Fender Player Plus Jazz 5 or Sire Gen 2 V7 - Must Choose!

I had to make a choice between a metallic burgundy Sire Gen 2 V7 and an opal sparkle Fender Player Plus 5 string bass guitar as a Christmas present for my daughter. I ordered the Sire first and then thought the Player Plus Jazz would be better so I ordered that. With both basses in hand I was able to compare both of them side by side. Here I go over some of the differences and why I picked one over the other. The basses were played through an old SWR Super Redhead and recorded with the built in mics on a Zoom H4n. In the end, color was the biggest deciding factor because they are both great basses. Please like and subscribe. Thanks!

#Fender
#Sire
#5stringbass
#Marcusmiller

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[bassheadjazz]

Pacing of this video is perfect, talking quick and cutting to examples. First time I can remember not feeling like I have to scroll halfway into the video to find the info I want.

[bigbass]

GREAT, comprehensive review! I am a Luthier and repairman, 50 years experience, and a bit more, as a bassist as well.. I'm 70 now. One of my repair clients has several Sire 5's. I've worked on all of them. I think they are excellent basses- especially for the price. I make my own 5's wide spacing, 19mm bridge, and 2"- 2.125" nut widths. The spacing on the Sires is just a little too narrow for me. But, I set one up recently, and decided to order one, and just play it. As Carl Thompson once said to me- "Dave, you can get used to anything." He's right. My upright has a 1.5" nut. I'm lefty, so it's a five to six month wait for my Sire V7 lefty 5. I'm almost four months into it. Another client ordered the same bass in righty, and it was a much shorter wait. I just set it up- same color blue as mine is. A really well made bass, and it adjusted and set up easily. Only a few things will need more of what I do to optimize new basses. P.S., The fingerboard did not look like any Ebony I'm familiar with.. and I work with Ebony upright bass fingerboards all the time. it looked like dyed Rosewood to me. Very porous, totally unlike Ebony. Still not a deal breaker. My client, and I both agree with you on the string retainer. My solution is pretty simple. Remove it altogether, fill the holes with color epoxy, and put ONE Fender disc retainer for the A- and D. The other tuners are close enough to the nut to 'stack' the windings like you do on the the E-A on a Fender four string.
Your review, along with some others, and my personal experience, influenced my decision. Thanks!

[LincolnCountyBand-styn]

Hey man, does your daughter still play the Sire, do you have any other negatives on it now? I was surprised it had average fret ends, were they rolled? I think now they say they are. thanks

[Bassic]

I've had my 1st Gen Sire V7 5 since 2016 and it's a keeper! For the money, it's almost impossible to beat the Sire in my opinion! My Sire came with a nice gig bag but the newer ones don't.

[emmanueltemilade]

This is EXACTLY the kind of review i needed to see. Thanks a lot man !

[pjmuck]

Nice review. Glad you went with the Sire. I think they're pretty hard to beat for the price. I like the preamp, personally. It's easy to figure out once you get used to it, and playing with the mid knobs makes this bass extremely versatile.

[mlchaelphelps]

I'm an old school bass player
From the 70's. When I was growing up before five string basses were around,
( although fender did for two years, made a five string), it wasn't popular at the time.
Four string basses were heavy in the days from 1951 to the mid 90's to date. The weight helps the tone and sustain of the bass. certain types of players started complaining about the weight, so luthiers
and everybody connected to the business,
had to rethink the old school way of building basses to accommodate those who were complaining. I agree with Marcus Miller basses now days don't sound the same due
to light weight designs. I personally have to applaud Marcus Miller for bringing some old school back.

[Mastagon]

Solid, professional and to the point review. Thanks

[iamgribs]

It sound like sire more depth to it. They both sound nice.
What a great gift.
Nice video.

[cameronlesley]

A straight forward concise review comparison . you definitely know what you are talking about, no opinions disguised as facts here. This has been the best video I’ve seen anywhere comparing these two basses. Well done

[chucksyl]

Great review/comparison! I bought the Sire P7 5 string P/J bass. I absolutely love it, but I agree with you on that stupid string tree running all the way across all 5 strings. Not only will it interfere with changing the strings, but it also adds friction to the strings making them tougher to tune. I may decide to remove it down the road and replace it with the Fender style string tree.

[MarcG]

I think the Sire is excellent for the price but me being a modder figured out that by the time I'm done replacing parts like the bridge ( it's proprietary ) pickups and preamp ( to many knobs ) for a Sodowsky VTC or the like I may have well just bought the fender ( I would swap that preamp too ) but that's all but great review thank you very informative you even included the weight of each bass I appreciate that

[gerodoth]

it's exactly that i was looking for, thanks!

[莊自得]

"I can't imagine why anyone would change the hardware. Same for the Fender".

Actually, there's a good reason to replace the bridge on the Fender with the slightly narrower (18.3mm ?) version that Fender make for this bass. The wider, factory-installed one puts the G string too close (1.0 ~ 1.5mm) to the edge of the fretboard.

[CoenBijpost]

Just bought that exact sire v7 burgundy for 500 bucks new! Such a good deal 🤩 Can’t wait till it gets here. Guitarist wanting to dip my toes in the bass world 😅 Thanks for the great comparison. Though the fender was way out of my reach either way.

[ziggysmalls]

Great review of these basses.I had a bass by Dame, which the Sire is modeled .It was a nice bass but real heavy.I dig that fender, and less knobs on the pre

[mikelambert]

I like the Sire also. Lots of info thank you!

[jeffyee]

Being loyal to my Fenders (8), I found the B string on 34" scale sounds lacking tonally.
Not crisp/clear .
I was looking into a Players Plus in Opal Sparkle too .
I eventually settled on a Dingwall Combustion 5 .
Sustain on B and E strings for days ... literally.
I just ordered a 4 string Combustion ...

[vasifazan]

Great playing, and great comparison. In my opinion Sire Marcus miller win!

[fredparker]

Torn between a Sire V8 or Fender Player Plus Jazz…4 strings. Thoughts??