Fender Squier Affinity Series P-Bass

This bass was a 25th anniversary addition, Squier Affinity P Bass. It is an awesome bold blue with white pickgaurd. It has one p style passive pick up and standard volume and tone controls. It has an over-grown strat style like all p-basses do. All hardware is stock. It came with an allen wrench and 10 foot cable.
It's features are minimal...minimal is what I wanted but may not be for everyone. It had enough though, nothing of importance was left out or forgotten.

I am a guitar player by trait. I have been playing for about 11 years. I decided to learn bass (its not as similar to guitar as many guitarists think, the technique is different and a skill to itself). I use the bass for my own solo recordings...I have never used in a live situation. I play alternative/electronic rock, similar to the style of newer radiohead or smashing pumpkins.

The bass sounds great for what I need. The sound is nice and deep but clear (only with the tone turned up all the way, otherwise it is muffled). I'm not sure how much tone it has with an amp because I;ve only ever used it through a d/i box into my cpu. I compress and eq it in my recording software to shape its tone. For home recording, it is an awesome tool. Plays very nice.

You can read all about its features in other reviews!
I don't know when it was made. I bought it 2 years ago. Black finish, white pickguard. Optically nothing special, rather standard.

First of all: I'm in fact a guitar player. I've been playing for more than ten years and 80% of my spare time I spent with my beloved guitars. But from time to time I also enjoy playing bass, so I bought this one.
This Squier P-bass is a cheap but decent instrument, and I just use it at home through a small 30W Aria combo.
I have two conclusions concerning its sound:
1) It doesn't offer a vast variety of sounds. But that's normal since it's a low budget model.
2) The sounds you get out of it are pretty good. This bass is definitely suitable for any kind of rock, blues and alternative.
I mainly play alternative/indie rock on it (The Pixies, Sonic Youth, Nirvana...), 80's rock (U2, Echo and the Bunnymen) and late 70's/early 80's new wave (The Cure, Sisters of Mercy, Joy Division) and it fits my style perfectly. Ever heard the intro bassline of The Pixies' "Bone Machine"?? Well, it's almost exactly THAT sound.
For more new wave-related stuff like The Cure I use a Marshall Supervibe Chorus pedal between this bass and my amp, which sounds splendid.

No problems here. Sweet finish, flawless workmanship. Action was set just perfect for me. Only flaw: the tone & volume knobs were too loose. I had to fix them with strong glue.

First of all: astoundingly stable tuning! This is certainly not obvious on cheap instruments like this one, so thumbs up for that!
This bass seems reliable to me, I haven't had any problems yet.

Like I mentioned before, I'm in the first place a guitar player! I just bought this Squier Affinity P-type because I enjoy playing bass at home.
As an overall conclusion I'd have to say that it's without any doubt an awesome starter bass for little money. A "real" bassplayer I know assured me that it simply CAN'T be beaten in its price range and I think he's totally right! Nice work, Squier.

This is a 2002 Model, made in China. It's about as basic of a Bass that you can get. I'm not going to rate this area, because its a beginners instrument, and shouldn't have a ton of things to confuse the student, or what if they decide they don't like playing? They would have wasted money on a bunch of features.

I traded in a 7-string Ibanez guitar for this because the novelty wore off. I'm a guitar player who wants to learn a different approach to music. Now that you know where I'm coming from, I'll start. I'm playing this through a Behringer 60 watt bass amp, which is a pretty good deal too. The tone seems to be pretty balanced, but i have a hard time getting in between the zingy fingering noises and a somewhat muddy sound. It's a very fine line between these two tones. The P-Bass sound seems to fit most styles of music. I suspect that as I grow as a bass player I would want to change the pickups for more depth to the sound.

This thing was set-up like somebody put some bailing wire on a log. The neck was bowed too much, the strings were nowhere near the standard height, the pickups were arbitrarily positioned, and the intonation was off so bad, that it sounded like i was playing this thing through a detune effect. I'm glad I know a bit about setting up instruments, because that made all the difference in the world. The sound is now balanced, and it stays in tune. There are fret buzzes in only 2 spots now, and they aren't loud enough to really come through the amplifier. Squires have come a long way since i started playing, so for the price, I consider the finish to be excellent. This rating is based on how the bass came from the store, once you set it up, it plays extremely well.

