Squier Affinity Precision Bass PJ

I am not going to use the phrase "for the price" throughout this review. Standing on it's own two legs as a legitimate musical instrument, this bass stands tall. If you're a beginner looking to get started or a seasoned veteran looking for a reliable backup, look no further. I noodled on bass in bands years ago and wanted to get back into it recently. I have a "Frankenstein" Jazz Bass that I was reconditioning and trying to make as playable as I could... the action was very high and irregular, so I built a clamp-style rig to straighten the neck, did some truss rod work, wired in new electronics (I bought it used and it was set up as a sizzling slap bass i.e. trebly, buzzy, noisy). It still needs new tuning machines, yada, yada. All in all, a lot of effort to play. Instead, I opted to look around and, as usual, I researched thoroughly. I pulled the trigger on this Squier and am SO happy that I did. Here's the breakdown... Out of the box, the setup was far better than I'd expected. The neck is perfectly straight. The strings are "centered" on the fretboard (equidistant left and right from the edges). The action was set low and consistent across all strings with zero fret buzz (FAR more playable than the Frankenstein I was wrestling). I made exactly two adjustments... the G string was a few cents sharp at the 12th fret. I adjusted the intonation (very slight tweak). The other 3 strings were right on the money up and down the fretboard. The other adjustment was for my own purposes. I raised the action on the E string slightly as I tend to be an animal on that particular string and I get a bit of clatter when head-banging. Sue me. :) Summary: One minor adjustment out of the box for a wonderfully playable instrument? Well done, Squier. Very well done. On to the best of it... tonality. My intent is to practice. A lot. Silently. I have tons of audio gear (DAW's, digital mixers, powered PA cabs, outboard processors, name it) but I sold my little Mesa Walkabout Scout bass combo in a pinch for cash months ago. I have no dedicated bass rig, but that's ok for now. No gigs on the horizon. I plugged the Squier directly into an audio interface (a MOTU Ultralite mk 3, if it matters) that I use for sound from my main PC. I used no EQ, compression, limiters, or effects at all and routed the output to headphones (old Sennheiser HD 280 pro @64 ohms again, fwiw). I was quickly and easily able to use the tone controls on the Squier to dial in a perfectly usable bass tone for practice purposes. I've always liked the Precision bass pickup (neck position) and the tone it excels at. The addition of the Jazz bass single coil at the bridge position (and why Squier calls this a "PJ") allows you to add a bit of attack and upper-mid frequencies if you feel the need. The tone control knob (closest to the bottom of the bass) works great to roll off some or all of the higher frequencies overall regardless of any combined use of the two pickups. In short, versatile and effective. Play around with it. It all works. Plugged into the audio interface, of course, allows me to mix and play along with all of the songs in my local music collection as well as any and all streaming services. Dial something up, dissect, and play along as you will. All in headphones. No noise complaints. No cops. Have at it. I am extremely happy with this purchase. I love the feel of the unfinished maple neck and fretboard. I'll close with an anecdote. I have a friend who is a piano teacher (with many students). I told her about my purchase of this new Squier bass before it arrived and she was happy that I was going to apply myself at getting back into playing. It arrived the next day and I did the above setup. I saw her the following day and tried to look crestfallen. I said, "Guess what happened with my new bass"? She picked up on my sad face. "Oh, no. What"? I said, "It made me practice for 3 hours yesterday". Big grin. THAT, peeps, is music to an instructor's ears. This bass will make you want to pick it up and play it and is WHY I left price out of this whole review. That part of the equation is priceless. Buy one and see for yourself. You'll find the fun. Hope this helps. Great job, Squier/Fender. Keep up the good work.

This right here is my pride and joy. For the price it can not be beat, I hooked it up to a Fender amp and found just the right tone. Plays consistent and good for performance, recording, practice, anything. The packaging was frustrating and you have to really make sure you get every piece of plastic/styrofoam/etc. off this thing before it can really play for you. Overall, I would recommend for any bassist.

Great quality for the money. This thing is pretty funky. As to be expected at this level some fine tuning is needed but it is playable right out of the box. It isn't in tune, but playable. I look forward to getting back into the groove with it. The pickup layout lets you get that soft back-rhythm tone, or that nice crunchy prominent sound. The Lake Placid blue with the black guard and pickups looks super nice too. There is more flake than the pictures show, very pretty.

Nice bass for the money. Arrived quickly.

I'd been browsing around for another item to add to my home studio, and I'd already seen this at my local Guitar Center (although an hour away). Set up was a little confusing, but a few videos help. I think it is great to play, even when using tabs, but having an audio interface w/a DAW makes it much better on its own. The controls are negligible to understand, given the time taken to really dial in the tuning parameters. (I personally use Standard, which becomes easy to understand where users need to start before experimentation.) I love the feel of the guitar, once it is set to tune, and the quality of the guitar is new to me. You're going to need to buy a strap alongside it, which is a drawback, but it's also inconsequential because of the investment you'll be making by purchasing a musical instrument.

Great bass guitar. Tuning works just fine, instrument plays just fine. No problems and good sound quality. Setting up the instrument is easy, just plug in and play or if you're using a vst setup and your computer just plug it into a Scarlett and your good.

This is a really nice bass. It checked 3 boxes that I have been looking for over the years: Surf green finish, PJ pickups, and a maple neck. It seems to be built well and sounds great. The single coil pickup really allows for a variety of tones. My only complaint is that the neck does not have the darker wood inlay on the back that the pictures show. I’m not sure why. It’s a feature I appreciate. 4.5/5

Great bass for price.

Beste Qualität von Fender und Leistung wie erwartet

Perfetto per chi inizia. Ottimo strumento anche per chi ha una buona tecnica

Arrived in perfect condition. Plays well sounds great. has very low noise even when using high gin distortion. very quiet. records Awesome. nice string on it. neck is straight. came with tools for tweaking. stays in tune. its all good. Cheers.

L'articolo è stato consegnato in anticipo,si differenzia da quello ordinato ,non ha la livrea scura dietro il manico,assemblato in prc,suono soddisfacente anche con un amplificatore di piccolo wattaggio,prezzo ottimo,uso questo basso per gli esercizi giornalieri ,non ho completato le cinque stelle perche' l' istruzione cartacea italiana è mancante , un ringraziamento a tutto lo staff AMAZON,particolarmente zona L'Aquila. Arrivederci .

it came fast and just had to adjust strings a little bit but its perfect:) great tone✨