I plugged it in, and was blown away by what a nice bass it was for three bones. I was ready to pull out the check book that night, but I like to think about these types of purchases. I went down today after school, and bluegrass aficionado, Johnny "Songsmith" Stevens hooked me up in the most professional of manners.
Here's a photo of the bass. This isn't my particular bass, as I haven't been able to get my camera out yet.
Intial thoughts:
Fit and Finish: I've always said that there is something understated about pure white instruments. I like the look of no pickguard. It gives it a modern flavor. The bass kind of reminds me of the Heavy Metal series put out by Fender in the 80s. I also dig the matching headstock. It really is great looking in person. The maple neck is almost as white as the body. Of course, the ebonol fretboard is great to look at. Plus, I dig the look of no inlays. I prefer diamond or shark fin inlays, but I'd rather have no inlays than dot inlays.
The fretwork seems to be pretty good from what I've experienced so far. I can't tell yet if any frets need leveled (though it doesn't appear so).
Electronics: This bass is not a traditional sounding J. The pickups are very EMG-like. I'd go as far as saying the bass is Spectorish. The tone is very pianoesque. This bass was definitely made for slapping and pick playing in mind. Some may say that it's a sterile sounding bass, but I personally like hifi bass equipment. The bottom-end is really tight and the mids are punchy. The preamp is very musical, though I do notice some slight hum when the EQ pots are boosted the whole way. This probably won't be much of a problem, as I usually run things flat on a gig. Some 60-cycle hum is to be expected from a Jazz Bass. It has a "slap switch," which seems to be some sort of mid-shelving control or something. With it engaged, the bass has a full, gutsy sound. With it turned the other way, it has a thinner sound. This seems like it would be a nice feature for passages in songs that one may be doing some chordal work in. It's not loaded with Barts and an Aguilar preamp, but for a $300 bass, the electronics package is very impressive. It's obviously that this bass will have no trouble cutting through a mix.
Playability: The string spacing is 19mm at the 12th fret. This has much wider spacing than a traditional Jazz. It took me a little while to get use to, but now I like it. Slapping is a breeze, and I think that my playing is cleaner on this than on my Carvin. The thing that really sold me was the tightness and openness of the B string. The B's better than the Bs that I've played on some $1000+ basses. Unfortunately, I probably won't be gigging this bass for two weeks, because it definitely does need a setup. There's some bow in the neck and the intonation is definitely off on some spots of the neck. The neck itself seems to be very good. It just needs a truss rod adjustment. I may try to set the intonation real quick before I get it down to Terry's at Guitars 'n Stuff, just so I can try it on some gigs.
All in all, I've been impressed so far with this bass. Obviously, time will tell whether it's reliable; but it's definitely the best Squier I've ever played and is by far the best bass in its price range that I've played so far. It's not as fancy as some of the more expensive instruments, but it definitely seems like it will get the job done. I still need to gig-test it for a while to make an objective decision about it, but these are just my initial reactions so far. It seems like it's becoming easier and easier to find affordable instruments of quality that you can actually gig with and sound good on.
