Bassic Review – Sire Marcus Miller V7 Vintage and V5-24 Jazz Basses

Sire and Marcus Miller 

Marcus Miller is well known for his style and signature bass tone helped no less by his custom signature bass line made by Fender back in 1998. In an exciting collaboration sealed back in 2015, Sire USA and top session ace Marcus Miller designed the first V series basses with a shared vision and love for music and musical instruments.

Quoting the Sire website, “…the brand is forever honoured to have Marcus Miller on their team …. and seeing the potential in every individual by providing quality and accessible tools, in the form of Sire’s guitars, is the foundation of Sire’s relationship with Miller.”

[If you are a bassist and for some unfortunate reason, you are unaware of Marcus Miller’s colossal body of work and catalogue of music, I urge you to find time to listen to his discography!]

I am, of course, excited to see what Sire instruments are all about, close up and in detail. So, on to this review. I have been kindly loaned not one, but four, basses from Sire’s UK distributor and official shop outlet, Anderton’s (https://www.andertons.co.uk). In this review, we are looking at the exciting V7 Vintage (ash) and the brand-new V5-24, a 24-fret Jazz bass that delivers all of that tasty ‘70s vibe and tone, with an extended range and some helpful accoutrements. I also have P5 and P5R, Precision-style basses that I will review in a separate article.

Both basses that I am reviewing are second-generation models, and the models here come with upgraded pickups: the Marcus Vintage-J Revolution Jazz Bass set. The V7 Vintage and other active models feature the Sire Heritage 3 preamplifier for their onboard electronics.

Let’s take a look at the V7 Vintage first and it’s specifications:

Sire V7 Vintage Ash

The Sire V7 Vintage bass features a classic ‘70s Jazz bass outline and sound. The V7 models are available in several colour options, including Natural, Tobacco Sunburst, White Blonde, and Bright Red Metallic on a swamp ash body, or Tobacco Sunburst, Antique White, Black, and Bright Red Metallic on an alder body. Five-string and left-handed models are also available, which is brilliant news for us bassists, as well as fretless options across Sire’s product range.

With the bass on my lap, immediately noticeable, the maple neck has a fast, slick gloss-finished C profile. A showstopper for me is Sire’s new “edgeless” rolled fingerboard. A rounding of the neck edges creates such a comfortable playing surface for hands of any size; an absolute delight, and something I don’t ever want to go without on an instrument, even at this welcome price point.

The maple-only fingerboard option on the V7 Vintage has a 7.25″ radius and 2mm vintage frets. It is nicely bound on both bass and treble sides, with contrasting black binding down its maple edges, which I think looks really eye-catching and classy under the glassy gloss finish.

The standard 20-fret 34″ scale is familiar under the fingers, with carefully dressed frets for great low action straight out of the box. For me, this is indicative of great attention to final setup. Action and relief were superb straight away, though the nut slots were cut slightly high from the factory on this particular example. This is easily remedied by a competent technician, though. Whilst we’re up at the headstock, we are treated to four open-gear tuning keys, and the nut in question is a 38mm length, in keeping with the “Jazz profile.”

Moving on to the V7’s tone, the resonant swamp ash body balances well with the pickups, which pack an ample output, while retaining single-coil clarity. The passive J Revolution pickups are situated in the ‘70s spacing position, where the bridge pickup is slightly closer to the bridge, versus the standard ‘60s configuration. There is a subtle difference in tone and completely down to taste, as the ‘60s position also sounds fantastic to my ear! The V7 Vintage has a master volume control stacked on a passive tone in dual-concentric configuration, and, rather than having a second volume knob for what would be the bridge pickup, the harness features a pickup balance control, instead.

Electronics on the Vintage V7 and other active models in the Sire range come courtesy of the Heritage 3 preamplifier. The internal boards are neatly arranged with tidy electronics and soldering, mounted in this case to the Jazz Bass metal control plate. Powered by two 9-volt batteries stowed away in the compartment on the back of the bass, the preamplifier is incredibly powerful. There is plenty of cut and boost on tap for each of the equalisation controls, namely active Bass, Treble and Mid frequencies. The Mid also has the bonus of being semi-parametric, with a frequency ring to dial in the exact frequency centre that the cut and boost acts upon. Like the equalisation, there is also a centre “click” detent and this centres the frequency sweep at 600Hz. In general use, I also noted that when the system is brought out of “passive” mode, even with the tone controls set to “zero,” or, “not acting on the signal,” the preamplifier still exhibits an added richness to the sound. It may just be a little gain, but to my ear, on my system, it feels like there’s something else being added, too! Whatever it is, I’d say it was classic Marcus Miller tone!

