This month, while we were were sipping balloon glasses of brandy in celebration of Fender’s James Jamerson P-Bass, Dream Theater’s John Myung casually returned to 4-strings after decades of defining prog metal on a 6-string bass.

“While the 6-string is my comfort zone, I missed the physical freedom and generous string spacing of the 4-string bass,” said Myung of his latest signature collaboration with Ernie Ball Music Man, and who are we to judge?

For this month’s roundup we also heard from Rickenbacker’s Brendan Duff on the release of the company’s 3030 semi-acoustic bass, which combines the body of the iconic Rickenbacker 330 guitar and a bass guitar neck. Yes, it looks nuts – so what? We like crazy-looking gear.

According to Duff, “The control layout is the same as the 330/360 Rickenbacker models, with a single mono output, three way selector switch, two tone, two volume and a blend knob that acts as a secondary volume for the neck pickup.”

Now available in limited supplies on the company’s Boutique site, so order three today, plus one to keep in a lead-lined vault.

From vintage-inspired signature basses and artist-approved short-scale strings to cutting-edge firmware, here's our pick of the best bass gear from June 2026.

Fender James Jamerson 1962 Precision Bass

What can we say about James Jamerson that you don’t know already? As part of Motown’s house band, Jamerson played bass on more number-one pop hits than Elvis Presley and The Beatles combined.

Arguably the most accomplished bass player ever to stalk the earth, Jamerson made his bones with a ’62 P-Bass dubbed “The Funk Machine,” which has now been faithfully reproduced by Fender, complete with a nitrocellulose lacquer sunburst finish, and that all-important single-pickup.

Other appointments include a chrome Pure Vintage four-saddle bridge with threaded steel saddles and a chrome cover, knurled flat-top controls, and reverse open-gear tuners.

In keeping with Jamerson’s preferences, each bass comes with La Bella Flatwound strings. Quite right too.

Squier Paranormal Precision Bass Thinline SJ

Reliable, versatile and great-looking. But that’s enough about our editor-in-chief… Squier’s bass guitar range fills a gap in the market in which a reasonable amount of money meets a respectable amount of quality, and they fill it well.

The Squier Paranormal Precision Bass Thinline SJ is the latest bass addition to Fender’s 75th Anniversary collection. As you might expect, this new model reimagines the iconic Precision Bass outline through a semi-hollow “Thinline” construction and a distinctive SJ-style body design.

It’s equipped with a carefully voiced pickup configuration that comprises an alnico single-coil '51 P-Bass pickup in the neck position and an alnico single-coil Jazz Bass pickup at the bridge.

Other player-friendly features include a 4-saddle vintage-style bridge with slotted barrel saddles, a satin urethane neck finish, and vintage-style open-gear tuners. It's available in Olive, Vintage White and 3-Color Sunburst.

Darkglass Anagram KosmOS 1.16

The latest firmware update for the Darkglass Anagram is one of the platform's biggest updates to date. The standout addition is a completely overhauled Scene Manager. While previous firmware limited users to three scenes per preset, KosmOS 1.16 increases that figure to an impressive 126 scenes.

Darkglass also added two new amplifier models. Peggy Classic delivers the warm, rounded response associated with one of the most revered bass amp designs ever produced, while Peggy Fliptop captures the unmistakable character of a vintage flip-top combo.

For users embracing Neural Amp Modeler technology, KosmOS 1.16 introduces full support for NAM Architecture 2 (A2).

Another welcome addition is a combined HPF/LPF block, merging high-pass and low-pass filtering into a single processor and freeing up additional space within the signal chain for effects or routing options.

Ernie Ball Music Man John Myung Bongo 4

While John Myung has been quietly pushing the barriers of 6-string bass playing for decades with his band Dream Theater, his latest signature model stems from a renewed appreciation for the traditional 4-string.

Available in JM Purple or JM Green, with Stealth pickup covers, the John Myung 4 sees a return to the normal string spacing of the original Bongo design.

“While the 6-string is my comfort zone, I missed the physical freedom and generous string spacing of the 4-string bass,” said Myung. “Each song needs to be played on what it was written for to capture its original soul. Returning to a 4-string during our 40th Anniversary Tour for the Images & Words tracks completely restored the musical conviction of those songs live.”

A notable change from the traditional Bongo is the streamlined control layout. Myung instead opted for a simplified setup featuring a volume control that doubles as an on/off kill switch alongside a five-way rotary pickup blend selector.

If that's not enough to grab your attention, the roasted maple neck has been paired with a hybrid rosewood and roasted maple fingerboard that Music Man refers to as a “Golden Ratio” design.

EMG NS-Wav Retro Fit

If Han Solo played bass in Star Wars, the NS Design Wav4 upright bass would be the one he’d choose. It's the bass you want stored in the Millennium Falcon in case of ‘imperial entanglements’.

The good news is that EMG has introduced a new drop-in system specifically for the Wav bass that’s designed to give you more control beyond the standard volume, tone, and arco/pizzicato controls.

It features a 20megOhm input impedance for each Piezo pickup for more low-end, and changes the Arco/Pizz switch to a blend control.