They only reliabilty issue I think I will have with this is the outpu jack. It doesn't fell very sturdy, because the pickgaurd wobbles if the cable wiggles. I have a preventative solution for this however, I got a cable with a right angle plug and I put the cable between the strap and body. Every thing else is rock solid though

Overall, it's a great bass to get your feet wet and decide whether of not you like to play. It's also a good backup bass. The more experienced player will obviously want a more complex tone with more depth than these pickups can offer.

This is a Indonesian model, dunno what year it was made. Of course, the P-bass tone and volume knobs, split single coil pick up. Perfect for the person who has no clue what a bass sounds like...

Well, I think I can honestly say that is bass is toneless. My ampeg B2-R amp into a 410 cab can't even change the sound of this piece of crap. I play in a melodic punk band, when we recorded I used a stingray music man so I didn't have to crap up the record. But, as I said before, for the person who has no clue what a bass sounds like, its a OK starter bass.

I really like the finish on the neck much better than any smooth laqqure finish. I have a feeling that this bass is made out of some dead material like carbon fiber, instead of wood for the sound it puts out. The pick ups were arranged in the raised fashion like a pyramid. And the infamous problem with the Fender volume knobs lives on, if your knobs keep slipping of, stick a strait screw driver into the slit that hold on the knob. When it spreads it becomes wider and it wont fall off. And of course three of my pickguard screws stripped and so did my bottom strap knob. Fix this by wrapping masking tape around the screw and jamming it in the hole.

Hmmm, by the small chance I get to ever to play this bass a show(trust me it will never happen), I would say, not worthy of a back up bass.

Never dealt with them.

Been playing for a year now, I love my Ampeg set up, and will soon be getting a Jazz bass of some sort.

My affinity p-bass is made in the year 2002 since it's a 'squier 20th anniversary model'' and it's made in china.
it has 20 medium jumbo frets and it's a four stringer.
it has a 1 split single-coil pickup and passive electronics.
The body is made of alder, the neck is maple(polyurethane finish)
with a rosewood fingerboard.
It has a beautiful sunburst finish and the body style is of course precision.It has a standard 4-saddle bridge and standard open-gear tuners.The scale is 34 inches.
The purchase included a simple no good bag which I immedeatly replaced with one I could use.

I play mainly blues based rock with psychedelic and soul flavors.
For this use the bass fits like a glove.It rocks!
(when in need of cash I play almost anything for money)
I use a 60's laneysound tube head with a carlsbro cabinet(from the late 70's) that has a 15'' Electro voice element.I don't use any effects and I only play with my fingers.
The bass has a great dynamic responce so the sound varies from warm and tender to hot and raunchy and when it comes down to an end,it's all in the fingers.
The biggest pleasant surprise to myself was the variety of the tone from dark to bright.I have only played with it on stage so I don't have any experience with it from studio.
I give it a full 10 for great sound with low costs.

One of the basic reasons I bought this one was that the bass was just ready to go with.No changes necessary.(except the factory installed strings lost their brightness in a week,but what can You expect in this price category?)

The bass is trustworthy for now, but let's see what happens in the next five years...My gut feeling is that the plug jack will be the first part I'll have to change.I don't carry a backup bass with me.
This does the job.

I've been playing the bass for twelve years now.
I also play a short scaled Framus electric bass from the 70's
and an acoustic Landola B.E.855 fretless bass with a B-Band pickup.
If I lost this p-bass I would go and search a similar one but it would't be very easy since I compared it to two other squier affinity p-basses and one squier jazz bass and one fender jazz bass and a squier bronco bass(which was truely a piece of sh*t)and I ended up buying this particular one.So there is a great difference between individual instruments and this one I bought stood out for it's touch and sound.Not to mention the price.I tune my bass a half key lower than usual and this individual bass doesn't rattle when tuned like that.
If You plan to buy an affinity p-bass:
compare it with others, and if You find one that stands out from the others, buy it, it's worth the price.

Not sure of the year, made in Indonesia. I bought the Squier P-Bass Pak, which included the bass, a Squier BP-15 amp, a strap, a Fender gig bag, a decent Fender cable, and an instuctional video. I believe the package now comes with a Fender Frontman 15B amp. The rest of the features have most likely been mentioned already.

