Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI - Black Reviews

I play bass in a trio and need to cover melody lines and some simple guitar solos. I previously did this on a "regular" bass. This added a whole new dimension to our music! Thank you Squier for keeping this model, and thank you Sweetwater for getting this to me in great condition!

Yes, it's a bass, but still in its own class. This is a fun, versatile instrument with an incredible sonic range. The stock pickups, each with its own voice, and Jaguar-like switching make choosing your tone lot if fun.
I'd read all the negative stuff before I bought and I'd decided ahead to have the pros at Sweetwater do a full setup and switch it to the Labella flats. This thing is so cool! If they set one out in the showroom fitted in-house like they did mine they could sell these by the boxcar load. Their guitar shop is the best!
It's not gonna replace a P-bass, but if you've already got one of those then add this to your gear. And the whammy bar is a big plus, too.

Having played 4 String Electric Bass since 12 years of age, I never thought I'd find another Bass with 6 strings that would stand above the rest. Well, the Squire Bass VI definately ranks #1 so far. Bass players can still get those sweet and mellow low 4 string frequencies while enjoying the challenges of melodic higher scale notation. This Squire BASS can do it all.
If interested, please view my Review Video here also. I discuss many details while demoing the Squire Bass VI. Thanks to Sweetwater and to my Sales Rep!

Strings substituted over the Factory string gauge set:
(La Bella 767-6F Flatwound Bass VI Strings .026-.095)

It's literally the Jack White guitar but with no pedal to make it go down lol

Although I've been playing since the early 60s, somehow I'd never heard of the Fender Bass VI (and its offspring, like this instrument) until recently. A friend posted a video of the late Glen Campbell playing "Wichita Lineman" on TV, and he rips this wonderful solo with an incredible deep, twangy sound. Some research revealed an entire "Bass VI" subculture, and the fact that this instrument family has been hiding in plain sight for 60 years. (In fact, if you watched the Beatles "Get Back," you've seen it. When Paul plays piano, either George or John plays bass. A Fender Bass VI, which looks like a Jaguar or Jazzmaster.)

I'm so happy I found this Squier version, which is a great buy and lots of fun. It's a true bass - an octave below a guitar - but with 6 strings. It also has a scale that makes it easy to play - strings between guitar and bass in thickness, and a neck that also plays more like a guitar than bass.

The particular instrument I received is wonderful! It's easy to play, it sounds great, and it looks and feels like it was well designed and constructed. Having a gas adding some alt-country and retro-60s sounds to my latest recordings, but honestly it is also serving very well playing standard bass parts.

This bass is absolutely fantastic and incredibly versatile. It's a joy to play and you get many inspiring tones. The build quality on mine is wonderful. I would say every bit as good as the MIM Fenders I have encountered. Actually better than some. These newer Classic Vibe versions come with a Mustang-style bridge that is proving to be plenty stable. The Poplar body is a nice upgrade compared to the Basswood of the Vintage Modifieds. It sounds great through my Blackface Princeton Reverb with the strangle switch on, or without it on at lower volumes. A couple of notes you should keep in mind if you do want to purchase it.
- The stock strings are incredibly light for this bass. It can cause the rocking bridge to slip at times and not always zero out. Also, you have to be careful with how hard you hit the low E on the stock strings. The stock gauge for these on the original Fender run was .026-.095. I find that 60s gauge to be far more stable personally and it allows you to dig in more. The La Bella 767-6F strings were the single best upgrade I got for this bass.
- For what it's worth to you, mine came with 1 Meg pots and a .05 uf cap. That seems to be the preference for many, but was too bright for my taste. I put some 500k pots in and am much happier with the tone I'm getting. If you decide to change the pots to CTS, you will have to drill the holes for them on the control plate to 3/8".
- Like any offset guitar, you may need to shim the neck to get the bridge exactly where you want it. I had to put one in mine to raise my bridge and increase string break angle. It was well worth it and great for sustain and bridge stability.
After the shim and the heavier strings, I can't get this thing to go out of tune. The intonation as been great on it.
It's 5 stars in my eyes because I knew what I was getting into and am in love with the results. Joe Schafer has been a great help to me for years now and I knew I couldn't pass up on this bass after talking with him about it. Just buy it and be happy.

A great instrument right out of the box. It's an amazing value at this price point. With a few hundred dollars in upgrades (there are plenty of tutorials online about these) it's far superior to the Fender Pawn Shop and MIJ models, which most substantially more, IMO.

This is a great bass for the money, without a doubt. Fit and finish was great, and it was well set up and intonated out of the box. Two quibbles: the strings that it comes with are far too light, particularly the low strings, and one tuned slipped with a click within a week. Fender strings with a 100 gauge low are a big improvement, but the nut required a little filing to accommodate them. Would be better to get them strung up from the store, as floppy strings are no fun. I haven't given much thought to the clicking tuner. It holds, but leaves me a little worried.

This is a really awesome instrument - I've been alternating between playing it as a pick bass (favoring the neck/middle pickup through a bass amp) and as a baritone guitar (favoring the bridge pickup with strangle switch on through a PRS archon), and still can't really make up my mind on which it does better. Either way, chances are if you're eyeing this you already have an idea in mind how to use it.

If you do much reading on the Squier Bass VI online, it's evident there are a few problems out of the box. I'll outline how I addressed each.

