Fender Squier Vintage Modified Precision TB

2008 - By now you all know the specs on this bass. Mine is sunburst, maple neck black pickguard, 1 vol, 1 tone and is made in Indonesia, sunburst. It came modified with dome knobs and a badass III bridge - string through body...great improvement over the stock bridge. The best feature imho is the vintage humbucker pickup. This is a great looking bass. I've owned it for about 5 months and still am impressed with it's playability and sound.

Sound is great for a bass in this range. Very deep sound like a humbucker but still lets some mids and highs through. The lightweight body and maple neck give it a nice character when contrasted with the thick humbucker. If you like a very bright sound, this is probably not the bass guitar for you. If you are looking for a deep vintage sound like a thunderbird or rickenbacker, you should check this out. Sustain is great for a bolt on.

Since I bought this bass secondhand, I have no way to tell how much work went into setting it up, but it is great now.

One word: Solid
I would use this without a backup - it's a fender bass.

N/A I bought it second hand. I don't think you would need to on this tank.

I bought this bass because I owned a 70's telecaster bass in the 80's and loved the deep fender sound. It would cost about $3000 to replace today so this made a great compromise. I would buy this bass again in a heartbeat and pay the extra $100 for the Badass III bridge.
I have owned numerous American basses and guitars. I usually play a les paul studio and was using a marcus miller (cij) for my limited bass play. This bass is so good, I decided to let go of my marcus miller. I have owned numerous pbasses and 1 72 tele bass. I would say this one is better than all of the mexican basses I've played, better than most japanese fenders. If you can afford an american fender, you cant go wrong, but if you want a telecaster bass and you don't have a small fortune, check this out!

While I wouldn't personally go to the effort to do it, a jazz bass pickup at the bridge with it's own volume would be a great way to explore more highs in the tonal spectrum. I would also like to see one with a white pickguard or maybe some other colors.

Already covered by other reviewers. Nothing to add.
I give it a 1 because in the features department this is one of the most basic basses you can buy, which by no means is a reflection of it's qualities.

With the tone knob turned past halfway: fat, big sound. Not much variety with the controls, but with your fingers you can make quite a difference.Going from right over the humbucker to the bridge you can go from rich and full to snappy. Overall the sound stays fat,dark, thundering, room filling but not muddy or woolly and quite capable of giving definition to the notes played. Never thin or metallic not even when played close to the bridge.
With the tone knob from halfway to zero: thick undefined, useless mud.

Absolutely no noises, no crackling sounds, dead silent.

I play old school blues and rock'n roll with it and for this, it's near perfect.
I use a Fender Rumble 100/115 combo(15" speaker, 100 Watts), no effects, and this combination is really fine for this kind of music. Warm, thick sound.
I give it a nine because the pots are (past halfway) no more than on/off switches and probably there are other basses that I don't know of that have an even better sound for this kind of music. But for my needs it's just near perfect.

No set-up, action waaaay to high, string height all over the place. Took me a week of meticulous fiddling with bridge and truss rod to set it up to my liking. I must say that I always wait at least 24 hours between (very careful and very small) truss rod adjustments, that's why it took me so long.
No pick-up adjustments, adjusted it myself.

Controls dead silent, no crackling noises.

Finish: perfect, no flaws at all. Nice wood grain visible through the very smooth sunburst finish. Beautiful light-yellowish coloured and VERY smooth neck. Mine must be an exception, because I've seen others with very pale grey-ish coloured necks.

I give it a 7 because of the total lack of any set-up at all, one would expect that an instrument backed by Fender would have a minimum of set-up.

Time will tell, but a few impressions, solely based on feeling.
Tuners feel a bit flimsy and have slow reaction time but they hold the tune just fine.
Bridge plate looks scarily thin, but since it's a string-through-body type it may be all you need.
Strap buttons very solid, but replaced them with strap-locks.
Laquer looks thin and will probably wear of with time, but that often gives a nice character to the guitar, if you like this look.

