Sire Marcus Miller M7 5 2nd Gen

First impression

after unpacking the instrument:

Pros:

• The bass guitar was well adjusted, it could be played quite well immediately.

• The neck was straight, resp. evenly curved, with perfectly aligned frets, pleasant surface finish (matt), nice fingerboard made of medium quality ebony.

• The body has a nice glossy finish.

• The jack looks nice, is subtle, without a "plate" around, the cable holds firmly in it.

• The bass produces a rich "dry" sound.

Cons:

• Control knobs

  • The material and design of the knobs is very cheap and does not correspond to the level of the instrument.

  • Some knobs have no or only a slight indication of the central position.

  • Almost every screws and bolts had to be tightened - tuning machines, even the screws holding the bridge and the screws holding the neck to the body. It's not exactly a defect, but it surprised me a little.

  • There are only four screws holding the neck to the body, while five-screw instruments are presented on the Internet. Maybe it's some subgeneration and I hope that the four screws will last, but I would like five a little more.

• Cosmetics

  • There is a small cosmetic defect on the front plate, which I would really blame for a premium instrument, but I don't mind here.

  • The neck is not completely matched to the front plate - the radius of the corner of the neck attached to the front plate of the body is different than the radius of the relevant part of the body. It is probably a small production lack of this particular piece. It is not significant from the function point of view, but...

  • The ash body is glued from three pieces, each with a completely different look and structure, simply from randomly selected pieces of wood. Again, it is not important and it can only be seen from behind, but it contrasts with high-level design of wooden cover plates for electronics and batteries as presented by the manufacturer. The pictures on the Internet also show much nicer bodies.

  • The tross rod cover is also wooden, but it was partially broken off one corner probably by overtightening one of three screws. Someone tried to glue it, it holds, but it doesn't look nice, even if you notice it only when viewed from a great distance.

The overall impression

I must say that, according to the first impression, I would not classify the instrument as a premium one, however, most of my criticism is directed at cosmetics. Well, the price is not so high, but I'm sure that the instrument of any price can be made without lacks found on this piece. I'm looking forward to the sound and playability which, I hope, overrides my accusations.

Adjustment and practical use

Pros:

• The neck fits perfectly in my hand, the satin finish is comfortable.

• The neck is completely free of defects, it is symmetrical and the neck releif can be easily adjusted.

• Cavities for batteries and electronics are clean, wires are well arranged.

• The bridge allows you to attach the strings both through the body and/or directly into the bridge (top-load). It brings the possibility of using strings of different lengths. For attachment through the body, it must be super long scale strings, but when top-loaded, a normal long scale strings (34” scale) are enough. Yo, you can use any strings incl. those not available in super long scale length.

• The instrument weight is standard (4.1 kg).

Cons:

• The bass is not so well balanced. It's a bit heavy on a head side.

• The battery cover is held by four screws. I would prefer a cover without the necessity of screwing anything, but the batteries will not be replaced so often, so...

• The bridge

  • The threaded holes in the bridge stones are relatively shallow and related screws too long, so I was not able to tune octaves properly. I decided to shorten the screws. Then I found out that the some screws were even bent, so I decided to replace it by another ones. Fortunately, I found suitable screws in my home supply. But I did not expect such a need for DIY. This solution is generally not very practical, the adjusting screws must be different for each string and even the springs maintaining the set distance are of different lengths.

  • The holes in the bridge, through which pass the strings when attached through the body, have relatively sharp edges. Some strings rest on these edges, and especially for the thinner ones, it seems to me like a place where the strings could break. No string broke for me, but I'd rather see the edges of the holes rounded or chamfered.

• The absence of a clearly defined center position of some control knobs is starting to bother me more and more.

• The volume knob is too close to the neck and is high, so when playing more dynamically (e.g. slap), I hit it sometimes with my hand.

• The inlays on the side of the fingerboard are relatively tiny and are not very visible under more intimate lighting.

Summary of impressions from adjustment and ergonomics

The bass was easy to adjust and fell perfectly into both hands. The possibility to use strings of different lengths is welcome. I'm not happy with the position of volume/tone knob, but the ergonomics is overall well. The bass is a little heavy on the head, but not so much. The biggest dissapointment is the bridge.

Sound

Pros:

• The bass guitar offers a lot of sound options, I especially appreciate the possibility of switching modes (single-coil, serial, parallel) for each pickup separately and their combination.

• Pickups produce a very nice sound covering a really rich frequency spectrum, the sound is excellent and well usable in all settings. There is a significant sound difference between the individual pickup modes (serial humbucker, parallel humbucker, single-coil).

• Even the bridge pickup plays very well on its own, which is not always the rule.

• The bass guitar plays even without batteries and the passive sound is nice and usable.

• The preamp is very low-noise.

• Preamp controls are efficient and well "tuned", great is the control of parametric mids.

Cons:

• The instrument has a very long sustain, which I should evaluate as a positive, but the higher harmonics will soon prevail here and the sound goes into a kind of feedback and the sustain becomes practically infinite. This may not be desirable and the strings must be consistently muted.

The overall impression of the sound

I can say that the sound of the bass guitar is very good. In terms of sound variability, this bass has practically no competition. I really didn't find any other instrument with such possibilities. It fulfilled my expectations.

The result of my decision on whether to keep the bass

Despite what I wrote in the sound evaluation, my overall conclusion is not optimistic. After some time of using the bass guitar, some of its problems, which I initially considered marginal, proved to be annoying. None of the problems are fatal and making the bass unusable, but in the end I decided to return the bass. I am simply convinced that even much cheaper instrument can be made better. This is based on my personal experience with other instruments. So I returned the bass and my final decision was not to try another piece of the same bass, but to buy another instrument - Schecter SLS Elite-5.

Conclusion

Sire Marcus Miller M7 bass guitar in the second generation is a conceptually exceptional instrument that has no competition, especially in terms of sound variability. If maximum sound variability is your main criterion, then you will not find a better solution, and increasing the budget for its purchase will not help you find a similarly equipped instrument. But you have to be lucky to get well made piece.

Note: The bass guitar is available in a few color variants, which are still tied to the body material used. I liked the design in a natural color, which meant buying a variant with an ash body, which is significantly more expensive than the variant with an alder body, while I dare say that it will not be listened on the sound. So if you want to save money, it is possible to buy a bass with an alder body, but then you have to choose from different color variants than those offered with an ash body. I'm talking about five-string versions, I didn't check if the situation is the same for four-string.

Specs

In the table below you will find the complete specifications of the bass guitar, including a comparison with other instruments that I have had or have dealt with:

February 2021