• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Squier Affinity Jazz

C

Craig630

Apr 8, 2009
168
3
Boston-ish
#1
Wow

I started on this bass a few years ago. I upgraded to a Schecter Stilletto 4, played Dean 5er for a little, and recently upgraded to a Warwick $$. I love these basses and still own them all.

Yesterday doing a bit of (admittidly late) Spring cleaning I came across my Squier in it's bag. For old timey sake I decided to plug her in. I was amazed by the tone on this thing. The neck is superb and it plays like butter. The pots are clean and it really feels great in my hands and around my neck.

It'll take a few more days of playing around, but I think I fell in love all over again.

All this money spent on great basses and such, and here I am loving my $120 beater more than anything else in my arsenal now.

Maybe it's a case of "something different" but the growl on this thing is mind blowing. I wish I could record a sample for you guys.

Any similar experiences out there?

Edit: I've looked around but can't find anything about the affinity series. Is this Squiers discount model?
 
#2
I bought an Affinity Squier P in one of those bass-packs from GC in about 1998 or so.

It was an uncomfortable bass to play, and my wife who wanted it, decided it was too big, heavy and just hard to handle. So much for a family band!

It spend about the next eleven years in a case in the closet and I'd only drag it out - but not play it - for cleaning and just to look at it for sign of termites or wood rot.

Anyway - cutting to the chase - I dragged it to my GC for a trade-in on 'something' better' one day and the bass pro grabbed it and said it was one of the better Affinities with the big keys and a great neck and why don't I like it and I should play it - and other things.

I put some ROTO 77s on it, intoned and adjusted it and even later on added a cap and brighter, more powerful p'ups.

It's now one of my front line players. .
 
#3
i am glad that you guys had good experiences with your affinity basses, i have only borrowed one and it was hard to play, had weak pickups, and didn't stay in tune. i kind of feel like a jerk, because of my negative attitude towards them for the past six years based on the one i played for a show at a friend's warehouse party
 
#4
They have become my main gigging basses ... on most all outdoor and road gigs

I send them to the guy who does all my tech work and he adds a little "visual wizardry" :eek: and upgrades the pickups and pots and there ya go!
:D I have about $200.00 invested in each bass ... here is a YouTube of one of the three I have, being used live ...

Road2-100.jpg


MOjOstack100.jpg
 
#5
I LOVE my Squier Affinity! I've upgraded lots of things on it, but the body and pickups are stock. This is what it looked like just a few weeks ago...

Link Removed

... but I've actually gone back to the original neck because it feels so much better than this one. Now it looks like this, but with the pup cover (don't have a recent pic)...

Link Removed

Anyway, I completely agree with you. The only time I ever think about selling it is when I haven't played it for awhile. But then I pick it up and I'm reminded what an amazing tone machine it is and how well it plays.
 
#6
Kenny Allyn said:
They have become my main gigging basses ... on most all outdoor and road gigs

I send them to the guy who does all my tech work and he adds a little "visual wizardry" :eek: and upgrades the pickups and pots and there ya go!
:D I have about $200.00 invested in each bass ... here is a YouTube of one of the three I have, being used live ...

Road2-100.jpg
Click to expand...


Kenny, are both of those Squier Affinities? Wow. I know Affinities don't come with maple fretboards, what's the neck on the one in the foreground?
 
#8
Same thing here - same story to the letter. Was thinking about my neglected Affinity Jazz V bass(es) last week & finally pulled one out because I hadn't touch either in almost 2 years. I about fell off my chair when I heard & played it again. Falling back in love with them very quickly - both the tone & playability - I think I'll be giving it main gig priority once again for a while. It's definitely a very cool feeling to rediscover a bass you haven't touched in forever & appreciating why you bought it in the first place.

I've copper-shielded it from day one, but I think the whole CTS pots, vintage cloth wiring, SwitchCraft jack, Orange Drop cap & some new knobs are in order this week.

103_2024.gif
 
#10
you have to love your beater, I loved my squire jazz, it was like the 15th bass I bought, and I loved it so much, it was the first jazz bass I owned, and now I play nothing but jazz bass's. the neck blew up on it years ago, and I sold the body and tuners. I would rather play a squire jazz than a warwick, rickenbacker, ibanez, musicman, just something about the offset body, and the shape of the neck, the sound you can get with the bridge pickup all the way up, neck pickup and tone all the way down, fingerstyle funk, and then all knobs all the way up slapping, or that punk sound of the bridge pickup down and the tone and neck pickup all the way up. just set your amp flat, and listen to the tones you can get even out of a cheap beater squire jazz.
 
