Squier Affinity ACT Jazz Bass V BKM

So I bought this Squier as I always fancied a 5 string Jazz bass, and for its price I gave it a go and having it at home for some chill play time. My 2 main workhorses are my Dingwall NG2's so the bar was quite high. And boy was I impressed.

First off, for it's price, it's a ridiculously quality bass. Neck finish is great, smooth and comfortable. No sharp edges (except some slightly sharper ones at the 15th fret, but seriously, why go there on bass?) and smooth sliding around the neck. The sparkle finish is good and on point even throughout.

Hardware is decent enough for it's price. Anyone complaining about it's hardware must be forgetting the price, but it's still solid enough.

Electronics are the thing at which this bass excels, pickups indeed are noiseless and barely any audible static in realistic settings. I did notice the neck pickup is the one that slags off a bit compared to the bridge which is chunky and powerful. Then again, a matter of preferences. I saw comments complaining on the absence of a passive bypass. Well, in my opinion, it's a "rarity" to find active jazz basses at this price range, so really and truly, to me the lack of passive bypass is totally justified. I wanted an active jazz bass and that's exactly what this thing excels at. The DI sound from this is truly amazing compared to what I was expecting.

Intonation, just a very quick fix upon opening it and this thing got right in place. Well done for the out of the box overall great intonation and action.

Weight: compared to my other Fender Jazz, I actually found this lighter and easier to play standing, sits comfortably, doesn't have too heavy a neck dive and stays well in place.

Well done Squier for making this thing a great great bass at a budget price.

OK, folks. I’ll just write this review on day one. I played bass in a rock band for quite some time. I had a few Yamahas and my last bass was a Fender Jazz Bass Highway One (USA-ish Mexican, that is). Bought this one since I always wanted a five-string Jazz Bass and a maple neck. Unboxed it today. Frets are on par with my Fender. No razor blade edges here. I don’t recall the setup of my Fender being any better out of the box. Neck is straight, intonation is fine, action is a bit high but that’s what the wrenches are for. Tuners are fine. Bridge is basic but fine. Would probably change it somewhere down the road to a Badass Bridge or similar (like my HW1 has). Also, I plan to have some fun with the electronics, probably add a push-pull to the volume pot to act as an active/passive switch to bypass the preamp. Both of which are just personal preference. One thing worth noting is that the instrument itself is a bit on the heavy side. Pickups are fine. Recorded a few bars and you wouldn’t be able to tell if it’s a Fender HW1 or a Squier. Having said that, I’d like to emphasise that production has come such a long way. This bass could easily have the main Fender logo like the first Squiers used to (which changed shortly for obvious reasons). But that doesn’t even matter ... don’t chase the headstock, especially if you’re a beginner (or an intermediate; a beginner would probably have a better start with a four-string, unless you really want to dive in). IMHO, given the current Fender lineup, you could very well spend few times as much to get virtually the same thing. Use that cash difference for a nice amp. It won't compete with high-end models but for the price/performance ratio is an easy 5 stars from me. I didn’t even mean to write a review, but I was just pleasantly surprised and had to. I could go on but have to go now and groove on that thing. Cheers.