Hello bassfolk!
It's been a while since I've been on talkbass. After a rough couple of years out, and rediscovering my love of bass my girlfriend (in an unprecedented move as I'm sure many of you can attest to!) advised me to treat myself to a new bass as it's something I've brought up a bit recently.
The criteria was simple (in theory, much harder in practice). I was after a 5 string P bass, preferably with a narrow nut width and wide string spacing. I love the sound of a lone P pickup, ironically enough after finding them boring at first and didn't much fancy a J in the bridge position for some odd reason. By now you will surely appreciate that this is actually a very difficult bass to find and a hard criteria to meet.
My options aside from getting a custom build (either from the few sparse UK builders we have or perhaps Maruszczyk) were pretty much confined to the Fender American Professional II P bass V, coming in at around £1700 or the Sire P5 at about £400. I decided to be frugal with my money and go for the cheaper bass, as the specs looked good for the price and trying in a shop is pretty much unfeasible without a ~5 hour drive to the nearest well stocked shop.
A few days later, the Sire showed up at my door while I was at work. Upon cutting open the box I was surprised to discover the bass well set up, and almost perfectly in tune. The only issue to my eye was that the pickup cover closest to the bridge had slipped off the pole pieces and was partially covering them. A bit of prying with a screwdriver yielded no result, so I removed the pickup and found the pickup foam was mounted incorrectly and was pushing the pickup over to the side. I removed and re-fitted it and it was perfect. I still need to spend a little bit more time setting this bass up to my own preference, but for quick out of the box noodling it is set up well enough. I'd probably be happy enough to take it onstage straight away, but a little bit of a set up and it would be a dream to play for an evening.
Playing wise, this bass is a dream and has really further shaken up my view of what makes a good P bass. It certainly isn't money. Both of my 2 P basses (A Squier CV Late 50's P and now my Sire P5) physically feel better than any Fender I have played of late. The Squier's glossy and comfortable neck is a real beauty and the Sire is in the same camp. The fingerboard is glossy (my preference after playing a Rickenbacker for so long) but the back of that gorgeous roasted maple neck is satin, almost raw feeling. The fingerboard edges are rolled to almost a comical degree, and I at first assumed this may be a problem for strings slipping off with hard playing but this is definitely not an issue at all and is extremely pleasant in the hand. The nut width was wider than my old Stingray V and Yamaha BB 5 strings, but doesn't feel anywhere near as cumbersome as the fat nut widths I've found on recent 5 string Fender and Squier basses (I briefly owned a CV70's Jazz bass, and found it unbearably wide and thick).
The pickup doesn't sound like a typical P bass pickup. It is a tad brighter (which helps with that low B, which is just as good as any other 34" scale I've tried or owned and puts several of those to shame) but rolling the tone down to around 3/4 full yields classic P bass tones. Rolled off, classic fat dub is available in buckets and oozes vintage vibes.
The Sire is comfortable to play, and weighs a pleasing amount. It's not a lightweight by any means, but is lighter than you'd expect from a 5 string P bass with an alder body. My only real gripe about this bass is that there is a fair degree of neck dive while sitting which gets better with standing and wearing my 4" wide neoprene strap. But it's still not perfect, so I'll perhaps look into some lightweight tuners.
Other than this small but niggling issue, this bass really does give incredible value for money. I doubt I'd have been any happier buying the Am-Pro II P bass for over 4x the price, and in some ways I prefer the Sire outright on specs alone. It's modern enough to suit slap players, rockers and those after the brighter tones of a modern bass, but it is after all a timeless design and with slight tonal changes can satisfy anybody seeking fat, wooly P tones of old. It'll find it's use in my stable playing country, rock and blues and I doubt I could be happier with my choice at this time at all.
If you haven't given Sire a serious thought yet, now is absolutely the time to do it. They really do have something for everyone, and the value they represent is simply astonishing. Whether I've lucked out in buying cheap P basses recently from Squier and now Sire or whether these instruments really are being built to a degree they can be directly and favourably compared to their contemporaries is obviously personal, but from my experience alone I really can't help but wonder what the appeal of a £2000 bass is when these cheap offerings will bring the same amount of joy to so many players. Thoughts on a postcard below!
Only one more issue... It's gorgeous and I love the colour but I'm not sure I'm vibing with the pickguard just yet
Would you keep the red tort or go for something else?
