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Squier Classic Vibe 2019

#421
InstantEctobass said:
Look at the photos of the sunburst body. The texture isn't maple in any case. I think they are mistaking themselves. We shall see in the future :)



I've played my Squier CV 60 JB against a Flea Jazz Bass and the tone was the same, just less volume, you crank up the amp a little more and there you go. Punch? I think my Squier Precision Affinity PBass from 2006 had a lot. Way more than some MIM. You can't globalise the situation with pickups. MIM Fenders are as mass madeas the MIA (Asia) Squiers
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That’s cool and if you are happy with the tones, that’s all that matters. I have never liked the sound out of standard Squier pickups, ever. Especially if I play them back to back with a Fender model. The very first thing I did with any Squier or Epiphone I owned was swapped the pickups.
 
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#422
mbell75 said:
That’s cool and if you are happy with the tones, that’s all that matters. I have never liked the sound out of standard Squier pickups, ever. Especially if I play them back to back with a Fender model. The very first thing I did with any Squier or Epiphone I owned was swapped the pickups.
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That's not my experience at all. The AlNiCo pickups in my Squier CV Jazz are much better than the stock ceramic pickups in my MIM Standard Jazz - the latter sound pretty harsh and poorly defined.
 
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#424
mbell75 said:
That’s cool and if you are happy with the tones, that’s all that matters. I have never liked the sound out of standard Squier pickups, ever. Especially if I play them back to back with a Fender model. The very first thing I did with any Squier or Epiphone I owned was swapped the pickups.
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The pickups in the new classic vibes are not standard squier pickups. They should be an improvement from previous, hopefully! I personally am excited to try them out soon
 
#425
RumbleMan3 said:
The pickups in the new classic vibes are not standard squier pickups. They should be an improvement from previous, hopefully! I personally am excited to try them out soon
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I know, I played both the P and the J at NAMM a few months back. They don't sound anything like the new Alnico V pickups in the new Players Series Fenders, they are more dull and flat sounding with not nearly as much bite. Not to mention all the hardware felt cheap and Im sorry but poplar and Indian Laurel just plain suck. Then again, the P is only $349, but anyone expecting them to sound or play anything like the new Fenders is going to be disappointed. As I said before, not like we are talking a $2k difference between an Epiphone Les Paul and a Gibson Les Paul, its only a few hundred bucks. I'd spend the extra few hundred bucks to get the real deal.
 
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#426
mbell75 said:
I know, I played both the P and the J at NAMM a few months back. They don't sound anything like the new Alnico V pickups in the new Players Series Fenders, they are more dull and flat sounding with not nearly as much bite. Not to mention all the hardware felt cheap and Im sorry but poplar and Indian Laurel just plain suck. Then again, the P is only $349, but anyone expecting them to sound or play anything like the new Fenders is going to be disappointed. As I said before, not like we are talking a $2k difference between an Epiphone Les Paul and a Gibson Les Paul, its only a few hundred bucks. I'd spend the extra few hundred bucks to get the real deal.
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Well I will be comparing the jazz bass against a mexican fender in the shop when they arrive in stock and I'll let you know what I decide.

Look, I'm sure that Fenders will sound a little better, but until i compare them and see just how different they are, I can't justify spending a more.

I really want a 70's style jazz bass. The cheapest 70s inspired jazz bass in the Fender range costs about $1350, compared to the new Squier which is probably about $600 (I'm giving AUD prices here BTW)

I have heard and read on multiple occasions of people referring to PREVIOUS model classic vibe basses and vintage modified, as their "go to basses", despite owning Fenders aswell. I was shocked to hear this. Well, I'm going to try this out for myself and see if this is true for me also. I'm fairly confident these new classic vibes will be GREAT basses!

But of course it's all down to personal preferance. Regardless, I am still am excited for these basses and really want to play one soon!
 
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#427
RumbleMan3 said:
Well I will be comparing the jazz bass against a mexican fender in the shop when they arrive in stock and I'll let you know what I decide.

Look, I'm sure that Fenders will sound a little better, but until i compare them and see just how different they are, I can't justify spending a more.

