Marcus Miller V5 Alder-4 CGM LH

Sono possessore di vari bassi di fascia alta (Precision americano, MM Sting Ray, Rickenbacker 4003, etc. ), tra i quali però mancava un Jazz bass. Non volendo spendere una cifra importante per un Fender Made in USA, mi sono orientato su questo Sire dopo un’attenta ricerca sul web e tra conoscenti che ne posseggono uno. Devo dire che ogni aspettativa è stata ampiamente superata, lo strumento è rifinito molto bene, il suono è eccezionale, ottima la suonabilità della tastiera, le meccaniche belle solide, i pick up piuttosto silenziosi. La sensazione tra le mani è decisamente quella di basso pro, tanto che al primo live il fonico dopo il soundcheck mi ha fatto i complimenti per il suono, definito sulle basse e ricco sulle altre frequenze. Ho sempre acquistato strumenti di fascia alta, ma questa volta devo riconoscere che nel caso di Sire con qualche centinaia di euro si porta a casa uno strumento con tutti gli attributi per suonare a qualsiasi livello.
Ultima considerazione: sono felice di aver scelto questo Sire anche perché è esteticamente molto bello (sulla forma della paletta si può discutere, ok) e da mancino sono da sempre frustrato dalla politica di Fender che limita la scelta (non solo estetica) a poche varianti. Ma in questo caso c’è forma e sostanza, davvero un ottimo acquisto.

I think it's going to be much quicker if I outline what the bad bits are of this Bass:

1. The plastic potentiometer knobs feel a bit cheap.
2. There was a _TINY_ blob of lacquer on the back of the neck. Probably smaller than a pinhead This is just something that would have easily been missed by a QC visual check, but I could feel it with my thumb after playing for a few minutes, so maybe they need to hire more lefty bass players in the quality control dept. Anyway, the offending item was soon paired off (carefully) using a sharp penknife blade to leave the neck flawless - so no harm done.
3. The setup wasn't quite right for me out of the box (the band I play for tune down a step, so it was never going to be, realistically). But it was damn close.

Now the good bits:

Everything else.

I could go on about the near perfect fret job, rolled fingerboard edges, the straight, stable and beautifully finished neck, the gorgeous looks, the classic Jazz bass zing sound of those pickups, or all the excellent design touches like the angled neck joint, matching black pickup mount screws or the string-through-the-body option. But I won't. All I will say is that I am very happy with this bass, and I think anyone looking for a great passive J-bass for under 500 GBP is going to be very pleased with it as well. The only issue with buying one right now might be demand outstripping supply. I had to wait a good few weeks for mine and these are still only available as back orders from Thomann - a sure sign they're flying out of the warehouses, so you might not want to procrastinate.

Some online reviews have mentioned neck dive from the 'heavy' tuners on these basses. I'm not sure if Sire have stepped up there or if maybe my standards are lower, but I've found no hint of this when seated, or playing on a strap.

I've not bought Sire before, but I am now firmly a fan. They don't charge excessively for left-hand models, and have more LH models to chose from than their competitors. Thinking about that (that Sire has pretty much nailed the lefty bass-player market) you begin to see why they're getting kind of hard to source.