Played a few jam sessions and two small caf?? gigs with it but that doesn't tell anything on long term use. I'm just a simple amateur who plays just for fun as a stand-in bassist in my son-in-law's blues band, so I'm not going to take it on a world tour.
All I can tell: the bass holds it's own in a band with two guitarists (one of them sings and plays blues-harp also) and a drummer.

My overall feeling is that it's not built like a tank, but that it will last if taken care of.

No experience.

Pro's:1) The SOUND !! However, if you're looking for a versatile bass, with lots of features and different sounds, just ignore this one. Don't spend your money on it or you WILL be disappointed ! It has one basic sound: vintage. That's why it's called vintage modified isn't it ?
2) The balance, this bass fits me like a glove. No hints of neck-dive, strapped on or sitting. On the shoulder it feels like a feather.
3) Playability: plays like butter.

Con's: The bass does't FEEL very sturdy, but only time will tell if that's only a feeling.

Overall: for the price this is a good bass, and if you are looking for a vintage sound (fifties and sixties, early seventies)at a moderate price this is it. Excellent for blues, rock'n roll, early hard rock etc.

For the most part, this is a modified version of a period-correct copy of the early 70???s Fender Telecaster II bass. You get a tone control, volume control, big ol??? humbucker pickup, and finger placement to vary your tone.

The nice thing about this bass is the basswood body with ash cap. This is a great idea. It makes it so light and far more lively and resonant than the original. Back in the 80???s, I actually had an original ???74 Fender Tele II bass. It was a cool bass??? but odd as it might seem, I like this bass more. The original was terribly heavy and the tone wasn???t really happening. This Squire copy is significantly better sounding and way easier to play. And??? for a cheapie, it is remarkably well put together. Even the hardware is decent ??? at least as good as the original. The weakest point (but still acceptable) is that the finish is rather brittle ??? but it does look very nice.

I am blown away by this cheap little bass! Quality control is REALLY happening with this thing. It???s not at all a piece of junk like you would expect any bass or guitar at this price to be.

Again, I???m blown away. Let me explain where I???m at with sound. First, I don???t like the flatwound sound at all. I???ve never been into mud. On the other hand, I don???t like ???modern??? sounding basses all that much either. I generally run stainless steel rounds on a Jazz bass. That gives me ???my sound.??? I just like a nice, defined, punchy tone. I also like to ???feel??? the bass (sound) ??? something that???s hard to get out of many modern basses. I???m a finger player and I also play slap style well (for that, I???m more into the scooped ???Marcus Miller??? tone).

Okay??? so, you won???t be getting a Marcus Miller tone out of this bass, although it does have a sort of cool, woody sound when you slap it. However, for most of us, it doesn't put out enough high frequency for slap.

What it does put out is just the most amazing, ballzy, buttery, punchy sound I've heard out of a low-end instrument. I absolutely love the way this thing sounds. The tone can be altered significantly by adjusting the tone and varying your finger placement (from over-pickup-plucking to near-bridge-plucking). This bass just lays out a huge room-filling wall of sound. I???ve never had a bass that fills the room so well (really! And I???ve had hundreds of basses over my bass-playing career: Zon, Modulus, Pedulla, etc). The cool thing is that this bass doesn???t come off as muddy. There is hardly no high-frequency up in the ???snap??? or ???finger-noise??? register, but it has this great, woody midrange, and huge, room-filling low end. When I took this bass to its first gig, I planned on using it for a couple of songs; I ended playing the thing for 95% of the night (I play mostly a variety of rock and a tiny bit of funk/disco in my current band).

Granted, this bass is not going to give you certain types of sounds. For me, I change back to my Fender Marcus Miller Jazz Bass for the funkier stuff. But hey, it works for way more than I would have thought. I love the sound of this thing. Picking near the bridge, I get a mice clear midrangey (like Jaco) sound, but it still has oodles of low-end beef. Plucking half way between the bridge and pickup gives a great growly, beefy, driving sound. Roll the tone back and pluck near the pickup??? very upright-like sound. At all times, it has this woody, organic punch that I just don???t out of my other basses. Very cool sound, indeed.

