How Would You Rate This Bass?

[LoTone]

That guy looks like RJ Ronquillo. RJ makes guitars and basses demos for Eastwood Guitars. Here is a sample of his work at Eastwood:

 

[JZQuantum]

1. Sound quality is a typical jazz bass. Bright without a lot of bottom. Cuts through the mix easily.

2. $300 to 500-ish

3. Beginner bass. Sounds a bit too harsh to my ears to be a "boutique" bass.

4. Could be a Squier with mods?


Great playing by the way. Didn't Marcus Miller play bass on that song for Luther Vandross originally?

 

[RJizzle100]

I really like the "Low End" basses. The 3 that I have were all less than $150 used.

Squire Affinity PJ: Pawn shop special cost me $45. Just needed a good cleaning and some new strings. Pickups have kinda low output but they sound great. May change these out. Has a great neck on it. Set up really low. No buzz. Just North of 9 lbs. Definitely a keeper.

LTD B-50: Cost me about $120. Phenomenal bass for the price. Fantastic playing and sounding bass. Without a doubt, one of the best necks I have ever found. Super light. 7.2 lbs. No neck dive. Main player. This 'un is staying.

Cort SB10: $150. Newest acquisition. Great playing and sounding. Has a Mighty Mite humbucker. Very hot to be a passive. Closest sound to a musicman I have found to not be an Ernie Ball. Very wide nut width. I haven't measured it but it is wide. Not uncomfortable though. 8.25 lbs. I think I will hang on to this one also.

$45? I payed too much for my Squire Affinity at $120. Lol. $45 would have allowed me to get a even better preamp. If I upgrade the pickups, will that better the sound? If so, does Fender have PJ pickups that will accomplish that?

 

[RJizzle100]

1. Sound quality is a typical jazz bass. Bright without a lot of bottom. Cuts through the mix easily.

2. $300 to 500-ish

3. Beginner bass. Sounds a bit too harsh to my ears to be a "boutique" bass.

4. Could be a Squier with mods?


Great playing by the way. Didn't Marcus Miller play bass on that song for Luther Vandross originally?

Thanks Bass Player. I appreciate the positive encouragement. The beginner bass point is messed up. Lol. Yeah man Marcus Miller played bass on that track and probably wrote the song, if not the whole album.

 

[RJizzle100]

That guy looks like RJ Ronquillo. RJ makes guitars and basses demos for Eastwood Guitars. Here is a sample of his work at Eastwood:

That bass sounds cool. Thanks for posting the video!

 

[rtslinger]

Thank you Bass Players for the insight and for observing the bass. The bass is a Squire Affinity PJ bass. I believe it is under $300 new. I bought it for around $120 used. My sole purpose was to buy a cheap bass and get my bass bro to throw an Audere Classic Pre-amp in the bass. The preamp was no more than around $120, if Im not mistaken. The bass price and the preamp price had to still be in a very low price range so that after the total in funds spent, it would be a $200 to $300 expense, but make the bass sound like a $500 or more bass. I never played a Squire Affinity PJ bass, so I didn’t know that the tone was already epic without any upgrade. I had the upgrade done anyway. Threw DR strings on there. The comments from you bass players were the best answers I think I could get. I let the listener’s ear determine what type of bass I now have. From the comment about possibly mid to highend level, to possibly a Sire bass, I believe the upgrade was worth it. I didn’t want the replies to be “beginner bass”. Lol. So the upgrade was dope. I wanted to upgrade the very low priced Ibanez bass, but the tone and power are too awesome to justify an upgrade. You bass players were accurate about low priced basses sounding like high end basses. Im not concerned about how expensive a bass is. I wamt the bass to sound mid to high priced as far as quality. I want the reaction to “This bass is a Squire Affinity PJ” to be nah! My next project is the Glarry bass. Tone Monster is the preamp. Trial and error. Then probably a Rondo SX bass and maybe an Audere Classic Preamp. Thanks again bass players!

RJ I disqualified myself from guessing because I have been following your and Johnny Lee Longs you tube for a while
I do like the growl you get from your Carvin bass better

 

[RJizzle100]

RJ I disqualified myself from guessing because I have been following your and Johnny Lee Longs you tube for a while
I do like the growl you get from your Carvin bass better

Thanks for viewing my videos Bass Player! That Carvin SB was designed by my cousin Sekou Bunch, and the Carvin SB was the best bass I owned. I wish I still owned it.

 

[Ewo]

Nice playing!

 

[RJizzle100]

Nice playing!

Thank you Bass Player!

