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Sire V7 5 String NBD


vmaxblues
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So, I just acquired one of these because I was curious about all the hype and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

First impressions are that I am very impressed, the tone is really, really good, the fit and finish is far better than a bass of this price range has a right to be and as a gigging instrument it is a no brainer.

Only changes I would make at first glance would be the tuners and the bridge.

Has anyone else on here done any upgrades on these?

 

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My advice would be to try it for a bit.  As I have said many times before, although I agree the tuners look cheap, my V7 hardly goes out of tune, even when being transported in a gig bag.  I'm not sure why everyone is so quick to get rid of the originals?

Edited by Huge Hands
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1 hour ago, vmaxblues said:

Good advice.

Also I noticed that the one battery connector is very tight and there isn't any play in the length of wires so you have to push battery in and push against connector to fit it.  Is this just mine or is this normal?

 

I expected to want to swap out the tuners and bridge but a few months in and a fair few gigs including outdoors in the cold and it's fine. 

The battery boxes are a very tight fit, not a job you can rush. I think they addressed this with the newer versions but not sure. 

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I've had 3 V7s. Two 5 strings, ash and alder and a Vintage 4. I don't think there was anything wrong with the bridge or tuners apart from an aesthetic point of view. My problem was the weight. The tone of all of them was just fabulous though.

Edited by bubinga5
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4 hours ago, Huge Hands said:

My advice would be to try it for a bit.  As I have said many times before, although I agree the tuners look cheap, my V7 hardly goes out of tune, even when being transported in a gig bag.  I'm not sure why everyone is so quick to get rid of the originals?

I was never entirely happy with the tuners; they held pitch ok but they just felt a bit slack in operation and yes they looked cheap. They let the side down a bit. I replaced mine with a Hipshot HB6C set; much nicer tuning action, plus there was the added bonus of making the bass half a pound lighter.

I've got no problem with the stock bridge at all.

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I'm not too keen on the bridge on my V7 fretless, it just doesn't seem that solid. There's a bit of lateral movement on the saddles when you pull the strings, but it's certainly no worse than the average BBOT and unless you hit the strings with tremendous force it's not going to cause any issues with playing.

I just prefer bridges where everything is locked down.

As for the tuners they seem fine to me, although ,due to my dodgy fretlesss playing, just because the bass is holding it's tuning it doesn't mean that I'm playing in tune.

Edited by Cato
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  • 1 month later...

Having just purchased one of these second-hand, I just wanted to add my two penn'orth.

As others have said, the sound from these basses is very good. The preamp is an incredibly powerful monster that needs careful and subtle handling, but can produce a vast range of tones. The neck (on mine anyway) is very nice - quite a shallow profile, and nice and wide to accommodate the 18mm spacing (which, again, I like).

Weight is not bad at all. Mine comes in at bang on 10lb, which is not bad for a fiver. Nicely balanced too.

Tuners are OK. One feels a little loose, but it holds tune well and has a smooth action (as they all do).

It would be really nice if the truss-rod could be adjusted without removing the neck, or, at the very least, the scratchplate! It's a cheap bass, but that just seems daft! 

However, I am having problems with the bridge. When the bass arrived last week, I needed to do a bit of a set-up but just couldn't get the G string (and to a lesser extent the A) to intonate properly. The intonation screws reached the limit of their travel too soon and would not allow me to bring the saddle back far enough! What on earth is going on there?! I thought it might be because the bass had been strung through the body, but having changed that, it made no difference. To be fair, it is not the most attractive bridge on the market, but I don't care too much about that if it does the job. The problem is that it doesn't!

So, I've just bought a replacement from Beedster of this parish, to see if that deals with the intonation issue. To be continued....

Edited by Conan
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If the new bridge doesn't work out then you could just try swaping the individual saddles out and putting them on the Sire base plate, that's where the problem is after all. Having said that I never had any intonation problems on my stock bridge.

 

The main issue with replacement bridges is finding one with 18mm string spacing which retains through body stringing. Even ones that seem compatible can end up being useless as the through holes on the Sire are closer to the saddle than you would expect, the standard Hipshot A style is like this IIRC but apparently the FM version (Fender mount) is ok as the holes are further forward.

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1 hour ago, lemmywinks said:

The main issue with replacement bridges is finding one with 18mm string spacing which retains through body stringing. Even ones that seem compatible can end up being useless as the through holes on the Sire are closer to the saddle than you would expect, the standard Hipshot A style is like this IIRC but apparently the FM version (Fender mount) is ok as the holes are further forward.

Fair point, but I have no intention of stringing the bass through the body. I've never had a bass with this option before so wouldn't miss it. Having swapped the strings on my Sire from "through-body" to "through-bridge-only" (or whatever the term is!) I found no difference in tone, volume, sustain or anything else. Other people's experiences and opinions may not agree of course....:)

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