#11
Neck pickup ... Bridge pickup ... tone
0.................... 10 ...................0-4 = jaco, finger style funk
10 .................. 10 ...................8-10 = slappin
10 ................... 0 .....................10 = punk
10 ....................0 .....................0 = thick sub, motown,
0-2...................10 ....................10 = metal, harmonics,
10 ...................10 ....................0-5 = reggae, country
 
#12
My first bass was a Squier Affinity, loved it since I got it & still do 2 basses later. The only thing is the tuning pegs are really crap, I don't know if they're still the same, but a new neck or new pegs anyway would definitely be in order
 
#13
I use an Affinity 5 string on tour. I love the way it sounds w/stock pups. I put a Hipshot bridge & some Dogal flats & it kills. I don't worry too much about somebody stealing it. For $230 or so I can get another one. I play my high dollar stuff when I'm in town or recording.
 
#14
My only gripe is what I can only explain as a dead spot. On the A string, C,C#,D (frets 3,4,5) just don't cut through when I slap. They're fine when I pluck or pick, but slapping them doesn't do a thing. I've grown accustomed to popping those three frets, but of course it doesn't sound right.

Anything I can do here?
 
#15
I just started playing bass after playing guitar for the past several years. I bought a 20th Anniversary Squier Affinity P-Bass for $135. It's 8 years old and shows it; the tone knob is loose, the strings are rusty, frets are cruddy, and the action is on the high side. BUT- the neck is solid, neck pocket is tight, and even with the dead strings it sounds decent. After I sort out the issues I expect it to be a great player. I really don't care what the headstock says as long as it plays and sounds good.
 
#16
Craig630 said:
My only gripe is what I can only explain as a dead spot. On the A string, C,C#,D (frets 3,4,5) just don't cut through when I slap. They're fine when I pluck or pick, but slapping them doesn't do a thing. I've grown accustomed to popping those three frets, but of course it doesn't sound right.

Anything I can do here?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, dead spots just go hand in hand with wooden necks & truss rods. If one is lucky, they may be so slight that often they go noticed...sometimes not. But dead spots can't be blamed on price tags - you'll find this issue can plague nearly ANY bass by any manufacturer at any price point. Fender, EB, etc., any instrument with a wooden neck is susceptible. In fact, a quick Google returns an [Invalid or Expired Link Removed], and an [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] discussing the issue.

I've seen it said that increasing the headstock mass will shift the resonant peaks of the neck and in turn, the dead spots to much higher & hopefully less noticeable areas of the neck. There is a product called a Fat Finger (I forget who makes it) - essentially, it is nothing more than a brass clamp that you attach to the headstock to accomplish this adding mass/moving the dead spots. I've also seen it said that graphite support rods in the neck can help - and IME, I've had less noticeable dead spots on basses I've owned w/graphite rods in the neck. I'm thinking the graphite rods add mass to the neck (rather than headstock) & change the resonant peaks of the neck to help to shift the dead spots on up the neck to higher registers - but I wouldn't go so far as to say graphite = no dead spots at all - every time. But either means reaches the same end - adding more mass to the neck whether it be at the headstock or in the neck itself - the naturally occurring resonant peaks in the neck are now altered.

One cool thing I saw in the Ernie Ball forum was someone mentioning screwing a flat, brass plate to the back of the headstock to add more mass. I thought that was pretty clever & probably more discrete than some clamp-type device attached to the headstock to add mass. Certainly cheaper to try than a new neck, graphite or not - and on that note, every neck is going to be unique in regards to how prominent & where dead spots may occur because again, we're talking wood here - every piece of wood does not resonate equally. So another Affinity neck may resolve or at least minimize the spots you are experiencing. Sorry for the novel, but dead spots are an interesting & long-fought problem with musical instruments - lots of ground to cover on the how, why & what to do's. Hope any of this helps. :)
 
#19
Craig630 said:
My only gripe is what I can only explain as a dead spot. On the A string, C,C#,D (frets 3,4,5) just don't cut through when I slap. They're fine when I pluck or pick, but slapping them doesn't do a thing. I've grown accustomed to popping those three frets, but of course it doesn't sound right.

Anything I can do here?
Click to expand...

Have you actually heard this when you play or is it just you thinking it's dead on those notes/strings? We can be our own worst critic this way. WE can sense it - but can anyone else?

I say this because I feel as bass players we are always playing and looking for that unobtainium tone that separates us from all the other bass players and we are very much overly critical of our gear more so than the guitarist or the drummer or they guy on tambourine.

We really play for other bass players - that's a reality check I feel.

For tone and sounds, we add loud exhaust systems to our cars/trucks and boom-boxes in the trunks to sound different - but it's all been done before and I don't think we really need to go into the Freudian version of WHY we do the things we do.

Boiling it down - if you agonize over 'dead strings/notes' etc, I'd try to hear a recording of your playing in a group at a gig or jam and just hear what it sounds like to an electronic recording device.

I bet you're not playing as bad of an instrument as you think.

As a discordant to my own theory - we should all strive for perfection - be it: playing the bass really well or walking on water and feeding multitudes of people with two bagels and some fish sticks - but that may not be a viable option at the mo.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back