neepheid

Cards on the table - I'm not convinced that Andertons do much in the way of checking beyond "is there a bass in there?" and maybe "is it the right colour?" - my Z7 had some sticky dark stuff on the inside of the top horn and around the strap button. A bit of WD40 and it came right off. I wasn't going to mention such a tiny detail as it seemed petty and utterly insignificant, but seeing as we're on the subject it was mildly irksome that I had to clean some sticky shyte off my new bass.

No idea, nor do I care EDIT: That was maybe overly glib, sorry for that - the fact is that I've never owned a Stingray, nor have I played one for any appreciable length of time. Closest I've come is the SBMM SB14 (the original Sterling Sterling) but that was many years ago, honestly I can't remember what it sounded like. I didn't buy the Sire Z7 because I was chasing a Stingray sound - I bought it because I like the look of it, fancied giving it a go on its own merits and I had a positive experience with my D5. I have little doubt that other people's motivations may be different, you'll have to ask someone else about Sire Z/Stingray comparisons, I'm useless for this question!

Tape measures at dawn! Seriously though, just by eyeballing I think they have made it a bit shorter. I will compare with my D5 later.

I tell you something, Sire aren't mucking about when it comes to allen keys. Parker pen for scale. Leverage. Nice.

Bathroom scales say 4.3kg / 9.5lbs

It finally arrived today, and I must admit that my first impressions were rather mixed. It was perhaps unfair, but I took delivery at work, which meant that the only initial go I could have on it was through an old 30W amp and not very loud - basically "is it working?". I was initially impressed with the fit and finish. The tuners are excellent - smooth, easy turning but with no play. The neck is what one expects from Sire - satin finish, lovely rolled fingerboard edges. But I have to say that I was not impressed with the knobs - they feel lightweight and cheap, and to cap it off the passive tone ring was loose and kept turning beyond its end. I wasn't sure if the knob was loose or it was a dodgy pot. The pots are all different in feel especially in the detents - the bass knob has a very severe detent that engages with an audible click, but the blend pot's detent is vague and very easy to turn past. Anyway, I got it home and things got better. Thankfully, the tone ring/knob was just loose, pot was fine. Giving it a proper blast through my pedalboard things really opened up, tone-wise. The pickups sound great to my ears. The neck pickup, despite its diminutive size compared to the bridge holds its own when soloed, but admittedly does get a little lost when blended. The preamp is OK once you get used to it. I find that the bass pot does very little. I have found that the best way to control this bass is to leave the treble and bass centred, dime the mid control then use the mid sweep as your primary tone control, using the others for seasoning. The passive tone works in both active and passive modes, which pleased me. It doesn't have a huge range, but glad it's there. The blend pot is a bit all or nothing, but that doesn't bother me as I'd be using it like a switch anyway. Little creature comforts include the passive mode working even with the batteries removed, making it a full on "get out of jail free" card in case of battery depletion. There is very little volume difference between passive and active - in fact with the preamp set flat, I'd say passive is louder. My wireless bugs get along fine with the bass regardless of it being in active or passive mode - I know some cheap wireless bugs don't like active basses, but mine is happy enough (Lekato WS-70 for reference). So my main (and to be honest only) beef is the knobs. I think they're ghastly. They'll be getting changed - replacements have already been ordered. But that's my only complaint, apart from nitpicky points about the preamp. Enough waffle, have some pics.

Someone's an edgelord (whoever wrote that tripe, not you jd) - what a load of hyperbolic nonsense.

HERE

Suffice to say, I will be going home for lunch today.

HA HA HA, now it's out for delivery. Teleportation!

Well, that's absolutely zero courier activity overnight. Shipped my bass?

Because I want to. Because it's fun to remember/reminisce. Because if you think I'm going through the mental gymnastics that it took to create the list in the first place every time I want to remember a particular bass from my past, you've got another thing coming. Also, if it's getting to the point where I am considering fitting a revolving door to my house, I'll need to show justification.

I've got a simple text file I keep track with. It's not 100% chronological (because I only had the bright idea to do it long after I started), but it has all the basses which have ever darkened the doors of Neepheid Towers. The only additional details I record are whether it was new or used, and whether or not I tried it before I bought it.

Rather out of the scope of this part of the forum - I have an ongoing thread about it here in Technical - https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/498763-sickly-jack-casady/ I just want to A/B with another JC to see if the problem is with mine specifically, or affects all JCs. A simple test, but very difficult to achieve without a second JC. I guess I could order one at distance, do the test then return it, but that's a lot more hassle (and a lot less enjoyable) than meeting a lovely fellow BCer, doing my test and having a nice cup of tea and a chinwag.

It will be your bass, so it's no-one else's business what you do with it. I particularly enjoy reversible, elegant mods. Also, it's a Sire, it has no legendary status, so there won't be any knock on effect to the resale value of the bass if you mod it for series/parallel/single, for instance. As usual, if changing pickups, keep the stock ones and pop them back in if you ever need to sell the bass - I'm guessing you don't need me to tell you that you'll never get your money back on pickup changes, but got to keep banging that drum for those who maybe haven't considered that aspect of it.

Giving this a bump, could really use some help getting to the bottom of what's happening. Thanks.

Including the crown inlays? It's gonna look weird fretted without the crowns IMO.

The DHL black hole of radio silence - been there before, I feel your pain. The race is on - Andertons QC then DPD vs. DHL - GO!

A little birdie has told me that their Sire shipment has escaped the clutches of HMRC and is in their possession now, being checked over...

There's nothing to feel guilty about. Taking a bass such as this and turning it into something greater than the sum of its parts is a noble endeavour. Just remember to keep the stock bits lest you ever need to sell...

It was always the plan to use the G4M bass as a mule to carry something unusual/exotic, and defy expectations. Bass cost £150, pickup cost £135. It plays nicer than the sum of its parts, imo. I kept the stock pickup if I ever need to offload, but it won't be worth very much second hand and therefore not really worth selling, so I think it's pretty safe.

What, both kinds of music? In a single gig?