I basically play anything from grunge to jazz, blues to rock, etc. The package came with a Squier BP-15 amp... it sounded decent. A bit noisy. I'm now using a Behringer Ultrabass BX1200, and it sounds -much- better. It has a full, warm, even dark tone that is probably best suited for various types of rock. I'm also currently using a ZOOM 506 bass effects generator, and it sounds great with that. A few of the effects it has cause a bit of "hiss," but this effects generator really brings out this bass's (bass'?) potential. While I do like the sound it gives off, I can't really get much variety out of it.

In terms of studio versus stage... meh. I can't really comment on that. It can play relatively loud, but you start to get a lot of noise once the gain is past about 7 (on a 1-10 dial).

Out of the factory, the bass wasn't set up too badly. Being that this was my first bass (I've been playing for about a year), I didn't know what adjusments to make. I remember that I had my bass teacher adjust the neck, the action was off... but unfortunately, I can't remember if it was too high or too low. Sorry. Since then, I haven't had to adjust the truss rod too much, although I should probably take the action up, the strings slap the frets a bit too often.

The finish is a nice black. Seems pretty resilient, I've dinged it a few times, and there aren't any visible blemishes. Also, it should be noted that the finish soaked up gallons of sweat from my right arm over the summer, and looking at it now, you'd never know.

I had no real problems with the pickups. I tightened them a bit, no big.

There is one glaring flaw that I haven't been able to fix. Any note played on the 4th (low E) string gives off an odd sort of rattle. I can't explain it, my bass teacher can't explain it, and no one else who I have asked can either. Weird stuff just happens.

Other than that, there aren't any real flaws.

This bass has got some serious vitality. I've been playing this damned thing for a year, and I see no signs of aging. None. It plays and looks like new, the only thing that has lost brightness are the strings, they'll need to be replaced.

As I mentioned above, the finish is wonderful. It's survived various bumps and bruises with no permanent damage, and has withstood torrents of sweat from over the summer with no wear.

Strap buttons seem solid. Only failed me once, and I had time to catch my axe before it fell to its doom.

Very dependable, I might gig with it without a backup... if I played gigs. The truss rod needed to be adjusted when I first got it, and I haven't adjusted it since. However, at this point (1 year later) I probably should tweak it, the action is a bit low.

Haven't had to deal with them.

As I said, I've been playing for a year.

If this bass was stolen or lost... hm. I might buy it again considering how it's an awesome bass for the price, but considering how I just bought a new bass, I might not. I would probably put that $150 somewhere else.

I chose this bass because I was naive and was sure that the Squier P-Bass Pak would be right for me. I was lucky to have gotten such a good instrument.

Overall, I'd recommend this as a first bass, it really got my feet firmly on the ground. It's a wonderful bass for the price, and despite a few flaws, it's a joy to play.

the usual. My wife liked the blue so that's what i wound up with. everything ths tolerable except the pickguard is way too thin, stamped bridge, and so on. could use a trip through the stew mac catalogue.

I play acoustic folk and blues guitar and bought this to write and record. have wound up playing out w/ it a lot as favors to others who needed a bass player in a hurry. the sound is bland, but easy to alter as it has no character of its own, this is actually the things charm as i have been able to get it to "cooperate" with my recording gear better than some higher end basses that has lots of bells and whistles. it actually gets good results with the right amp. HINT!!: if you are buying a first guitar/bass be prepared to spend about twice as much on the amp as the guitar. Most of these reviews mention cheap amps and people seem suprised by the results. I spent about $350 on a used usa made bass amp and get pro sounding results from this almost toy bass. this is going to be even more true for bass than guitar as cheap bass amps tend to be even worse than cheap guitar amps.

very acceptable. its set up for students: small hand friendly, low action...no buzz, no suprises. I have seen some that were vile so quality control is not a priority but you can get lucky. the hardware is built to last a lunchtime but normal people are not going to actually push it past its tolerances.

well make for $115 bucks. its been played out maybe 20 times in the last 18 months...stays in tune and no suprises. the question is not how sturdy the assembly is but how will the buget wood stand up to string tension and environmental stress. i suspect the answer is that is wont last forever but will work as long as its in one piece.

