Fretless Sire P7 Bass 2nd Generation Review

Sire Guitars is rolling on with its wildly successful 2nd Generation upgrades to its entire line of basses.  

Bass players all over the world have been enthusiastic about the 2nd Generation changes, which include upgraded pickups and rolled fingerboards. The fretless Sire P7 is a well-designed bass that has a jazz style pickup at the bridge and a precision style pickup at the neck position. 

Like its fretted sibling, the fretless Sire P7 comes with Sire’s formidable 18-volt three-band preamp.   

The bass that was reviewed was a five-string bass with an ash body and a maple neck and fingerboard.

Sire Guitars currently only makes lined fretless fingerboards.  The workmanship is flawless.  The fingerboard is smooth to the touch, and has no blemishes.  The neck has a fast satin finish, which is an improvement on previous necks with glossy finishes.  Playability is fantastic thanks to a great C-shape neck profile.  The bass arrived strung with D’Addario flat-wound strings.

Overall, the bass sounds big and fat, with a strong and appealing low mid presence.  

This is with the EQ flat.  Naturally, many possibilities are available once the EQ is engaged.  The Sire P7 sounds equally great in either passive or active mode.  There is no sense of a loss in tone or presence in passive mode.   

Pro tip: there are some tiny adjustment potentiometers on the preamp that allow a player to set the volume balance between active and passive mode.

Although the bass has an ash body and a maple neck and fingerboard, it does not sound overly bright. The smooth sounding pickups, the preamp and the flat-wound strings result in a warm sounding bass with plenty of “mwah” fretless basses are known for.  Although round wound strings were not tested on the P7, one would expect that the bass would end up with a more articulate sound and more of the mwah quality fretless players want.

The 2nd Generation Sire P7 has a 9.5” fingerboard radius.  

The 1st Generation had a 7.5” fingerboard radius. Also, the Alder body P7 comes with an ebony fingerboard, while the Ash body P7 comes with a hard maple fingerboard.

Sire Guitars has clearly been listening to bass players – the 2nd Generation Sire P7 that was reviewed is noticeably lighter in weight.  The 1st Generation P7 was somewhat moderate in weight, while the 2nd Generation is now leaning on the light side, in comparison to other basses.

Although the fretless Sire P7 has a very affordable price, it punches far above it’s weight in how well it’s built and how great it sounds.  

This bass is easily capable of competing very favorably with basses many times it’s price.  The Sire Revolution continues….

SIRE P7 SPECS

Body Material: Swamp Ash / North American Alder
Body Shape: Sire Precision Bass Type
Body Color: Alder Body – TS, AWH, BK | Ash Body – NT, TS, WB
Neck Material: 1 Piece Hard Maple (Satin Finish)
Neck Shape: C-Shape
Scale:34”
Neck Joint: 4 Bolt Steel Square Plate
Fingerboard (Rolled Edges): Hard Maple (Swamp Ash Body) / Ebony (Alder Body)
Fingerboard Radius: 9.5?
Frets: 2.4 medium
String Nut: 4 String – Natural Bone 38mm width / 5 String – Natural Bone 46mm width
Binding: 1 ply Ivory
Inlay: WH Pearloid Block
Pickups: Marcus Super-PJ Revolution Set
Electronics: Marcus Heritage-3 with Middle Frequency Control
Controls: Volume / Tone(Dual Pot) | Pickup Blender | Treble | Middle / Middle Frequency (Dual Pot) | Bass, Mini Toggle(Active / Passive)
Knobs: Modern Black Plastic
Bridge: Marcus Miller Heavy Mass Standard
Tuning Gear: Sire Premium Open-Gear
Hardware Finish: Chrome
Pick guard: Ivory Pearl (Swamp Ash Body) / Tortoise (Alder Body)

For more details, visit online at sire-usa.com