Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass

[goldenaxe]

Hey a friend has offered to sell me his Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass for £50 (~$81) in decent condition as far as I know. I'm not too keen on the looks but I'm pretty short of money and really need a bass to use in a concert band. I've played a Vintage Modified Jazz Bass and thought it was fantastic, but also it looked much nicer. So here's some Qs:

- Jazz basses supposedly sound better than p basses, is this true?
- Is the neck on the Jazz bass the same/worse/better than on the P Bass?
- General opinion on the VM P bass?
- Should I go for it anyway regardless of the above?

cheers

 

[Tesla]

For £50 you can't go wrong really. I've got the Vintage Modified Jazz V and absolutely love it. They're solid basses.

Not sure about the difference between Jazz and Precision necks to be honest. Aesthetically I'd choose a Jazz any day but I'd still grab that Precision for £50 if it was offered to me!

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

Jazz bass pups are brighter than Pbass pups.

 

[Tom Drinkwater]

Hey a friend has offered to sell me his Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass for £50 (~$81) in decent condition as far as I know. I'm not too keen on the looks but I'm pretty short of money and really need a bass to use in a concert band. I've played a Vintage Modified Jazz Bass and thought it was fantastic, but also it looked much nicer. So here's some Qs:

- Jazz basses supposedly sound better than p basses, is this true?
- Is the neck on the Jazz bass the same/worse/better than on the P Bass?
- General opinion on the VM P bass?
- Should I go for it anyway regardless of the above?

cheers

Jazz and P basses are completely different basses so you can't really say one's better than the other. It's really up to what your eyes and ears like. For that little money though you can't go wrong because you could easily resell for that so there's very little risk.

 

[Grand Moff Tim]

- Jazz basses supposedly sound better than p basses, is this true?
- Is the neck on the Jazz bass the same/worse/better than on the P Bass?
- General opinion on the VM P bass?
- Should I go for it anyway regardless of the above?

- No. They sound different. Same as with any other two models of guitar, really. "Better" becomes personal preference.
- Jazzes tend to have slimmer necks and narrower nuts. If you're used to Js, Ps will seem a bit beefy, which some people like and others are turned away by. I switch between the two regularly with no issues.
- The VM series is a good series for the money. I don't remember if the Squier I played recently was VM or Classic Vibe, but either way, you could do much worse.
- Don't see why not. That's a good price, assuming it doesn't have a an expensive problem that would cost more that that to fix, like a badly warped neck or something.

 

[goldenaxe]

Thanks everybody for the help. I prefer the jazz bass looks and the narrower neck would be better but as you said for £50 I may as well go for it and not be picky. Maybe I'll get a 5 string jazz bass or 6/7 string ibby once I have some money saved up. Cheers again

 

[stevexc]

Tim hit all the salient points, so I just want to chime in - I own a Squier VM Fretless Jazz and it's a great bass for the cash. My only issue is that the pickups are damn quiet - not sure if this is an issue specific to my bass, the Fretless model, or the VM Jazzes (which seem to be using the same pickups).

I'd say go for it. I prefer Jazz basses myself, but for that price you can't go wrong.

 

[Murmel]

£50 is steal. As long as it's not broken I'd snag it right away. They're good basses for their money.