Along with master volume, there's also a variable low pass filter that maintains low frequency gain while cutting the high frequency response at 12dB per octave. The system runs on 18 Volts, so there’s plenty of headroom. It comes complete with a new backplate, battery holders, and takes minutes to install.

Rickenbacker 3030

If you’ve got a couple of grand to spare, you could do worse than investing in one of these splendid Rickenbacker basses. Combining the body of a 330 guitar and a bass guitar neck, the 3030 has a scale length that’s 9 1/4 inches shorter than a standard long-scale and 5 1/4 inches shorter than a typical short-scale.

It’s built with a maple body, a maple/walnut neck, and rosewood fingerboard in Jetglo, Mapleglo, and Fireglo finishes. A Walnut version features a walnut body and maple fingerboard. Both are fitted with a pair of Hot Toaster pickups.

“The control layout is the same as the 330/360 models,” said Rickenbacker’s Brendan Duff. “A single mono output, three way selector switch, two tone, two volume and a blend knob that acts as a secondary volume for the neck pickup.”

Other features include the “R” tailpiece, a four-saddle bridge, mono output, and Schaller M4 tuners.

Available in limited supplies on the company’s Boutique site, and expected to be offered in small batches from time to time. Most of the rest of us will never get to own one, but hey, a bassist can dream, right?

Trickfish Amplification L212

Trickfish Amplification has expanded its acclaimed L Series lineup with the introduction of the L212, a lightweight bass cabinet designed for players seeking the punch and warmth of dual 12-inch speakers in a compact enclosure.

Rated at 800 watts AES and weighing just 45 pounds (20.4 kg), the L212 features two Lavoce neodymium 12-inch drivers in a unique diagonal configuration, with the same compact footprint as the company’s L410.

“Players who want the warmth of 12-inch drivers at full gigging volume now have a single cabinet that gets them there,” said Trickfish president Ryan Owens. “The diagonal driver placement supports better stage coverage without changing the cabinet's footprint, so you get more coverage without giving anything up.”

D'Addario Backline Bass Case

Ever since there have been expensive bass guitars to love, cherish and obey, a range of protective bags and cases has grown up around them. This new gig bag from D’Addario’s Backline series has a water-resistant exterior, reinforced zippers, and an assortment of straps, handles and pockets.

There’s plenty of “shock-absorbing” padding too, and room to carry all of your gig essentials thanks to a detachable Breakaway Bag with Auto Lock mechanisms for storing your accessories.

La Bella Ian Martin Allison Signature Short-Scale Bass Strings

La Bella has been a big player in the bass strings game for quite some time – the original Deep Talkin’ range took the bass world by storm back in the late ‘50s. More recently, the company has widened its focus to include a signature set for bassist Ian Martin Allison, which is now available as a short-scale set.

Made with a hex core and polished stainless steel roundwound wrap, the new scale option has the same feel and custom gauges as the original set (.045, .063, .083, and .103) with the five-string adding a .125 B-string.

Z.Vex DB-1

If you like your pedals to be hand-built by people who love their work, it's worth taking a look at the wacky world of Z.Vex Effects, which now plays host to the DB-1. The DB-1 continues the company’s tradition of mutating classic designs into modern versions with a twist.

It functions as an ultra-high impedance analog signal meter that monitors signal activity on your pedalboard. It can be used anywhere in your signal chain without fear of affecting your tone. It also works in both directions.

We love the retro VU meter, which scales up to a maximum level of eleven in homage to the great Nigel Tufnel.

Critics are often quick to point out the note-heavy, often self-indulgent nature of Dream Theater's music. Those 13-minute, three-part songs just aren't cool to some people, you know? Yet if there's one grounded element to the group’s sound, it's the bass playing of John Myung.

Amid blazing guitar solos and drum pyrotechnics, Myung rarely flashes his Berklee-honed shops. Instead, he's usually holding things together with rock-solid, sequencer-like ostinatos, or huge B-string pedal tones.

The band's sixteenth full-length album, Parasomnia, saw the return of original drummer Mike Portnoy, who co-founded Dream Theater alongside Myung and guitarist John Petrucci at Boston’s Berklee College Of Music in 1985, before leaving in 2010.

As the bass player, Myung obviously had a key stake in the decision on who should replace longtime drummer Mike Mangini.

Asked how the vibe is different in the rhythm section now that he's playing with a different Mike, Myung told Bass Player: “Getting a different drummer actually affects everybody in Dream Theater, because we all play off the timekeeper in the band, but having Mike back just felt right. There were so many magical moments where everything came together. We’re like family.”

How do you write your basslines?

“A lot of times, if there are a lot of rhythms and structures, my part will be heavily dictated towards supporting the chords and playing the root. The first step of writing a bassline for a technical song is just picking the notes and being on top of what's going on. Once we're in the studio, I have the time to sit back.”

So a lot of your basslines are finished in the studio rather than in rehearsal?

“Yes. When you're in a fast-paced writing environment, it's more important to get the structure together and figure out where it's going. In the studio, you have the time to experiment and sketch out a more creative part.”

When does technical songwriting become overly technical?

“Every album challenges the thresholds of technicality. I think the problem with making really technical music within a rock sense is that you lose some of the power. Our past couple of records were super-technical, but with Parasomnia, we've been a lot more conscious of that.”

How do you avoid the temptation to overplay?

