Is It Worth Buying a Used Bass? New vs Used - Sire "Marcus Miller" V7 vs Second Hand MTD Kingston Z5

Can you find good value buying a used bass guitar?

I think there was a time when you could get real value for money buying instruments second hand. But now I see instruments selling "used" for 80-90% of their full retail price or more. It makes me wonder why anybody buys used instruments anymore.

It's even more strange when you consider how many great affordable instruments are being made at the moment. Factory made instruments coming from Indonesia, which is where the SIre factory is, are now so good and so cheap that most guitar manufacturers are offering affordable instruments in the sub £500 price bracket. And that price point is now so competitive that if an instrument at that price doesn't look, sound and play like a professional instrument then it won't sell.

The Marcus Miller V7 featured in this video is not even Sire's most affordable 5-string bass. You can buy a V3 5-string bass with the same pre-amp as the V7 for not much over £300.

I first featured Sire basses on my channel in 2019, and that was when I started to wonder if there was any point in buying instruments second hand anymore. So I came up with the idea to look for a used bass for under £500 that I felt represented better value for money than a brand new Sire bass.

MTD basses are not that common in the UK, but Michael Tobias is very popular among the bass community in the States. I liked the look of the MTD Kingston Z5 because it had 24 frets and 19mm string spacing at the bridge (like a 4-string bass). But, the new Kingston Z5's cost closer to a grand in the UK so I thought they might be a bit out of my price range, even used.

I saw one on Reverb in the UK listed at £550, which was just a bit too high for the purposes of this video. But I kept an eye on it and over the course of a few weeks, the seller started to bring the price down until it dropped below £500, at which point I bought it immediately. I guess the MTD basses just aren't that common in the UK and so people don't generally look out for them on the used market.

The price I paid, £490 including a gig bag (a new Sire does not come with any case or bag) undoubtedly represents amazing value for money. However, even with this bass (which retails for approximately double the cost of a Sire V7) I would struggle to say that it represents obviously higher quality than the Sire.

What I can say, is that I do prefer the MTD to the Sire for the reasons outlined in the video. I'm now planning to sell the Sire as I've hardly used it since buying the MTD. The MTD has become my "go to" 5-string bass.

However, in the interests of full disclosure, I have to say that it took many months of searching used guitar and bass websites before I found something that I thought represented great value at this price. Unless you are willing to put a lot of effort into buying a second hand bass, then I would recommend buying a new bass.

Sire are not unique (although they may be the best at their price). There are plenty of bass manufacturers making amazing value instruments for under £500. I've played basses made by Cort, Harley Benton & Ibanez that I'm extremely impressed by, and many are even cheaper than Sire.

(0:00) Intro
(0:47) Opening Jam
(2:08) This is an MTD Kinston Z5
(3:35) Why is the Sire V7 a good bass?
(5:49) How does the MTD compare?
(8:23) Why the MTD is my kind of bass
(9:25) Conclusion
(10:50) Outro Jam