Sire V7/V9 vs Player Jazz vs Sandberg Electra TT

[horrorshowbass]

As the title says.

The 3 contenders for my next jazz.

Help me decide guys, anyone with any experience?

The v9 looks the business and is cheaper than the player series, Sandberg around 700 but lovely too.

[Raslee]

These posts are always very subjective but will share my views as i am currently avoiding the housework!

The Sire will have the most flexible sound options in terms of it's preamp - assuming you're not having an all passive option that is. Sire have been pretty consistent in my limited experience, although often a tad heavy.

Not tried a Player series Fender but  have had many Fender Jazz basses. My first thoughts are it will probably have a better resale value being Fender, some good colour options to be had by the looks of it.

Not tried the Electra Jazz but i have an Electra P, and other Sandberg's (i have a nice Jazz alike for sale actually...ahem!). I have often thought about pairing my Electra with the Electra Jazz as the P has been simply amazing in terms of build quality, sound (active and versatile for modern and vintage), overall looks (black/maple in my case),  andmine is under 8lbs so nice and light.

Having owned a few Sires, and many Fenders, I would take the Electra over the others by far, no competition in my view. The P also has a Jazz width neck should you also fancy twins one day.

Good luck with your journey

[horrorshowbass]

3 hours ago, Raslee said:

These posts are always very subjective but will share my views as i am currently avoiding the housework!

The Sire will have the most flexible sound options in terms of it's preamp - assuming you're not having an all passive option that is. Sire have been pretty consistent in my limited experience, although often a tad heavy.

Not tried a Player series Fender but  have had many Fender Jazz basses. My first thoughts are it will probably have a better resale value being Fender, some good colour options to be had by the looks of it.

Not tried the Electra Jazz but i have an Electra P, and other Sandberg's (i have a nice Jazz alike for sale actually...ahem!). I have often thought about pairing my Electra with the Electra Jazz as the P has been simply amazing in terms of build quality, sound (active and versatile for modern and vintage), overall looks (black/maple in my case),  andmine is under 8lbs so nice and light.

Having owned a few Sires, and many Fenders, I would take the Electra over the others by far, no competition in my view. The P also has a Jazz width neck should you also fancy twins one day.

Good luck with your journey

Hi @Raslee 

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Yes I was eyeing up your sandberg bullet bass, lovely yoke altogether  what's the neck profile on it? 38mm at nut?

I'm still thinking I want a US Fender jazz some day just to see what all the fuss is about but my opinion changes all the time

 

[TheGreek]

As many have said before me, the Sires are incredible VFM but weight seems to vary considerably so try one first. You can pick one up for under £200 - you would have killed for a bass this good for £200 when you started playing.

I've always felt Fender basses didn't always live up to expectations but I started playing in the 80s when the build quality at Fender was abysmal. Most of those would have had their issues addressed by now but I can't get past my early bias.

My Squier Standard PJ is a lot of bass for your buck and they appear on eBay weekly.

[horrorshowbass]

10 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

As many have said before me, the Sires are incredible VFM but weight seems to vary considerably so try one first. You can pick one up for under £200 - you would have killed for a bass this good for £200 when you started playing.

I've always felt Fender basses didn't always live up to expectations but I started playing in the 80s when the build quality at Fender was abysmal. Most of those would have had their issues addressed by now but I can't get past my early bias.

My Squier Standard PJ is a lot of bass for your buck and they appear on eBay weekly.

Thanks @TheGreek

Agreed Squiers are a lot if bass for the money, owned one previously.

Sire seem to be rocking everyone's world especially the rolled frets/preamp and some v5/v7's do pop up on reverb for great money

[Bobthedog]

I had a Sire V7 5 fretless and whilst it sounded great is was very heavy (from memory 4.8kgs?) and had dreadful neck dive. The latter is apparently solvable with lightweight tuning pegs but it was ultimately not for me. Others have reported theirs were lighter so per @TheGreek do try the actual one you might buy first.

[horrorshowbass]

1 hour ago, Bobthedog said:

I had a Sire V7 5 fretless and whilst it sounded great is was very heavy (from memory 4.8kgs?) and had dreadful neck dive. The latter is apparently solvable with lightweight tuning pegs but it was ultimately not for me. Others have reported theirs were lighter so per @TheGreek do try the actual one you might buy first.

Thanks @Bobthedog

Yeah sound advice.

I don't mind a heavier bass but neck dive would drive me nuts:)

[Raslee]

2 hours ago, horrorshowbass said:

Hi @Raslee 

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Yes I was eyeing up your sandberg bullet bass, lovely yoke altogether  what's the neck profile on it? 38mm at nut?