“Some of my favourite basslines are the most solid, functional ones. I don't mean to say you need to limit yourself, but when it comes to building a song, I think your job as a bass player is to find the perfect supportive line.”

When do you choose to stamp your presence on a track with a more creative bassline, and when do you hang back and play a simple part?

“There's not a protocol; it's more of a reactive process. If something's going on that's really interesting, when I hear it I'll suggest, ‘What about playing it with this feel?’ Everyone puts out their ideas and then we work on whatever sounds best.”

Does your bass playing ever fall into a rut?

“Whenever that happens I try to change the way I look at the instrument. Normally you take a scale or chord and learn it, and that's great – but it's also important to spend time applying it in a musical way. I've found that once you find a new way to look at something, that's when ideas start coming to you.”

Who were your influences on bass?

“For me, it was Steve Harris, Geddy Lee and Chris Squire. I liked the spirit of Steve Harris’ sound, and the way the Iron Maiden songs were built off his basslines. I started getting into them at the Piece of Mind stage.”

You had some input into the development of the Music Man Bongo 6-string.

“We went through a few variations. One big improvement was adopting a larger 6-string body style with a 5-string-size neck. The bigger body lends itself to better sound; a thick, heavy body just has a special tone.”

Would you ever revert back to a 4-string?

“I'm actually thinking about it for the next record. There's a certain freedom that you feel when you go back to a 4-string. Having the discipline to be able to play a 6-string bass is great. It’s definitely forced me to develop a certain technique and a way of playing that I enjoy, but now I feel like it might be time to apply that knowledge to a 4-string bass, and just have some fun with it.”

How does it feel to have Mike Portnoy back in the band?

“In a lot of ways it still feels just like it did when we first hit it off at Berkelee. We'd always book out room E19, which is where we’d practice Monday through Friday. We’d be there every night, six until midnight. A lot of those songs we were working on became the songs on Images and Words.”

What do you remember about that album?

“I remember the expectations were low! It wasn't like we had a massive push behind it. There was a song called Pull Me Under, and whenever that song got played on the radio the phone lines would just light up. Everyone wanted to know about this new band.

“That’s when the label booked us to make a music video in Chicago. Once MTV started showing that video, everything changed. The power of MTV really put us on the map.”

• Parasomnia is out now via Inside Out.

Once considered a novelty, but now fully integrated into the bass guitar family, the six-string bass is a fact of modern bass life. Whereas the five-string is looked upon as a regular bass with an added low B, strangely most of us consider the six-string to be cast from an entirely different mould – probably down to losing all points of reference on the neck with the regular strings being in the thick of it all.

“It’s like having a car with a larger engine,” Anthony Jackson told Bass Player. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to go faster all the time, but high speeds are less of a strain. If Leo Fender could come back today I think he would approve.”

Another prominent six-string bass proponent is John Myung of Dream Theater. “It just made sense for me to venture into the world of six-string basses. The extra strings lend themselves to a more creative, chordal type of playing – the harmonics in Lifting Shadows Off a Dream were inspired by the six-string bass.

“It was strange at first, but once I got warmed up, it wasn’t so foreign anymore.”

Some might well argue that four strings is all you need, but those people clearly haven't experienced the sheer joy of being able to hit those extra notes. “I guess there’s a place for it,” said Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan. “But not in what I do. Four strings is gonna keep me busy for the rest of my life!”

One thing's for certain: those who successfully make the transition rarely revert back to the four-string security blanket.

“I feel like the six-string bass lends itself to a little more facility,” Thundercat told Bass Player. “It also brings a different character to my bass playing. Sometimes it’s about knowing how to change gears, so to speak, but it all stems from the same place.”

With all that in mind, Bass Player presents the 10 six-string bassists you need to know.

1. Anthony Jackson

Anthony Jackson is one of the most important bassists in history, with an uncompromising vision of the electric bass as a member of the guitar family with the tone of a piano’s bass strings – Jackson invented the 6-string contrabass guitar in the early ’70s, launching a wave of extended-range basses.

2. Jimmy Haslip

We’re so used to thinking of our fingers moving towards the floor when we play an ascending bass part that it comes as something of a shock to see Jimmy Haslip in action.

The former Yellowjackets bassist is a lefty who plays a left-handed six-string bass guitar with the strings reversed – his low B string is where the high C is normally located and vice-versa.

Add to this his phenomenal ability when it comes to fast soloing, and your brain soon ends up tied in knots.

3. Thundercat

Thanks to his soulful falsetto, distinctive bass sound, and stellar work with artists from Suicidal Tendences to Erykah Badu, Thundercat’s appeal has grown far beyond the circle of bass nuts who worship his dazzling chops.

He delivers his phenomenally deft bass style on his signature six-string bass, the famous hollow-bodied Ibanez TCB1006. The controls include master volume, tone, piezo volume, volume for the MIDI system, a 3-way Les Paul-style switch, and a dark/mids switch.

“At first, I didn’t know what it meant to have a hollowbody bass of this caliber,” he told BP. “I remember the custom shop saying to me, ‘What in the world are you asking?!’”

