Decent looking bass. The body colour is more brown than shown on this site. The pictures on the Sire website are more accurate.
The Sire V5 has the basic features a passive jazz bass should have. I´ve only played it sitting down, in the classical guitar position, and in this position there´s not even a hint of neck-dive.
The sound isn´t to my liking at all. It has a trebly quality to it that remains very audible even with tone turned quite a bit down. It sounds nicer at 20 % tone than 100%, but not good in my ears. I´d have to replace the pickups and possibly the control plate to be happy with it. If you, unlike me, dig Marcus Millers trebly slap-tone, then this could be a bass for you.
The quality of the bass seems good. The neck pocket looks well routed and the neck plays comfortably. The fret edges have been filed quite well, and cannot be felt while playing.
I can´t really recommend the V5, for reason stated. There´s another passive Sire bass I can recommend, namely the P5 R vintage P-bass. It has a darker sounding pickup than the regular P5 and a rosewood fingerboard. I think it´s great, and probably the only reason I´m not buying it, is that I want a two-pickup bass.
