Still top of their game? | Squier Classic Vibe 70s Jazz Bass [Review/Demo] 

I have that model but in the sunburst, and am still blown away at what a great instrument it is. I absolutely LOVE this bass. I had a Warwick Rockbass Fortress, and sold it to keep the Squier

Got mine in black in December of 2019 as my first bass and well... I have played other basses, and doing so just confirms that I made the right choice for my first bass. The thing growls and reverberates with every note, the QC is there and it plays beautifully. No complaints 10/10

I miss 2007 when it was the 70's vintage modified jazz bass, had Duncan-designed pickups and retailed for $279.

It still amazes me all the time the quality and value that you can get these days for relatively less money when buying a bass. It is really great. Nice vid!

I have a Squier Vintage Modified Jazz bass V in natural finish that I've had a few years now, and it's a killer-sounding and playing instrument. The VM and CV lines are great basses overall and an amazing value for the money...

Great vid dude! I remember when I checked out the 5'er last year, I agree with you. The tone is there, but the QC isn't really up to par compared with other instruments. Having owned a handful of Squiers, I can confidently say that the QC is all over the place. Doesn't mean good ones don't exist, but it's definitely a 'play before you buy' kinda deal.

I just purchased this Bass, solely on your vid review, I put it against a 1,200. instrument, and the difference was very slight, this Bass held its own , I am very pleased, and I love that vintage color of the neck.

Bought one while in Panama 3 years ago and loved it after setting it up. Moved back to the US of A a year later and shipped it home. It arrived with the action way to high, so I will have to go through it again. Up until very recently I haven’t been playing bass, but now two church gigs later with 3 coming up in the next month I will have to revisit getting it ready to play again. Thanks for the review.

My first bass was a Vintage Modified Jazz in this finish I bought new in 2009 for $300. It has aged VERY well and I can understand why they’re pretty sought after in the used market. Even though I’ve replaced pretty much everything in it it’s still one of my favorite basses to play!

Wanted to say, really like your videos. Well produced, and (IMO) the right amount of talking (not too much or too little) with great on camera presence, entertaining personality and humor, of course with useful information as far as the topic covered and, the playing mixed in too. Like a great meal or dish, the whole is more than the sum of its parts and your videos for me, come together wonderfully. I’m eager to see what’s next.

Those Squier 70's are awesome. I never liked fretboards with blocks until I played one of those and now I love them.

Hey Johnny, I also have this same bass. I took all of the hardware off and replaced it with black hipshot bridge and tuners. Also put in passive EMG's. After the setup, it plays and sounds better than my mexican and american basses. Great job Johnny. Keep on rockin !!!!

Truly one of the most beautiful basses I've ever seen, double maple is so nice.

I will say I have a Squire Jazz Bass from about 17 years ago and I love it!

I put a set of dimarzio ultra jazz pickups in one of these and it is now my favourite jazz bass

I’ve played one a couple times, and it genuinely has the best the best feeling neck/fret board of any bass I’ve ever played. Better than my basses, and better than the ones at the store. If I had to choose between the $1400 rickenbacker or this $400 Jazz, I’m taking the Jazz all day

I love my squiers! I have a classic vibe 60's jazz bass and a vintage modified PJ and they're workhorses, I take them all over place gigging and they sound great and feel great everytime

I bought a USA jazz in this finish with pearl inlays back in 91 for 350 quid from a shop. I stupidly sold it for £500 with the amp in 96 cos I needed to buy keys as I swapping from bass to keys...just before the prices went through the roof. Partly thanks to your video, I've finally taken the plunge and currently awaiting delivery of a Squire CV...for roughly the same price as my jazz back in 91 lol. I know it won't be the same as my old Fender Jazz but it will get some use now in my online music. Many thanks for the heads up 🙂

I got one of the later-run Vintage Modified line versions of this bass locally for $150. I put a badass ii bridge and full-size pots in it. It is best bass I’ve ever owned and I will never let it go.

Bought one these CV 70s bass. Had to click and collect during covid lockdown and could not play before buying. Its a great guitar. Almost everything is great. Intonation is perfect. Tuners are great. Had to set it up myself. Quality control was a little off but nothing that I could not fix. a little fret buzz was fixed by levelling and polishing 8th, 11th and 13th fret. No big deal. A quick job with a fret file and some wet and dry paper. The bridge is a slight issue. It is about 5mm too far to the 4th string side of the body. It is not an issue when playing, just makes the 1st string slightly further in from the edge of the neck. but I will be removing the bridge, dowel and glue the screw holes and then drill new screw holes fitting the bridge 5mm over. I plan to do this when I shield the cavities. Other than those small problems I am quite happy with the bass.

