Thoughts on Squier basses? Im skeptical.

[bigthemat]

I'll say this. My Squier VM Jazz had been my main axe for about 8 years. Never have I ever gotten any complaints about my tone, just the occasional "YoUrE tOo LoUd". The best comment I ever got was in a recording session the engineer after checking my levels, "thanks for not having poopy bass tone".

 

[wmhill]

Occasionally a nice "skwyer" comes along. If you can put your hands on one before purchase you should be able to decide if it's worth buying. Ordering one online is a gamble I wouldn't consider. If I was looking for budget-friendly, the new Yamahas are great, as well as Dean & LTD.

 

[Hamstrings]

Yeah, as far as the setup goes, never, lol. Too much stuff for me to buy and the place I went to to get my regular guitar adjusted was AMAZING. 45 to fully adjust, and after checking just now, its 60 for a 5 string. Im usually hands on and fix literally everything myself but i cant pass that up.

I paid $15 for a set of allen keys and have done all my setups myself.

 

[Jeff Hughes]

Also, if anybody is this far down in the thread, is playing without an amp bad for the bass? When i practice at home I play without an amp, and ive been thinking about getting the vox bass headphone amp instead, and then using my usual bass amp when i need to. Will the headphone amp still sound good? Obviously i dont know what bass im getting yet, but in your guys' experience, are they worth it?

I love the Vox Amplug. The drum beats and audio through features are great. The tone is pretty good. There is a tone knob but it seems to add a lot of hiss when turned up.

 

[Rod Barchetta]

IMHO, playing without an amp or headphones isn't bad for the bass, but it could hamper your technique. An unamplified bass is difficult to hear, so you really can't tell if your notes are even and full. I have the Vox bass headphone amp and it works very well for quiet practicing. Personally, I recommend playing through some sort of amplification so you can "hear" your technique.

Also, I have a Squier VM fretless jazz and I love it. It is in rotation with my American Fender Jazz and Nash Jazz.
As always, your mileage may vary.

Also, I have a Squier VM fretless jazz and I love it. Ditto.

 

[FishDub]

My only suggestion is stay away from made in China basses. QC is bad in general. Indonesian and Korean made squiers are usually fine.

MMM..not sure what experience leans you towards this but my (Crafted in China) 2012 CV Fiesta Red P is the best sounding and playing I have ever laid hands on..yes, even some Americans..YMMV

 

[Rod Barchetta]

Phil Jones Bighead HA-1 headphone amplifier is really nice. You can also use it as a pre-amp. It can turn a passive bass into an active one by providing extra headroom with no noise. Top of the line stuff.

 

[Bassbubble11]

CVS’s are gig worthy. I have 2 and have played shows with them multiple times.

 

[Ulf Buck]

The ones I have played sounded great and played fine. I assume the pots, wiring, tuners etc may be problematic. I would try to find a used MIM fender if I was in a financial bind and bassless.

 

[Bass Viking]

Also, im getting a 5 string, no matter what. The yamaha is a 4 string and ive learned all the basics, after being told that I would be an idiot for starting on a 5 string, which i learned is bogus advice.

I agree, it is bogus advice. After all, guitarists learn on 6 strings and nobody tells them “No, you gotta start with 5 strings.”

I bought a Squier VM a few years ago and it was a nice bass.

 

[Mannyinnewyork]

I had an affinity ($ 150 at gc) it played great and sounded great. I replaced the pups with SD pups but the difference was minimal and not necessarily better.

 

[ElectricBass72]

I had a Squire Jazz bass I gigged with in the mid 90's. It was a good bass... it would stay in tune, sounded good and action was low. I ended up selling it in the local trading journal, so I could buy an Ibanez ATK.

 

[Tommy Sparks]

I know, its just alot of measurement and risk of turning the truss rod too far, but i should probably learn. I guess i can practice on this crappy bass haha.

Yup crappy bass is the way to go. Go to YouTube and check out a mess of videos. It’s incredibly easy. I was scared myself back in the day (70s we had no internet). As someone mentioned above, you probably already have most of the tools.
I started on a no name POS bass also and if I knew how to set it up I probably wouldn’t have had sky high action. Oh well, we all started that way. All part of the bass journey.
Good luck and welcome to Talkbass!

 

[PennyroyalWe]

Ive had many Squier basses, and haven’t had a bad one yet. I currently have 3, 2 CV P basses and a VM tele bass. The tele bass is my main gigging bass, it’s a rock solid workhorse. They all are, really. I recently had a 2017 affinity jazz bass that was way better than it had any right to be, considering I got it used for $60. Like most makers, you’re best off getting the newest one you can find. The Chinese made CVs are a tad better than the new Indonesian ones, but there wasn’t a 5 string Chinese CV.

 

[wraub]

Another one here lucky enough to have found a solid Affinity. $49.99 out the door at my local pawn shop, a 2017 P Bass that still had the plastic on the pickguard.
Sounds good, plays well, and looks good despite being very, very red.

I'm actually going to keep it stock and play it often and assess the stock bass on a long term basis. A couple years along, it's holding up pretty well.

 

[Drewsmith00]

This guy does a nice job of demonstrating setup. Check out the rest of his videos. I learned quite a bit from his videos. Good luck!

This is the one ive been trying to look at too, hopefully i can learn.

 

[Drewsmith00]

The only thing I got out of this title from op is “Thoughts on setup? I’m skeptical”

Echoing a lot from the response here, look into setting it up and your concerns should be resolved. Or sell off those cheaply made Basses for a quality bass

Haha, its an 80 dollar bass, came extremely dirty, and i want a 5 string. Im getting a new bass

 

[ahbradot]

This will be my 1st Squier. I'm waiting on backorder from GC. I have a very good hunch I will be able to enjoy this CV J bass sound and feel. I saw some YT vids and I thought the bass was acceptable. I will drive 2 mile to GC and return it if I can't get the bass setup play/feel correct.
I recently bought a Sterling Ray and I absolutely love it. Cheap Basses are made way better now than when I was young in the 1970s. I owned an expensive Alembic and Rickenbacker back in those early days. I wish they made cheap decent basses back then. We are lucky to have the sophisticated tooling currently available these days.

 

[Dr. Keebs]

I'm skeptical about everything until I hold it, try it, play it first. Big dollar instruments included. I've had as much success and joy from budget as I have from boutique.

 

[Drewsmith00]

Alright yall, i guess ill learn to setup my bass, geez. I was really looking for thoughts on squier, but i guess this works too. Guess this is my first and last post on this site lol