Squier Has Come a Long Way!

Greetings all. About 11 years ago I stopped playing bass. My wife and I had a young daughter and my work kept me too busy to keep up with practicing. So I sold what little equipment I did have.

To make a long story a bit shorter; after leaving California twice, my family and I have ended up in South Florida; we have been here over two and a half years now.

At the beginning of July I was promoted from within the company I work for and am now in a position to start playing again. So two weeks ago I began looking at "entry level" equipment.

There is some very, VERY nice stuff out there. The lower end price point production seem to be vastly improved over what I was familiar with a decade ago.

During my research I came across the Fender Squier Affinity Precision PJ Beginner Pack on Amazon. Eleven years ago Squier was just not an option, in my opinion. I had not heard too many positive things about the line. But this time, there were a lot of positive reviews in the item listing. So, I checked other sites and the great reviews were consistent everywhere I looked. I also watched a few YouTube videos on the Squier PJ. Again, nothing but positive feedback.

So, with such a great price $330 for everything and an option to spread the payments over 5 months, I HAD to give the Squier line a chance.

BOY am I glad that I did!

The Less Than Great: The strap included is very cheap. It will do for now, but it needs to be upgraded.

There were several complaints about the quality of the cord included so I ordered an aftermarket but to be honest I have haven't even tried the one that came with the set.

The Great: The amp is really nice. It's small but it's a practice amp. I get enough sound and can play with the tonality enough for now. The amp is also very well made, it doesn't feel cheap or skimpy. It will be PERFECT for any beginning bassist.

The bass itself is BEAUTIFUL! The brown sunburst is classy, the construction is flawless. It's lightweight but doesn't feel crummy or weak. The neck is nice and smooth, no rough edges on the frets. The controls are tight and responsive.

The combination of the P and J bridge pickups make for very capable sound shaping. You can get a a lot of different sounds out of this instrument.

Overall I am BEYOND THRILLED with this bass. It did need a set up so I took it to the local Guitar Center for tha (there is was fret buzz that I could get knocked down). After a $50 set-up the bass is flawless.

Better than cheap Encore

Ok, I had three basses prior to this Squier: broken Swift P bass, Encore P Bass and 1975 Japanese copy of Fender P Bass: Joodee Performer Bass. All lacked something when you played slapping style. With all my attempts to adjust nothing helped: truss rod, fine tuning, nothing. Then I bought this. What a difference! I could repeat Flea slapping from YouTube right away, and though it sounded not exactly like him (well I just started playing this year), it was all right. The lows are low and the highs are high and not too harsh. I also put some foam rubber close to the bridge like Bobby Vega does. It helps with muting the sounds. Good to go until I save for Fender American Elite P Bass!

Great tone for a squier

I bought this bass with pretty low expectations, and found myself amazed. Especially paired with new strings, this bass can roar just like a high-end Fender if you mess with the EQ enough. And with the added single coil at the bridge, a whole new variety of tones is available. Only reason I rate it with four instead of five is that the pickups' DI sounds pretty horrible. Very low-midrange-y, kind of gives you a headache. You have to EQ the hell out of it before it sounds decent. The pickups have cut out a couple of times, and I've had to have the machine heads replaced because they all weren't turnable after a while. But, after replacing (a very easy fix), it works like a dream. The knbos have also fallen off, but that is also a pretty easy fix. Other than that, a fantastic bass, especially for a Squier.

great instrument for the price

I use this bass most of the time when I play live, especially these last few shows I've played because my Jackson bass needs fixed. This bass really cuts through in a live setting, it has a great clanky tone and is great for speed music

For a begginer is great.

This bass is great if you are starting out, but if you want to play funk and slap bass maybe it’s a better idea to get a sub stingray, overall it’s a great bass for the money, only the jazz pickup is a little low quality, but the Precision pickup is dope, sadly i don’t like the Precision tone, so that’s that.

Good Enough

Here's the truth, it sounds mostly the same as a Fender Precision Bass. I might venture to say that it's a little darker tone wise than an actual Fender P, but I think that's because the strings on my friends Fender P are pretty fresh. The key difference, I think, is playability. My Squier P is just not as easy to play as a Fender P. The neck is kind of chunky and the action comes stock at a medium height. Also, the neck is not glossy, a feature that I will look for when purchasing my next bass. The Squier P also has a cheaper look to it, but that is as much as I can articulate about it's appearance in comparison to a Fender P. Something about it is... Rounder? It looks like a little bubbly next to an actual Fender P. All in all, it's really not that bad. I love mine to death, but it is my first bass.. It handles fuzz and effects just fine as far as I'm concerned

Beginner bass with character

This was my first bass, which I've had for 10 years now. I got it in a starter pack along with the Fender Rumble 15. With new strings, this thing really shines. I had it in pieces for 3 years because I wanted to repaint the body. I ended up sanding it down recently and decided to keep some of the black, but also have some of the natural wood peaking through. I played a gig with it and my sweat showed up on the body because I didn't put a clear coat when finished. The parts of the bass are fine for the price of the bass. It stays in tune quite well and there's no fret buzz. The pickups also sound good, as I said before, when paired with fresh strings. Boiled strings do just as well.

Best Bass for Your Buck

There isn’t a Mexican Fender PJ bass that you can buy for a decent price, and I found that this bass sounds almost as good anyway. Great price tag under $200

My only bass

The only bass I own at the current moment. While it's not the greatest sounding bass in the world in my opinion, it does the job for me for right now. I aim to get a much better quality bass in the future.

I bought this at a local music shop in Watertown, CT as part of the Affinity Combo Starter Pack that comes with Rumble 15 Bass Amplifier and much more. At the time we REALLY needed a bass but at the most affordable rate. The situation called for this. But with a little bit of work on it, it's not that bad! Use it for writing songs/recording demos, and my bassist will use this as his second bass from time to time at shows. Decent Starter Bass IMO.

not bad

Not a bad bass,with the neck fully on, its pretty bassy.The neck was a little rough but a few passes with 0000 steel wool took care of that.