I bought the same one.I've been playing for 30 years and I prefer the Jazz base over all.I've had many models.Many variations many brands and when I got divorced.I sold seventeen of twenty two basses. I kept an old Yamaha a Tobias. And a getty lee fender jazz bass. The Squire outperforms outperforms out.Sounds and just feels overall better than an actual Fender.Jazz base with geddy lee's signature on it The Squire runs circles around an actual jazz base. Anyways, that particular one that I had. I bought it for 1200 Dollars I sold it for 5 because it was just a cumbersome. Dare I say it piece of junk? I saw this Squire natural tone 70s. Looking looking picked it up, totally impressed. Many years ago I had a finger Squire jazz fretless. Very nice bass . But as for the squire c v seventie. I'm sold and I am happy and I would like to acquire the other variations. The pick up's actually sound better the geddy lee bass .

Gave away my Epiphone P-bass to the local middle school program a while back. I found it difficult to play and I had really gotten into short scale basses. After having a ball with short scale the last few months, suddenly felt like I was missing a full length bass. I picked one of these up a couple of days ago and am really happy with the decision!

I have the Squier 70’s vibe Precision and it is fantastic. Totally agree about the neck, it looks so, so good. The binding, Jonny, you didn’t talk about the binding! 😂 The quality and value for money of this range of basses is outstanding. Great video Jonny, keep them coming.

Just picked one of these up in the shop after trying it out and went searching for any other info on RU-vid, really great video 👍 subbed

I have one. I love it. thank you for pointing out your likes about this bass. I got to pick the exact one with grain lines I wanted from Sweetwater.

I Love mine and switch to Fender Flat wound Stainless Steel Strings 45 on package! I love it even more! Still my favorite on stage

I bought the same instrument to get that Marcus Miller sound when slapping. That 70s pickup spacing is magic for that purposes ! My only complain was the neck fretwork. So I inverted the neck from a Paranormal Jazz Bass 54 and it’s now a killer instrument :-)

I've had this bass for about 4 years now, I've had to redo the soldering twice on the bridge pickup and input jack. I'm ready to move on. I've played quite a few gigs with it, and I'm ready for an upgrade.

Thanks for the review. I just bought an as new one of these and had a look at your input today. For the money it is crazy good. I had to deal with a bit of of excess relief. 1/4 turn of the truss and one high fret at about the 16th fret on the D & G string area. Little bit of a dress in that area and job done.

My main bass. This one is a keeper. I’ll be honest tho I had to play a couple of em before I liked one. The issue is the 3 piece body. Some finishes are better than others and some of them ring better depending on the soft maple pieces that are glued together. Being that my ears are super sensitive I settled on one that rang due to the tri chord tone I got out of it. Upgraded the neck pot to a cts so i could get a better sweep tone wise. The bridge got replaced with a custom one from a builder in Illinois and now I don’t even want to change the pickups now because this thing sounds so good. Definitely worth its weight. Just look around first

Want higher output pickups? Might want to check out the Squier contemporary basses

Indonesian here. Proud of the shout out of our nation's manufacturing prowess... sorta?

I got a 5 string vintage modified last year and oh my god it is amazing I love it

That's a great guitar, I bought it and very pleased with it

I got the VM 70's Jazz bass in like 2014 in the natural finish. I love it more now than I ever had because it's set up properly. putting D'Addario Pro Steels on it was the first step, but then I think in 2019 I had it set up properly and you can get that Geddy Lee tone if you dig in a little bit. The tuners are kinda wonky, they jump around a bit while tuning, but once you get it in tune it stays in tune. Great bass. I'm not a big fan on the tinted necks on these new ones but it's still pretty cool. I would suggest anyone get one. Used VM basses sell now for about the same as I got mine new, so they definitely hold their value. :P

I have one with the Seymour Duncan design pickups. The bass I can’t fault, spent ages setting it up, it plays like butter now. If I change the pickups to a quality set of my choice, it will no doubt play and sound like any high end USA variant. The current pickups are too bright on the G & D strings and as you say lack character in general. Great review, well done!

