Baker69

All of our band use LD MEI 1000 G2 wireless systems, we have been more than happy with them to date. 

My first bass was a Wilson Sapphire Bass, it was white with black pickguard(s) and a black headstock. It was quite a nice bass and was styled on a Burns Bass, I think Watkins also brought out a similar model. I should have kept it but for some reason I didn’t see any reason in keeping after I bought a brand new Fender Precision in 1974. 

Here’s a photo of my Sire Marcus Miller P7 5 string.

So far mods are: Chrome knobs replacing the existing cheap black plastic one’s, and a custom-made red tort pickguard which replaced the stock one which was de-laminating. 
 

I’ve also just replaced the stock .022 tone cap for a 0.047 one, which has improved the tone of the bass.

Oh, and I’ve fitted D’Addario strap locks too. 

I drove about 40 miles to their shop once as I had seen a couple of left handed basses advertised on their web site that I was interested in, when I got there I couldn’t find any left handed basses at all and when I asked I was told that they don’t keep the left handed basses at the shop and if I want to see any I would have to give them prior notice so they could get them there.

It’s a relatively small place and I can appreciate display space is a bit limited, but they only ever have a very small number of lefties. I was a bit disappointed but ended up buying some strings and a couple of other accessories. 

I’ve used a Line 6 G50 system for quite a few years now, it’s been brilliant and as it works on 2.4 gigahertz there’s absolutely no loss of tone with the signal and no interference whatsoever from any other devices or lighting etc. I tried a Sennheiser wireless system the once and IMHO it did affect the tone. Battery life is really good too, I use Panasonic Eneloop rechargeable batteries in mine.

With the G50 the receiver is of metal construction and is very robust. Some argue that the cable from the receiver to the bass can fail, I bought a replacement on EBay and it has been faultless and still have the original cable as well.

I understand that other Line 6 wireless systems are available now, not sure if the G50 is still available but well worth getting one if they still out there.

Yes I remember the shop (and the guy you mentioned), I think his name might have been Gary?  I bought my Warwick Streamer from there. I think he works at (or manages) PMT in Birmingham now?

Didn’t they move premises away from the arches and  to near the Alex Theatre?

On 11/12/2021 at 14:23, Dood said:

 

The GZR is a bit special. Great P style pickup! (I’ve not tried the PJ yet)

Brilliant pickups, I swapped out 1/4 pounders for these on my P Bass and they’re superb! 
 

If EMG brought out a 5 string set I’d buy some right away for my Sire P7.

I’ve only ever owned two Fender cables (both received with new Jazz Basses), both were crap and broke within a very short space of time.

On 23/09/2020 at 12:37, JPJ said:

So a few weeks ago I was sitting noodling on my Sire V when I noticed what appeared to be a protective film lifting from the scratch plate next to the bell plate. Thinking I mustn’t have removed this when I bought the bass, I foolishly pulled it and actually removed the top glossy layer of the tortoise shell leaving a dull lifeless brown shell pattern underneath.
After searching online for a replacement and trying both Fender USA and Fender Mexico replacements with no success, I bought some BWB scratch plate sheet material and made my own. It’s not perfect, but I think the black looks better than the tort😎

You may have read my post on the Forum somewhere about the same issue I had with my P7?

The pickguard was de-laminating in several areas, especially around the screw holes. I bought the bass from Thomann who very kindly gave me a Sire Marcus Miller gig bag as compensation. I was going to buy a gig bag anyway so with the money I bought a replacement pickguard from Jack’s Instrument Services in Manchester.

The replacement red tort pickguard looks better than the stock one. The black pickguard does look nice on yours though, but on mine I think the red tort looks nicer with the white paint finish.

 

I fitted a replacement pickguard on my P7 (the stock one was de-laminating), and I also changed the control knobs for chrome one’s. The pickguard was from Jack’s Instrument Services in Manchester, I’m really pleased with it and it looks a lot better than the original. (See photo).

I wasn’t keen at all on the stock black plastic control knobs, did Marcus really sign off on those??

The only other thing I would change (at the moment) is the string tree, I like the look of the one’s you’ve fitted and shown on your photos. With regards to the tuners and bridge I think the stock items are fine, not 100% sure on the pickups, even though the bass has a “P” split pickup at the neck, to my ears it doesn’t quite capture that Precision Bass sound? Anyway I’m leaving those for the moment, but if ever EMG bring out a Geezer PJ set for 5 string basses I would get a set without hesitation! I’ve got some on my Precision Bass and they’re brilliant (IMHO).

There was a small strip of neoprene under mine, but it wasn’t thick enough to raise the pickups so I added some sponge material on top. I was surprised there wasn’t any springs under the screws. 

I have seen various posts criticising the hardware on Sire Basses, especially the tuners, but in my personal experience with my 2nd Generation P7 5 string is that it stays in tune far better than my Fender American Professional! 

On 08/02/2018 at 09:46, NancyJohnson said:

You do have the option with a Sansamp of switching between line and instrument for the XLR output which will alter the XLR output strength and ideally the Sansamp should be at the end of your signal chain.  You can always tweak the level down as well (it's not always about getting the hottest signal possible into the desk).

I've never been a fan of sticking any pre-stage into the front of an amp either.  Your Trace gear will have it's own tonal characteristics (and from memory the whole SMX fascia it pretty much there to shape and filter what hits the poweramp side of the head).  All you're doing is loading the Sansamp pre-stage output on top of the Trace pre-stage, so things will get muddy.  Neither the Trace or Sansamp operate on a true bypass format, so both units will work together and generally not for the best. 

There's an argument that for best results, the Sansamp should just go into the effects return on any amp (just use the 1/4" output jack), thus bypassing the pre-stage.  (You may need to put a jack plug, or one of this mini-jack to 1/4" headphone connectors, into one of the amplifier's front inputs to facilitate this.)  This way the Sansamp will control your entire tone. I know there's a lot of controls that will become obsolete, but try it, you might be surprised.

Yeah, I’ve got a Sansamp it’s the VT Bass DI model and it works extremely well through my Ashdown rig, as you say go into the Return socket on the amp to bypass the TE’s own preamp and (with mine anyway) plug a 1/4” headphone adaptor into the front input socket. Use the XLR on the Sansamp to the desk not the TE’s XLR out. 

Superb sound, I used to hate hearing the sound of my bass through the PA but it sounds really good now. So now I have a really good on stage sound plus I have confidence that a good sound is going out front.

As it’s a Trace Elliott I would turn off the Pre Shape button as this will affect the sound.

Can anyone please tell me where you can get Left Handed MM Stingray 5 pickguards here in the UK?