1. Bad tuning/tremolo stability
The Bass VI has a tremolo, and it's terribly designed. This is fortunately easy to fix. At the trem plate, there is a screw you can tighten to restrict the tremolo. I've added a photo with the screw circled. Next, you will want to remove the bridge, noting that the bridge posts are a couple millimeters too small for their holes, giving them lots of wiggle room. I wrapped the bridge posts in masking tape as a temporary solution, so the posts fit snug in the holes. You could also use a sleeve bearing or similar.

2. Low E intonation
The intonation range on the bridge saddles is limited, and in fact make it impossible to intonate the low E. So while you've got the bridge out from step 1, put it back in backwards, such that the intonation screw heads face the pickups (see photo). This gives the saddles a little extra room, enough to properly set intonation later. From here, you can proceed with your usual setup routine (neck relief, action, intonation, etc).

While I was doing this, one of the stock strings broke, so I put on a replacement set. D'Addario EXL156 is what I used, and appears to be the same gauge and was a perfect fit. Some people go heavier, lighter, or make custom string sets; of course, that decision is left to personal preference.

At this point for me, it's a very playable instrument that I record with and wouldn't hesitate to bring on stage. Some next steps for improvement would probably be upgrading the bridge and nut, but I see those as nice-to-have and not totally necessary right now.

I've never owned a fender, but the quality of this squire is outstanding. Comparing this to my squire bullet mustang, the neck the frets and the finish are all great quality. Only thing to think about changing might be the tuners. Other than that I'd say you get a ready to gig n go squire.

It's cool for what it is. Got it for a decent price and the low e was unplayable. I invested in a mastery omv kit because I'd already committed to the instrument. It's cool for what it is…not a bass, not a guitar. Somewhere in between.

I'd had my eye on this bass for a while, and decided to finally buy it a few months ago. It's a beautiful guitar out of the box, but it takes a little work to make it playable. The low E string essentially flopped off the neck when playing anything lower than the third fret, and staying in tune was a constant battle. I swapped the bridge out for a Mustang bridge and put much heavier strings on it, and now it plays just as well as my old Mexican made Jazz bass. Maybe not as well as my American P Bass, but for the price difference, I wouldn't expect it to. Between the bridge swap and the new strings, I sunk about $100 into it, but realistically, you end up modding most guitars you own one way or another, and at least this time I got it done right away. I'm still trying to figure out how to effectively use it in a band setting, but it's a ton of fun to just play on your own. It's a cool guitar to have in your arsenal if you get called to play a lot of different styles of music, or if you just like the Cure and New Order.

After reading a few of the other reviews, I believe it would a good idea for Sweetwater to somehow offer a customized version of this VI. Install a different bridge with the .95 low E gauge set installed - .100 is bass gauge and this is a different thing with compromises to be considered. Shim or ensure that the neck is straight and set up for the heavier gauge strings. I'd leave the electronics alone unless it's just too trebly. I think the treble aspect is part of the character. Doing all of that for an extra $70-100? There's a sweet spot for the buyer and the seller. It could be a bit of a loss leader and drive some great word of mouth to offer a real usable trick instrument.

This instrument arrived in completely unplayable condition. Not even close to playable. The low E could not be fretted anywhere above the 3rd fret. No note would ring out; the only sound you would hear was a buzz and an odd resonance.

I'm aware of many common issues with both the Squier and Fender VI models, but a completely unplayable instrument was unexpected. Especially from Sweetwater…

Read any forum covering these instruments, and you'll find many common issues including "floppy low E." But this specimen seems to be extremely poor.

I switched the strings to Fender 250 .24 to .100 and raised the action a bit (0.5mm hex, not mentioned in the manual) and it is playable now. It's tons of fun and it sounds great in the places where it isn't buzzy. But it still needs more work (neck shim, another setup after that shim, and evaluate whether I need to go with a Mastery or Staytrem bridge) and I will be deciding whether I return this "gem" or go forward with fixes.

Squier need to do better with these, and Sweetwater should never ship an instrument to a customer in unplayable condition. I waited a long time for these to come back in stock. I'm pretty disappointed.

I don't understand why Fender has not addressed the issues with this guitar. For starters, the bridge rocks back and forth, and sometimes gets stuck forward. Some will argue this is by design, but it's not. You don't see this issue on Jaguars or Jazz Masters with the same bridge and tremolo. So you have to insert some collars to keep the bridge stable. The low E is about impossible to intonate. I had to remove the saddle spring to move it all the way back. This caused the screw to touch the string, so I had to replace with a shorter screw. After lowering the nut slot on E, and putting the saddle all the way back - it is impossible to get good intonation on the low E String. Fretted notes will be sharp, so you can't do any chords. There is an aftermarket bridge made in the UK that is wider, so there is more room to move the saddle back. But I feel that any guitar that is put out by Fender should be able to be intonated. C'mon Fender, fix this. T

Nice instrument with six strings. It's a guitar, an octave lower. It's a great idea that was introduced in the 1960's by Fender. The Squire is a budget version that is fun to play but should be better. The instrument really needs a better fitting bridge which Fender (who is also Squire) should have provided but didn't. Problems with the installed bridge involve intonation and keeping the "E" string in place. Fix to make the bass really nice is about $200. That's kind of a drag!