4. Felix Pastorius

Felix Pastorius was born, along with his twin brother Julius, in 1982, five years before the premature death of his father Jaco. A superb bassist himself, he has a long list of recording and performance credits behind him, including a stint in the Yellowjackets from 2012 to 2015.

“My main bass for most of my gigs over the years has been a Fodera Emperor 2 six-string – 33" scale, rosewood fingerboard, box elder burl top,” he told us. “I put in Aguilar DCB ceramic bar pickups – I love those.”

5. Oteil Burbridge

Throw any genre at Oteil Burbridge and he’ll throw back a brilliant bassline. He was with the Allman Brothers Band for 17 years and got the call in 2015 to join three members of the Grateful Dead and John Mayer in a new incarnation of the band called Dead & Company.

“It’s all about personal preference,” he says. “The four-string is the most traditional, but the six is the most fun!”

6. John Patitucci

Since emerging on the studio scene in the 1980s, John Patitucci has forged a formidable reputation as a modern master of both the electric and acoustic bass.

Aside from a blossoming career as a sideman, his time spent with Wayne Shorter, and Chick Corea’s Elektric and Akoustic bands gave him the perfect platform to launch a successful solo career, in which he swaps effortlessly between double bass and his signature Yamaha six-string.

7. John Myung

Dream Theater’s John Myung specialises in high-speed playing of terrifying complexity. This is just as well, because the rest of his band are equally adept on their instruments, resulting in a barrage of melodic, metallic harmony that has redefined heavy music since the ‘90s.

“For anyone who wants to play a six-string bass, consider the middle four strings as a four-string bass. That’s how I thought of it: it wasn’t like I didn’t have a four-string bass any more. It’s just that the extra range was there if I needed it.

“Once your imagination kicks in, then your creativity finds a way to use the extra strings. My signature six-string bass was an amazing thing to happen in my life.”

8. Henrik Linder

Henrik Linder was a student at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm when Dirty Loops began as a chops-heavy cover band, and then became an online sensation. He delivers his virtuoso slap, pluck and chordal style on a Mattisson HL-6 six-string bass.

“I'm known for all these extended-range high-end basses, but I love the sound of a Jazz Bass – when other people play them!” he told BP. “Whenever I pick one up I feel a little awkward, just because I can't play how I want to. They're awesome instruments in the right hands, just not these hands.”

9. Jared Smith

Playing bass in Canadian death metal band Archspire is no easy task, as we know because we asked their bassist Jared Smith about it. With spark-igniting technical brilliance, he’s catching the attention of modern extreme metal fans everywhere.

“Something that feels like a slower part might be crazy fast when you hear the finished mix, but we love pushing boundaries, and playing as many notes as we possibly can. We’re all in the same spot grinding it out, until the song’s done.”

Smith’s current setup is a multi-scale six-string Z3 made by Dingwall Guitars.

10. Squarepusher

Squarepusher (aka Tom Jenkinson) is an artist in a vast left-field league of his own. He regularly tops festival bills with his mesmerising one-man show, with a pair of laptops, his Music Man, and Zoot custom 6-string basses, and an array of effects racks – even controlling the digital video projections behind him.

Red Hot Chili Pepper, Flea, gave Jenkinson this glowing endorsement: “He’s the best electric bass player on the earth – he is pushing the instrument the farthest.”

John Myung has been quietly pushing forward the barriers of progressive bass playing for decades with his band Dream Theater, firing off fusillades of notes in perfect unison and counterpoint with his equally dexterous bandmates, and leaving the rest of us open-mouthed in awe in doing so.

Possibly the most technically gifted bassist in the world today, with the arguable exception of Mr Wooten, Dream Theater's founding member specialises in high-speed playing of terrifying complexity, resulting in a barrage of melodic, metallic harmony that has redefined heavy music since the '90s.

Like many a genius, Myung is a quiet, instrospective individual, allowing his bass playing to do the talking, which is a refreshing change in the opinionated world of bass guitar, believe us.

If there's one thing that has come to define him, it's a dedication to craft – and his continuing evolution as a player remains a testament to that fact.

“The key is to identify where you want to go musically, and embrace cool musical values from the past,” Myung told Bass Player. “Understanding the feeling and musicality of Bach's cello pieces, for example, can be great building blocks for future compositions. He was one of the only guys who really understood the range of the bass. All his cello pieces are right in the 5-string bass range.”

“I have a whole collection of Bach stuff and interpretations; it takes six to eight months to get one of the heavier ones together, and that's going at it every day. For me, as a player, there's no lack of things to do. There's only a lack of time.”

Our interview from the Bass Player archives took place in February 2013, following the departure of drummer and founding member Mike Portnoy, and the release of A Dramatic Turn of Events, recorded with drummer Mike Mangini.

Have you changed your approach to better fit Mike Mangini's drumming?

“No, not really. I've just gotten adjusted to his energy. The most important thing about Mike is that everything he does is musical, and he gels really well with the band – that's the key component.”

How do you put together your bass parts in the studio?

“It's sort of like when you're building a big puzzle – you know the piece is in there somewhere, but you need to dig through all the different pieces until you find something that might fit. There's always a moment of wondering.

“Sometimes, it's just a normal sequence of events that builds structure, and other times, it's something that charges the song, like a vibe or feeling – and that conversion of emotion into the song is what makes it what it is. It's great when it works out and takes the song to a new level.”