I myself plan on buying the black version, swapping the pickguard out for a white one, and installing the Tom Brantley Geddy Lee pickups in it. Boom, budget Geddy sig. I probably will wet sand the gloss on the neck a little bit, also.

My B-stock CV Tele that I just got a few days ago didn't have any faults. I sanded the neck down a bit, and now it feels SO great. Actually feels better than my actual satin finished necks, which actually feels a bit sticky in comparison now haha. And agree about the different looking pieces of wood in the body of this j bass. Wood isn't perfect in the first place anyways. To me it's just more organic, viby and unique. It does also remind me of those cheap but sturdy industrial looking shelvings in pine that you can get from Ikea. I currently have a small one of those, and have had several other big ones. It really looked great actually. Luckily you can choose the shelves yourself. I don't want one that is too dark on the edges for one. And they're also quite modular.

I had 2 brand new CV 70’s P basses in a row with a loose/broken trussrod

Had mine for around two years now and I play it quite a bit. I did upgrade the bridge and pickups, and filed the fret ends. Between this and my Classic Vibe P-bass, they do most of the work for me. I did get a Harley Benton Jazz and upgraded that also, but I like the Squire better. The Squire has Seymour Duncan SJB-3 and the HB has Fender Originals in it. I'm a big fan of the Quarter Pounders so the HB will always fall short in my mind. Still a solid bass though. I also got the Squire in natural. Love the looks of it.

I have the vintage modified 70s,and I love it,it'll compete with my Mexican jazz any day,the natural finish is timeless too, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY VM 70S JAZZ! It just sucks it's sitting at the pawn shop right, because I'm a broke peasant ,had to use it to get a loan🤬🙄 till payday,I won't ever actually sell it ,no way! 🤘🤘🤘🤘

Stingrays, Fenders, Yamahas, Arias, Westones, CVs, Hohner, Vintage, Squiers, 20 odd in total.....the ONLY bass I've ever bought, sold and then bought another, the early Indonesia built VM Jazz, fantastic basses.

A mate of mine was asking my advice on what bass to buy, I told him a Squier Jazz bass....he bought an Epiphone Thunderbird.....(I don't speak to him anymore). That is a gourgeous bass.

Brilliant. Best review video I've seen. Well done! Will buy one.

I would definitely agree that the previous Squiers were better, but some people have really taken that to heart. It's hilarious to see the old made in China Classic Vibes pop up on Reverb. I just posted one on my Insta that was listed for $500. The Matt Freeman sigs go for $700-$800 which is ridiculous for a Squier.

Hey buddy! Nice video !! It seems that the bass sound is a bit flat, do you think that changing the pickups would be great ? What pickups would you put on ? Upgrading this kind of bass does worth it or not ? Cheers from france mate ! 😉

I think a set of S-D quarter pounders with flatwounds and a nut change would make that thing come alive. The biggest complaint I have seen is the truss rod. Has anyone else had a similar issue?

Watched this video again..I have a VM 70s from back when they where the literal same things as the CV..no noticeable differences anyway,I upgraded the bridge on mine to an "almost kinda badass bridge" and it made a HUGE change in the bass ,it added a ton of tone to it...the way I see it I'll never have 4grand to spend on a real 78-80 fender so I'm making this on my tribute 70s,I put some Schaller tuners on it..thats what they used then,and a few other asthetics to make it look genuine 70s..but yea I got my bridge for a few bucks off ebay made a world of difference,I play my 70s way more than I play my real fender jazz,the ONLY thing I'm not happy with is the pots my volume for my bridge pickup broke..luckily in the full position ,ill eventually add some CtS pots and maybe go out of spec with a grease bucket cap as opposed to the orange drop they used to use✌✌✌✌ keep it funky bro!

I have a Squier Classic Vibe 70s Jazz bass Sunburst from Sweetwater and I love it and I'm taking Guitar lessons

Thanks for this review, I'm going to buy mine.

Sounds excellent.I bought my first Squire,a Jaguar Affinity H and it is so good. I don't think you'd find a better bass for $259.

I had the 50s squire PBass CV. I lightly sanded the neck with some super fine grit sand paper. Made the world of difference. That gloss is way too sticky for me too!

Man, the '70s vibe is definitely there, even more than some MIM I've heard in the past.

I have this one in black, there aren't any qualty issues, it is my 4th Squier, perhaps i am just luck having had good ones everytime. Anything mass produced wil be a mix of good and bad. The only way you can tell is by seeing it in the flesh. Even if you buy on the net you still have the option to send it back. There's no reason not to try before you buy, even if you don't have a guitar shop nearby.