 

[Fender_Bender]

Thank you Bass Players for the insight and for observing the bass. The bass is a Squire Affinity PJ bass. I believe it is under $300 new. I bought it for around $120 used. My sole purpose was to buy a cheap bass and get my bass bro to throw an Audere Classic Pre-amp in the bass. The preamp was no more than around $120, if Im not mistaken. The bass price and the preamp price had to still be in a very low price range so that after the total in funds spent, it would be a $200 to $300 expense, but make the bass sound like a $500 or more bass. I never played a Squire Affinity PJ bass, so I didn’t know that the tone was already epic without any upgrade. I had the upgrade done anyway. Threw DR strings on there. The comments from you bass players were the best answers I think I could get. I let the listener’s ear determine what type of bass I now have. From the comment about possibly mid to highend level, to possibly a Sire bass, I believe the upgrade was worth it. I didn’t want the replies to be “beginner bass”. Lol. So the upgrade was dope. I wanted to upgrade the very low priced Ibanez bass, but the tone and power are too awesome to justify an upgrade. You bass players were accurate about low priced basses sounding like high end basses. Im not concerned about how expensive a bass is. I wamt the bass to sound mid to high priced as far as quality. I want the reaction to “This bass is a Squire Affinity PJ” to be nah! My next project is the Glarry bass. Tone Monster is the preamp. Trial and error. Then probably a Rondo SX bass and maybe an Audere Classic Preamp. Thanks again bass players!

The advent of cnc machines throughout Asia has had a profound positive impact on the quality of inexpensive instruments compared to 30+ years ago.
The 1950’s technology of Leo’s designs also makes them pretty hard to mess up these days.
You’d be shocked to learn that the factory cost for some of these like the Glarry and Sx would be under $20 in order to sell for what they do .

 

[FugaziBomb]

1. Sound Quality

2. Price Range

3. “Beginner bass” or High End bass?

4. Guess the brand

This video was shot with a GoMixer and no bass effects.

Forget the bass, YOUR tone is killer, my man.

 

[RJizzle100]

The advent of cnc machines throughout Asia has had a profound positive impact on the quality of inexpensive instruments compared to 30+ years ago.
The 1950’s technology of Leo’s designs also makes them pretty hard to mess up these days.
You’d be shocked to learn that the factory cost for some of these like the Glarry and Sx would be under $20 in order to sell for what they do .

Thanks for the insight, Bass Player. Im gonna research what cnc machines are. You’re the second person that mentioned cnc machines. Thanks again.

 

[RJizzle100]

Forget the bass, YOUR tone is killer, my man.

Thanks Bass Player! The tone was the target during the upgrade. Thanks again.

 

[Greg Waldon]

$45? I payed too much for my Squire Affinity at $120. Lol. $45 would have allowed me to get a even better preamp. If I upgrade the pickups, will that better the sound? If so, does Fender have PJ pickups that will accomplish that?

It was a deal I couldn’t pass up. I played it before I made an offer and fell in love with the tone. I would love to find a set of Basslines pickups. I think they were bought out by seymour duncan. Not sure what SD called them now. Scared that it may change the tone to something that I don’t like.

 

[RJizzle100]

It was a deal I couldn’t pass up. I played it before I made an offer and fell in love with the tone. I would love to find a set of Basslines pickups. I think they were bought out by seymour duncan. Not sure what SD called them now. Scared that it may change the tone to something that I don’t like.

Yeah man, not changing the tone is my main concern. I was fortunate that throwing the Audere Classic preamp on it didn’t mess the tone up. Trial and error.

 

[40Hz]

Just a belated compliment on the performance. Which bass was used was immaterial to me. Although I’ll confess learning it was an Affinity Squier made me smile since I’m the guy who is constantly saying: “the bass” is not the instrument. It’s the instrument, the amp - and the player. And of the three, the player constitutes 90% of the equation.

 

[RJizzle100]

Just a belated compliment on the performance. Which bass was used was immaterial to me. Although I’ll confess learning it was an Affinity Squier made me smile since I’m the guy who is constantly saying: “the bass” is not the instrument. It’s the instrument, the amp - and the player. And of the three, the player constitutes 90% of the equation.

Thanks for the knowledge Bass Player! I appreciate it! Yeah, Squier is definitely legit!

 

[Fender_Bender]

Thanks for the insight, Bass Player. Im gonna research what cnc machines are. You’re the second person that mentioned cnc machines. Thanks again.

Computer numerical control. Blocks of wood are clamped into a machine and a router running from a program does all of the shaping and cutting. Takes most (but not all) of the skilled handwork, and possible screw ups, out of the picture.
You couldn’t even buy the raw paint and sealer etc just to do the finish here for what the factories are completing the entire instrument for.
And yes, aftermarket pickups are likely to improve or at the very least change the sound you can get. Picking which brand and model is the hard part.

 

[David Jayne]

It sounds like a 'Jazz Bass.'.

 

[bholder]

Thanks for the knowledge Bass Player! I appreciate it! Yeah, Squier is definitely legit!

I'll admit, years ago, I used to not think much of Squier, I met some really craptastic examples in the 90s, but they've definitely upped their game since then, especially in the last 5 years it seems. The whole market has, really.