Buy what you want.

I’m happy.

 

I've owned 5 Sire basses, all 5 string. I've never had an issue playing any of them standing. I currently own a P7 and V10, and they balance fine. I've owned the Vintage V7 and V7. I did like the bite of the VV7 of the V7.

 

I'm a proud owner of a Sire 2nd Gen V7 and love it. It is built solid, great components, killer tone, wonderful features and has served me well in many gigs and has gotten many compliments. However.....

You say you want to buy in terms of, "investing money" so here's my take:

1. Sire - Well built bass, not pretentious, sounds good, great to own and gig, you'll probably be able to sell it at around a $50-$100 loss. You buy it to own, play, and enjoy...or sell at a slight loss.

2. Fender - Paying more for the name, get more for the name in resale. I own and have owned several Fenders from Custom Shop to MIM, good ones are classics, but they are not anything more special or magical than any other brand in terms of quality, tone, or play-ability. BUT, the name does have an aura to it, like it or not.

3. Sandburg - Don't know much about these. They look cool and sound nice in the vids I've seen. Probably aren't as sound of an investment as the Fender.

All three basses should impress you and play/sound great. The Fender is more of the investment piece due to it's name, but that doesn't make it sound, feel, or look better.

I'm a bit of a value focused minded shopper and am always more impressed by value-priced basses that go well beyond their price (Sire, Yamaha, etc.) than someone who gets caught up in the name game. I've sold three Custom Shop Fenders and gigged Squiers, I owned a Fender Elite Jazz for about 5 minutes and came to the conclusion it wasn't worth 4 times my Sire, and sold off two EBMM basses for the same reason.

I think investment leads to Fender for you though. Happy hunting!