I got the sunburst one back in February. I’ve always been a P Bass player and wanted something slightly different to what I’ve already got. Must admit, this is now my go to bass. Great feeling neck, and sounds fantastic!

I’m getting mine tomorrow and it’s my first bass. 🤘

I have a 70's mod CV, a pawnshop find. I never had to adjust the action on it. Sounds amazingly good. I just recently changed the pickguard for a tort. The body is natural and colour matched pieces of alder. I feel lucky that I got it for 250 CAN$ They are around 700 CAN$ nowadays. Because they are that good. And you don't see that many on the market for that very same reason.

My favorite bass that I own. I have an older one without the lacquer on the neck. I've modded mine with emgs and a original badass bridge. And a Hipshot detuner. Also, recessed Dunlop strap locks.

I traded in my Epiphone LP for one of these, shop had Xmas offer so along with mi LP I paid £129.. I absolutely love it.. It's kinda falling into the wrong hands as I aint a jazz player but It plays fantastic and sounds great..

As a homegrown luthier I don’t expect a lot from a low dollar instrument, and what’s needed to make it awesome. But slipping QC at any price is enough to make one want to keep his or hers hard earned money. (I would just take one of these, and for about $100 turn it into a Geddy Tribute that the man himself would enjoy. The luthiers secret is attention to detail.)

great review! I'm leaning into getting this one!

Regarding the multi piece natural wood body having noticeable cosmetic variance you mentioned around the 5:20 mark…this also occurs with instruments from the American assembly line as well. I know because I own one which was so bad I ended up refinishing and I’ve encountered several with the same poor book-matching appearance. Perhaps this is in part to the declining quality of ash pieces they were receiving because of problems with the ash species in North America that eventually led them to no longer offer it their American lineup. This was most common beginning with later runs of the American elites and spilling into their other production line series such as the Professional and American Original. (I own a 70’s American Original Jazz bass). I believe now in the Professional ll’s they are offering a model in natural but using pine wood.

Great review ,,the sound is brilliant!

I bought the same natural bass 3 years ago. The sound was great but it was so freaking heavy and I couldn't get the action low enough for my liking. I ended up trading for a shorter scale toby bass.

Are the strings 105's or 110's?

Very useful review. Thanks.

Great vid Jonny! You can certainly make that thing sing. Interestingly enough, the one that I got was a 2 piece soft maple body. Loving the outro tune too 🥰

Great that you may put it up against the HB - look forward to that! I got an old Korean Jazz from 96, and would like the enhanced HB Jazz, but the standard cheaper jazz looks good too!

Which is better this or the talman Ibanez 100?

That overdrive tone 👌, I believe the Duncan design pick ups are what separate this bass even from the Classic Vibe. I bought some for $10 and threw them in an Affinity jazz amd it sounded way better. Eventually I'll grab one of these to replace the Classic Vibe I gave my son 👍

There's something about block inlays. I just can't go back to dots now. Man I'm torn between that squire jazz or a Sire jazz

It'd be great if you could do a comparison between this bass and a Harley Benton JB-75, they are very similar basses but the HB is half the price of this one and the choice of woods seems to be of a higher quality. Great video as always!! Cheers Jonny!!

Great demonstration It looks great I'd take it

I just got this bass shit clean and smooth

I like this better because it sounds more aggressive then regular jazz basses. I think this sounds better for rock then a P bass but just my opinion.

Hi jonny, few months ago I bought my first squier, a classic vibe '60 p bass, (I think you know it well) while I was in the shop trying the bass p the seller also offered me what you are reviewing now, but I wanted the Geezer Butler style pickups .... so I tell you that the next purchase will be a jazz bass, and for value for money I think I will still get a squier ... to be honest I have never tried a fender ( mexican or american), I have been playing bass for a year, I come from the guitar, many years of guitar and I have never liked squier guitars, but I must say that with squier basses it surprised me positively; i always said: i will never buy a squier instrument and instead now i'm in love with it ... your reviews are very helpful ... it's your fault i got the squier classic vibe precision 😂🙂(and I am very happy about that musical instrument)... keep it up dude...yeah...

