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Fender vs Squire quality?


A Very Special Piccolo

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Hey,

 

I'm looking to grab a bass on the cheap to fill-out home recorded guitar tracks. I notice that Squire basses are vastly cheaper than Fender brand, and I'm wondering where the difference will be noticed - sound quality, quality of feel, tuning stability? Nothing other than name?

 

 

What scale are experienced differences between a $1500 Fender and a $450 Squire likely to be in playability, maintenance, and recorded sound quality?

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If the instrument is properly adjusted, no one but you will know. The pickup makes the tonal difference on a solid body bass. The adjustment comment is because you can get fret noise with a badly adjusted instrument. Might want to record with flat wound strings.

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If you're looking for something for home noodling and occasional recording I'd suggest a used midrange Ibanez or Peavey. Both are terrific bang for the buck basses. Check your local Craigslist. A Mexi Fender might crop up as well. Here are some examples near me:

Ibanez SR300DX $300 http://stlouis.craigslist.org/msg/4615940835.html

Peavey Millenium XP $300 w/ gig bag http://stlouis.craigslist.org/msg/4615791333.html

'04 Mexi Jazz Bass (fretless--might be fun) $250 w/ hard case http://stlouis.craigslist.org/msg/4588176945.html

Ibanez SR300DX $120 w/ gig bag http://stlouis.craigslist.org/msg/4581143997.html

'98 Mexi Jazz Bass $300 w/ gig bag http://stlouis.craigslist.org/msg/4532840951.html

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A good Precision can get you those classic tones recorded on tens of thousands of recordings. It gets enough mids and lows to fit where its supposed to in a mix and you don't have to use all kinds of plugins and EQ settings to get it to sound right.

 

Because so many are made, you can get great deals on used Bases. If you can afford to buy a fender, you usually get a better build and less issues with tuning, intonation and playability. The pickups are usually a grade up from the cheap ceramic type of pickups found in Squire bases.

Hardware is usually a higher grade as well. Its not that the Squire is terrible. In most cases they do just fine and don't produce any noticeable differences in tone.

 

 

Whether those differences matter to you will be your decision. The main concern is the action and intonation and tuning stability. If the bass maintains those it should do well recording. If you have intonation issues, strings slipping and you have a hard time playing it, its going to influence your performance and note quality and give you bad recordings. The pickup quality between the two is a much smaller issue. If you get to the point where you need to improve that then its an easy matter of upgrading the pickups.

 

Since you are a guitarist you might want to think about an short scaled bass. Fender and other make some that do a good job recording.

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. . . Since you are a guitarist you might want to think about an short scaled bass. Fender and other make some that do a good job recording.

Not a bad idea. Check out this thread where there was a spirited discussion of short scale basses, notably the Vintage Modified Squier Jaguar short scale: http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/...-guitar-for-me. Personally, I'm also a guitarist but I'm fairly tall so my arms are long enough to play a standard scale bass comfortably.

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Thanks for all the suggestions.

 

I took them into consideration, and after trying out a P bass for a day, I exchanged it for a Jazz bass and I am more than satisfied with it - I'm excited every time I look at it. I made this clip to test it out:

 

 

 

And wrote my thoughts about it on my blog;

 

http://www.chameleonsoundscapes.com/2014/08/out-with-yesterday-in-with-th-hey-that.html

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I have a Squier Vintage Modified and always liked it. I recently bought a MIM 70s Jazz Bass with the block inlays for $225 in a Pawn Shop. There is no comparison between the two, the Fender (which is fairly low end) blows it away in tone, playability and feel. The VM has a nice fit and finish but feels like a toy in comparison.

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