Really good work. Although the silver patch makes it seem like Terminator 2 is beginning to morph from his disguise as a bass. 
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Robots in disguise
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Deceptibass
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Robot sweat dripping on the bass. Who’s the robot?
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Considering I’m Austrian… Cool comment. 
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That could be her name… or last name. Something like Bella Decepti. I like the dark touch…
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Can’t be more classic than that. 
Very nice!
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Sire M7, my first and hopefully only bass, as I have a historic tendency of diving into a new thing and acquiring a lot of gear only to start selling it off after I’ve realized that one thing to cover a lot of bases (ha ha) will suffice. It is for this reason that I am staying the hell away from eBay and forums with marketplaces this time around.
Admittedly, I ordered this (used, but essentially as-new) 5 string prior to watching Josh’s video advising against starting on a 5 string, however I figured that I have learned a lot of complex physical tasks in the past with adequate time spent practicing, and I also figured that I probably won’t know the difference between learning on a 4- and 5-string; any mods to playing the latter will just be additional to what I would have done learning on the former. I did follow his recommendation on the Rumble 40, however, and it turns out that (perhaps not surprisingly) the amp works well with my guitar (Taylor T5z), as well, so that kills two birds with one stone, leaving me more money for a future drum set
The common thread between the M7 and the T5z (aside from them both using humbuckers) is that they have so much adjustability in the tones and pickups that I will probably never tap either of them out, so to speak, with regards to sound possibilities, and the amp adjustability only adds to that. So, as I progress in the mechanics of learning to play, I can goof around with sound.
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Congrats. That’s a beautiful bass. Sire makes great ones.
The neck on a Sire M-series bass is amazing - so easy to play. And the variety of different tonal possibilities you can get out of the myriad pickup splittings and combinations on an M5 and M7 is truly nuts. Have a ton of fun!
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Thanks! I’m having a great time learning, and will be starting B2B soonish.
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lol RIP
I wouldn’t anchor on that. It’s unreasonable to expect that as a beginner you would be able to choose what will be right for you in the long run. As time goes on, what you look for in a bass will evolve. It’s natural.
But even so, you’ve done a lot of things right:
- You bought your first instrument used, so you won’t be slaughtered on resale
- You bought a high-quality, versatile instrument (probably for less than others pay for entry level)
- You found a good course to learn it
I wouldn’t worry about it being a 5. You’ll do fine!
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That is a thing of beauty, my friend.
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Thanks for the replies; much appreciated.
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That looks lovely. I very nearly bought one of those but in the end I went for the 4 string Sire P7 in the same colour and I am very happy with it.
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I had been interested in learning bass since I was a kid (I started on drums when I was very young), but simply prioritized other things throughout the course of my life; fast-forward to my late 40’s. My wife and I take an annual holiday in Maine, one of our favorite pastimes being visiting the antique stores up there. On our trip last month, we walked into a huge shop that had opened immediately after the pandemic, and they had a number of used (but definitely not antique) instruments for sale, including two basses; one a 5 string, which I never knew existed (I listen to music constantly but rarely watch people playing it (other than Flamenco), so I have no idea if someone is using a bass with 4, 5, or 6 strings). Thinking that 5 strings might be more flexible, musically, than 4, I started researching 5 strings and wound up buying one when we got home. I basically went with the Sire over a Fender that I was interested in because availability of the Sire was actually better at that time, and because for what seemed to be equivalent quality, the Sire was considerably more affordable. After watching Josh’s video, I briefly considered returning the 5 string in favor of a Sire 4 string P7, but then figured that I could manage to learn on the 5 so left it alone.
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Introducing “The Duke”. This bass is an early 70’s (1970 to 1973) japanese lawsuit Jazz Bass style instrument, branded under the name “Duke”. The same model has also been branded under various other names like Salvarez, Greco, Electra, Luxor-Greco, Harmony. It was made either in the Matsumoku or Fujigen factory. The pickups are the rare and famous (at least for those into the lawsuit instruments) Maxon “Fakebucker”. They look like humbuckers but are in fact single coils. And they sound very convincing.
I traded this bass about two years ago, against a 90’s multieffects rack that I got for free and managed to repair. The bass was a real wreck at the time, good to go in a recycle bin. I re-built the instrument completly, at least everything that needed to be repaired (which is a lot of things), while trying to keep its original “vintage vibe”. Most of the hardware had to be changed.
It’s a very heavy bass, the neck is huge (much bigger than a P neck), but it’s still very playable. Expect to see The Duke in an upcoming cover
and a little pickup porn to show how the Fakebuckers are made :
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Very nice. A bass with a sketchy history. what’s not to love?
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Nice. I want to hear what the Maxon sounds like
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I’m… hesitant to post this. I suppose it will out one way or another eventually, so I may as well get it over with.
The Dimension I got back had a weak pickup pole and a couple of fret issues, that existed from the first time I owned it. After getting it back, I started doing some shopping around for a new pickup, maybe a PLEK job, all that stuff. I talked to my local Guitar Center about a new pickup and given the Dimension’s… unique pickup they wanted to see the bass to make sure that any of the choices would fit. I took it down there, looked at pickups (most of them in their POS system), found some which would require body modifications, some which would not, considered pricing, mentally added that up with a re-fret or PLEK job (which I did not tell them about), and was a bit shocked at how much it would cost.
At some point, the idea of trading it in for something new came up. I was skeptical, I’d heard that GC gives a pittance for trade-in values. But I asked them how much they would give me for it. Their tech guys looked over the bass, made sure it was in tip-top shape, and ran it through their system. I was shocked at the amount they offered. It was equivalent to what I bought it for originally on Reverb.
I wasn’t sold on the idea, though. I took my time to go through their in-store offerings before committing to anything. I looked at new, I looked at used (there was a Carvin SB4000 I was seriously considering), I looked at everything they had. I must have been there for close to four hours playing different basses just to see if there was something for which I’d trade in my Dimension. Ultimately… I found something from a brand I’d have never expected. And it was the only bass from that brand in the entire store.
I spent a good deal of time playing this one bass through several different amps and with several different settings. I found that I was just… feeling it, you know? It’s hard to describe, but when I was playing it, it just felt “right”. The bass was comfortable to play, the neck felt great, it sounded awesome, and I wanted to play it more.
So… I proceeded with the trade-in. In addition to the fantastic credit they gave me for the Dimension, I also got 10% off of anything I bought using that credit. I got a super rad case, a whole bunch of accessories, a couple of Pop Vinyl figures, and some cash back to boot. Here’s what I got:
Yup. A Schecter. That’s a Diamond Series Stiletto Extreme 4. Mahogany body with a quilted maple top, which looks amazing. Maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. While I’ve openly admitted to fully digging the signature Hellraiser Extreme 5 in Cthulhu Burst, I never pictured myself owning a Schecter. But after I played it, I couldn’t resist. Like I said, it just felt “right”.
This is my first new bass (as opposed to used bass) since 2009. I’m sure I’ll take some heat around these parts over yet another “crazy bass deal”. But I can tell you this - and you can screen shot this or whatever - but this one’s going to be around a while.
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Very nice. That’s almost the same finish as my TRBX604 was, it’s very close, and it looks truly gorgeous in person.
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