I’ve heard bad about the Affinity series but they look cool for my budget. I’m torn between a Sonic Bronco or the Affinity, for a first base what do you think is best?
Are there other Squier series/models in the $400cad range that are worth checking?
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Affinity is very very hit or miss.
You can also look to a used Squier Classic Vibe and get a much better bass IMO than the Affinity.
Don’t know anything about the Bronco
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unfortunately the the Classic Vibe series falls out of budget 
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There are a few used right now on reverb for $400cad, I’m sure you may find even cheaper via Facebook. So, yes they can be had in your budget.
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the ones I’m seeing on Reverb for 400cad all have $100+ shipping
I have to admit that I’m hesitant in buying second hand because I’m not sure I could identify any problem it may have since it’s my first bass
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Got it
You can also check Thomann, they have well reviewed (on Basstheworld YouTube) options.
I see Thomann offers the Squier 40th Anniversary Jazz Bass for CAD 365, which I think is a great deal. If you don’t like those, the Harley Benton Vintage Series basses are around CAD 200, and the Standard Series around CAD 150.
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Looking for deals on Fender/ Squier should not be very difficult in North America. They have surplus of inventories.
I’d go with affinity series than the broncos as they are more standardized and use traditional pickups. Upgrades is easy and cost efficient than bronco.
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I understand this feeling but with things like the Affinity you will have the same problem with new instruments.
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Is there a reason it has to be a bass from Fender? Yamaha for example make great basses for similar money. My first bass was the TRBX174 which I still have. You get more bass for your buck with Yamaha.
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I just think they look the coolest and wanted to get something I like visually
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This is actually an important factor, but @BK is right; Fender is usually among the worst bang for the buck, with Gibson/Epiphone at worst. They are coasting on name and tradition 
In terms of price/performance and quality, it’s tough to beat Ibanez or Yamaha.
I love my MIJ Fender, but I didn’t go in to it for the value.
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Yea I hear you. I shall keep pondering about this 
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there’s no denying that. Best looking bass I have is easily my Fender P Bass (the one in my profile pic).
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This is a very very good point and very very true
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@uhwhite…. I have been watching this thread for a couple days…. Some things you mention certainly here hit home to me….
First off, you appear to be a person who wants to play bass but has a limited budget - not too different from most …. “Most” of us have been there - I know I was when I first started…. Hell, my first bass was a $90 Affinity….
Second, yea, you might get screwed either buying new or used when buying an “inexpensive” instrument - but is that the end of the friggin’ world??? You do the best you can with what you have to work with……
Third, yea, Ibanez and Yamaha are great alternatives that work well and all, but if a person os looking for a Fender style bass, then that’s what they want so why convince them otherwise??
Obviously you have done your “pre” homework and already know that a Fender style is what you want - hell, I can’t blame ya - they are really cool!!
So, Affinity series bass’s…… Speaking from my own experience,…… I got one…. My first…. It’s almost 15 years old…. As I grew into playing it - over time, I have done quite a bit of upgrades to it - most involved (other than set ups), replacing tuners, pickups, bridge, strings….
All of the upgrades were done using stock parts and pieces from “newer higher quality” Fender bass’s that I acquired over time as I got better and could afford higher quality instruments…. Cool thing about Fender and Fender type clones is that parts are pretty interchangeable…. For instance, the pickups in my Affinity were the stock pickups out of my MIM P Bass that I upgraded with some Seymour Duncans…. The bridge is one that was taken from my Yamaha 504 that upgraded with a Hipshot Kickass bridge…. And the list goes on……
That old Affinity bass has seen more stage time than most of my other bass’s…. It’s my “BattleAxe” bass and has never let me down. Yea, I do play my other “more expensive” or “stage worthy” bass’s, but my old BattleAxe” Affinity is always the first bass I grab…… Yea, has had a paint job, painted pick guard, some stickers on it and all - actually kinda looks like shit…. But I don’t care - It plays well, and when I play it, it always brings me back to a place when playing bass was all about making me feel good - bringing me back down to earth and to a place of simplicity…… I ALWAYS feel good when I pick that old “inexpensive”… “cheap”…. and (what many call a piece of shit bass because it’s an Affinity) up and make music with it….
Bottom line,… buy what you……
- WANT
- CAN AFFORD
But most of all, buy something that will PLAY…. And remember,…. you can always upgrade as you grow into a more experienced bass player……
Oh, (side note)…… I learned MORE about bass’s and bass playing by building up and modifying my own bass’s…… Good Luck in your endeavor!!
Keep On Thumpin’!
Lanny
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The Classic Vibe range is the top of the Squier range, those are really cool instruments for the price. But yeah it’s more expensive than the Affinity range. The Standard range is right in the middle, maybe worth checking.
What I would do in this case would be checking for used Classic Vibes, and trying to find a friend to test the instrument, to be sure there is no problem with it before buying it.
One important point is that Fender designs (including Squier instruments obviously) are very, very, very robust. There must be exceptions, but buying a used Squier is not very risky in general. Even less than buying a used Fender, where you can sometimes have a counterfeit (it happend to me one time, and I saw another counterfeit listed last week) or a badly modified instrument.
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Agree.
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You can get a used ones I bought several under $100 and they are not bad at all usually you just need new strings and setup. If you can’t do it yourself then you can pay professional to set it up for you it would probably cost about $60-80 depending on the shop plus the strings.
Then hit the youtube when you have a minute to spare and learn how to do the setup yourself.
I’m with @Lanny I love my cheaper basses I spent a lot of time making them feel just as good as the premium ones, or closest I can get.
I also agree with @terb, @John_E and everyone who recommended the premium Squiers. They are exceptionally good right out of the box. The 40th anniversary models are especially great looking and/or great feeling instrument. I bought mine from proaudiostar when they tossed it up for clearance I paid $300 for it and it sounds just as good as my American Professional II.
This is my $75 Affinity that I put $55 EMG Geezer cream pickup from EMG outlet store on Reberb (it’s less than half price) $20 slinky strings and $15 wood pickguard a 90 cents DIY 3D printed finger ramp and its Studio ready.
Here’s the video of the 40th anniversary 10 minutes out of the box.
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As a last point here and to build on what @Lanny said, I would recommend going to a music store and trying as many basses as you can. Don’t worry about not being able to play much; hell, you can even tell the staff you don’t need to be plugged in to an amp. Just hold the instruments, fret and pluck some random notes, just generally see how the things FEEL. Find out which feel better to you than others.
You will be surprised but different basses even of similar lines can feel VERY different, and this matters. A lot. In fact, if I were to rate the importance, it would be:
#1: Feel. It is critical to how much you will like playing bass, and it is very difficult to fix if you do not like it.
#2: Looks. This is important to motivate you to pick up and play. Critical that you are happy here.
#3: Price - this is sometimes negotiable but is a factor for a lot of us.
I was going to list Tone as a distant #4, but I will go farther and claim that tone doesn’t matter at all. There’s just so many ways to change it later that it is a comple nonissue in picking a bass.
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