Offworld92

Which one do/would you prefer and why?

How do the pickups compare (noise, output)? How does the hardware compare in quality?

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Sudaka

I'll assume you refer to the mexican standard.

This is a discussion that's already been made (more than once) and you'll find people like me that will tell you that both are paired as far as quality, and therefore the VM is better (better price/quality ratio) and you'll find people that say the mim is slightly better and stuff. supposedly you can find gems and lemons in both models, yet i'm to find a Squier VM lemon. For me it's aesthetic and price difference. I also found the character of the sound of the VM better, since it's brighter....

It's really down to personal preference, but for me quality wise, they're both equall. They are somewhat different one from each other, and there's your preference to pick the one you like the most. As far as pickups, i can't really tell if the VM's pups are better than the mim's, but i liked the overall sound of the VM better.

Hope this helps something

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Offworld92

Thanks for your input.

Yeah, more just looking for opinions than straight up facts, I know as far as guitars go there's a lot of debate as to which is better between Squire VM and Fender MIM.

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dark Mass

I have both a VM and MIM instrument. Both are worlds apart in terms of quality and tone. Especially recently with the MIM getting less attention from Fender.

My MIM Jazz V needed a new bridge, refret, and electronics from the factory. I couldn't return since I bought from Japan and the return shipping would of cost me $150. So I dropped another $450 into that money pit. It plays okay but the neck so unstable during humid days that it never leaves the climate control room that it's in.

On the other hand is my VM Jaguar Special which is a great bass although the neck finish went bad on me. It was also my modding platform so I could have cheap hot rodded 4 string bass. Not many things to say about it when it was stock since the pickups were good for being non-Duncan Designed.

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Spaz91

I've had plenty of both and high end Squiers blow MIM Fenders out of the water.

With the £200 difference between the two, you can a load of nice mods (including a Fender headstock decal which is probably the only reason anyone buys MIM Standards.)

Tostitos

How about some CV love?

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Offworld92

What's CV? Is there a J bass with a maple fretboard in that line?

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HUMANIZER

This isn't 1968. Use the volume knob.

Main Rig
Ibanez | S420 |
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Peavey | 6505 | MS412 |
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dexterborg

Couldn't agree more

Spaz91

CV means classic vibe, the flagship series of Squier; the CV Jazz being the best vale passive jazz that money can buy (so long as you're okay with a rosewood board and lacquered neck.) Sadly, the only Squier Jazzes with maple necks are the Vintage Modified 70s and 77 but both are really good value.

To back up my opinions/experience:


VM Jazz

CV Precision

Fender/Squier Halfbreed

VM Precision

Highway 1 Jazz

...

Spaz91

...


MIJ 51 Reissue

MIM Fender Jazz

Squier Deluxe Active Jazz V

MIM Fender Jazz V

MIA Fender Jazz FL

MIA Fender Jazz Deluxe

/showing off

Give me the money to buy a Mexican Fender and I'll buy 2 Squiers instead.

_ThePanda_

+1 to this.

I love my Squier VM Jazz to death. I like the smooth neck of the polyuerthane (I tried to spell it..) neck.

Ziphoblat

Worth noting that in my experience, in the same sense that the CV/VM Squiers are leaps and bounds ahead of the standard affinities, the reissue MIM's are leaps and bounds ahead of the MIM standards. I used to own a killer sunburst/rosewood 70's reissue MIM. Regret selling it.

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MatrixClaw

Went and tried 8-10 different Jazz basses from the Squier VM to the Fender USA Deluxe, and IMO, the VM was fairly comparable to the MIA Standard. The MIA Jazz sounded better, sure, but it also cost 4 times as much, and it certainly wasn't worth four times as much as the VM was... With a pickup upgrade, the VM would've smoked it.

Attention to detail on the MIA Jazz was a little better, but again, nothing that would bring the cost of the bass anywhere close to $1200.

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Spaz91

I have to ask, why do people still buy Fenders? They're almost as bad as Gibson with their prices and we have Lakland, Sandberg, Bass Collection and even SX.

(I say this as someone who has spent way to much money in the past simply for that ****ing headstock decal.)

Ziphoblat

I think the AM standards from the 2008-2011 period are pretty damn good. I've owned three USA Fenders and played a hell of a lot more and I think if you get a good one then they're really great instruments. Problem is they're not all great. I wouldn't blame anyone for comparing my old 97 Precision to a CV Squier but my 2010 Jazz is worlds ahead. It should be for the money, but I'd go as far as to say it's the best bass I've ever played. It's come up against a Sadowsky and won. It truly is better than many basses even more expensive. I got really lucky to own one this good, but I guess that's where the problem is. I picked up a 2012 AM standard in the limited edition finish the other week and it was just crap. Should you you have to try before you buy in order to filter out bad eggs on such an expensive instrument? Probably not... but if you do, you can end up with a seriously good bass. I also think we can apply the whole "it costs 4x as much but isn't 4x better" thing to near enough any commercial product. It's simply the law of diminishing returns, so lets not get too carried away with that one... Fender are no worse than anyone for that.

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Sudaka

I always think of this when people compare mirange instruments with the crème of the crème. High end basses won't be 4X (or 5x or 10x) better than a midrange, or good lo range products... But it doesn't mean that no one ever should get a high end instrument, or if you have the chance you shouldn't do it.

VM's are great though, and i prefer them to CV's since the later doesn't have maple fretboard option.

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Spaz91

I see your point but there are very few gigging-level brands that you have to factor "luck of the draw" into and (don't get me wrong, Leo Fender's designs are the best) is it really worth paying so much for so little innovation? Fender's best series have been, in my opinion, the Highway One series because you got what you paid for rather than what you paid for minus-the-privilege-of-being-made-in-the-USA.

Obviously there is a Factor of what exactly you want in a bass, I would never tell someone who is happy with their Fender that it is crap or bad value for money but I would always advise against buying a Fender aside from maybe the American Special series (the replacement of the Highway One.)

I keep rambling and losing track of what I'm saying because coffee.

The best example I can think of is comparing the Mexican Fender Precision to the Sandberg Electra VS4, both are £450ish and both are made outside the EU and the USA. However, the Sandberg comes with a much chunkier bridge, a 2 band EQ (active/passive), a six bolt neck and a full set up in their German factory (Similar to the American Special which goes for twice the price.) All the Mexican Fenders offer are a wider range of colours and fretboard material, at these prices the cuts aren't going to be great anyway so the basswood/maple difference is going to be minimal.

Another example is a personal one, I'll admit these are very different basses from the start. A few years ago, I bought a second hand (mid 2000s) MIA Fender for £500 which I thought was a bargain. I was certainly content with it but at the same time it felt like I should have paid that much new. Last year I bought a Warwick Corvette $$ Ash for the same price but this time I felt lucky every time I picked it up, I was priveleged to have a bass of that quality with the wealth of features for that price. (Am I right in saying these two basses are roughly the same price these days?)

MMmmmmmore coffee.

Tostitos

I would never recommend an American Special, they have nothing on HW1s. Every one i've played has been nothing but disappointmemt.

Squier VMs and CVs are great. Some MIM Standards are better, and used they aren't a bad value. Classic and RW MIMs are even nicer and MIA Standards and Deluxes are nicer still. There's good Fenders at every probe point, and there's lots of good alternatives (I'm looking at you Lakland Skyline and boutique super Fenders). I can't fathom why there's any argument (besides coffee)

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Spaz91

No argument, just blurting out related words.