Light weight is a bad thing for me. The only light weight basses I've played that sounded amazing were all in the multi-thousands of dollars. When look at basses under $2000, heavy basses turn out to be better sounding to me.
Squire will always be the step-child of the Fender family. They won't ever put as much love and attention into the entry level market that they do for the high end market. For a bassist, the pickups, the preamp, and the string spacing are going to make a huge difference.
There is a beginner range of bassses. I consider these to be the $300-$500 basses. I don't mention anything lower than $300 because I believe the instruments are so low quality at that range, they aren't a good inestment for a new player. No resale value, sound bad, feel akward.
This Orange bass would be considered a begginer bass to me, but I don't think the price reflects the quality.
With Squire, I think Ibanez and Epiphone are doing more with their entry lines. The most commonly accepted entry basses I've seen bands lug around were Ibanez 405's, Epiphone Firbird Pro's, and Schecter Stiletto Extremes. These are all about $500 brand new, retain market value decent enough, and don't feel terrible.
In the bass world, the old Peavey lines are considered the best budget basses. The Milleniums are loved for a $300 range, the Cirrus is praised for the $1000 range. Yamahas are more rare to see, but the people who own them, love them.
The only places I see Squires are Guitar Centers and pawn shops.