I really want a 70's style jazz bass. The cheapest 70s inspired jazz bass in the Fender range costs about $1350, compared to the new Squier which is probably about $600 (I'm giving AUD prices here BTW)

I have heard and read on multiple occasions of people referring to PREVIOUS model classic vibe basses and vintage modified, as their "go to basses", despite owning Fenders aswell. I was shocked to hear this. Well, I'm going to try this out for myself and see if this is true for me also. I'm fairly confident these new classic vibes will be GREAT basses!

But of course it's all down to personal preferance. Regardless, I am still am excited for these basses and really want to play one soon!
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Just pulled the trigger on the CV 70's Jazz in black. Should be with me by tomorrow. I'm no bass genius but I'll get some pics and general info ASAP. Its the first new bass I've bought since my first new bass, a MIM P back in 1993!
 
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#428
RumbleMan3 said:
Well I will be comparing the jazz bass against a mexican fender in the shop when they arrive in stock and I'll let you know what I decide.

Look, I'm sure that Fenders will sound a little better, but until i compare them and see just how different they are, I can't justify spending a more.

I really want a 70's style jazz bass. The cheapest 70s inspired jazz bass in the Fender range costs about $1350, compared to the new Squier which is probably about $600 (I'm giving AUD prices here BTW)

I have heard and read on multiple occasions of people referring to PREVIOUS model classic vibe basses and vintage modified, as their "go to basses", despite owning Fenders aswell. I was shocked to hear this. Well, I'm going to try this out for myself and see if this is true for me also. I'm fairly confident these new classic vibes will be GREAT basses!

But of course it's all down to personal preferance. Regardless, I am still am excited for these basses and really want to play one soon!
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But the previous Classic Vibe series had FAR better pickups than the VM series. The previous CV-series sounded GREAT! It's the only Squier I've ever played where I felt no need to change the pickups. And yes, I use my CV70 every bit as much as my more expensive MIA Fenders, including Custom Shop. Maybe I got lucky but my CV70 is an exceptional instrument and not just "for the price".

The VM series never impressed me much. Somewhat dull pickups, fret issues. Maybe I just had bad luck with the ones I've owned but they were nowhere near the old CV-series IMO. I suspect a lot of the people using VM basses as their "go to" have replaced the pickups with something better. The only one I still own is a VM Jazz V and that's just because I rarely use 5-string so I really don't need anything better. But it needed some fretwork before it was usable.

I'm not saying the new CV series will be poor but the fact that they cost LESS than the old CVs and are now (presumably) manufactured in the same factory as the VM makes me think it's more like VM quality with different color/configuration.
 
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#431
RumbleMan3 said:
TELL ME EVERYTHING PLEASE!!! this is the exact bass im after! tommorow!?!? Where exactly ARE you? How much cost?? thanks
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Not sure if posting links is allowed? Guitar Guitar here in the UK. £331 and before I placed my order they were showing 4 in stock. They've got quite a few of the 2019 models in stock by not all. Deffo looks like they're the new models too.

I went for the before 12.00 noon delivery to ensure someone will be able to accept delivery. I'm normally out on a Friday after work but if I get chance I'll get some pics up before I do. Failing that I'll be getting stuck into it on Saturday morning. Should be able to get some nice hi-res images and note and dimensions/weights/details anyone wants to know. Sadly I've no other new Squier basses to do a comparison too and tone etc. is a very subjective matter!
 
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#434
LkS said:
In a way that you can upgrade it now much more easily to a BadAss or Gotoh or Hipshot :)
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There’s really no reason why the bridge needs to be upgraded unless it’s broken. A third party bridge rarely makes a difference. If you have $100 to spend on an unnecessary bridge swap, you’ll get far more for your money trying out different string sets - or buying a few special tools that will allow you to perform a professional level setup on your instrument a lot faster and easier.

Just my opinion anyway. YMMV.
 
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#435
[/QUOTE]
I'm not saying the new CV series will be poor but the fact that they cost LESS than the old CVs and are now (presumably) manufactured in the same factory as the VM makes me think it's more like VM quality with different color/configuration.[/QUOTE]

This is my only concern. The Chinese made CV 6 strings I own (CVC Tele and 50's CV Strat) are fantastic quality. I just hope Fender/Squier have not dropped the ball after all the good will they built up with the Chinese CV guitars and basses and 'down-graded' the CV line to be closer to the VM line.
 