It's been a while since I've been on talkbass. After a rough couple of years out, and rediscovering my love of bass my girlfriend (in an unprecedented move as I'm sure many of you can attest to!) advised me to treat myself to a new bass as it's something I've brought up a bit recently.
The criteria was simple (in theory, much harder in practice). I was after a 5 string P bass, preferably with a narrow nut width and wide string spacing. I love the sound of a lone P pickup, ironically enough after finding them boring at first and didn't much fancy a J in the bridge position for some odd reason. By now you will surely appreciate that this is actually a very difficult bass to find and a hard criteria to meet.
My options aside from getting a custom build (either from the few sparse UK builders we have or perhaps Maruszczyk) were pretty much confined to the Fender American Professional II P bass V, coming in at around £1700 or the Sire P5 at about £400. I decided to be frugal with my money and go for the cheaper bass, as the specs looked good for the price and trying in a shop is pretty much unfeasible without a ~5 hour drive to the nearest well stocked shop.
A few days later, the Sire showed up at my door while I was at work. Upon cutting open the box I was surprised to discover the bass well set up, and almost perfectly in tune. The only issue to my eye was that the pickup cover closest to the bridge had slipped off the pole pieces and was partially covering them. A bit of prying with a screwdriver yielded no result, so I removed the pickup and found the pickup foam was mounted incorrectly and was pushing the pickup over to the side. I removed and re-fitted it and it was perfect. I still need to spend a little bit more time setting this bass up to my own preference, but for quick out of the box noodling it is set up well enough. I'd probably be happy enough to take it onstage straight away, but a little bit of a set up and it would be a dream to play for an evening.
Playing wise, this bass is a dream and has really further shaken up my view of what makes a good P bass. It certainly isn't money. Both of my 2 P basses (A Squier CV Late 50's P and now my Sire P5) physically feel better than any Fender I have played of late. The Squier's glossy and comfortable neck is a real beauty and the Sire is in the same camp. The fingerboard is glossy (my preference after playing a Rickenbacker for so long) but the back of that gorgeous roasted maple neck is satin, almost raw feeling. The fingerboard edges are rolled to almost a comical degree, and I at first assumed this may be a problem for strings slipping off with hard playing but this is definitely not an issue at all and is extremely pleasant in the hand. The nut width was wider than my old Stingray V and Yamaha BB 5 strings, but doesn't feel anywhere near as cumbersome as the fat nut widths I've found on recent 5 string Fender and Squier basses (I briefly owned a CV70's Jazz bass, and found it unbearably wide and thick).
The pickup doesn't sound like a typical P bass pickup. It is a tad brighter (which helps with that low B, which is just as good as any other 34" scale I've tried or owned and puts several of those to shame) but rolling the tone down to around 3/4 full yields classic P bass tones. Rolled off, classic fat dub is available in buckets and oozes vintage vibes.
The Sire is comfortable to play, and weighs a pleasing amount. It's not a lightweight by any means, but is lighter than you'd expect from a 5 string P bass with an alder body. My only real gripe about this bass is that there is a fair degree of neck dive while sitting which gets better with standing and wearing my 4" wide neoprene strap. But it's still not perfect, so I'll perhaps look into some lightweight tuners.
Other than this small but niggling issue, this bass really does give incredible value for money. I doubt I'd have been any happier buying the Am-Pro II P bass for over 4x the price, and in some ways I prefer the Sire outright on specs alone. It's modern enough to suit slap players, rockers and those after the brighter tones of a modern bass, but it is after all a timeless design and with slight tonal changes can satisfy anybody seeking fat, wooly P tones of old. It'll find it's use in my stable playing country, rock and blues and I doubt I could be happier with my choice at this time at all.
If you haven't given Sire a serious thought yet, now is absolutely the time to do it. They really do have something for everyone, and the value they represent is simply astonishing. Whether I've lucked out in buying cheap P basses recently from Squier and now Sire or whether these instruments really are being built to a degree they can be directly and favourably compared to their contemporaries is obviously personal, but from my experience alone I really can't help but wonder what the appeal of a £2000 bass is when these cheap offerings will bring the same amount of joy to so many players. Thoughts on a postcard below!
Only one more issue... It's gorgeous and I love the colour but I'm not sure I'm vibing with the pickguard just yet
Would you keep the red tort or go for something else?
