SeriesSquier Deluxe

Yikes that is mouthful of a fast food order. Yeah, I'll take a Squier Deluxe make that a Jazz Bass Active V. Anyway, besides a big name, it is a ton of fun bass for little money. My local music shop. I do not play a 5 string bass much at all but occasionally I will run into a situation where I need one, so it is good to have one around. This is a great pick! I played 3 of them around town and took home one in a black finish for $330. <a href="http://guitarvideochannel.com ">http://guitarvideochannel.com </a> It feels good that weight isn't bad at all. In my book what defines a 5 string as sing or swim is if the low B is anywhere near the volume of the other strings. That is where the electronics shine here. With the bass boosted a smidge there are no problems hearing that thunderous low B string. Once again I can't complain at the price tag. The sunburst finish looked cheesy, so that is why I went with the black. With Squiers and well most cheaper instrument quality will vary. If you can play a few of the same model. Balanced. The black finish appealed to me more than the sunburst. The neck is a light satin finish. The fretwork was smooth. A great 5 string bass to have around if a 5-string isn't your main poison. The EQ allows you to dial in some fantastic tones. The switch is referred to as 'the slap switch' basically it will click on a preset of a scooped mid setting. This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Squier Deluxe Stratocaster is a more recent model that was their attempt at a Strat that was both vintage and modern. At first glance it looks a lot like the American Standard model made by Fender and indeed it shares many features with that guitar. It features an alder body, maple neck with 22 frets, sealed chrome tuners, a 2 point tremolo similar to the US Fender design, and a trio of Duncan Designed single coil pickups wired to typical Strat electronics. It's pretty typical, but it does have a cool look to it that prompted me to grab one and put it through its paces... UTILIZATION The design of this guitar is pretty typical Strat, and thus it is a medium weight instrument. The contouring is pretty reasonable on this guitar and it does feel pretty solid. The neck has a nice satin finish and a nice profile that's not too thick, nor too thin. Unfortunately this guitar was marred by sharp fret ends and a poor setup overall... bearing in mind this was a brand new guitar, not a shopworn model. Unfortunately Squier hasn't quite figured out their standard line of guitars quite as well as some others yet. Upper fret access is basically akin to a standard Strat, no real surprises there. Getting a good sound out of this guitar is a bit more difficult. Try as I might I can't get into the DD pickups in this guitar. They're not bad, but there's nothing remarkable about them that stood out tonally for me... they were a disappointment considering I do like Duncan single coils quite a bit. SOUNDS This guitar doesn't seem to have a stylistic preference. Played through a clean amp like a Fender or VOX, the tones were jangly and bright. The high end could get brittle quickly though, and I found myself wanting more midrange out of the guitar that just wasn't there. It tended to sound better on the neck pickup for bluesy tones where it wasn't as bright. Switching to a drive sound left me kinda perplexed. The tones were decent at their core for classic rock or even some shred type things, but there was just too much high end to be enjoyable. The brittle nature that I noticed in the cleans was there too with the drive, but it was harder to dial out. Unfortunately it pretty much killed my enthusiasm for the guitar and led me to seek out other options for an affordable Strat. OVERALL OPINION All in all I think the Squier Deluxe Strat is a great idea with less than average execution. The quality wasn't really up to par and the tones, while decent, really didn't do much for me. It could be better with some work, but given that they're about $275 new, you'd still end up putting another 200 dollars into it to upgrade, and by then it's not really worth it. Unless you want a serious mod project, I'd look elsewhere.

The Squier Deluxe Series Hot Rail Strat is a recent offering from the company that harkens back to the era when walls of Marshalls ruled the world and the tones being dished out were thick, meaty and rockin'! This guitar pays homage to that in its looks and its tones. It features a basswood body, a maple neck with rosewood fretboard and 22 frets, an oh so cool CBS style headstock, sealed tuners, 6 screw fulcrum point tremolo and a trio of Seymour Duncan designed Hot Rail pickups mated to standard Strat controls. They're based on the real deal Seymour Hot Rail pickups that are often found in much more expensive guitars, but built overseas to a price point. This does offer some better tones than what you would find in a stock Squier Strat with OEM pickups. UTILIZATION The design of this guitar is reasonably ergonomic. Much like the seventies Fenders it is a little bit blockier and less contoured than some of the more vintage themed models. However being many shredders with fleeting fingers have played on guitars like this, it's not a major issue. Squier's QC on these guitars isn't as good as some other models in their line. I've noticed issues with sharp fret ends, poor setups, cheaper quality parts, etc. Not particularly impressive when the Classic Vibe models are flawless and sell for less than $100 more. The upper fret access isn't bad but again, the blocky neck heel and the sharp fret ends really do compromise things. Getting a good tone out of this guitar is not difficult. The stock pickups offer a nice meaty tone that really works well for more punchy rock and shred settings. They're also Hot Rails so noise isn't a paramount issue like with the standard pickups. The guitar isn't as versatile as a CV model, but it does offer some nice tones when you use it for gutsy distorted tones. SOUNDS This guitar was built for heavier sounding tones a-la Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Yngwie, etc. It's not really meant for cleaner blues or country tones, at least from my testing. I found the cleans to overdrive too early to work for true vintage flavour, and the the mid gain tones just had too much output for what I perceive to be right for that. However, the higher gain sounds through a nice EL34 loaded tube amp were right on the money for punchy rock rhythms or lead tones. The neck pickup is nice and fluid sounding, and the bridge pickup is very punchy and clear a-la Ritchie Blackmore. Definitely a better sounding instrument than I was expecting. OVERALL OPINION All in all I think the Squier Deluxe Series Hot Rails Strat is a decent guitar. It offers a cool rocky look and great sounding rail pickups for heavier music. The fit and finish really leaves something to be desired so be prepared to put in a little bit of work if you want this thing to play like butter. At $280 new it's priced on the average side... you might be wiser to get a used Squier Strat and drop the pickups in later, thus saving the $$$. Try before you buy... you might find one that just rocks.