In This Is the Life, you do a tasty fill at 1:30 in direct response to James LaBrie's vocal melody. Was that improvised or orchestrated?

“I heard that motif as I was recording. There are moments during the overdubbing – or during the actual tracking – that the parts actually develop. That was a moment that developed as I was tracking, not as we were writing.”

Your tone on A Dramatic Turn of Events has a very grinding yet natural sound.

“A lot of that has to do with the valve preamp I was using. James Demeter came across enough parts to build a valve pre that he once made a long time ago. It's the VTMP-2B, the same one Quincy Jones used to record Michael Jackson's Thriller album. It's like the ultimate DI – I love the way it resonated and warmed up the tones, so I tapped into that. It made a big difference.”

You also had some input into the development of the Music Man Bongo 6-string that you're now playing. What impact did that have?

“We went through a few variations. One big improvement was adopting a larger 6-string body style with a 5-string-size neck. The bigger body lends itself to better sound; a thick, heavy body just has a special tone.”

I hear distortion, too.

“I had four tracks in total. One was a Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier going through a 4x12 cab for guitar-like overtones. Then I had two other Demeter 2x12 bass cabinets with 8" crossover speaker configurations that were capturing different mic flavors, including a Mojave MA-201fet bass drum mic. There was plenty to work with. But you can always hear the true sound of the bass guitar.”

What's the trick to remembering a song with multiple time changes?

“If I play something enough, I eventually get ownership of the song through physical memory. I tend not to count things much – that's distracting for me.

“There could be something that's felt in triplets, but I'm not really enunciating the triplets; I may just be playing even fours, rather than counting it as groups of three. Or, if there's a 7/8 rhythm and an 8/8 rhythm for a total of 15 beats, sometimes it doesn't matter to me if I count the 7/8 first or the 8/8 first.”

Who inspired your use of Moog Taurus pedals?

“Whenever I would see Rush or Yes live and the bass pedals would kick in, I always loved their power, the impact, and the energy. There's nothing like being able to have that sort of harmony going on in the low-end range.”

“I used them in the chorus of Breaking Illusions, the ending of Outcry, and in the intro and chorus of On the Backs of Angels. It adds an awesome dimension.”

What inspired you to begin playing 6-string bass in the early '90s?

“I recorded the Images and Words album with a Spector 4-string, and after the album was done and we were about to go on tour, several companies approached me about using their instruments. So I started checking out 6-string stuff and really taking to it.

“It made sense for me to venture into that world; it gave me more options. The two extra strings lend themselves to a more creative, chordal type of playing. It was strange at first, but once I got warmed up, it wasn't so foreign anymore.”

“We went straight into writing Awake, and a couple of songs stem from that instrument – the harmonics in Lifting Shadows Off a Dream were inspired by the 6-string. That album represents the transition from 4-string to 6.”

What's your practice regimen like these days?

“I'm working with small trill movements using three right-hand fingers and all four fingers on the left. I have a set pattern in one position, and then I just move it up a half-step each time I do the routine. It usually takes an hour and a half to go fully up the neck.

“That's pretty much what I've been doing for the last couple of years. A consistent, gentle trill movement over a period of time seems to really lock my hands into place and gets me into a frame of mind where I can direct my hands a little more rather than having to ask them. They listen better.”

Recently I found myself with headphones on, engrossed in Dream Theater’s new album, A View From the Top of the World, and I’m open-mouthed in amazement at the ever-impressive technical ability of their bass behemoth, John Myung. 

I had the pleasure of interviewing him in person many moons ago, but in today’s pandemic world, meeting him this time is all about Zoom. I prepare myself for the inevitable cringe as I open my laptop. Video calls are not for the faint-hearted, I find. I hear a softly-spoken greeting as ‘John M’ enters the room. He says, “Hey Ellen! I remember you. Wembley, right?”

We take a moment to reconnect. It’s very early on his side of the world, so he’s keeping his laptop camera off, but I know it’s him because I can hear him noodling away on some recognizable Dream Theater-alike riffs on his signature Ernie Ball Bongo six-string. We get straight into his new album, which – prog-metal fans will be happy to learn – is distinctively Dream Theater, with blistering solos and opus-length tracks. I wonder what the writing process is like for a band of such virtuoso players.

“Each song has a different story to how it started,” explains Myung. “Usually someone will have the seed of an idea, and from there it will either flow or not. It’s weird: when the right idea comes along it kinda tells everyone what to do, and a song just unfolds naturally. We all put our heads together, and when the song is done it’s done.” 

Okay, so how does he come up with the right bassline for a particular track? “Well, if it’s something really complicated, I’ll record it. When we’re writing I have a laptop with Cubase running, which means that I have my own little workstation set up in line with the studio – so if someone has a song part and it’s a little bit involved, I can record it. 

“It’s usually a fast, complicated unison part on guitar and keyboards that I join in with, so I’ll record it, take a break and write it out. For that, I have an iPad with a really cool app called ForScore, which is a great way to take notes. It’s really been a godsend. 

