Marcus Miller D5 Alder-4 BB

I’ve been playing the bass for 45 years and own a fair number of pricey basses and a few “value basses” shall we say. This bass guitar wildly exceeded my expectations in every category.

The finish is just spectacular, the pictures on Thomann’s site do not do it justice. I just love the depth of the butterscotch blond but yet allows some of the grain to peek thru. Mine is clearly a two piece body again with a flawless butterscotch blond finish over it. Not one blemish and believe me I really looked. The finish on the neck is stunning and velvety smooth that makes it a dream to hold and to play. The fretwork is superb with not a single sharp edge or tooling mark visible. The rolled edges of the fret board are very well done, just smoothness all the way up the neck.

The setup was perfect right out of the box. No buzzing or any unpleasantness and it plays like butter. The electronics seem to be very high quality especially considering the price point. I read one reviewer who stated that this bass “has no low end”. I might suggest that they have their hearing checked, because thru my combo bass amp (nothing too special either) it’s got plenty of bottom, or maybe they got a dud, but I doubt it. I wonder if the pickup is overwound because it seems especially hot in the volume area, plenty of output. And In terms of quietness its 99% completely silent. No buzzing, scratching or humming. I did change the strings to some Thomann flat wound strings just out of personal preference but the included strings were fine. The Thomann flat wound strings sound and play no different from other flats I’ve bought costing three times as much, you ought to give them a try. Item # 514274.

Overall if I didn’t know how much It cost I’d of guessed it was well over $1000 for this bass. On a side note, I really have to say thanks to the “F and G” brands for not allowing their products to be shipped to the US. Doing so forced me to explore other brands and thankfully I discovered Sire. This bass was a birthday gift to myself and I was prepared to drop a whole lot more on an F or G bass but it wasn’t necessary. This is my first Sire but certainly won’t be my last! I could’ve bought a D5 in each of the offered finishes for less than one of the F or G brand’s. My only regret with this purchase is that I didn’t do it sooner. And as always the customer service from Thomann is the best in the industry, can’t be beat. Way to go Thomann!!!

No, but it largely overcome the Squier classic vibe p-bass ‘51.
Short review. Are you looking for a nice looking, well built, vintage style single coil p-bass? Look no more and grab this one.
Detailed review. If 6 months ago I were not in the need of a 5-string, now I would be here reviewing the Squier CV ‘51 p-bass.
But since I bought a Sire v3 -and fell in love with it, in spite of the active pre-amp, the 5th string and the ugly headstock- now I’m here spending nothing but good words about this d5.

So let’s start with the “cons”: the deep end of the Fender is not there, period. But the Squier doesn’t have it either. I’m done with the cons.

Pros:
The overall construction of the instrument is good. Maybe I was lucky, but the body is a single piece of Alder, and where the waist cut off is, the wood nervature draw beautiful concentric curves that one can appreciate because of the very thin paint.
The neck is great. Satin is the back, for speed also in heavy sweat. The roasting hardens the wood, making it more suitable to withstand the forces at play. Besides, it look gorgeous.
The pickup is not noisy at all. Lowend Lobster mentioned that it looks like a single coil, but is in fact a split. It doesn’t look like that to me, but is as noiseless as a split. Great sound, plenty of overtones and excellent note resolution, thanks to the single coil. Pity that the deep end of the lows is not there.
Electronic. I did not yet open the electronic’s cave (UPDATE: the pots are made in Korea and are by all means identical to the CTS ones; the PuP wiring is insulated with waxed cotton, as for high end Fender instruments), but the pots are absolutely silent, as they are on the v3 (and believe me, the v3 has a lot of them)
Hardware. Essential, with a touch of vintage (those brass saddles are cute). Be aware that the bridge has no grooves for the saddles’ screws. But so it was back in the days. The bridge itself has definitely a higher mass than the vintage bridges you see around.
Painting. Nothing to say: smooth and thin, to appreciate the wood below - UPDATE: thinking twice, the blonde butterscotch seems having a bit too much of orange hint, but it's a matter of taste
- UPDATE: I forgot to praise for the presence of a massive 3-way string guide, which prevents bumping of the A string.

So&sos
Tuning gears on the sloppy side: it seems they keep the tuning, but their response is not linear - UPDATE: the gears were only very dry! With a little of lithium grease they work as a charm
Strings are cheap
Action is too high. But I’ve read that is pretty standard for basses made in Indonesia - UPDATE: it has been 2 weeks that I'm now working on action. I do it slowly also because the roasted neck is slow responding, as expected. The results are eventually coming (I play with very low action; in the case I use it for grunge or punk, the fret buzzing adds some nice dirt to the sound).

Summing up, for a few more € than for the Squier, you get a bass that objectively offers much more. The playability of the neck, the good-to-very-good sound and the overall look and feel make this bass a hell of a catch, for 450€.
Great job Sire. Keep on listening to Sir Marcus (but please re-design the headstock!)