lemmywinks Posted December 23, 2023 Share Posted December 23, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, Maude said: I confused as to how they're all Marcus Miller signatures. The idea behind the original Marcus Miller collaboration was for an affordable yet high quality bass with a great preamp that students could gig and record with, Marcus uses one every now and then (the other bassist in his band uses one regularly) but still gigs with his Fender sig most of the time, however IIRC he did spec the preamp and may have had some input into the pickup voicing. Essentially they were a bog standard Dame with in house hardware and different electronics, I assume these new basses are just a different flavour of the same ethos rather than being a lower tier copy of an artist's instrument. I think it's quite a novel way to do a sig, definitely better than the lower tier ones that an artist will never use (how many gigs have Troy Sanders or james Johnston done with their Squier sigs?) which are just standard cheapies with a bumped price tag. I'm not a fan of signature basses really but I can see the value in getting a prominent recording artist to spec things like preamp eq points and board radius etc. I think Marcus Miller also did the same for his Markbass head and people thought that was a big improvement over the stock eq. Edited December 23, 2023 by lemmywinks 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted December 25, 2023 Share Posted December 25, 2023 Not a fan of the Sire headstock, but despite that I thought the Z3/Z7 basses looked pretty good if you remove the oval scratchplate. This one would tempt me, and the one in 'rosegold' too, yum. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted December 25, 2023 Share Posted December 25, 2023 On 18/12/2023 at 18:44, Machines said: Can't wait for the influencer reviews totally ignoring the literal elephant in the room. Shame this, definitely a missed opportunity. What is it? I've been thinking a few minutes but I don't get it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted December 25, 2023 Author Share Posted December 25, 2023 1 minute ago, mcnach said: What is it? I've been thinking a few minutes but I don't get it If it makes you feel any better, I don't know what it is either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted December 25, 2023 Share Posted December 25, 2023 On 19/12/2023 at 17:41, Bleat said: The Z reminds me of the Ibanez RDGR basses. Yes, but at least Sire seemed to put the MM pickup at the 'right' spot I had a Lakland 55-02 because I could not find a xx-76. These days I don't mind the string spacing being <19mm (in fact, 17.5 or 18mm seem perfect for me now). If they don't weigh as much as Pluto and the neck profile feels good, I can see one of these in my collection. I have a Ray35 but it's really heavy. The Hogmanay gig is going to be tiring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted December 25, 2023 Share Posted December 25, 2023 9 minutes ago, mcnach said: Yes, but at least Sire seemed to put the MM pickup at the 'right' spot I had a Lakland 55-02 because I could not find a xx-76. These days I don't mind the string spacing being <19mm (in fact, 17.5 or 18mm seem perfect for me now). If they don't weigh as much as Pluto and the neck profile feels good, I can see one of these in my collection. I have a Ray35 but it's really heavy. The Hogmanay gig is going to be tiring. Hmm, looking at the relative dimensions of the pickup and polepiece arrangement... it looks like it'll be 16mm spacing. Boooh. I guess it won't tempt me anymore, then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonno1981 Posted December 26, 2023 Share Posted December 26, 2023 Keeping their lawyers busy aren’t they! I wonder how they’ll market passing these off as vintage inspired or something. Pretty blatant, but no different to many other manufacturers, or to their original j and p types. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted December 26, 2023 Share Posted December 26, 2023 2 hours ago, jonno1981 said: Keeping their lawyers busy aren’t they! I wonder how they’ll market passing these off as vintage inspired or something. Pretty blatant, but no different to many other manufacturers, or to their original j and p types. Re: "vintage" Well, it's been 47 years and a bit since the Stingray was released into the wild... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted December 26, 2023 Share Posted December 26, 2023 6 minutes ago, mcnach said: Re: "vintage" Well, it's been 47 years and a bit since the Stingray was released into the wild... Only 3 years to go until EBMM really ratchet up the price with a bunch of 50th Anniversary Models. Maybe a Sire isn't such a bad idea after all... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted December 26, 2023 Share Posted December 26, 2023 On 25/12/2023 at 13:37, mcnach said: Not a fan of the Sire headstock, but despite that I thought the Z3/Z7 basses looked pretty good if you remove the oval scratchplate. This one would tempt me, and the one in 'rosegold' too, yum. I like the body shape - reminiscent of the Lakland. Not keen on the headstock or this blue but I'm sure it must be available in natural/ white/ black. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy777 Posted December 26, 2023 Share Posted December 26, 2023 1 hour ago, TheGreek said: I like the body shape - reminiscent of the Lakland. Not keen on the headstock or this blue but I'm sure it must be available in natural/ white/ black. That’s exactly what I thought - basically looks identical to the /01 & /02 (and /94) body shape, it’s the lower cutaway which is quite distinctive to those Lakland basses IMO, I’d think if Lakland did want to get litigious about it then there’s a pretty obvious bit of plagiarism on the body design from Sire 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 On 22/12/2023 at 17:21, AndyTravis said: I think Ernie Ball will pull the plug on the 3+1 Well, that was eerily prescient... