Will make it to the point. I am looking at the MM S.U.B and the squier basses. I know that there are some sound and configuration differences but I like both basses. More interested in build quality and overall bang for the buck. hoping some more experienced players can pick up on things that I can't. Thank-you to all who may offer some help. This really is a great site.
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upgrade question
- Thread starter ryrich22
- Start date
I have an older (2006-7ish) Squeir P-bass Special, the one with the Jazz p'up near the bridge & the Jazz width neck with dot inlays. Wifey bought it for me for my b-day that year. Very nice piece for the $$ for sure. I intend to upgrading the p'ups to EMG select passives & have a Badass II bridge for it. All in it will have cost me about $300.00, and it will be a MONSTER!
If your Squier is from the Standard Line, carefully measure the width of the pickup routes, especially the Jazz slot. In my experience (I've owned four Squier Standards, two Jazzes and two P-Bass Specials), the Standards were notoriously off of the Fender "footprint". In other words, not a lot of Fender nor Licensed by Fender parts would fit on a Squier Standard without a bit of work. Some extra routing or sanding might be necessary to make a new piece of hardware fit.
Here's an example; I tried upgrading the pickups on my first Standard Jazz, but the slot for the bridge pickup was too small for a Seymour Duncan. On my second Jazz, I bought a neck pickup to go into the bridge position. The pickup fit, but the route was still too small for the pickup cover, so that one has the new pickup, but a mis-matched cover.
To put it simply, be prepared to do a bit of work if you're planning on upgrading a Squier Standard.
I've noticed some variations in quality control in the MM SUB basses recently. One had a pick guard misaligned (a corner was caught on the neck and wasn't flush with the body) and several others had really bad fret work (you could almost rip your fingers open sliding down the neck). I haven't noticed similar discrepancies in the Squires. I would certainly recommend playing / carefully inspecting any bass before buying.
I recently bought a Squier Classic Vibes 60's P-Bass and it's been excellent for the price ($270). Sounds nice, nothing is misaligned, no jagged frets, and the setup from the factory wasn't even THAT bad. I just needed to throw some new strings on it and do a few minor tweaks and it has been playing great. I definitely feel I got a quality piece of gear for the money.
- Sep 14, 2012
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I would go used and look for the old american SUB Stingrays... Their build quality was FAR superior to the new SUBs IMO
My vote is for the squier. Preferably the cv or vm series. I have one of each and they have seen some serious play time. Is also have a sbmm sub5, and I almost never play it. It sits in the stand most of the time. All are great "bang for the buck" but I always seem to grab my squier cv precision. If you want something solid go with the squier, you can make modifications to taste with them as well. I guess it would also depend on what sound you're looking for. I prefer a passive and natural smooth tone vs the more aggressive tone of the sbmm.
