That is because pro's don't base the criteria on just the sound, who can't make a hundred dollar bass sound great on a computer? Pros base it on regular professional use, which is where the cheap garbage shows itself. Hobbyist wont understand the difference, and is also why YT is chuck full of vids basing it all around the sound.
@@donjuanmckenzie4897 You wont know what the hell it means unless you have gigged and traveled heavily with the cheap shit compared to the pro shit...that's what it means.
@@robertrowan3342 That and more, a traveling regularly gigging musician will put far more duress to an instrument than some bedroom producer or occasional party player. These days "Pro Level" instruments are in less demand with the fall off of live shows at the local levels. But that is where the difference in cost shows itself the most in pro level instrument cost, and it IS justified.
I really thought the Fender American Standard was Bass A. Bass A sounded more clean and clear whereas Bass B was fuzzy and had a buzz to it that made it sound cheaper. Quite an interesting comparison. Thanks for the video!
I could clearly hear the differences and instantly knew Bass A was the Squier and Bass B was the Fender after the first bassline. I've owned and played both, and Squier Affinities electronics and wood just lack the same level of detail and warmth. Now if you were to compare a Squier Classic Vibe to a Fender, I probably couldn't easily tell.
You sir are amazing! You did the best comparison EVER! You setup both basses with the SAME STRINGS! Hardly any of the other bassists do this, the idiots! People never get to hear the true potential of a budget bass due to this. It shows that you really don't need to spend lots for a good tone. The squier with an added decent EQ pedal would probably match or even beat the Fender for just a little additional cost.....What a MASSIVE SAVING!!!! Many Fender snobs will hate my comments & this video. Thanks for exposing the truth. Bless
I think there's a pretty big difference here tbh. Bass B is far crisper with a better high end response, to the point I had to go back to the beginning of the video to make sure you actually used the same and fresh strings on both basses. I'm generally very skeptical when it comes to expensive instruments, but here I certainly think there's a very clear difference.
I have a squier Jazz, sounds ok. I just change the pickups for a Seymour Duncan and now it sounds amazing. The difference was huge. Louder and rich sound. Also a good set of strings helps.
Great video - The quality of the non-American basses has come a long way. I've had numerous basses, including a couple of American Fenders. I've got a Squire Deluxe active Jazz bass and I'm really happy with it. I also had a Mexican made active Jazz Bass and it was a great guitar. The active models are awesome!
Thanks Paul. I was a bit shocked myself how good the Squier was. I remember some dreadful Squiers back in the 1990s! Im thinking of getting an active P Bass, so thanks for mentioning how good they are.
yeah, it was very noticeable, especially on the high frequencies. B is much brighter and clear than A, I would pick A any day of the week, unless of course, limited by budget. thanks! very cool video!!!
I just picked up the squier affinity jazz bass as a beginner and was kinda worried about the choice I made, questioning myself whether I made the right purchase. Your video just ease my doubts and therefore, have no regrets buying it. Thank!
I bought the squier for home recording and I was thinking about changing the pickups so I could get the best sound possible with my bass. I guess I won't actually need to do it thanks to his video, lol!
I knew bass B was the USA standard because of how it sounded with the tone rolled down. The squier didnt get as subby and smooth. Otherwise they sound so similar! :O
I got it correct. The sounds are good, but on the American Standard Jazz the notes overall are clearer. At times the notes on the Squire are a little muffled, but you really cannot complain about a bass costing three times less. Yes, you are getting what you pay for with each model, but if all you can afford is a Squire it will definitely still serve you quite well as you work up to affording the American-made Standard Jazz. Nicely done video.
The biggest difference to me was the tone setting. 100 % tone was much brighter and 0% tone was much darker with the American. Closer than I thought it would be though
I pretty much agree with you. I did think that the Fender sounded better on most of the exampes (although not all) but it is not so much better as to justify the large price difference.
I got it right!!! Of course, if I didn't own a Squier Jazz bass, I may not have got it, but the Squier just had a little bit of a thinner quality to the sound. But they are so close.
I own a (custom) squier p/j bass affinity series. I customized it starting pickups(seymour duncun) , pots, bridge(fender). Repainted it gloss red with gold pickguard. Looks and sounds nice. I use it as my practice bass.
From my side Bass B has a much clear and buzz free sound, Actually I also want to hear your subjective comments concerning the fret board, neck comfort, etc.. I currently have a Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass and it has a surprisingly solid built quality and has quite cool duncan pick ups. So concerning price performance Squier seems like a decent option.
Hi Tom I could tell the difference straight away. Is it worth the price difference though probably not but people!e will still buy them anyway for prestige and marque.
