Squier Affinity PJ Bass Review 

I teach guitar and bass at a local after-school student center. A friend gave me her 2010 (I believe) Affinity P-bass and a Rumble 40 to give the students something decent to learn on. I did a full re-string/cleaning/setup on it with a set of flat wounds. I can’t get over how good that bass sounds for the money!

Love my Affinity. Got it as a x-mas gift from the wife last year so I could get back into playing. Got the Sunburst/Ready to Play model. Looks good, sounds great. I'm no professional, so this bass will probably last a lifetime.

Wonderful review. Straight and to the point with no-nonsense and a well performed demo. Thank you!

First time I have seen this channel. I like your straightforward bordering blunt style, it's refreshing and comes across as honest and sincere. Bravo! This particular video helped me decide whether this bass was for me (it's not). Thank you!

I have this bass in the Lake Placid Blue. It is my first bass and has been excellent to play on.

A very detail-focused and knowledgeable review. I like these vids that are all about the instrument not the reviewer. I feel like I know this bass well enough to buy it now

Great review Tim, thx! I was thinking about getting that one!

I've been looking at getting a bass and this one (in black) took my fancy. I'm a beginner and I wanted something that will do a good job and will last me. You've convinced me that I chose well. I'll be picking it up in the near future. Thanks for the review!

I didn't know Robert De Niro knows how to play bass

I just bought this bass and it's the first one I have ever bought. I am bass begginer but sounds great on the Fender 25 amp Rumble. Love this bass❤❤❤

Thank you very much. I could finally descide on which bass I want and I am really excited to start learning!

I had one of these that I used live and it played/sounded great, but because the body was slightly thinner than a standard P bass, it suffered from neck-dive. Great review!

Been a guitarist and keyboard player for over 25 years and strongly considering this for first bass, since either the P or J basses seem most recommended for a one and done bass I figure why not get a PJ and hopefully get something like the best of both worlds. Thanks for the review

I have not played bass since the 80's ( night clubs )& need to relearn on this one.

Great review! I bought his bass for one of the reasons you stated. I did not want to take out any of my what are now considered vintage basses. They weren't called that many years ago when I bought them. Ha!Ha! Bad things can happen when your gigging at a dive bar on the wrong side of town! The only thing I did was swap out the pick ups with EMGs Geezer Butler types. It's a complete kit and is passive so you don't need extra room for the battery. It plays and sounds great. Geezer has always been one of my favorites!!!!!

Just ordered the same model and color! Thanks for the review!

Thanks for the great review. I'm getting the P instead of the PJ but this information is absolutely helpful nevertheless. Cheers! I think these Affinity bass guitars will definitely get the job done without issue as is.

This is the same model and color I ended up getting. The review really helped!

Hi Tim, thanks for your informative and honest review. This has helped me make decisions getting back into bass after 20 years, and to jam with the kids. Looking forward to a video on the mods, new pickups etc, when you get around to it.

I have an Affinity PJ bass and after some mods (Neck adjustments, complete fret job and a pickguard change) it plays really well. Im gonna upgrade the pickups next. I love the sound and tone options with the P J configuration.

Thanks for the review. It's very informative. I'm considering buying a pj bass - love the tone and style of splitcoils. But I'm not sure if 20 frets is enough.)

Lovely, I really enjoyed this video. I have two bass guitars, and am now looking for a Squire bass. I love squires, I have several Squire guitars.

I'm currently looking for a starter bass for myself and this bass is in my final two

Great review thank you very much! Had a PJ Fender before and can dfntly confirm it’s a winner, need to buy a new one on the cheap side and looks like Squier is the one, if it’s playable out of the box as stated in this review then a few basic improvements by a luthier and new pick-ups will dfntly make a great difference at a reasonable extracost without having to splash more than a grand on an US Fender🤟🏼

I have this one also and it sounds very good thanks for sharing👍🏿

Been thinking about my first bass and im considering this one, nice video you got to the point and i like your style

Great review and very detail. ❤️❤️❤️

I decided to give Bass a try and purchased the Affinity package in tobacco burst. I like it very much. The only thing I notice is the jazz pickup has a hum when it’s turned up half way or higher. I’m not sure why but will look into. Thanks for the video.

I have that bass in sunburst as part of my stable. Most always I just solo the P pickup but the J can be useful at times. Good place to hold your pick too, lol! Big question is where did you get the sweet 42 T-shirt?

Hi Tim, nice video :) I recently decided to give bass a try, I've bought the charcoal affinity pj. Mine was made in china also, no skunk stripe for us :( None of the UK retailers even knew they had swapped factories from Indonesia. Anyway, the bass I have is very nice overall, finish is excellent, literally perfect, the electrics not so much! So I'm going to be waiting to see your follow up upgrade video, please do go into detail on choice of all the parts, pots and pickups. Thanks You!

Hey Tim, great video, I'm interested to know what replacement pickups you put in ?

You are correct saying that the Duff McKagan bass sounds pretty good. I enjoy mine and get all the sounds I need out of it. It's great!!! One I like better and is my no1 go to, would be my Michael Anthony Schecter bass. That thing kicks!

Wish Squier still made this with the laurel fretboard. Looks so much better with the white/black than the maple. Definitely a cheaper alternative to the American Performer for those looking to save and doesn’t sound bad either.

Very informative. Thank you!

Im glad someone is actually giving cheaper guitars thier due. Most gigs people could care less about the name on the head so Epi over Gibson and Squier over Fender at gigs in dive bars for sure. Or pretty much any gigs. Save the big boys for studios where it has to sound perfect and less chance of "injuries".