I'm still thinking I want a US Fender jazz some day just to see what all the fuss is about but my opinion changes all the time

 

The Bullet is 40mm having just measured it. Nice thin neck depth wise.

I think if you're urging towards a US fender then that's your ticket, 2012-2016's are particularly good second hand wise. Otherwise you'll unlikely be happy with anything else. If you get GAS you'll go through many basses (as i, and many others here, have done), and will probably still wonder what the others were like. When i moved onto Sandberg's having been through literally hundreds of other basses i really thought i'd found the one 'well at least the one manufacturer'...but i still needed a Stingray in my life...and well I recently got a Fender 1974 P....the GAS infliction continues. That said, and having learned on my journey, I would personally take any post 2000 Sandberg over a 2000+ US Fender Jazz standard. Not tried any Fender after 2017 so cannot comment there.

[horrorshowbass]

39 minutes ago, Raslee said:

The Bullet is 40mm having just measured it. Nice thin neck depth wise.

I think if you're urging towards a US fender then that's your ticket, 2012-2016's are particularly good second hand wise. Otherwise you'll unlikely be happy with anything else. If you get GAS you'll go through many basses (as i, and many others here, have done), and will probably still wonder what the others were like. When i moved onto Sandberg's having been through literally hundreds of other basses i really thought i'd found the one 'well at least the one manufacturer'...but i still needed a Stingray in my life...and well I recently got a Fender 1974 P....the GAS infliction continues. That said, and having learned on my journey, I would personally take any post 2000 Sandberg over a 2000+ US Fender Jazz standard. Not tried any Fender after 2017 so cannot comment there.

Yeah did the stingray thing too recently. Ended up with a ray34 and it sounds great. Aggressive and sparkly. My first love is my ibanez so I like a thin neck. Bass direct doing Electra TT for 625 which is decent. Sire v9 is 100 quid cheaper and v7 even cheaper again.

Listened to the only demo of the bullet I could find on YouTube. Sounded immense even with the Delano.

 

[michele]

The Fender Player is a very, very nice instrument.. if I hadn't replaced my Player Jazz with a Roadworn I'd still kicking myself for selling it (because of a momentary Ric infatuation)

Edited April 17, 2021 by michele

[horrorshowbass]

Thread resurrection guys.

I've spotted a lovely Fender Am Pro II body on the stratosphere website. Thinking about getting this and sticking a mex neck on it. That plus tuners and luthier costs would be around 800 quid. Anyone ever done this? Only issue is American pro has 5 bolt neck with fancy cutaway and mex is standard 4 bolt.....

[uk_lefty]

13 hours ago, horrorshowbass said:

Thread resurrection guys.

I've spotted a lovely Fender Am Pro II body on the stratosphere website. Thinking about getting this and sticking a mex neck on it. That plus tuners and luthier costs would be around 800 quid. Anyone ever done this? Only issue is American pro has 5 bolt neck with fancy cutaway and mex is standard 4 bolt.....

Not quite that... I put together my first ever bitsa earlier this year: PJ body custom ordered, fender precision neck, Wilkinson hardware, now has DiMarzio pups. There was a LOT of fettling to do and I'm still tinkering with it. This was supposed to be a hobby over the Christmas break, it's now mid June! What I've got is a left handed bass that you can't buy. The Mexican fender neck from 2018 is lovely, really pleased with it. Just note that when you start buying other bits this is where the frustration starts. I bought two necks prior to the Fender, both had either issues or just plain didn't fit the pocket snug. Basic "fender spec" hardware parts sometimes have ever so slightly wider and/ or longer screws so you can end up having to carefully drill out a bit more or hear cracking noises when you're screwing something in. I'm even on my 3rd set of knobs for this bass just to get a decent fit (check the knobs in the photo, they just had to go). You'll need Mexican fender tuners because they're an odd measurement and even fender replacement spec tuners don't quite fit (luthier had to grind some metal off my Wilkinson so that they all fit... But I wanted black tuners so that's the price I pay). 

All in all if you're trying to recreate the US Fender but from parts I'd look at it the other way and go for an American neck with Mex body, but that's just me. Also, you may never quite get the bass right, so for £800 you may not be getting something any better than a £650 Mexican bass that has a returns policy with the shop and a resale value later. I've sunk so much time, money and effort in to my Bitsa I should have bought a Mexican P bass and had it modified to add DiMarzio PJ pups. Quicker, cheaper and more saleable. 

