For a long time I have been GASsing for some kind of a 5-string Jazz. Being currently unable to afford anything high-end or even mid-priced, after a little research I settled on the Squier Affinity Jazz Bass V. I decided not to buy it locally (which is possible though not really easy) but order it from the USA — not only because it is cheaper that way, but also because I wanted to test the waters of international bass guitar shipping on an inexpensive item. (I do eventually plan to buy a G&L L-2500 and a Fender Jazz V or a Lakland Skyline 55-60.)
I purchased the bass (the sunburst version) on Musicians Friend for the regular $199.99. Due to unwillingness of MF to ship to Russia, I used the services of Ebaytoday.ru mail forwarder which received my package at its Foxboro, MA storage facility and then re-sent it to St. Petersburg, Russia. 22 days later, 12 of which has been spent at my local airport — that’s *Express* Mail Service Russia for you! — the package finally arrived.
The bass was shipped without a hard case but packed extremely well, which is handy knowing the extent of abuse it can be subjected to by the Russian mail (see this Youtube video). After unpacking I inspected the item and didn’t find any kind of damage. The bass was in a perfect condition.
I tuned the bass immediately to try it unplugged. The tuners felt cheap and had a bit of a play to them, but tuning was not a problem. Out of the box the bass was setup nicely with fairly low action and no buzz anywhere. One exception was the low B which was set too low, but lifting the saddle fixed that. No fretwork issues whatsoever, which is amazing for an instrument this cheap. The neck was straight and comfortable. The low B felt sloppyish but serviceable, requiring just a slight touch adjustment. A heavier-gauge B string can probably help here. All in all I was pleasantly surprised with how well the bass played, especially after such a long journey (although of course it had plenty of time to settle while sitting idle at my airport.)
The bass resonated well, helped by the tight neck pocket. No obvious dead spots. The G string at the 7th fret had just a tad less sustain, but that’s to be expected from most Fender-like instruments of all price ranges or so they say. No open-string rattle thanks to the string retainer installed next to the nut.
Plugging it in revealed a convincing Jazz growl. The pots turned smoothly and quietly. The pickup volume adjustment curve was a bit drastic to my ear, and tone adjustment was not as deep as I would like. Nothing that cannot be remedied by installing more high-quality pots. The bridge pickup when soloed produced an excellent burp, the neck pickup alone felt a little anemic. Also, more of a setup issue, the bridge pickup was favoring the B string too much, but that’s of course easily fixable, too. The bass responds well to changing the plucking position as well as dynamics. Slap tone was surprisingly less interesting to me than the one of my Yamaha BB414, but that may be a matter of taste, and I’m not much of a slapper anyway.
To sum it up, I’m very happy with my purchase and can recommend the Squier Affinity Jazz Bass V to people who want an inexpensive 5-string Jazz bass. This bass is well worth the money.
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(Sorry for the bad phone picture, but that's the only camera I have ATM.)
I purchased the bass (the sunburst version) on Musicians Friend for the regular $199.99. Due to unwillingness of MF to ship to Russia, I used the services of Ebaytoday.ru mail forwarder which received my package at its Foxboro, MA storage facility and then re-sent it to St. Petersburg, Russia. 22 days later, 12 of which has been spent at my local airport — that’s *Express* Mail Service Russia for you! — the package finally arrived.
The bass was shipped without a hard case but packed extremely well, which is handy knowing the extent of abuse it can be subjected to by the Russian mail (see this Youtube video). After unpacking I inspected the item and didn’t find any kind of damage. The bass was in a perfect condition.
I tuned the bass immediately to try it unplugged. The tuners felt cheap and had a bit of a play to them, but tuning was not a problem. Out of the box the bass was setup nicely with fairly low action and no buzz anywhere. One exception was the low B which was set too low, but lifting the saddle fixed that. No fretwork issues whatsoever, which is amazing for an instrument this cheap. The neck was straight and comfortable. The low B felt sloppyish but serviceable, requiring just a slight touch adjustment. A heavier-gauge B string can probably help here. All in all I was pleasantly surprised with how well the bass played, especially after such a long journey (although of course it had plenty of time to settle while sitting idle at my airport.)
The bass resonated well, helped by the tight neck pocket. No obvious dead spots. The G string at the 7th fret had just a tad less sustain, but that’s to be expected from most Fender-like instruments of all price ranges or so they say. No open-string rattle thanks to the string retainer installed next to the nut.
Plugging it in revealed a convincing Jazz growl. The pots turned smoothly and quietly. The pickup volume adjustment curve was a bit drastic to my ear, and tone adjustment was not as deep as I would like. Nothing that cannot be remedied by installing more high-quality pots. The bridge pickup when soloed produced an excellent burp, the neck pickup alone felt a little anemic. Also, more of a setup issue, the bridge pickup was favoring the B string too much, but that’s of course easily fixable, too. The bass responds well to changing the plucking position as well as dynamics. Slap tone was surprisingly less interesting to me than the one of my Yamaha BB414, but that may be a matter of taste, and I’m not much of a slapper anyway.
To sum it up, I’m very happy with my purchase and can recommend the Squier Affinity Jazz Bass V to people who want an inexpensive 5-string Jazz bass. This bass is well worth the money.
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(Sorry for the bad phone picture, but that's the only camera I have ATM.)
