i bought a squier precision pj bass

I needed a bass guitar, and this one fit the bill, so I bought it.

Does this mean I got rid of a guitar to get it?

Yes.

I traded out the Squier Classic Vibe '60s Jazzmaster. All I have now are Stratocaster guitars and the bass, and I'm okay with that. The Jazzmaster just wasn't working for me. For a while I was all about that guitar, but with this fifth (yes, fifth) Jazzmaster, the magic just wasn't happening, so I let it go.

This is the bass I bought:

...the Squier Affinity Precision Bass PJ. This is in fact my first P-bass, but not my first PJ.

Being I just talked about Squier Jazz Bass, why didn't I get that? A few reasons specific to me.

I love the look of the Squier CV '70s Jazz. That thing looks perfect - but - the Jazz Bass shape doesn't agree with me for seated play. It's because of the shorter bottom horn and the bottom upper curve moved back due to the body shape. I just don't prefer it.

Why didn't I just go for a Squier CV '70s Precision Bass then? No J pickup and only a P. That is of course traditional to the P-bass, but I need that modern PJ set to get the bass sound I like best.

What is a PJ bass?

Regardless of shape, it's a bass that has a split-coil Precision Bass style pickup and a Jazz Bass style straight pickup. It's called PJ and not JP because the front of the body is the neck side and the rear of the body is the bridge side, hence P first, J second.

To note, a P pickup is not a humbucker. It's a split-coil. True, it cancels hum just like a humbucker does because of that split, but neither coil runs the full length of all 4 strings.

Does this mean the J pickup has single-coil hum? Yes.

A PJ is where you get the best of all worlds where Fender style bass tone is concerned. You can run the P-pickup only to get that old school fuller sound, the J-pickup only to get that high midrange "honk", or both for a modern "punchy" sound. No fancy electronics are required. All that's needed are 3 knobs. P pickup volume, J pickup volume and master tone. Nothing else is needed. You get everything required to blend exactly the style of Fender bass tone you want.

In all honesty, most people would have no use for the J pickup and would be perfectly happy with a cheap-as-chips Squier Sonic Precision Bass. One P split-coil pickup (which, again, is hum-canceling), one volume, one tone. It doesn't get any easier than that.

However, I like that J pickup in the rear and it's useful to me for bass tone shaping. And it just so happens to be that the bass I bought is one of the lowest cost ways to get a PJ.

Is it the cheapest? No, there's one cheaper, the Jackson Spectra Bass JS2. The only reason I didn't go with that one is because of the body with its short bottom horn. I'm 100% certain that would be a nonissue for everybody else, but I notice stuff like that. That Jackson would be ideal for most people. It even has active pickups in it (and yes, it has a push/pull knob that bypasses the battery, so it isn't required to run a battery if you don't want to use it).

General overview for people stuff actually care about

The Squier Affinity Precision Bass PJ is light in weight, is easy to set up, is easy to play, has all the tone shaping you'd ever want out of a bass, and most importantly...

...it's a bass when you can just pick up and start playing. The only thing you'll have to do is minor setup. And that means adjusting the saddles, maybe a light adjustment of the truss rod and that's all. There's really not much else to do, if anything.

I needed a bass in my life

A bass is one of those on-again/off-again things where I have one, then I don't, then I do, then I don't, and so on.

Right now is a time in my life where yes, I feel I needed one in my life, so I have one. I parted with the Jazzmaster to get it, and that's okay.

One last note:

If you record at home, yes it's easy to use a keyboard to play your bass parts. But if you use a looper (which I do), it might be easier to just unplug the guitar, plug in the bass, record the bass part into your loop, then go back to guitar. Or record the bass first, then guitar.

Sometimes having a bass is the easier way to get bass parts recorded.

Published 2024 Aug 29