Squier 4-string bass guitars

I had been looking for a good bass for a long time when I found that I loved the sound of a jazz bass. After playing Fenders (even the American Deluxe models) I wondered if I could ever find a jazz bass that didn't feel chunky, had a great slap tone, and didn't have dead spots all over the fretboard. I encountered this Modulus bass used at a local store and paid $1000 for it. First off, this bass is great looking. It looks a lot like a vintage jazz bass with a cream colored body and red toroise shell pickguard. The bass isn't all old-fashioned, though. Modern features make this bass great, with the Bartolini pickups and carbon fiber neck. The Bartolinis provide a warm, detailed tone perfect for anything from fingerstyle funk to slap. When I turned the bass and amp up all the way, there was still no noise from the electronics! Although this bass is offered with active electronics, I would be afraid of taking away from the natural warmth of the pickups, which have great clarity anyway. Perhaps the most amazing part of this bass is the neck. It is very fast playing. The carbon fiber creates and incredible look, virtually no warping, incredible sustain, no buzz, and absolutely no dead spots! Lastly, the Gotoh tuners keep this bass in tune forever! The only drawback with this bass is the difficulty of reaching the upper register. While the fingerboard is 21 frets, which is average for any bass, the body sticks out very far at the joint, causing a lot of hand strain once you get to the last few frets. The construction of this bass is nearly flawless. Each fret is set beautifully. The neck, held on by 4 large bolts, is joined snugly onto the body. The only construction problem I have encountered with this bass is that one of the strap buttons comes loose every once in a while, which I'm sure can easily be fixed. This bass is great for anyone who likes jazz basses but doesn't want to put up with the buzz, chunky feel, and mediocre sound of a Fender. If you've ever wished you could find a jazz bass with an unbelievable Bartolini tone, great playability, and no fret buzz or dead spots, this is your bass! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this guitar from www.soundslive.co.uk for £129.00 in white! I loved this guitar as soon as i layed eyes on it! Its attractive body and lightweight design gives me such an easy time playing it. It has great sound and due to its weight i can play it quicker and very precisely! I honestly love everything about this guitar! I cant fault it! The shell of the guitar is so durable and attractive, i feel i could never even put a dent in it. The finish on the wood is also really great! I saved £30 buying this guitar online compared to in the shop! Great huh! This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I played it for about half an hour at Sam Ash on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. Didn't buy it, but it was selling for $219.99. It sounds more like a P-bass than a Jazz, with the heavy bottom associated with the Precision model. Not inviting to the hand. My stolen ESP B-104 bass, and the OLP MM-2 I played subsequently, both have a nicer feel. And all the pots, volume and tone, crackle. This was not a singular incidence -- I played two Squier P-bass Specials in the store with different finishes, and all the pots have this crackle. And it wasn't the cable or amp, since the OLP bass was fine. Squier has never given me a good impression on the electronics front, and these two P-basses and my old Squier Strat are living proof. For my purposes, having both Jazz and Precision pickups wasn't particularly useful. Mediocre. The finishes and woods are okay as far as I could tell, but the controls and hardware feel iffy. Pay a little more money and just get the OLP MM-2, or a Fender Precision Deluxe. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I ordered it through Musician's Friend. It was about $220. I got it because this was when I was just starting out and didn't want to pay way too much. This is a somewhat decent bass gutar. The neck isn't too chunky, but not too narrow either. I definitly like the way it looks. Also, I like the P/J pickup combination. This lets you play with lots of variation in the music you play. That's really it though. This a good bass for beginners, and only beginers. When I first got it, it was great, but after I got to be more experienced, it started to hold me back from reaching my full potential. There's plenty I don't like about it now. When I first aquired it, I didn't care and just wanted something to play on. The frets were buzzing a lot. I fixed this for the most part with a little adjusting. Another thing is with the volume and tone knobs. They are always coming loose and falling off. Same with the strap locks. Every time I had my strap on they came loose, and eventually stripped the hole. Even though I like the P/J pickup configuration, you can get that on a lot of other basses. I was just got unhappy overtime with the sound that was being produced. Or maybe that was my amp. Whatever. Oh yeah, there's only 20 frets. I don't know about you, but i'm not a sit there, and follow the guitar around kind of guy. I need those extra 4 frets to work with. The construction is very nice, I think. It's very durable, and believe me, I did give it quite a beating. I did drop it once pretty hard, and that took a little chunk out the side. But nothing that a little black electrical tape couldn't fix. The bolt on neck is of good quality. The bottom line, well? Like I said before, it's a good bass for a beginer, and nothing more. If you just want something to play, this could be for you. If your looking to get a bass, and keep it for a while, then maybe not. And don't let my poor rating detour you if you are a beginner. You could buy it and keep it for a long time and be satisfied with it. That's up to you. But if you don't mind spending a little extra cash, you can get something that's still newbie friendly, yet allows you to become a bass monster at the same time. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Made in China Agathis body C-shaped maple neck Rosewood Fingerboard with 22 frets P Bass split single coil J Bass single coil Pickup blend pot 1/4" output jack UTILIZATION Aimed at the budget or first time market, this MB4 bass from Squier is of decent quality. It gets a good sound for the price point, but the bass I owned had some minor neck problems out of the box. There were a couple of high frets, and this caused buzzing in some inconvenient locations. I made sure the bass was setup from a professional, but the buzzing didn't go away without some fret hammering work. That's not really a terribly big deal, but most people wouldn't know what to do to correct the problem. And it shouldn't have done that out of the box. Other than that issue, there were no problems. The neck played well after the setup and fretwork. SOUNDS The bass sounds good. It doesn't get a ton of different tones, but it does make some good ones. There is a good variety of timbres with use of the pickup blend pot. The P-Bass neck pickup had some good growl and warmth, and the J-Bass bridge pickup allowed me to get some good bright Jaco tones. Slapping especially sounded good on this bass, so it would be a nice funk riff bass. OVERALL OPINION Overall, it's ok. It would have garnered better reviews from me if the bass had come with a good fretjob from the factory, but I understand that the company is making a very low-cost instrument here, and fretwork labor is one of the first areas that many manufacturers cut. My bass might have just been a fluke on the fretwork, to be honest, but to anyone seriously interested in this bass, I'd recommend playing the actual instrument as opposed to just ordering online.