Listening to the two, i couldn't really tell a difference in the quality of the sound, except that i felt the Squier sounded not great to me without any tone on. The sounds were different, and looking through comments and looking back i see how what each one was makes sense, but i did think they were switched
Great test. I got it right, but the only real give away for me was the wider variation on the tone control, otherwise there wasn’t much to choose between them.
tbh with personal experience a few quick mods to a squire will make it sound just as good as a fender even tho there isnt a huge difference to start with
We used to have a Squier Affinity Jazz and we upgraded the pickups not even to something super high-quality we just added the Duncan designed pickups to it and it made a huge difference. Currently I have a classic Vibe Jazz with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders and that thing sounds as good if not better than an American. I also have a vintage modified PJ which feels really nice in the hands and sounds pretty good with the stock pickups but I might eventually upgrade them. I also have a 2004 Mexican Fender P Bass with lollar pickups but that's my least favorite one to play
Thank you this review. Very informative. I bought a second hand 2011 Chinese made Squire JB for £100 and changed the pickups to Fender Custom Shop Custom 60s Jazz Bass Pickups (set of 2). I don’t know what the body my SJB is made of but the fret board looks mahogany to me with a maple neck. I use that bass for home recording and have the best of a Fender bass, but at low cost. For me, the pickups are one of the most important parts of a guitar and these are what I change in a guitar/bass first, whether in an expensive or a cheap guitar. Action height is also important. The fender pickups give a fuller sound in all the ranges. I do not want to spend £1700 on a US Fender bass as change in pickups in a squire work very well for me. Even a £70 set up with the custom pickups is worth it. Setting it up myself is not difficult as long as I remember I am dealing with a cheaper neck on a squire and will need adjusting with season changes.
The Fender one sounds very good and better to my ear, but the Squier is very good too. I guess the other things aside of sounds on the Fender, I hope they're some things about the product itself, the manufacture and etc., not only the 'business aspect of it,' are what also made it few times more expensive than the Squier.
I guessed right. I thought B had more dense tone and clear fundamental. I don't have any Fenders, but that's the difference between the Squiers and American Peavey stuff I have. I like them all.
I think I liked A better! That goes to show you how important the fingers and playing skills are to the tone. I have no doubt B feels better to play though.
@@Guitartomguitar And that's important, a nice instrument means you will enjoy playing/practicing more. I just don't have 2K to spend on a bass lol, wish I did.
Good stuff! I can barely tell the difference between the two. To your point, neither will the vast majority of listeners and your saving yourself a ton of money with the Squier. Unless you are a professional musician, I just don't see how one can justify spending that much more money for, more or less, the same end result. But hey, to each their own!
I picked it correctly. The second bass just has so much more. the first one was flat (as in one sided tone) without the full range of sound to me. It gave it away.
Bass A was a lot brighter/lighter sounding notes, more like a baritone guitar in some regards; B was a lot darker/subdued. Both would serve different roles in a mix but as far as “which one sounds better” I honestly can’t decide as the context is everything.
I picked correctly from first bass line but later I got confused and ended recognizing the bass A sounds more like an oldy style which confirmed my first impression
I have the Affinity. Once I set it up and put flats on, it's a great instrument. My theory is that jobs are so scarce in Indonesia that the ones that get a Fender job do all they can to keep it.
wow i picked the squir twicw and the fender twice, im a guitar player just looking to add some simple bass lines to my songs, looks simple enough if you already play guitar...im sure ill have to develope some feel and tone techniques im not gonna be ignorant enough to say it will be easy, i did that when i bought my first guitar and it was by far the hardest most frustrating thing ive ever done....Hence, i succeeded bc very quickly i realized that it was gonna be one of the most difficult things ive ever done,,,So beginners listen up! If your thinking about learning to play the guitar or bass, put an EFFICIANT program together, dont jump around from video to video or book to book, schedule your lesson times, and if i had to do it again, i would do either one 1 hr lesson a day or split the lessons up in 2 or 3, thats if you have the time...I played 8 hrs a day for the first year, NO DAYS OFF, while my fingers got the dexterity i wanted i didnt know where to go besides a little spot in each key, in the penatonic scale..SO THREAF METHOTICALLY! LOLO
I couldn't tell. I was right 50% of the time. The criteria change so much based on the tone settings that it was extremely tricky. E.g., the Fender bridge bottom was slightly less full, and brighter at the top, and so twice I thought maybe that was the Squier. I got #4 (both pickups) right, as that was the only one in which the Squier sounded, potentially "cheaper" (less hifi across both PUs). Otherwise it was very hard for me to say the Squier tone was "less" than the Fender.
Thanks Phillip, really appreciate posting your thoughts. I agree that when you do a range of pickup combinations that differences become slight. Take care.
I’m not a bass player but thought Bass A sounded better. The Bridge pickup was basicallly the same, neck pickup was really muddy/midrangy on Bass B. When both pickups were all the way open, basses pretty much sounded the same.
I would attribute the B bass sounding better just because YOU knew which is which and SO you were more excited playing the American Standart. It shows in your playing more than in the sound.