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 50 minutes ago, neepheid said: Well, that was eerily prescient... Hey, I’m just a man…a man with a particular set of skills… I’m just working on next weeks lottery numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bam Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Have you seen these listed on thomann now? There's even a mint and burgundy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 If they’ve changed the headstock on the godin A4 alike. I’m goosed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raj_Shredder Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 On 20/12/2023 at 11:04, Raj_Shredder said: I thought that Ernie Ball had a patent on the 3+1 MM Headstock? Are there any other mass produced basses out there, other than EBMM, using the 3+1? And they have mysteriously shifted to a four inline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 13 minutes ago, Raj_Shredder said: And they have mysteriously shifted to a four inline. Scroll up a little... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 On 03/03/2024 at 21:50, AndyTravis said: If they’ve changed the headstock on the godin A4 alike. I’m goosed. meh not so much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBass Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 Andertons is showing these as being in stock on the 31st July. If my current project has legs I might have a look at one of those Z7 fivers. I can't see any mention of string spacing anywhere; has anyone else got a clue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted May 10 Author Share Posted May 10 Couldn't tell you about string spacing - email Sire? I take back what I said earlier in the thread - I'm drifting towards a Z7 in burgundy. Yeah, right, it's pink. Anyhoo, it has grown on me and dat ebony board is also calling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBass Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 (edited) E-mail sent. From the Sire website, it would appear that the Z3s have a mahogany body, a maple neck and fretboard and 2 band EQ pre amp and a single MM style humbucker. The coloured Z7s have Alder bodies and maple necks. The 'natural' finish model is made of Swamp Ash and has a roasted maple neck. The fretboard material varies depending on the body colour. The Z7s have a 3 band EQ preamp and an extra J style pup at the neck. This pup is noise cancelling. Both models have rolled edge fretboards, a 45mm bone nut and a string retainer that covers all 5 strings. Neither model appear to have lightweight tuners or a passive option with the pre amp. Both models are string through body; I presume there is a top load option too but I can't tell from the photos. I'm interested, depending on weight, neck dive and string spacing. I like the look, except for the headstock. Edited May 10 by BillyBass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted May 10 Author Share Posted May 10 (edited) 10 minutes ago, BillyBass said: E-mail sent. From the Sire website, it would appear that the Z3s have a mahogany body, a maple neck and fretboard and 2 band EQ pre amp and a single MM style humbucker. The coloured Z7s have Alder bodies and maple necks. The 'natural' finish model is made of Swamp Ash and has a roasted maple neck. The fretboard material varies depending on the body colour. The Z7s have a 3 band EQ preamp and an extra J style pup at the neck. This pup is noise cancelling. Both models have rolled edge fretboards, a 45mm bone nut and a string retainer that covers all 5 strings. Neither model appear to have lightweight tuners or a passive option with the pre amp. I'm interested, depending on weight, neck dive and string spacing. I like the look, except for the headstock. The controls (for the Z7) are listed as "Volume/Tone, Blender, Treble, Middle/Freq, Bass" - the Marcus Heritage-3 with Middle Frequency Control has a passive mode, on the V7 there's a toggle switch for passive/active, I guess on the Z7 they've hidden it on a push/pull for aesthetic/control plate space considerations. Z3 has no passive mode AFAIK. It does have a 3 band EQ though. Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass. Edited May 10 by neepheid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyBass Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 13 minutes ago, neepheid said: The controls (for the Z7) are listed as "Volume/Tone, Blender, Treble, Middle/Freq, Bass" - the Marcus Heritage-3 with Middle Frequency Control has a passive mode, on the V7 there's a toggle switch for passive/active, I guess on the Z7 they've hidden it on a push/pull for aesthetic/control plate space considerations. Z3 has no passive mode AFAIK. It does have a 3 band EQ though. Volume, Treble, Mid, Bass. Good spot. The Z3 seems to have a fixed mid band 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemmywinks Posted May 10 Share Posted May 10 2 hours ago, neepheid said: Couldn't tell you about string spacing - email Sire? I take back what I said earlier in the thread - I'm drifting towards a Z7 in burgundy. Yeah, right, it's pink. Anyhoo, it has grown on me and dat ebony board is also calling. That's one of their better colours IMO, regret not grabbing a burgundy mist V7 when Andertons were selling the old Gen2 stock off on the cheap. They also had the lake placid blue on sale as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted May 10 Author Share Posted May 10 1 minute ago, lemmywinks said: That's one of their better colours IMO, regret not grabbing a burgundy mist V7 when Andertons were selling the old Gen2 stock off on the cheap. They also had the lake placid blue on sale as well. I wish Sire would roll out Champagne Gold to more of their models, that's a lovely pale gold, not so yellow. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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