I think im going to buy this bass in the package. Rumble 15 and black bass for $323. Its from a local shop online in texas. Should i buy from a bigger retailer that are near me. Im sure it will need to be set up and what not. Im new. 55. Never musical. Thoughts? Thanks

as a guitar player bought this to get out of routine and learn bass songs . My first and only bass so far, love it, enjoy playing it, but tend to use 90% P pickup and 10% both together, I aint no expert on anything but I don't really like the Jazz pickup sound alone. Oh yeah the inlays on side, they are in bad place, have trouble spotting them from time to time myself :D

Great video been looking to buy a beginner bass and these really fits my style and is a good price.....new sub btw.

Have you had a chance to swap those pickups and pots? I have the same bass and I am just curious on how it went. It would be cool to know what parts you got and whether the mod was hard. Thanks.

great video. i have been playing bass since the seventies and have owned many usa made fenders, ricks, gibsons blah, blah blah. about 20 years ago i bought a tacoma abg and fell hard for it. only thing i have played since i got it. over that time i felt the need to have an inexpensive electric around just in case. i have had terrible luck with the affinity basses i have owned. it is always a neck problem. dead spots, uneven volume etc. i recently tried again and got a new affinity sonic. it was the worst of the bunch. do you think i might be more successful with this model. kind of hesitant at this point. thanks for listening. subscribed.

Nice review. I get the concept of taking a cheaper bass on gigs, but only after installing better tuners and wiring harness. These tuner knobs won't take many falls or drops and crappy solder joints can cause grief at any moment. Also cheaper basses may (not always) have necks that shift excessively with temp and humidity changes. If your getting paid to play, the tools should be decent at least.

I bought the Indonesian version of this in about 2003. The pickups sounded a bit weedy, so I dropped a Basslines in the neck position and it's shocking how good it is. I used to have an Ibanez RB850 and before that a 1972 Fender Jazz, so I think I have some idea of what makes a nice bass. OK, the Jazz was awful (it was cursed somehow, sounded terrible, the neck would never stay the same shape and bits kept falling off it - a 70s Fender lemon). I sold it for the 850 and I loved that Ibanez Roadstar. It was then borrowed by a 'friend' (ex-friend) who did an American and European tour with it, but he was, let's say, unmanageable, and when gave it to someone else to return it to me (with added awful belt rash from his studded belt) I never saw it again. I was gutted. I was no longer playing bass live so I just wanted something cheap but reasonable as a stopgap for recording my own ideas, so I bought the Affinity PJ. I've never felt the need to replace it, it plays wonderfully, the neck is great and it looks great, black with a black headstock and mirrored pickguard. I'm too old and ugly to care that it has Squier rather than Fender on the 'stock. Now that I'm playing again, I doubt 99.9% of people know the difference and musicians who might be snobby about it can go swivel, not that I've met any. I'm thinking about getting a pro setup (I've always setup my own instruments, but I thought I might treat myself) and replacing the bridge, J pickup. This pickup doesn't sound terrible but compared to the Basslines it is a bit meh. The level is also so much lower than the P pickup and it does something funny when both are on full, my goto knob positions are full everything except the J pickup wound back a tiny bit so it doesn't kill the wonderful deep stuff coming from the Basslines. Maybe I screwed up the install or something, but I don't remember if I did it myself or not. Anyway, TLDR. I don't know how different they are 20 years later but generally, guitars and basses seem to be getting better by the decade. Once the pickup was changed, and that's a matter of taste, really, it's become the favourite bass I've ever owned. And because it was relatively cheap (under £200) I don't feel I need to be precious with it, unlike my Les Paul 1971 Deluxe guitar!

Hi, i liked what you played.

Great video, thanks for sharing

UK viewer here. No offence, but I think you're wrong about the Affinity bridge being made from cheaper materials. Logistically, it doesn't make sense to produce two different bridges - any saving in materials is outweighed by the added complication of having to machine another (otherwise identical) item then keep it separate it in inventory. I should mention here that I spent the last 15 years of my working life in internal logistics for a world leading manufacturer of industrial testing instruments, where the exact same principles apply. I think I can safely say I know what I'm talking about. Rather, it makes a lot of sense to use the same tried and tested Fender bridge that's used on so many other models - the fact that they can manufacture in bulk is a significant cost saving in its own right. Savings have been made on things such as the lack of shielding, cheaper pots and wiring, less substantial tuners, smaller strap buttons, and thinner pick guard. All of these things can be upgraded by the user should they wish to. I also reckon they've chosen finishes for the Affinity that are less troublesome to apply and cause fewer QC issues, as well as using body blanks that wouldn't pass for making the more expensive guitars from.

What kind of pickups did you get for that? I already have a 20th Anniversary Affinity P-bass that a guy modded with all black chrome hardware and painted the red bass a black, and put a black/red pearl pickguard on it (looks like MURDER!). I upgraded the wiring/pots, and got a set of Fender Yosemite P-bass pickups for $5 (BRAND NEW IN THE BOX!) and that thing would be perfect for me except I like maple fret boards. I keep jonesing over a buttercream P-J Mustang they're selling at Sweetwater, but part of me thinks why not buy an affinity with a maple fretboard and upgrade it?

Solid review.

What type of strings would you recommend for this type of Bass?. I am thinking of going from an Ibanez to step up in the bass guitar

does this bass have kneck dive

Hello. this bass is color Artic white or Polar white??? thank you

Hey this or Aria MK3 Detroit?

It's Squier, not Squire. But nice review!

Yours is Artic white not Olympic and CY means China, jesus dude

Squiersonic is way better in build, looks n sound.

Nice video and a cool and honest, no BS review. Nice job bro

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