A - Squire. B - Fender. I found the Fender more even throughout. The Squire had a few drops in level on certain notes. Both sounded good. I have a Squire P-Bass and recognise the more inconsistent sound
I’m about a minute and 30 seconds on and with the first riff, it sounds like Bass B is the Fender and Bass A is the Squier. We’ll see at the end. Edit: I was right 😅 The Fender just sounds “fatter”
I guessed b was the american standard because of the note clarity on a couple of the lines but on the others there was minimal difference and I feel like you could definitely get away with it. (Im a new bassist been playing for about 6 months so maybe my ears aren't in tune as more experienced bassist)
TBH I was skeptical about my ears, but I didn't care, I just wanted to know which bass sound I prefer, either one would be ok, I thought,.. and those two basses are indeed sound almost similar indeed. However in the end, found out my preference is the Fender one :)
The difference is visible, the Fender has richer highs and more presence. But the Squier does just OK and this kind of differences usuallly get lost in the mix.
I have a fender American professional jazz bass 🔊 and I personally like it better than the squier deluxe jazz bass I used to have ..... a fender American professional jazz bass is better than the standard as well.....
Honestly, after the first bass line I liked both, but thought that the bass B was way fuller, so based on that I thought that bass B is the expensive one. However, bass A wasn’t worse, just different and I can see picking it up for certain situations. And since then I pretty much confirmed that, but the settings didn’t do a favor to either of them, and also it distorted/clipped, I would adjust the gain a little… So the sounds were kind of weird in my opinion 😅
If you're on a budget and want that squire bass to sound similar like the American fender, just play with the amp settings and save your money to eventually buy that American standard jazz bass you are wanting right now. 😉
Glad I guessed it right, was gonna be pretty bummed as I own mostly American line guitars and basses lol. I agree it’s maybe 5-10% better max. Not sure anyone would even notice in a pro mix.
Not gonna lie, I am right at the first half then I exchange them at D and E. Dang. So squier is quite a brand only but it also compares to it's expensive version
I had it reversed, but I think it is because my ears prefer the mids/highs so whenever the tone is down I feel like the sound is drowning. Defnitely can hear the quality of the electronics in the Fender when you pay attention though. Also probably feels better to get your hands on than the cheap one.
My guess : A is fender B is squier A sounds more like how i imagine a bass will be B sounds like a thing that tryn to be A, and it also has some clanky sounds of noises like string noise etc (i kinda second guessing on this tho, since more expensive bass will actually sounds more detail hence the problem with muting and right hand technique might appear more) Edit: I might play too much on squier affinity 😂😂, i have 4 bass and it was squier affinity PJ, sire V5, and fender pro Pbass and Jbass... And i can say I play mostly on the squier, cause 1st its my first bass, 2nd i set it up myself and I really love the feel and the action of it and 3rd a lot of my bass and guitar friend always extremely surprised by how good my "cheapest level bass" sounds, some didnt even believe its the lowest tier of squier
Late to the party but the differences are most notable with the neck pickup. The Squier is boomier to my ears. The bridge pickup is burpy and growly on both and too close to justify the cash difference IMO. Now build quality and playability is a whole 'nother topic but again, I wouldn't bet it on being 6x better.
The difference is will the low action still be there in 3 years? I don't want to use my money on my last bass to be something that's useless after 3 years.
I guessed right. The most noticeable for me was when playing the 4th fret, the lower frequencies in the American are clearer. The more you pay the less bang for your buck you get, in my opinion Squier are great instruments and probably the best position is for the Fender MIM, these days the Player series are amazing and they are crafted a bit more carefully than the Squiers and also a bit better pickups. If you could do this same comparison with a Player series it would be amazing, I wonder if the difference would be noticeable in that case.
"Better" of course is a subjective term. I actually preferred the tone on bass A, the Squire Affinity?! I have a PJ Affinity but the bridge pickup is very weak. Maybe I should consider the Affinity J? In the U.S. you can get them for around $200, even without special deals or sales. In a band or even a small group mix, I don't think there is any way you could tell the difference.
I agree Mark. In the context of a mix or live performance it would be difficult to hear much of a difference if the quality of the performance is solid.
Fender one has more low frequencies and it sounds better,but the difference in the prices is unreal in comparison with difference in the quality.May be Fender should be 200-300 $ more expensive.
Most of them I was able to tell the difference, but I couldn't tell Dean Town apart at all. For the most part, it seemed like the standard had a more well-balanced tone. It was easier for my ear to pick apart the highs from the mids and didn't sound as muddy as the squier. Overall though, they sounded very similar to me. I wouldn't complain about having either of them. I just assume that the standard would have a lot more quality when it comes to the playability and actual structure of the bass. For instance, trying to get the action as low as possible would more likely be an easier feat with the standard, without the level of fret buzz you might get from the squier. ThE toNe WOoD is probably higher quality, but that's just an assumption. Actually, you'd hope *_ALL_* the materials would be much higher quality than the squier, considering the price difference.
Sorry, but the difference is fairly significant. The American has more bottom end in all the basslines, and the tone controls actually work. The American is also much more responsive to player input. It's really evident in Dean Town. The Squier sounds fine but it has a compressed tone while the American has more depth and is much more musical.