Huh? you just bought a bass for under $200. are you kidding? pester the store if you have problems.

this bass proves my theory that electric instrument players "play amp" not guitar. I have used this ultra cheap bass in studios and gotten wonderful results because i treated it as a signal controller not as a musical insturment. If you are a student or even on a buget, get the best amp you can afford and work backwards and this bass is fine.
I play gibson electrics and taylor acoustics and still use this thing for recording. you'll do fine with it.

2000 model, Japanese
21 fretts, 4 string
Laminated colbolt blue finish
1 volume, 1 tone control
1 P-Bass pickup (standard squire thing)
Passive electronics
Rosewood neck, some kind of wood body
String through bridge (not through body)
Standard tuners (with chrome covers)

Great dark, warm, punchy rock sound from thouse extra coils on the pickups. Excellent for playing rock and calssic rock but for best results keep to rock. Quite a lot of variety available form the tone control, can extend to classic rock and funk.
Don't get any noise from the pickups and the body qives it a supprising ammount of sustain for a squire affinity.
Can get nearly as much out of it as you put into it. Is let down my no so good definition with the tone right up.
Can be used for stage and studio, very durable for excessive use. Built pretty much like a well rounded tank.

As you can expect form a squire, it needed a lot of work on the factory set-up. The truss rod was fine and appart from the usual alterations to action and bridge there wasnt much technical to adjust. Adjust the pickups to how you like.
When the scratch plate was taken off it look a bit like a hamster cage with bits of sawdust here and there but that was sorted with some loveing care (masking tape and a hoover). Also had to clean the tone and volume controls with special oil to get the dust out of them which was causing a bit of crackle.
My biggest and probably only long-lasting dislike of this bass is the scratchplate. You get it wiht a 1-ply but i reccomend getting a 3-ply because one swift kick to the input with a lead in and your screwd. But i have to give it credit, it was eight months of intensive playing until i was forced to get a new one. Like i said, built like a tank. I dont like the look of the scratchplate either :)
The finnish was very nice but obviously needs cleaning every now and then with a bit of spit and polish.
Overall it is good fun and valuable learning working out the flaws in it. For a beginner bass its not going to be perfect but you just gotta look after it. You wont get any better for this price.

Have used it often for live playing. like i said a few problems with the scratch plate but nothing that cant be overcome. Stays in tune well so another bonus for live use.
Seems like it could last out for many years with gradual maintanance. Lasts as long as you take care of it.
Finnish is good but i dont think i have been playing it long enough to wear it off yet. But i'll love ti when it does cause its only a cheap bass and it'll look sweet and retro.
Strap buttons are solid but get a locking strap for live use.
Very rearely do i have to do anything to it but tune it. i have never had to ajust the truss rod. You can mistreat it for months and it'll still recover.
Until a moth ago i would have. A month ago was when i started having the scratchplate problems. But i dont have a backup so i have to and i have onyl had it die on me once (a month ago) and it was at the end of the set, so i didnt care much. Fixed it with gaffa tape.

never dealt with the company.
didnt have a warranty.
is a bit of an annoyance fitting a new 3-ply scratch plate cause you'll need to drill new holes for the screws, move part of the pickups forward (more drilling) and take chunks out by the input to get it to fit in, but you can't see that on the surface.

Been playing it for a year with a Carlsbro 120 watt amp and added various effects over time with it has no problem with.
I wish i had of asked them to fit a 3-ply scratchplate for me before a brought it.
I wouldnt buy a new one if it was stolen or lost, id put the money towards my new jazz bass.
I love its complex simplicity. You can play it with little knowledge about how it works, and when you start learning a lot, you discover new things to do with it. I love the chrome control pods, the rosewood neck and the covered tuning pods.
I hate the scratchplate, the jack input socket, the cheap bridge.
My favourite bit is the body shape and the beastly sound. And the fact that it leaves my Boss TU-2 tuner redundant for weeks on end.
I was going to buy a slightly more expensive peavy bass buy those thigs are so scrawny and have a cheapest feel to them. Although cheap, this bass lets you believe its worth more.
I wish it had a Jazz Bass Body and a decent bridge.
The bass is probably the best bass you could ever start out on.

