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Squier Jazz Affinity Bass Long-Term Review

Squier Affinity J (Jazz) Bass long-term review

Every guitar player should try playing bass. It's a blast, and can really teach you something about fret stretches, silencing adjacent strings, and serious hand-strengthening. In another note, every bass player has to have a place to start. Sometimes getting a low-cost bass doesn’t mean having to get a cheap bass!

Quick Opinion: The Squier Affinity and Standard Jazz Bass guitars are extremely comparable to Fender Mexican-made Standard Jazz Bass guitars! The basic features and appointments are almost identical. It stands to reason that the Chinese-made Squiers are slightly less-nice Alder wood, and the finish paint is thicker and harder on the Squiers. However, the impression of the Squier we bought (and have played for more than a year) is that it is a solid buy, and an excellent bass.

Free Shipping and more information about Squier by Fender Jazz basses - The Affinity 4-string Jazz may no longer be available, but check out the Vintage Modified!

Playability: The neck is solid, and is nicely tapered. It is physically similar to Fenders costing much more… The maple neck and rosewood fretboard feel excellent and are easy to play. The bass is comparatively light and is fairly well balanced. The excellent Fender-designed double-cutaway body allows easy, full access to the entire fretboard. As a long-scale (34”) bass, the Squier Jazz Bass is extremely playable and is a joy to use. The bolt-on maple neck/rosewood fretboard comes surprisingly well finished. Only two or three of our guitar’s fret ends were a little sharp. The fret height is very consistent throughout the neck.
For folks with small hands or less-than-average arm lengths, a full-scale bass like this might be a little tough to play (especially during quick, challenging passes). If you’re not comfortable with a long, 34” guitar, I recommend trying out the Squier Bronco bass, or, if your budget can accommodate, a Fender Mustang bass.

Features The appointments and features of the Squier Jazz Bass are excellent for this guitar’s price. The pickguard is a well-made three-ply plastic guard (white-black-white on our Red Metallic bass). The pickups are two “vintage-style” pickups (bridge and mid). The guitar features two larger volume knobs and one smaller tone knob. The two volume knobs allow you to choose the tonal variety by selecting the volume for a specific pickup. The tone applies to the entire sound output (the Squier Jazz Bass guitars are passive, in that they have no equalization or boost electronics on board). As with all Jazz Bass guitars, the neck is bolt-on. In the case of the Squier Jazz Bass, the neck truss rods are adjustable via an allen wrench in the headstock (no need to unbolt the neck and unscrew the pickguard). The chrome tuners are the enclosed variety, and are fairly accurate. The Squier Jazz uses a round string tree in the headstock for the two highest strings.
The Squier Jazz Bass has top-loaded strings (means that the strings are not fed through the body, but are fed through the end of the chrome bridge).

Sound: The Squier Jazz Bass guitar has a consistent, (sort of) vintage sound. The pickups are pretty noisy, and the output isn’t very strong. The quality of the sound that does come out is all Fender, though. With the right amplification and EQ-tweaking, you can get the Squier to growl, rumble, and thumb-slap-“splank” without too much trouble. If I was to make this guitar my full-time bass – I might take the time to upgrade the pickups to Fender SCNs, or some type of high-output noiseless.

Value: This is a $299 guitar in value (not 'retail', 'street'). The sound, quality of make, and appointments are very good. Many other low-end guitars have badly twisted/warped necks, poor sound, and extremely cheap parts – the Squier Jazz Bass is very much a cut above the average low-end bass (no pun intended!). You would have to buy a much more expensive Fender bass to get better sound. If you took the labels off the Squier, you would have trouble telling it from its more expensive brethren (or sistren, if you wish).

Wishes: I really wish these were offered with maple fretboards (a matter of personal preference, yes, but still something that would be good to offer). It would be nice if the pickups had more output.

Labels: 4 string bass, bass, electric bass, fender, jazz, squier

posted by Jim Pearson @ 3/29/2006 02:13:00 PM