I was at the music store and I was just playing as many basses as I possibly could I wasn't being to choosy about it either. I would just grab one play it and then grab another. I played everything from $300 up to $2,100. I have been playing in bands, touring and recording for 6 years and very picky about tone quality. I was so in the flow of picking up and testing basses that I didn't even notice that this guitar was a Squire... I might have avoided it because of the stereo types associated with that brand. As soon as I puled it in and just plucked an open A my ear was like Heck YEAH. The tone on this guy is a brick house. In my opinion it sounds better than most passive fender basses twice the price. With the on board EQ and parallel switch you can use a wide variety of different tones. As opposed to say a precision bass where your options are basically just dark or slightly brighter dark. [sorry precision bass I still love you and your vintage motown thump].

If you are looking for a "modern" tone, you know the kind of tone for the next generation of bass guitar... then this is a great instrument for that. Really though you can create so many tonal options with this bass. My only complaint is that the treble knob doesn't create the most noticeable change in tone.

AS WITH BUYING ANY NEW GUITAR you may need to make adjustments. My saddle hight and neck were adjusted perfectly when I got this bass, but I did have to adjust the intonation. which isn't a big deal since adjusting intonation is a regular part of guitars and basses and should be done every time you put on strings of a different gauge.

Okay so I've own this this bass for a few months now and I believe that this was the best use of a paycheck I've ever done. Sure, the brand might make you have second thoughts, but one try-out on this bass would make you instantly fall in love with it. The on board EQ is quite convenient when you're playing. As for the slap switch: whatever position on or off is, i've used "up" as the main tone (which sounds amazing with the active pickups) and "down" for a more cleaner tone for solos.

The only negatives from when I bought this bass is that one of the tone knobs was missing. A tech found it and put it back on, but when I got back home, it fell right off, so watch out for loose hardware. Also the low B string doesn't register that well through the amp, but give the pickups a few tweaks here and there and you should be able to hear it.

Overall, this is a fine bass that will impress anyone from a novice bassist to a seasoned session musician.

I bought this bass and it had terrible fret buzz. I paid a professional guitar tech to fix it and he couldn't get it to go away. The worst part is, with the active pick up, the buzz goes straight through the line and is amplified. A passive pickup doesn't do that from my experience. I can't use it at all. The buzz through the amp is awful.

I bought one in January '09. It's hard to believe how nice this bass sounds and looks at this price. I replaced he original strings with RotoSound strings and that made a huge improvement in tone. So far, members of 2 bands I have played with all assumed that this was an expensive bass. I did have to adjust the neck slightly to correct unavoidable neck movement once the weather went to high humidity. I love this bass and have tried many that cost 2 and 3 times as much and would not trade. My previous basses were Fender Precisions and a Rickenbacker 4003 (which had a very disappointing lack of low end). Nice job Fender Squire. Very happy player here.

From the moment I picked up the Squier Active Jazz V 5-string Bass, I loved it. I like the balance, I love the neck, the action is great, it has very distinct tones, and the active switch is great. Over all it's a really incrediable bass, with an affordable price...!