I bought a squier classic vibe 70's jazz bass maple neck,..buzzed like anything really quite heavy... nothing special sold it on acquired an affinity p.j alot better and almost half the price, satin neck(although indian laurel fretboard,not a fan)They seem to be using it alot in guitars my Jackson spectra has the same indian laurel ..bring back rosewood,..Vintage reissue basses(Firenza Red is stunning) actually blow squier out the water imho

I would like a video comparing this CV vs the Vintage Modified 70's Jazz Bass, the new Classic Vibe starts to ship around 2019 against the Vintage Modified 70's started to ship since 2007, with satin necks from 2007 to 2013, then gloss neck finishes.

wished I had one. gonna buy one!

Ay yo thanks again for this video (Actually I'm in between classic 60's and classic 70's Jazz Bass) And your videos are helping me to pick between the two

At the end of the day, a pickup change would be in order.

Heyo Johnny, do have any EQ on the amp sims for recording? Your playing is great but it just sounds like there's some very heavy compression and a pretty major contour. If you have helix I have 2 helix profiles Which are very close to neutral (as close as I can get to a clean sound)

Really good reviews, the random/warped sense of humor is * thumbs up*. I've got a question: what's better, this or the Squier Classic Vibe Precision Bass ? They're about the same price, I need to buy a bass pronto. I'm looking for clarity/detail in tone.

I agree ( with You and Mr. Lobster) I would try before buying .

Jonny! An idea for content; you should do kinda what Patrick is doing and do a show your bass series,where we send you our fav basses, I'm sure you've seen what I'm speaking of,you should do something similar to take the load off of Patrick with his 400 bass pics he has to sort through,🤔🤔🤔

I just bought this in the same finish, that finish "flaw" in the corner isn't even visible at certain angles, but it's enough to trigger my OCD to where I'll probably trade it in for a walnut CV 70s P bass, but I'm just picky lol.

It looks and sounds great! :)

I have a 30 sound the same all these years and may be on a budget it can fit the bill

Actually sounds as good as some MIA J Basses.

Great vid brother. I too absolutely LOVE the Squier CV Jazz. I own the exact same one in this vid but what i've recently dun is swap out the PUPs for the EMG RT (Robert Trujillo). I would love to hear your review on this set up.

Just bought the P Bass with the Beautiful neck. I got the 70s vintage version. Got home and found out the ground wire wasn't even connected so first thing I had to take the base apart resolder that. And I'm still getting some weird obnoxious buzzing going on. I'm pissed all the hell because I just spent $500 on a bass I've already had to work on.. plus I don't have all my tools with me as they are at work and I just wanted to come home unwind and enjoy my brand new toy. Instead I went back to playing my $89 Glary Precision of eBay that after two months has caused zero issues

I got the black one of these not too long ago. Put gotoh hardware on it with a set of dimarzio dp123 pickups. Absolute weapon.

In the words of George Clinton Oh Dunky Pooh! So after taxes I paid too much for a Squire Jazz Classic Vibe Bass. The 5 stringer I took back was worth $500 but my Light Flat made the Neck bend like a Bow ready for the arrow LOL! My current Squier 4 string is barely better than the Affinity that costs 200 less. One of the Dime sized pots have already broken after barely using it. I was looking to replace them anyway! The Pickups seem noisy compare to the 5 stinger ones I took back. Cons! Plus? I love the Fret work, the neck is great, the body has nice little defects that acts like a serial number LOL! I like them. These tuners work, nut doesn't bind, the intonation is dead on, string height is good but could be a bit lower (personal), pickups aren't bad and I love the fit and finish! Nice but it is NOT in the Fender Jazz bass class. FJB's nut is cut better, it has full size pots, lower action right out the box, even better Pickups and Tuners, and bodies are one solid piece of wood! I'll keep my SJB but I will never mistake for the real thing;)

3:04 😉

That's exactly what producers are looking for, something they can work with easily that does'nt need to much tweeking to fit it in the mix or that they can reamp to their taste!...

Any thoughts comparing with a Yamaha BB234?

How does this compare to the Yamaha BB434 you reviewed? Love to hear from Jonny and anyone else ...

Own one of these basses which I customized. It's an awesome bass. Seymour duncan pickups. / Grey pear pickguard next up hardware.

If you have dry, non-acidic hands...the gloss finish is a good choice.

Nice review, I enjoyed it! Yes, please do the comparison with the HB JB-75. I’m really curious to see and hear how they compare. 🤔 Oh, wait ... you already did. 🤦‍♂️