John Myung's Bass Tone - Like or Dislike?

[ParadigmBass]

I'm a Dream Theater fanatic to say the least, but as much as I love John Myung and his playing, I think all of his bass tones have been awful. The only one I did like was on "Awake" when he used Tung basses. But then I got a bootleg dvd of "Wake Up! Japan" and his live tone is horrendous on that bass. I mean I love Fender Jazz', Musicman, Spectors, Yamahas, and of course Tobias (seen on the I&W tour) but I think his tone on any of these wonderful instruments just flat out do not sound good.

Is it just me?

[BassOrdinaire]

I like his tone on early DT albums best. Images and Words plus A Change of Seasons have a great sound.

I really don't like his newer tone, like on Systematic Chaos and BC&SL.

[Ric5]

He always seemed to lack attack ... I prefer a Geddy, Squire, Entwistle tone.

[perfektspace6]

He plays hard as hell from what I have seen live. I have never seen a live show where Myung sounded more than passable.

His Tung tone was very nice. Clean and even.

His Yamaha tone on FII and ACOS with the TRB was also very nice but from there it went downhill. I would say it's an EQ issue live and a mixing/production issue on recordings.

All these selfish bastards (petrucci and portnoy) care about is soloing pointlessly and stepping all over everyone who gets in the way. This band is dead based on the last two albums.

[noelnv]

I think one of the reasons his tone is kind of thin is because he has to double the guitar a lot. I play in a prog band who (is trying) to cover some DT, and I find that with the sheer quantity of notes going on, an overly thick tone causes a lot of mud. But that's just my humble opinion. As much as I like Myung, I don't find him all that inspiring, despite what a technical player he is. I don't really know why.

[zagralin_arf]

IMHO
Weak, no attack, poor tone. Great technical skills but his playing has no attitude and his tone is just lacking.

[noelnv]

If Myung weren't in Dream Theater, they'd sound exactly the same.

[seedokebass]

I agree with most of the posts... the bass gets lost when he doubles parts.

Aside from all of that... my favorite Myung bass tone is on Trial of Tears. The bass is up front, and has a slightly overdriven/midrangey quality to it. The verses groove hard!

I like his tone on The Glass Prison as well. That one is all Stingray IIRC.

[ParadigmBass]

His writing and contribution has gotten so lazy over the years is I think one of the problems. Listen to his basslines on the first three albums, and the latest three albums. I agree that Portnoy and Petrucci are kinda shoving him aside.

[Qvist]

His talent is amazing

But his tone is boring as hell

[Double Agent]

On the latest album, I thought his tone had too much grind to the point where its just muddy. I really hoped that the move to Musicman basses would improve his tone. While it is easier to hear him in the mix now than it was when he was playing the Yamahas, his tone is very lackluster and has been for a while now.

I love his tone and playing from I&W, Awake, and ACOS. Even FII had pretty decent tone in a lot of places, but everything since then has been pretty disappointing IMO. Still an amazing player, but it would like to hear more of "him" and less of his technique if that makes any sense.

[ga_edwards]

I love his fretless tone on 'Though Her Eyes'. Very Pino.

[MusicBokonon]

Originally Posted by perfektspace6

All these selfish bastards (petrucci and portnoy) care about is soloing pointlessly and stepping all over everyone who gets in the way. This band is dead based on the last two albums.

As much as I love DT, I have to agree. Their newest album was pretty much a "lets stomp on the bass, no one cares about them in metal" album. And I really liked his Bongo tone too. Petrucci and Portnoy need to stop being such control freaks about making a "METAL!" album (esp. Portnoy). I hope you're reading this, MP

[sloasdaylight]

I dunno, I dig his tone. I like the way he sounds, when you can hear him. I do think that he should come up in the mix more often, but I still think he sounds good.

Editing by adding that I thought his tone when I saw them live at the beginning of August, and on their Live at Budokan album, as well as Score sounded really good.

[Kink Rimson]

Originally Posted by Qvist

His talent is amazing

But his tone is boring as hell

Pretty much.

[TimWilson]

Big fan of Myung and DT, but I agree: his tone is lifeless and limp... Seems like 90 percent of their recording/mixing/mastering time is spent on everyone but else, and they spend the last few hours squeezing a bit of bass in there.

I've always wondered how awesome Sheehan would sound in DT, but they'd prob'ly kill his tone, too...

[Allmanfan456]

Ive always liked his tone and there music. I dunno ive never had complaints about there music. However though as technically great as he is and how much I like his tone doesn't dismiss the fact that hes sounds like a robot.

[millsbass5]

He's DEFINITELY getting thrown to the side by Portnoy and Petrucci,IMHO.It seems that they are pulling the old "Metallica/And Justice For All" trick on him.Buried,buried,buried in the mix.
Technically,he's too good of a player not to be heard!!
Surely to God they/engineers know not to let the bass and guitars fight for the same EQ space.


Did I say his bass was buried in the mix??

[millsbass5]

Originally Posted by TimWilson

Big fan of Myung and DT, but I agree: his tone is lifeless and limp... Seems like 90 percent of their recording/mixing/mastering time is spent on everyone but else, and they spend the last few hours squeezing a bit of bass in there.

I've always wondered how awesome Sheehan would sound in DT, but they'd prob'ly kill his tone, too...

Now THAT would be very,very interesting!!

[Nasnederis]

Originally Posted by millsbass5

Now THAT would be very,very interesting!!

How about Les Claypool in Dream Theater?