Could you perform your current role on a Squier Bass ?

[JellyKnees]

1 hour ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

Anyone that says no is talking poop. 

What a sophisticated argument. You have won me over.

[JazzBass4624]

I prefer a genuine USA fender simply because I've been gazing at them since the early 60's when we couldn't afford them. But I could do any gig on a squier, no problem.

I do own a Squier CV60 strat and it is a very decent guitar which can stand up to a Fender.

[FinnDave]

3 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

I thought the question included without the audience or band members noticing. In most cases for an upright bass (or band based around say a Wal sound - eg a certain era of Roxymusic) this would be yes. For an upright, if it was a jazz gig, it might result in the band getting no more gigs!!! 

Yes, I hadn't read it that closely, but you are right. Though no matter much we agonise over the sound of our bass (and how much we spend trying to achieve 'that sound', in my experience, not only do the audience not notice, most of the time, neither do the rest of the band! I admit was answering on the basis of 'if you were in a hole and the only thing available was a Squier, could you use it'.

[Dad3353]

A Chinese bike (other Chinese bikes exist...)...

[FinnDave]

3 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

If I was to be pedantic (as if..! ), I'd mention that the question was 'Could you perform your current role...', not 'Could you play it'. 

Yes, but my current role is playing the bass!

[FinnDave]

Just now, Dad3353 said:

A Chinese bike (other Chinese bikes exist...)...

Blimey, that's ugly. But I was a Harley rider until my accident, so obviously used to nothing but the best

[Dad3353]

1 minute ago, FinnDave said:

Yes, but my current role is playing the bass!

Then you've anwered correctly. I replied 'No', but was 'talking poop', of course. 

[Al Krow]

47 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

The question wasn't 'would you rather play your lines on a Squier?' but 'if you had to, could you?', so short of Dad's triangle, I should think most of us could. It might not be the same, but I doubt very much that anyone would notice except the player themselves. 

Frankly if you HAD to you could play tennis with a Squier  But horses for courses: a Squier can more than likely do the job of any 'standard' electric bass, for sure. But it would be pretty useless being played upright or bowed!

Edited March 27, 2018 by Al Krow

[FinnDave]

Once the poop starts flying in a thread, it's probably best to keep our heads down or leave!

 

[peteb]

Just now, FinnDave said:

Blimey, but I was a Harley rider until my accident, so obviously used to nothing but the best

I know plenty of bikers who might dispute that statement...! :-) 

[Geek99]

3 hours ago, Yank said:

No.  I don't believe Squire makes a fretless.

of course they do. 

https://www.samash.com/squier-vintage-modified-jazz-bass-fretless-f06608500

https://www.samash.com/bass-guitars-1/fretless-basses/squier-vintage-modified-precision-bass-fretless-f6808500x

I'm going to orlando in about a months time, now I've seen the price in USD I'm giving buying one serious thought. 

[FinnDave]

13 minutes ago, peteb said:

I know plenty of bikers who might dispute that statement...! :-) 

So do I!

[stingrayPete1977]

54 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

If the question had been about motorbikes, asking if one could ride a Zongshen, I wonder what the reply from Ducati owners would be..? 

I've owned both*, both are capable of transporting a rider. 

*mine was a Jincheng but I think that counts? 

Edited March 27, 2018 by stingrayPete1977

[Pow_22]

A Squier P Bass, set up to my liking with my usual flatwounds? Nae problem

[Dad3353]

13 minutes ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

I've owned both*, both are capable of transporting a rider. 

*mine was a Jincheng but I think that counts? 

[Robert Robinson] Ah, but do they perform equally well..? There's the rub..! (taps side of nose knowingly...)[/Robert Robinson]

[Happy Jack]

16 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

This was mine. Sold it here many moons ago...

Presumably to pay the heating bills in the rehearsal room?

[stingrayPete1977]

I'd say the limitations between a Chinese motorbike and a Ducati are far greater than between a Squier bass and whatever coffee table bedroom bass you want to compare it to. 

 

Put Valentino Rossi on the Zongshen and me on the Ducati and Rossi would still beat me. 

Edited March 27, 2018 by stingrayPete1977

[drTStingray]

14 minutes ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

I'd say the limitations between a Chinese motorbike and a Ducati are far greater than between a Squier bass and whatever coffee table bedroom bass you want to compare it to. 

But the difference is he'd thrash you even more comprehensively on a Ducati because it's a lot better at going fast and almost everything else. 

How well would your Squier take bowing - orchestral music for instance. Or rockabilly upright style? This thread is in general so per se must apply to upright bass as well. I don't think I'd be playing a Squier on Beethoen's 5th!!

'Coffee table' basses aren't bedroom basses - they're mostly used by very experienced players where tone, articulation and nuance required are way beyond the thump along rock or to quote another thread once on this forum - boring plodding. 

Bass guitar - indeed music - is often about nuances and intricacies - this thread simply proves to me that many bass guitar players on this forum  don't either get that or don't play in a style that uses them or needs them - that's fine but don't use that to judge what other people should do - they can take a lot of forms - if you can't hear them (or the guitar does not allow you to play them) then there's no differentiation from one style to the next and the bass guitar becomes no different from one thing to the next. 

That devalues most of the subtleties which can be used by skilled and inventive players. 

 

Edited March 27, 2018 by drTStingray

[AndyTravis]

22 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

Presumably to pay the heating bills in the rehearsal room?

3rd floor of a Victorian pub in central Manchester in the winter ❄️ 

[MikanHannille]

Easily

[EliasMooseblaster]

A qualified "yes." In the early days of Cherry White, I often gigged with my (cheap) bitsa Precision, and it sounded fine. I've since done the odd gig with them on variations-on-a-P-bass (even a Jazz once...), and still occasionally use one in the studio if I think the track demands a particular bass sound. The only difference would be that the band are used to the darker Gibson-bass-type-grunt that normally comes from playing an SG or Thunderbird, and I do find these latter two more articulate at the dusty end of the neck. But unless there was something fundamentally wrong with the Squier (e.g., it being a Jazz), I think we'd get away with it.

Edited March 27, 2018 by EliasMooseblaster

[lojo]

After catching up on this thread I now want to see Mark King apply his skills to a Squier and see what it sound like , of course it won't be the same as him using the hardware he has created over the years , but it would be interesting to hear.

 

Just to reconfirm, this thread was not started to prove label snobbery or that anything could be done on a squier but rather to genuinely find out the limitations of the them 

 

 

 

[Chezz55]

Yep - I've tried a couple Squier P-Basses and they looked, played and sounded fine to me.

[Paul S]

I voted yes.  When I played 4 string basses I ended up exclusively using Squier Precisions, albeit JV or that wonderful A series 32" scale white one that has now left home.

Now I play 5 strings it is more difficult as my own particular requirements limit my choice quite drastically.  Any bass I use has to be extremely lightweight and with narrow string spacing - as far as I know Squier have only made one, the MB-5, which would appear to be fairly uncommon - I don't recall ever seeing one advertised for sale at all.  But, yes, if I could find one of those, no problem.

[FuNkShUi]

I have done. Many times