Having said all that, I'm the only person in the world with this bass and it sounds phenomenal and looks pretty good too, I think. 

Edited June 16, 2021 by uk_lefty

[horrorshowbass]

2 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

Not quite that... I put together my first ever bitsa earlier this year: PJ body custom ordered, fender precision neck, Wilkinson hardware, now has DiMarzio pups. There was a LOT of fettling to do and I'm still tinkering with it. This was supposed to be a hobby over the Christmas break, it's now mid June! What I've got is a left handed bass that you can't buy. The Mexican fender neck from 2018 is lovely, really pleased with it. Just note that when you start buying other bits this is where the frustration starts. I bought two necks prior to the Fender, both had either issues or just plain didn't fit the pocket snug. Basic "fender spec" hardware parts sometimes have ever so slightly wider and/ or longer screws so you can end up having to carefully drill out a bit more or hear cracking noises when you're screwing something in. I'm even on my 3rd set of knobs for this bass just to get a decent fit (check the knobs in the photo, they just had to go). You'll need Mexican fender tuners because they're an odd measurement and even fender replacement spec tuners don't quite fit (luthier had to grind some metal off my Wilkinson so that they all fit... But I wanted black tuners so that's the price I pay). 

All in all if you're trying to recreate the US Fender but from parts I'd look at it the other way and go for an American neck with Mex body, but that's just me. Also, you may never quite get the bass right, so for £800 you may not be getting something any better than a £650 Mexican bass that has a returns policy with the shop and a resale value later. I've sunk so much time, money and effort in to my Bitsa I should have bought a Mexican P bass and had it modified to add DiMarzio PJ pups. Quicker, cheaper and more saleable. 

Having said all that, I'm the only person in the world with this bass and it sounds phenomenal and looks pretty good too, I think. 

@uk_lefty thanks for the input man. Thats a lovely bass, love the grain.

Yeah it's looking more and more expensive, USA body plus postage plus tax is around 600 alone. Then neck and tuners £300 and a luthier to put it all together, £100ish.

Saving 500 quid and having mex neck (not that theres anything wrong with that!)

Itll be a Sire V7 burgundy mist or fender player series me thinks....

[uk_lefty]

40 minutes ago, horrorshowbass said:

Itll be a Sire V7 burgundy mist or fender player series me thinks....

It would be a tough choice between those... Don't rule out a Japanese Fender either (sorry, that wasn't helpful!!) 

[horrorshowbass]

No the MIJs look great too.

I think the sire wins to be honest if I can get one sub £500.

Active preamp, cool finish, rolled fretboard edges. Only downside is resalwe is poor but hopefully won't need to worry about that!!

[stewblack]

Sandberg Electra. 

Amazing instruments. 

[TrevorG]

Now I’ve recently tried a Sire I can say I’ve tried all these bases and they are all great. You won’t beat the fender for the Real Macoy effect but the other two (especially the Sire) will be much more consistent regarding quality control. The Sandberg, to my ears, have a very strong character of their own but you may hear different. The rest is about how they fit in your hands. 

[horrorshowbass]

Thanks Trevor, recently ordered a burgundy mist Sirev7 for 450 quid, excited to get it!!!!

[Raslee]

On 16/06/2021 at 15:21, stewblack said:

Sandberg Electra. 

Amazing instruments. 

+1 Have had most of the basses aforementioned and in my view the Electra is leagues ahead. 

[horrorshowbass]

2 hours ago, Raslee said:

+1 Have had most of the basses aforementioned and in my view the Electra is leagues ahead. 

Maybe next payday

[Fishfacefour]

Does anyone with an electra find that it is neck heavy?

I played a vs4 a few weeks back in a shop and I could hardly keep it on my knee. It sounded immense though and played beautifully apart from the neck dive. 

[horrorshowbass]

Guys, anyone on here think the US Fender necks are worth the extra over the MIM?

I want to own a US fender one day but the prices of the AM PRO II are crazy. 3x a player series!!!!

 

[Supernaut]

18 hours ago, Raslee said:

+1 Have had most of the basses aforementioned and in my view the Electra is leagues ahead. 

Definitely! 

[horrorshowbass]

 

[Bassfingers]

On 16/06/2021 at 15:21, stewblack said:

Sandberg Electra. 

Amazing instruments. 

For the money they are indeed. That Plec'd neck is pure quality. My only reservation with Sandberg is how bright and "modern" the pups seem to be. I have an Electra which I reserve just for slap - it's too bright and decidedly non vintage for my taste. Even with the tone rolled right off.