“Sometimes, though, if I feel a line is too complicated, I’ll try to simplify the line and play more groove-oriented notes against what’s going on. We might be in the middle of writing something, and I’ll feel really inspired to play a part, and we’re like, ‘Hey, let’s use that.’ I like that spur-of-the-moment creativity, where you’re in a certain headspace and you play something and it gets a positive reaction from the other musicians. It’s a really cool group effort.” 

He reveals that he doesn’t use formal notation at these moments: “The notes that I take aren’t really written on graph paper and stuff, because I can’t really use that. If you saw my notes, it wouldn’t make sense. They’re just sort of letters, but it makes sense to me. It’s enough to tell me what it is I have to play. If I have to see the notes from a distance, it’s a lot easier to see block letters rather than dots that are just sitting on staff paper.” 

Myung has been an avid Ernie Ball player for some years – I wonder if he still has his old Music Man, and the Spector bass guitars that he used on DT’s first two albums. 

“No, I sold those basses a long time ago,” he says. I’m not really connected to things I’m not using any more, so over the years I’ve gotten rid of basses. In the past year I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with all my prototypes. I’m actually playing a real factory version of the signature Bongo bass that went into production last year, so this would be the one-year anniversary of the launch of that bass.” 

The Myung signature Bongo six is a black beauty, with an unusual rosewood and roasted maple fretboard. Asked about this feature, he explains: “The two-tone fretboard is a cool way to differentiate the bass. It’s based on the Golden Ratio, from the world of geometry. It’s a really common ratio, especially in musical instruments. 

“We didn’t know if it would work with my bass, but it actually worked out really well because the D string on the bass aligns right over the line where it splits between the two different wood tones. Sonically, it’s cool in a real subtle way: the top end has a real brightness that you get from maple, and down low you have the warmer EQ response you get from rosewood. You have this cool EQ going on because of the combined rosewood and maple.” 

And the electronics? “Over the years I’ve used combinations of humbuckers and single coils, and I found that out of all those combinations, dual humbuckers give you five different, distinct sounds. There’s a five-way switch on my bass, where those sounds are pre-programmed depending on the polarity of the pickups. It was a real simple way to take the guesswork out of getting the right sound.” 

He adds: “What’s really important to me as a player is that I need a bass that makes me want to play. It’s a psychological thing: the bass has to inspire me. I wake up in the morning and I look forward to playing my bass – it’s a personal thing. We’re launching a new color this year, along with a really cool silver.”

Of course, Myung has plenty of inspiration on the floor, too: Ashdown recently launched his signature overdrive pedal, the Double Drive.

“It’s great for distortion – it has drive one and drive two,” he enthuses. “I found that drive one is really good for bass harmonics, and drive two is really cool for giving it that little bit of extra presence without getting in the way. Sometimes distortion pedals sound great when you’re playing them, but when you’re not they can cause feedback and noise. This one doesn’t do that, so I’m excited to check it out and see what it does live.” 

And there’s more, he reveals. “I’m also working on a signature combo with Ashdown. It’s something I can bring on tour with me that works really well in terms of having all the outputs and inputs that you need to make it really user-friendly up on stage.

“It’s based on a 15” speaker, because I’ve found that for my playing style, there’s something about that size of speaker that naturally speaks to my playing and EQs things in a way that I really like. That’s another cool thing that’s in the works.” 

What’s Myung’s practice regime, we ask? “Well, right now I’m just stressing out over a two-hour set of material that I have to have on playing form, as we’re back out on tour. Some of it is from the new record, and some of it is songs that I haven’t played in 10 years or more, so right now I’m busy trying to memorize as many notes as possible. 

“It’s cool to focus on something that gets your hands strong and keeps you in shape. That could be anything – it could be as simple as playing scales. What I usually play as a warm-up is not very musical: It’s a series of trills, incorporating my fingers in every combination possible and focusing on dexterity. My hands aren’t really in shape until we start touring: Before that, I’m just trying to memorize everything.” 

My final question for the maestro is... does he ever make mistakes? “Of course I do! I just hope nobody notices them. Hopefully I don’t make too many!”

• A View From The Top Of The World is out now on Inside Out.

Why take two distortion pedals out when you can take one? That’s the logic behind the signature overdrive of Dream Theater’s bassist extraordinaire and Ashdown bass amp user John Myung.

Ashdown produced its Double Drive pedal after consultation with Myung and his bass tech Maddi Schieferstein, the idea being to create a pedal that would sit well tonally with his signature Ernie Ball six-string Bongo. Myung is quoted as saying: “Drive 1 is great at harmonic distortion, and Drive 2 offers a great tweak in bass presence, being able to bring it out without getting in the way of itself.”

In other words, the first option adds and boosts overtones, while the second boosts high-mid and top frequencies.

Remove the JMDD from its packaging and its solidity is impressive, with the external case built using 1.6mm Zintec – or zinc-coated steel – with a 0.9mm alloy overpanel. It’s heavy, but not problematically so, with your attention drawn immediately to the twin volume-unit meters, one per drive. Connect the unit with the two supplied six-foot cables (a first in our experience), and you’re off, with the VU meters yellow when inactive and bluish-white when in use.

Select a drive, or both at the same time if you wish, and the VU meter/s will show you how high your input volume is, allowing you to back off a bit if you’re in the red and thus risking clipping – unless, of course, that sound is what you want. However, such is the degree of available distortion that you’re unlikely to need excess volume going in.

