P7 Alder 5 TS 2nd Gen : Excellent, the knobs are easily replaced

The Sire V7 and P7 basses are famous for selling at £500 but being equal in quality to basses worth £1000 to £1500. My P7 really sits in the mix whereas my V7 cuts through the mix.

The design is very logical: one volume knob and one pickup blend knob rather than Fender's silly design with a volume knob for each pickup. So on the Sire, the blend can be adjusted without affecting the volume. Good.

The active/passive switch is awesome. The sound in passive mode has more detail, especially during the release phase of a note when the sound dies away, e.g. during a slide. But active mode is so useful. If there is unwanted noise at a gig, I can just flip the switch and immediately enter active mode at the same volume (that's important!), removing the unwanted noise in the signal chain.

On to this specific colour: If you want a pretty grain pattern, pay more for the Swamp Ash version. If you want to save money, go for this slightly uglier alder version. You can see a clear colour difference on mine where the different sections of wood have been joined.

The knobs can be replaced with 'Harley Benton Parts Dual Knobs CR' and 'Harley Benton Parts T-Style Knob Chrome' to prevent the cheap plastic dual knobs from sticking to each other.