Marcus Miller V7 Alder-4 LPB 2nd Gen

This Marcus Miller V7 Alder-4 LPB 2nd Gen bass guitar recently purchased as a backup bass. After the fast delivery by Thomann the well-packed bass I had first admired its appearance. Unbelievable what a very well finished bass! just perfect in every way. Beautiful body color and matching headstock. The strings were a little on the high side for me, but that is personal. After a small adjustment, the bass is connected to my bass amplifier. What a great sound comes from this bass! Thanks to the extensive pre-amp very many setting possibilities and thus producing any desired sound. On the internet you can find many difference tests between this bass and the much more expensive Fender Jazz basses with no or hardly any difference. I myself have had many Fender Jazz and Precision basses in the past but this Marcus Miller V7 is the winner in my opinion. The only thing I didn't really like are those plactic black buttons, which I immediately replaced with a few nice chrome buttons. All in all a big 10 for this bass and I am very happy with it myself. I can hardly wait until the next performance with my band and I will use it immediately.

so i needed a replacement for my old jazz bass. hearing the reviews, the sire seemed the logical choice, plus i was having trouble locating a sensibly priced jazz with the correct neck profile. hated the headstock, but it ticked every other box, so i pulled the trigger

out of the box, setup was ok. not sent strung through body (like, who does that if the option is there??) but numerous finish flaws initially created a bad impression. the top coat was utterly smooth and shiny but in the *cough* ice blue metallic finish *cough* you can plainly see sanding scratches - almost as if finishing the metallic paint underneath was missed entirely. a few noticeable dings here an there, nothing major

the fretwork was utterly awful. Rolled edges? just a gimmicky way to get out of finishing frets properly. not a single fret that wasn't sharp. not a single fret end that was polished. rolled edges seems just like they fretted the board first then rounded the edges with a long file and left it at that

the pearl blocks seem to be some kind of sticker embedded in the board and the epoxied over? maybe they are just real thin and glued badly in place? i cant quite decide. pearl it isn't.

too many knobs crammed into a tiny control plate (thanks lobster). my phat fingers cannot grasp these tiny things without altering the gravity of the earth due to the enormous bass boost the EQ provides.

which brings me to the single redeeming feature - it sounds amazing. passive its a great standard issue jazz tone. add the pre amp, and it all just goes a couple of notches better. the pickups and the pre amp are wonderful together. one of the best sounding basses i own. and if i'm being honest, i can kinda forgive the poor finish and quality control because it just sounds so good.

in conclusion the sire isn't all its made out to be. the cheaper ones maybe are great value, but on this 'slightly more expensive' model not so much. The irony is, the headstock shape bothers me the least.

Better than a squier? maybe. but if only Thomann could fix the dumb neck profile they put on their HB jazz basses, they could probably give Sire as well as Fender a spanking

This bass looks amazing. I get asked about it all the time. I'm a guitarist so my reference for what makes a bass good is limited to just one other Squire P-bass. But it sounds great to me and the EQ can make it sound how you want it to in the mix. Once you've got used to having sweepable mids on a bass you will wonder how you ever did without it. It did come poorly setup though, saddles ridiculously high, being a guitarist I know what to do, but a complete beginner may not. Also there was some very minor discolouration near the nut where it looked like someone had overglued the binding after the white stain was applied to the maple on the neck. It's only small and very minor. I've had worse defects on two thousand quid guitars. The matching headstock, ebony fretboard and blue sparkle finish all look great in real life. I'm also impressed by the quality of the lettering and chrome parts. They look expensive and the photos don't do it justice. The control plate is a bit chaotic looking but it all makes sense and I don't see how else they could have designed it and kept those features.

I was looking to buy an active bass, with a preference for a J style bass. I need it for live gigs. The rolled fretboard edges on the Gen 2 models really piqued my interest. I looked far and wide and can't find anything that sounds, looks or feels this good at this price point. It is unreal value for what you get. Its quality cannot be argued with at this price it feels and plays like a €1K plus bass. Pick ups sound great. Fair enough, it might not be as well finished as a custom shop Fender but for this money it is an unbeatable value package. The only thing I'd see as a negative is the paint had a tiny blemish on the side where no one can even see.