Amazing for a low-price. budget instrument. The tuning machines are way smoother than those on my Marcus Miller Jazz. The neck is just the right thickness and width for me. I generally prefer a Jazz Bass width neck, but this one is nice and only slightly bigger. Way nicer than the baseball bats from the 70???s.

The bass itself is refreshingly light for those long gigs. As I said, the finish seems brittle, but it???s well-applied and looks very good.

Well, it???s such a simple bass that I doubt there should never be problems with the electronics.

Build quality rivals even the high-end America Fenders. In comparing it to, say, the 51 reissue... this bass is just as nice.

I've never had a problem with a Fender bass that I haven't been able to deal with on my own, so ??? I've never had a Squire either, but I don't see this bass being any more delicate than any other bass. I'd doubt I'll have to use customer support for this instrument.

As I said, I???m blown away by this bass. I've been playing about 30 years and as I've said, I've literally had hundreds of basses over the years, ranging in price from $500 to $5000. But, really... I'm really in love with this cheap little thing!

It can???t do everything, but really, can any bass??? What I use now is this bass and a my J-bass. That pretty much gives me any tone I???m interested in having. And??? I use this bass on most songs. The only thing I change for is the slap bass songs.

If you???ve heard the Original ???mudbucker??? on the 70???s Tele II bass??? this bass sounds way better than those did. I don???t know what Fender has done with this new pickup, but I really like it a lot.

And when you consider the price, this is just an amazing value. If you are a gear snob, just put a piece of duct tape over the Squire logo and pretend like it???s a ???roots rock??? version of a Fodera or something. You???ll save $7000 and no one in the audience will know the difference. And I bet it will fill the room with nice bass tones as well.

If this bass was stolen, I'd quickly get another. In fact, I already plan on getting another one and refinishing it in tran-Mary-Kay blonde. Cool.

Bajo pasivo, con pastilla humbucker (Seth Lover) en posici??n del m??stil, un control de tono y otro de volumen.
Cuerpo de tilo con chapado de fresno delante y detr??s.
M??stil de arce, con pala tipo Telecaster. Escala larga (34").
Este bajo es una recreaci??n del Fender Telecaster segunda versi??n. La primera era realmente una reedici??n del Precisi??n original, y la segunda estaba en armon??a con los cambios introducidos en la Telecaster, con pastillas dise??adas por Seth Lover y golpeador redise??ado.
El cuerpo es plano por detr??s y con rebaje para el brazo por delante (recogiendo as?? caracter??sticas de los distintos modelos del Precisi??n original).
Las cuerdas van a trav??s del cuerpo y tiene dos selletas de lat??n, bastante gruesas.
El aislamiento el??ctrico en la cavidad es bueno.
Las clavijas no son "top quality", pero funcionan bien.
La cejuela es de pl??stico, barata...

Suena excelente.
Este bajo tiene un sonido muy limitado, no es vers??til como la mayor??a de los modelos Fender. Pero lo que hace lo hace muy bien.
Su pastilla ofrece un nivel de salida muy alto.
Su sonido es denso y al estar colocada la pastilla a la altura de la 2?? octava el sonido es redondo y gordo, pero no tan turbio como en los Gibson.
Se ajusta muy bien al rock cl??sico, blues, jazz...
Su sonido tiene tanto registro de graves que a??n tocando a poco volumen los objetos de la estancia vibran.

Cuando compr?? el bajo estaba bien quintado. Baj?? un poco la altura de las cuerdas (no era mala, pero lo dej?? a mi gusto), y tens?? el alma del m??stil, que estaba algo floja.
El acabado es excelente. El cuerpo tiene un aspecto magn??fico, y el m??stil tiene un tacto muy agradable.
Los trastes est??n muy bien terminados.
La uni??n del m??stil con el cuerpo es muy buena, sin olguras.

Construcci??n s??lida en general. Lo m??s flojo es la cejuela, pero hace su servicio.

