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Squier CV/VM Compared to Affinity Precision

L

Let It Fall

Inactive
Oct 15, 2009
488
3
Baton Rouge
#1
Im looking for a beat around giging bass. I love my big al but think I might want to leave it at home for some shows. It does give me a great P bass sound or anysound I could think of really.

Im looking at squire and am wondering if the CV/VM is worth 150$ more than the affinity. I like the VM's color but i already have a Big Al in the exact same color scheme, and though the CV isn't exactly my favorite color, I think it would look sweet with a tort pickguard.

So what makes the CV so much better?

I owned a CV Jazz that I bought just to hold me over till my Sterling H/S came in and I THOUGHT it was great untill I played my Sterling [this was after about a year and a half break from ANY bass playing] I couldn't believe how much easier my sterling was to play. Thats the only word I could think of to describe it, it just seemed to take so much less effort. Anyway thats going off subject.

What are the differences if anyone can explain?
 
#4
You may just be noticing the difference between active and passive basses. Actives generally compress the sound more, and maybe that makes it seem easier to play. Other than that, I'm not sure what you mean by easier to play, as you said it wasn't the setup. Maybe the Sterling had lighter strings?


Edit: The Sterling has a thinner neck than a P, perhaps that?
 
#5
king_biscuit said:
You may just be noticing the difference between active and passive basses. Actives generally compress the sound more, and maybe that makes it seem easier to play. Other than that, I'm not sure what you mean by easier to play, as you said it wasn't the setup. Maybe the Sterling had lighter strings?


Edit: The Sterling has a thinner neck than a P, perhaps that?
Click to expand...

Thats what I thought.

But this isnt what this threads about. I just remember thinking wow this jazz plays good for only 350 and thinking could it really get any better? Then getting my sterling in and WOW what a difference. But the difference in price was about 1200$ too. So..

Anyways I know what to expect from a squire but Im wondering if the CV OR VM is better and in what ways than an affinity.
 
#6
The CV or VM is only better to you if they FEEL better to you. I just got a CV 50's P for X-mas and I absolutely LOVE the neck, but I also despise EBMM necks. You probably just really like EBMM necks.

The Affinity line is their entry level line and as such use cheaper materials.
 
#8
Aspidites said:
The CV or VM is only better to you if they FEEL better to you. I just got a CV 50's P for X-mas and I absolutely LOVE the neck, but I also despise EBMM necks. You probably just really like EBMM necks.

The Affinity line is their entry level line and as such use cheaper materials.
Click to expand...

Cheaper materials, like? That is what I wanted to hear. In the extra 150 your not just paying for the color and smaller frets? I cant stand crappy looking necks, I notice alot of squires have ashy dry looking necks.
 
#10
Let It Fall said:
Cheaper materials, like? That is what I wanted to hear. In the extra 150 your not just paying for the color and smaller frets? I cant stand crappy looking necks, I notice alot of squires have ashy dry looking necks.
Click to expand...

Woods- body woods. Even tho some of the Cheaper Squiers have ALDER listed as the body wood-as do SX's & many other low cost basses- AFAIK- it's generally a lesser quality Alder. According to well known & VERY respected Luthiers, there's Alder & there's Alder, & there's Alder & there's..............particle board :) Depends on the QUALITY of the particular piecce of wood AFAIK. I've never had a BASSWOOD bass that I've liked, but apparently EB Music Man BONGO basses are made outta Basswood & they sound AMAZING.. elecs & build obviously come into play here!!;)
But as to Squier's CV, standard, Affinity etc... U can even SEE the Affinity's tuners are smaller & weaker/flimsy looking compared to the 'standard' model Squier(apparently the highest quality model B4 going CV etc.
So I s'pose this applies to elecs-pots, wiring, pick ups etc.... & even build quality & Quality control too:help:
 
#11
CV's are money and worth every penny and theres totally a $150 difference there IMO.. im doing mine up with a ton of bells and whistles. not because everything on there sucks..quite the opposite actually. its killer right out the box. im just putting 62 ri pups in it and the rest are for asthetics. hope this helps
 
#12
rodl2005 said:
Woods- body woods. Even tho some of the Cheaper Squiers have ALDER listed as the body wood-as do SX's & many other low cost basses- AFAIK- it's generally a lesser quality Alder. According to well known & VERY respected Luthiers, there's Alder & there's Alder, & there's Alder & there's..............particle board :) Depends on the QUALITY of the particular piecce of wood AFAIK. I've never had a BASSWOOD bass that I've liked, but apparently EB Music Man BONGO basses are made outta Basswood & they sound AMAZING.. elecs & build obviously come into play here!!;)
But as to Squier's CV, standard, Affinity etc... U can even SEE the Affinity's tuners are smaller & weaker/flimsy looking compared to the 'standard' model Squier(apparently the highest quality model B4 going CV etc.
So I s'pose this applies to elecs-pots, wiring, pick ups etc.... & even build quality & Quality control too:help:
Click to expand...

Sure there is different Alder and Rosewood from different places. I've seen some very different looking "rosewood" depending on possible origin. The RW I've seen on a couple SX basses is not the same as the Indian RW on other basses. Just an observation.

I would be cool if they would go with maple more than trying to make everything rosewood. Seems it would be more attractive in that it is different than most offer.

The tuners on the 4 string Affinitys are suspect. The 5 string Affinitys are Gotoh knockoffs like others do. It would be cool if they used some better open-gear tuners on the 4's.

Every time I enter into one of these discussions, I can't help but think of the 80s Japanese Fenders that everyone thought were crap and now are commanding high prices. I played one of those Japanese Fenders for 10+ years and it was all that. Not saying there is a full parallel, but something can be said. There are some decent basses being built around the world to meet different budgets.
 
#13
And actually some of that wood could very well be of greater quality than the alder that has been harvested here for decades. Have you seen some of the flame maple on Chinese acoustic instruments - violins, double basses, etc? There is some excellent quality wood.

I just don't think you can't possibly judge the quality of the wood the same as what may be inferred from building techniques. Yes they are different, but nobody though basswood or some other woods made sense to use. Try a Squier VM 70s bass with a maple body which seems odd, then you see some boutique basses are made with maple.
 

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