We tested Drive 1 with the Gain control on half and the Loud knob maxed, and we were rewarded with a cutting distortion with massive sustain. Roll on the Tone control if you need some extra clank, and indeed you might well require some of that, because the pedal retains all the bottom end you could ever need. 

Take the Loud control down and some satisfyingly obnoxious mids emerge, which will be just the thing if you need to cut through heavy guitar tones.

Drive 2 is modulated by two suitably titled Grit and Burn controls which add more of an edge or sharpness to the drive, itself a classic doomy distortion. The two can be combined for a whole range of overdrive tones, using all five controls freely – unlike cheaper effects units, the knobs operate across their entire turn, with no sudden surges to irritate you and your neighbors.

The Double Drive also functions as an effects unit or DI – it has an XLR out and a Ground Lift switch, making it useful on stage or in the studio. Given all this, we’re impressed with its build, tones, and price point. 

Specs

• PRICE: $599 / £299
• MADE IN: China
• FEATURES: Drive 1 with Gain, Loud and Tone controls, Drive 2 with Grit and Burn controls, 2 x VU meters, Ground Life switch, XLR out
• WEIGHT: 2.6lbs
• DIMENSIONS: H, W, D: 2.4” x 7” x 4.7”
• POWER: 9V power supply, supplied; 2 x instrument cables and an XLR cable also supplied
• CONTACT: Ashdown Engineering

Just last year, John Myung teamed up with Ernie Ball to unveil a signature bass guitar, the spec'd-to-the-hills Bongo 6. Now, the Dream Theater low-end ranger has himself his first signature pedal, the John Myung Double Drive.

A collaboration between Myung and Ashdown Engineering, the Double Drive features two individual distortions that can be stacked for intense levels of gain.

The first, more subtle drive features Gain, Loud and Tone controls, while the second, more vintage-style distortion produces, according to Ashdown, "warm growls to face-melting overdrive," and can be tweaked via Grit and Burn knobs.

Two VU meters at the top of the pedal register its input and output signals, while a transformer isolated DI for use with front of house or DAW interfaces is located at the rear. The pedal also comes fitted with a ground lift switch.

"I absolutely love the pedal," Myung said of his signature Double Drive. "I have been using it in a DAW setting and I think it’s going to translate well in a live show setting as well, it’s always great to have an option like this." 

"Drive 1 is great at harmonic distortion," he continued. "Drive 2 offers a great tweak in bass presence – being able to bring it out without getting in the way of itself."

The Ashdown John Myung Double Drive pedal comes with a pair of 6 foot instrument cables, one XLR-XLR cable and a 9V power supply included, and is available for preorder now for £299 (~$410). The pedal will begin shipping in January 2022.

For more info on the pedal, head on over to Ashdown.

Progressive metallers Dream Theater, now 31 years into their career, have recently released their ninth live album – an impressive statistic, given how hard it is these days to get a single studio release out, let alone a live one. 

Distant Memories – Live In London was recorded last year at the quintet’s sold-out live show at the Apollo Theater in London, UK, when the band were touring their latest studio album Distance Over Time and celebrating the 20th anniversary of their concept album Metropolis Part 2 – Scenes From A Memory. 

The live sound is punchy and clear on the album, a fact that bassist John Myung attributes to taking the right staff along  with them. 

“Our main engineer, James ‘Jimmy T’ Meslin, did a great job of overseeing everything,” he says. “He came out with us as a monitoring engineer, so to have him there every step of the way, from the way everything sounded on stage to the way it was actually mixed, was an amazing asset. 

“Monitoring engineers work with musicians in a very close relationship, and there’s a certain dynamic there where you can get to know each other, which really translates well to the actual recording aspect.”

He adds: “There’s a trust there, because a lot of the time the front-of-house engineer at a show may be someone that you don’t have a whole lot of history with. 

“They don’t have the time to do the homework and listen to your material, whereas a monitoring engineer who has toured with a band for 18 months, as Jimmy did, has done the homework that is necessary to really know the material. 

“You can reference the tiniest sections and he’ll be right with you, because he knows exactly what you’re talking about.”

Do Myung’s bass parts differ live from the original studio tracks, we ask? “It’s definitely not as perfect,” he agrees. “There are certain elements of a live recording that are really cool, that you can’t get in the studio, just because of the overall live interpretation.

“The bass parts that you hear on an album come from me sitting comfortably in a chair, tracking with headphones on, but on a live record they’re completely different because it’s feeding off the overall performance of the band. Those extra nuances get captured on a live album, and they’re what make it special. There’s a breadth, and more space.”

A keen user of Ernie Ball basses and Ashdown amplification, Myung has plenty of tips for us about gear – but first, he talks about the mental attitude required to do the job of holding down the low end.

Perseverance pays off

“This advice applies to whatever job you do, whether you’re an astronaut, or a surgeon, or a musician. The key element is persistence. You can have the greatest ideas, and the greatest intentions, but there are days when you may not put the time in – as well as other days when you’re all about putting the time in. Even that out, and focus on getting into a daily habit of putting in the time. I think it’s the most important thing.”