The EQ “bypass” setting offers a classic passive ‘70s Jazz Bass tone, which on the V7 Vintage still holds its own. I have played basses elsewhere that felt a bit like the preamplifier was there to make up for something missing, whereas the overall tone of the pickups is encouraging here.

Hardware details like the 3-ply pick guard, vintage spiral bridge saddles and open-gear tuning keys reinforce the vintage aesthetic, but I love that the V7 vintage can mount the strings through the body and has a modern gently contoured neck heel. There’s a balance to be had when combining vintage with modern design techniques, and I am pleased to see that Sire have done away with unnecessary bulk rather than just copying well-trodden vintage design paths.

At its UK pricing, I feel the V7 Vintage offers fantastic value for money. The wood grain on this example is stunning and, although swamp ash is usually noted for being a lighter wood, this bass offers a reassuring mass to it again reminiscent of ‘70s models. Its acoustic tone certainly sounds solid to me!

In closing, this bass delivers exceptional vintage Jazz Bass tones and playability for the price. The V7 Vintage nails that elusive ‘70s vibe in looks, feel, and sound. It’s truly difficult to put down.

Sire Marcus Miller V5 24-Fret

The Sire Marcus Miller V5 24-Fret 4-String Bass Guitar builds on Sire’s reputation for quality, accessible bass guitars. The Sire Marcus Miller V5-24 provides enhanced upper register access for soaring bass lines, soloing and chordal work. Unlike the V7 Vintage, the V5-24 is only available with an alder body. The lightweight North American alder body example here again produces a lively acoustic tone.

On the V5-24 we are treated to not just a maple neck, but a roasted maple neck! If nothing else, definitely a welcome look, especially swapping out the glossy finish of the V7 Vintage with a smooth satin finish. The fast C profile neck shape and 9.5” rosewood fingerboard radius facilitates rapid playing across the 34″ scale length. Again the “edgeless” rolled fingerboard is bound, and on this model has a cream binding.

I found that initially I gravitated more towards this model over the V7 Vintage, in terms of playability, especially as the 24 2.4mm medium frets combine with the rolled fingerboard edges for comfortable, virtuoso performance all over the rosewood fingerboard. I play other basses with a 9.5” radius, garnering a pleasant feeling of familiarity that makes me want to keep playing and experimenting. Square block markers close out the look on both basses, leaving no doubt about where you are when navigating the fretboard. Side markers contrast against the bass neck binding.

With the body in focus, the bass’s contoured heel is shallower than expected, which combined with the extended fretboard creates the illusion of greater length. Further enhancing playability, the neck mounts direct to the body without a traditional neck plate, favouring neck screw inserts, instead, reducing overall thickness and obstruction when playing higher positions.

The thoughtfully sculpted body contours continue this philosophy, with an extended lower bout carve for fretting hand clearance. A torso carve makes for a comfortable playing position, as found on the V7 and all Sire models.

When amplified, the all-passive instrument again greets us with its pleasing vintage-inspired Jazz Bass vibe. Two Marcus Vintage-J Revolution pickups deliver that classic J-bass character again in the ‘70s position. Controls remain simple, with individual master volume controls for each pickup plus a treble roll-off tone control. Like the V7, in my video I demonstrate various pickup sounds and I am happy to report that even passive, I wasn’t left wanting when running in to my studio set up. That said, I can imagine this bass would be an absolute beast with the Heritage 3 preamplifier on board!!!!

The Marcus Miller Vintage S bridge features spiral saddles reminiscent of ‘60s instruments, differing from the smoother block bridges of earlier Sire models. Although I’m a big fan of chunky rounded quick-release bridges, I actually found this feature a welcome inclusion. Notably, the saddle screws don’t protrude to avoid palm irritation during playing. This attention to detail often missed reminds me that Sire are paying attention to what makes a great playing and comfortable instrument! Certainly, in my view it provides an enjoyable performance experience.

Finally, both the V7 Vintage and V5 24 ship complete with an optional chrome Jazz Bass pickup cover for an even more vintage aesthetic should you wish to install it. For its balance of virtuoso modern playability and classic passive tone, the Sire V5 24 represents excellent value while meeting the needs of adventurous bassists. Imagine the difficulty I now have of letting these basses return back to Anderton’s!