2002 20th Anniversary Squier Affinity P-Bass. Made in China. 20 frets, 4 strings. Chrome volume and tone knobs. The only things I know about pickups are Chevy, Ford, and Dodge. The pickups on this guitar are two offset black rectangles that have a metal dot in beween each string. It has a black body with a white pickguard.

I have no style. Period. I have only been playing bass for a month. I have been using tablature to play songs, such as the National Anthem, some Christmas songs, and I make up a lot of stuff. I have played some stuff like Rammstein, but since there is no one to jam with, I tend to lean toward stuff that makes me feel like I am developing a personal skill. I started out on a Fender Bullet Bass. It was ok after I changed strings and adjusted stuff. Compared to the Bullet, the P-Bass has consistently better sound from all strings. One thing about the P-Bass is it doesn't seem to tolerate "slapping" the strings. The strings smack the frets with almost no effort, leaving me with some pretty crummy sounds, sometimes. If I am gentle, leaving the task of amplitude to the amp, then it sounds really nice. I can't imagine trying to play this thing in a live performance, though. It makes a lot of sound when just moving around. The fret noise would seem to be terrible if you really had some intensity behind your fingerwork. I have been using a 450W Fender amp w/2 12" drivers. I have a pedal vibrato, but it always makes the guitar sound like it is playing underwater.

The P-Bass looks OK, I think. It's kind of a big ol' sloppy thing. Right from the store, I noticed the action was set very low, maybe 1.5-2 mm off the frets. You could get the strings to slap just by blowing on them, just about. I cranked the action up until the set screw was about halfway into the hole. It still slaps the frets even under low pressure on the strings. If I pluck the strings exactly perpendicular to the frets, I don't have the problem. However, since I have only been playing for a month, I suck, and I have no control. The Bullet Bass was way more forgiving. I think if I could get a replacement plastic thingy that holds the strings on the tuner head end, that would help me. So, I don't think the setup was too good. But, I don't know. I have never talked to another bass player. The rest of the guitar was in excellent condition. I bought it new, so I would expect that. The grain patterns looked really nice in the dark fretboard. I think I got lucky there.

I haven't abused anything enough to determine the durability. I would use it on a gig, without backup, solely due to the fact that I do not have a backup. Of course, if I ever develop skills to the point I would play a gig, I would probably die of old age before showtime. But, it's fun.

I have been playing for one month. I borrowed a bass from a friend, and have taken to it pretty well. Before that I have never played an instrument. In fact, I'm so musically uninclined that I can make a CD player play poorly just by touching it. My ideal bass is the Cort Curbow 4 string fretted bass. It looks like a sculpture. However, I can't justify the expense for something I am just starting, as a hobby. If it were stolen, it would piss me off. Then, I would go get my Curbow bass. I really like the price, as well as the Humvee bolt-together design. I am going to replace the cheap tupperware pickguard with one that I will make in shop class. I want to use some fancy grade plywood, and stain it to match the fretboard. I'll modify the shape of the pickguard to accomodate my need to be an individual. By the time I am done, it will look very nice.

Purchased as new in May 2000. White finish, rosewood fretboard. No case, no gig-bag, but seems to be normal regarding to the very low price of the thing. Guess it was built in Asia. 4 strings. 20 frets. Strict Precision Bass configuration.

The sound is "classical" as well as that of a real Precision Bass is, but it seriously lacks power. It is not a real problem, since I had essentially purchased this bass for my students. It was generally plugged into an Ampeg BA-115. In a way, this is a very versatile bass, and probably one of the best sounding basses in that price range. It is not a professional bass, though.

The factory set-up was a laugh. I had to adjust the action because it was way too high. I could not reach a real low action, though.

Had no problem with this bass. I kept it for about 15 months. No trouble.

Never had to deal with them.

If you want a real Precision Bass without paying the price of an American one, this one is NOT the solution. Guess you'd better have a look at the Mexican series. The Squier Affinity P-Bass is a very good buy for a beginner, though. It also can be a good backup bass, provided you use it ONLY when ABSOLUTELY needed (broken string...).

I kept this bass for 15 months, and it was essentially used by my students. I didn't lose much money when I sold it. I stopped teaching so I had no need to keep it.

I give it an 8. Quality-wise without any price consideration, it would deserve a 5 only. But regarding to its price, it is a very good deal.