neepheid

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?

I'll be sure to report how I find the Z7 when I get it. Damn, after all this hype, I bloody hope I like it! To be honest I think the 4 in line looks better on the Sire also, but that's not really why I've got a bee in my bonnet anyway. My ultimate objection is to the fact that EBMM seem to think they "own" 3+1 in any circumstance. That's a load of anti-competitive balls - imagine if Benz had said "right, our car has 4 wheels, one in each corner, that's ours, you can't have it" - we'd all be driving around in Reliant Robins! At best they have a trademark on 3+1 tuners in that specific headstock shape, and that's as much leeway as I'm prepared to give them. In this way, I don't see that Sire did anything wrong in the first place. But that's just my interpretation of it - as I said, I'm not a lawyer, but I'm certainly nitpicky and "dog with a bone" enough to be one . Happy to accept that you and I are unlikely to ever see eye to eye on this one. I have enjoyed today's robust but fair debate. Well, this was nice, but sometimes I feel I must stand up for my beliefs when challenged and occasionally invoke the zealot gene for the benefit of my self esteem, but I have to remember to keep it under wraps most of the time...

First of all, thank you for your calm, eloquent and reasonable response, so sadly lacking in today's average Internet user. I'll put my cards on the table and say that I don't consider the Sire Z series to be copies, and I never got the feeling that they're trying to be copies. Heavily influenced? Sure. To my mind though, this bass says "bastard child of Stingray and Lakland 44/5-02" to me rather than slavish Stingray copy. Compared to a Stingray - different headstock, different body shape, an extra fret, what appears to be an amalgam of the EB and Lakland bridge plate. For starters. I see this bass as a melting pot of influences and to my eyes succeeding in coming out with something fresh and different enough to be considered on its own merits. I'm not buying the Z7 because deep down I want a Stingray and I can't afford it. I'm buying one (if it ever bloody arrives) because it's a Sire Z7 - I like how it looks, I like the specs and I think it has its own style. It's the same way I feel about my D5 - yes, it's a '54 P - but there's something... off (in a good way) about it. Maybe it's that pickguard shape, gives me Cowpoke vibes. I dunno. Brains are soft and squidgy like that. I think the bottom horn of a Ray is goofy looking. There, I said it. To call this "industrial piracy" is a bit extreme in my estimation. I think it's lazy, route one internet bollox to simply label the Z3/7 as "Stingray copies" and I think they can happily co-exist in the market without treading on each other's toes. They do different things, they're made differently, have different specs, and I don't think they'll cause that much cross contamination of the gear gene pools. Your diehard EBMM/SBMM fan is not going to give a Sire houseroom, so who's poaching sales from anyone? You'd have to be thick as a brick to confuse the two, frankly (and continuing the Tull references ) I absolutely think that EBMM should go after obvious and physically (almost) identical copies, and support them in doing so - that's not right and I don't support it one iota. I just don't think that it applies in this case. I'm happy to accept the point that things may well have changed at EB Towers in 14 years, but consider that the internet has a long memory and if that's the kind of reference I'm going to find upon a cursory search, then you can bet that's what people are going to go and run with in today's instant gratification world.

Yup, shim the neck then. You won't need much - a little goes a long way.