Toco desde el 81. Tengo muchos bajos de varias marcas, pero la mayor??a Fender (USA, MEX...), y tambi??n guitarras.
Estoy muy satisfecho con la costrucci??n de este bajo, con su sonido y su tacto.
No todo el mundo podr?? sacarle partido... no es un instrumento vers??til. Y pocos bajistas est??n familiarizados con este tipo de sonido. Pero cualquiera que lo toque y le dedique un poco de tiempo a familiarizarse con ??l tendr?? un buen instrumento a precio razonable.

This is the 2007 Squier version of the '70s era Telecaster Bass with the humbucking pickup. Maple neck, basswood body laminated front and back with ash, 3 color sunburst, B/W/B pickguard, 2-saddle Tele-style bridge with brass saddles. Four bolt neck replaces the three-bolt tilt-o-matic of the '70s Fender, and a conventional headstock truss rod adjustment replaces the original "bullet" adjuster. Made in Indonesia.

A bass with fulsome round fundamental with its humbucker located directly under the 2nd octave harmonic, which would be the 24th fret if the frets ran that far. The Duncan designed humbucker looks just like the original, large and chromed with Fender script logo. However, it is not as much of a mud machine as the original '70s Tele bass, despite its very high impedance of 22K ohms (Jazz bass pickups are 7K and P-bass split pickups are 11K).The new pickup lets some high mids and highs survive to the output jack, but due to its position it has a deeper rounder fundamental than any other Fender. But, the deep tone retains pitch focus well.

Something worth knowing about the pickup: Only four screw-adjustable pole pieces show on top of the pickup, one under each string and staggered in the P-bass arrangement with E and A poles near the neck and D and G poles nearer the bridge. But under the heavy chrome pickup cover are four screw pole pieces top and bottom. You can't raise these four "phantom" poles because of the pickup cover, but from behind the pickup you can back them away from the strings. This will thin the response slightly and allow you to decide how much of "too much bottom" you want from the pickup. I backed out the invisible poles several turns and appreciated the tonal balance better. Feel free to experiment with this nondestructive modification, especially if your string, action or playing style is generating more bottom than you want.

Run the average bass rig anywhere past flat on the low end and you will begin blowing air, but left flat the bass produces a fat but useful tone.

This is my first Indonesian bass, and I am pleasantly surprised by the build quality. Straight, strong maple neck, tight neck pocket (the standard 4-bolt mounting is far superior to the flaky '70s Tilt-o-matic setup.)

Most old Teles weigh 16 tons with their slab ash bodies, but the Squier's ash-capped basswood is much lighter, yet the bass balances well on a strap. Overall fit and finish is good. The paint is poly, but it's not too thick and is well applied. The neck wears a very thin (and very white) coat of flat polyester. This seals the neck well, but it looks like unfinished maple. Some may like this. I can't stand it and will sooner or later cave in and put a few coats of tinted ReRanch nitrocellulose lacquer on the neck.

The bass intonates well with the 2-piece bridge, the tuners are up to the job and the simple controls work. A previous owner replaced the stock pots with CTS parts on my bass, so I cannot comment on the stock ones.

But having owned a few Squiers, I believe the build quality of this instrument is superior to many earlier Squier products, especially the plywood-bodied basses, which have a perfectly terrible tone contribution from the body wood. The TB is no Fender Custom Shop showpiece, but it is a well done instrument in almost every way, and an astonishing value.

I have considerable experience with every other stripe of Fender bass, but have never owned a '70s-style humbucking Telecaster bass before. There is a place for this design, especially in blues, R&B, reggae, hip hop and other styles that call for the deep stuff. If you have no use for that sound, then don't buy this bass. It is no substitute for a J-bass, and only an incomplete substitute for a Telecaster or standard P-bass.

But it does something cool.

These things came out in January 2007 and the entire production run sold out quickly. Online music suppliers all seem to be promising backorders to be filled in December '07, at a price of $279. If you want one before then, you'll have to find one used, and despite the quality a certain number are available, almost surely from owners who just bought the wrong bass for their needs. But if you want that expansive fundamental, with the overtones and "note" preserved pretty darned well, then these Squier TBs might be all the bass you'll need, even for pro or semi-pro playing.