Never stop learning

“Everything is a possible teacher. Every song, every album, every musician – and any person or any body of work – is a potential teacher. It’s just a matter of whether or not you’re open enough to see it that way. I’m a firm believer that if a person has the time, they can learn anything. 

“Learning isn’t an intangible, expensive place to be – it doesn’t cost anything to teach anything to anybody. It’s more or less just about having enough time to sit down and see what it is that you’re doing, and to do that in a persistent way. That’s the real challenge.”

Equip yourself correctly

“Gear is really important, because ultimately, it’s the tool that you use. There are tools that are helpful, and some that are not, and having the best tools really does make a great difference, whether you’re a musician or a carpenter or whatever.

”It all takes a bit of thought – the make and model of bass that you want to play, and the type of amps that you want to use, and how it all works for you as an individual.”

Don’t fear the B and the C

“For anyone who wants to play a six-string bass, it’s real easy. Consider the middle four strings as a four-string bass, and play it that way. You don’t have to use the first or sixth strings. That’s how I thought of it: it wasn’t like I didn’t have a four-string bass any more, because I still had it. It’s just that the extra range was there if you needed it. Once your imagination kicks in, then your creativity will find a way to use the extra strings.”

Don’t settle for ‘good enough’

“My signature Ernie Ball Bongo six-string bass was a really amazing thing to happen in my life; it’s a great tool to have available, not just for me but for whoever else has an interest. 

“The six-string bass is continually evolving, and it’s definitely more tricky to build than a four-string because it’s a balancing act with the string spacing and getting the overall feel of it right. The bass I have now has been in development for over 10 years. 

“It started in 2007, when I asked them to make me a six-string, and after living with that one for the first year, I started going back and forth with the development team, and we started working on custom basses. I would email them with my concerns after a show, and they incorporated my suggestions into the next model that I got a little while later. I would spend some time with it, and do a record with it, and send more feedback – so there was a lot of experimentation.”

• Dream Theater's Distant Memories – Live In London is out now via Inside Out.

Ernie Ball Music Man has unveiled the John Myung Bongo 6, the first signature model from the Dream Theater bassist.

The six-string bass guitar, which EBMM says is the product of more than a “decade long refinement process,” sports a five-string nut width for tighter string spacing and a simplified control layout with preprogrammed equalization.

Features include a basswood body, roasted maple neck with an oil and wax finish and a divided wood rosewood/roasted maple fingerboard with 24 high-profile wide frets and white half moon inlays.

There are also dual EBMM humbuckers with neodymium magnets, a single volume control, five-way pickup blend knob and Music Man lightweight tuners and chrome plated, steel bridge plate with stainless steel saddles.

The John Myung Bongo 6 is offered for $2,999. For more information or to pick one up, head to Music-Man.

Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Dream Theater were in the midst of playing dates as part of their Distance Over Time - Celebrating 20 Years Of Scenes From A Memory tour.

During that run, bassist John Myung chatted to Bass Player about touring life in one of prog-rock's biggest bands.

On building up endurance for Dream Theater's epic sets

"My hands are pretty conditioned at this point, but after three shows in a row, they’re begging for a break, for sure. But usually after a day off they’re good to go. I warm up well, though - there’s no way I could play if I didn’t. 

"I play really slowly for at least an hour and a half before we go on stage. That’s the only way I can prepare my hands to get through three hours of playing, or at a certain point they’ll be fatigued.”

Taking your bass guitar's temperature

"We get to the venue about five hours before show time, and in that period I go through all my basses with my tech. I make sure that the temperature onstage is relative to how it will be at the start of show time, because of the nature of the woods and how the action moves.

"The biggest challenge for me is just getting the temperatures stable on stage so that there isn’t too big of a move for the neck plate. There are six basses to go through, so I make sure that they’re all sitting well in the environment that they’re in."

Tuning up

"One of the basses is tuned up a half-step, so my low B is actually a C, and that’s relative across the neck. We also have songs that are in standard tuning, and then tracks like Paralyzed which is a half-step down, and others that are a whole step down. 

"What I’m finding is that my ear is gravitating towards the lower-pitched sounds. There’s definitely something to be said for tuning down; the new songs we’ve added in the low tuning sound really good.”

Scenes From A Memory: 20 years on

"For the most part, I’m trying to play what’s on the record - but there are moments when I’m playing parts that I wish I did on the album the first time round! I think it’s a matter of perspective. We play these songs with a certain vitality that isn’t there when you’re recording them in a studio, because you’re not thinking along those lines, so there are certain things that I wish I’d played differently. 

"They’ll differ from the album versions. I’ll play certain sections differently, or there are some transitional things that I wish I’d done on the album, but that’s the evolution of a track."

Studio magic vs onstage energy

"The initial phase of a song is to demo it in the studio and then record it, and then it starts to evolve as you spend more time with it - that’s one of the things that happen on first or second albums, when you have so much time to refine the songs. You get to record things a little bit differently.

"When you write these songs you don’t get to test-drive them in the live setting, because you’re behind a monitor or a set of headphones, which gives you an analytical perspective. That’s what makes live music so great - you don’t have the constraints of the studio setting. You capture the initial freshness in the studio, of course. I guess this is what live albums are for, right?"

Dream Theater's Distance Over Time is out now on InsideOutMusic.