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#437
bunker said:
This is my only concern. The Chinese made CV 6 strings I own (CVC Tele and 50's CV Strat) are fantastic quality. I just hope Fender/Squier have not dropped the ball after all the good will they built up with the Chinese CV guitars and basses and 'down-graded' the CV line to be closer to the VM line.
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No matter where the offshore manufacturing is done, it’s all about the spec and the QC, IMO - plenty of both good and terrible product made in China. Cortek are more than able to make just about anything to any price point. I’m interested to see how these come out.
 
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#438
I'm not saying the new CV series will be poor but the fact that they cost LESS than the old CVs and are now (presumably) manufactured in the same factory as the VM makes me think it's more like VM quality with different color/configuration.[/QUOTE]

This is my only concern. The Chinese made CV 6 strings I own (CVC Tele and 50's CV Strat) are fantastic quality. I just hope Fender/Squier have not dropped the ball after all the good will they built up with the Chinese CV guitars and basses and 'down-graded' the CV line to be closer to the VM line.[/QUOTE]

I think the Chinese CVs perhaps turned out to be TOO good. I mean, a Squier than outperformed the MIM Standards and were more or less as good as expensive MIA Fenders but without the quality control issues (in my experience) of the MIA Fenders. More or less what happened to Fender Japan a couple of decades ago: They were too good and outperformed MIA Fenders so Fender shut them down outside the Japanese market.
 
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#439
Deleted member 271037 said:
But the previous Classic Vibe series had FAR better pickups than the VM series. The previous CV-series sounded GREAT! It's the only Squier I've ever played where I felt no need to change the pickups. And yes, I use my CV70 every bit as much as my more expensive MIA Fenders, including Custom Shop. Maybe I got lucky but my CV70 is an exceptional instrument and not just "for the price".

The VM series never impressed me much. Somewhat dull pickups, fret issues. Maybe I just had bad luck with the ones I've owned but they were nowhere near the old CV-series IMO. I suspect a lot of the people using VM basses as their "go to" have replaced the pickups with something better. The only one I still own is a VM Jazz V and that's just because I rarely use 5-string so I really don't need anything better. But it needed some fretwork before it was usable.

I'm not saying the new CV series will be poor but the fact that they cost LESS than the old CVs and are now (presumably) manufactured in the same factory as the VM makes me think it's more like VM quality with different color/configuration.
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I prefer to defer judgement and not indulge in groundless worrying until they hit the streets and people (especially me!) can get their hands on one.

I have the Squier Matt Freeman Signature PB (basically a CV with a slightly more aggressive pickup that’s unique to this model) and it’s easily the nicest PB I’ve ever owned or played. And I’ve had MIAs, MIMs, and MIJs over the years to compare it to. So you can bet I want to see how well the current crop measures up to the excellent MIM and MFreeman I already own.

I personally expect that the new CVs will hold their own. The CV series already has a well earned reputation. I can’t see Fender/Squier doing anything that would take away from something they worked so hard to achieve - a top notch gateway instrument.

The arguments that the CVs were “too good” sounds like a possible reason Fender might be tempted to take a little bit of the blush off the CV product line’s rose. But if you really think about it, I don’t think Fender feels at all threatened by the CV product line’s popularity. The CVs aren’t going to pull Fender’s core customers away from the fold. There will always be a significant number of players who will accept nothing less than the name “Fender” on the headstock regardless of how favorably a particular Squier model may compare to it.

And within the Fender name camp, there’s an even more diehard contingent that insists that their Fender be made in the USA. Those people are Fender’s real target customer base. One that’s never going to be tempted by a Squier, no matter how good it is - or how much of a bargain it may be. There’s a powerful cachet that goes with the Fender name. One that’s not exclusively based on quality or tone. The presence of Leo Fender can still be felt throughout the bass world. And probably always will.

Besides, a sale is a sale. Fender hasn’t gotten where it is through stupidity - or interfering when someone wants to put money in their coffers. I’d be far more surprised if the new CVs didn’t measure up to their older siblings.
 
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