As the bassist for pop juggernauts Duran Duran, John Taylor has brought a very specific bass tone to nearly every album since the band’s self-titled 1981 debut: “Not too bright, with a full low end,” he told Bass Player in 2015. “I like reggae tone, but I need a lot of clarity, too. And it can’t take up too much room, because there’s a lot going on in the Duran Duran sound.” 

In other words, John Taylor likes mids. The bass production on the band’s 1982 Rio album is the perfect example of the “JT sound,” which allowed Taylor to offer muscular support for ’80s blockbusters “Rio” and “Hungry Like the Wolf,” plus classics like “New Religion,” “Hold Back the Pain,” and “My Own Way.” Whether he’s playing with a pick, his fingers, or his thumb, Taylor is never lost in the mix, and it’s easy to see why this tone has served him well for over four decades — and why Dingwall has decided to celebrate his sound with a signature bass.

Old Religions

Taylor has played many instruments throughout his career, including ones made by Peavey, Fender, Sei, and Kubicki, but the stout mids on Rio are attributed primarily to his late-’70s/early ’80s Aria Pro II SB-600, SB-700, SB-1000, and SB-Elite II basses. (Aria introduced a signature SB-1000JT in 2004, identical to the SB-1000 but with black hardware.) 

Taylor became interested in Dingwall basses sometime around 2018, and after using Combustion and NG3 basses with Duran Duran, he worked with Sheldon Dingwall to create the limited-edition Rio Dream 4-string in 2023; all 82 of the instruments, priced at $2,830, sold out quickly. The $2,745 signature bass doesn’t have the Rio Dream’s macassar-ebony fretboard or Hipshot D Xtender key, but it’s otherwise identical. 

Like other Dingwalls, the JT has a five-piece maple neck, GraphTech Black Tusq nut, three FD3n neodymium-magnet pickups, Quad-Tone 4-position pickup selector, and fretboard position markers between the D and G strings. The racing stripe, 12th-fret eye logo, and distinctive headstock — designed by longtime Duran Duran collaborator Patty Palazzo — are flashy enough that you can enjoy them without knowing their connection to the Rio album cover (but if you know, you know). Other cool features include all-black hardware, a “minimalist” bridge that simplifies intonation and setup, a nyatoh body and pau ferro fretboard, individual holders for the E, A, and D strings instead of a string tree, passive tone-control knob, and an 18-volt, 2-band Rupert Neve Designs preamp.

Neve Power

If you’ve been anywhere near a pro recording studio, you’re probably familiar with the exceptional audio gear built by renowned English engineer/entrepreneur Rupert Neve, founder of several companies that bear his name, as well as Focusrite. Neve products (especially the often-imitated 1073 preamp, as well as the 1081) are revered for their musicality and rich tone; the Rio album, in fact, was recorded on a custom Neve console at London’s AIR Studios in 1981. Rupert Neve Designs, the company Neve established 16 years before his 2021 death, continues to set the bar high with gems like the RNDI DI box and the powerful, portable 5017 mic pre, making RND the perfect partner to build a preamp for the Dingwall JT.

“We arrived at both the frequencies and the shape of the EQ based on extensive listening, combined with our experience with various EQ topologies and applications — and playing lots of bass,” says Josh Thomas, general manager of RND and one of three bassists who have been with the company since the beginning. “The shape of the EQ was as important as the actual frequencies chosen, especially on the low EQ, which is more of a very wide bell than a traditional shelf. It sounded the best to us and seemed to work well with different playing styles.” 

First Impressions

Our tester, a ten-pound metallic black John Taylor signature 5-string, arrived in a padded gig bag. (The bass is also available in primrose and seafoam green.) It was strung with broken-in Dingwall nickels that were intonated and ready to go. The five-piece, slim “C” maple neck with satin finish was silky to the touch, while the 24 banjo-size frets, 9.45″-radius fingerboard, excellent string-to-string balance, and 18mm spacing made it a joy to play. The fanned frets were easy to get used to, although I had to stretch a bit to consistently nail the thunderous low C on that 37″ B string; double-stops and chords past the 17th fret sounded great but took some adjustment, too. 

In passive mode, I plugged into a Jule Amps Simone 500 preamp and a powered Bergantino IP112 1×12 with an HT112 extension cab. The bass was quiet enough with the master volume and tone control all the way up, and it was silent with the tone control off. The Quad-Tone’s settings gave me instant access to back-pickup tone (the bridge pickup, soloed), dual-coil tone (the bridge and middle pickups, wired in series), two-pickup tone (the bridge and neck pickups, wired in parallel), and front-pickup tone (the neck pickup, soloed). As expected, the soloed bridge and neck pickups had slightly lower output than the bridge/neck and bridge/middle combos. The bass had a natural mid “bark,” and the passive tone control, which was tastefully voiced to avoid sizzling highs and muddy lows, made it easy to add air or muscle. 

Mid City

Unlike the EMG, Darkglass, or Glockenklang electronics used in other Dingwall basses, the RND preamp features low EQ and high EQ boost/cut knobs, each with a center detent. Neve tone is generally described as smooth and warm without being sterile or aggressive, and Thomas tells us that RND set the preamp’s low EQ at 40Hz and high EQ at 4.4kHz so that it would “behave as musically as possible without creating woofiness in the lows, overly accentuating finger noise, or zinginess on the highs.” Sure enough, the preamp specialized in refined, hi-fi variations of the Quad-Tone pickup selections, and using it in conjunction with the tone control made me think that anything was possible.

At first, the absence of a mid boost took me by surprise, but it soon became clear that the bass didn’t need one. Even with brand-new Dingwall stainless steels and the tone control dimed, the mids were undeniable. I began with the Simone 500’s bass, mids, and treble control at noon, but I ended up cutting the mids on the Simone 500 — the JT didn’t need any help. If you crave precise control of your mid frequencies with the JT, consider going passive and using your own outboard preamp. 

In Action

Got your best studio-reference headphones ready? Here are examples of the JT played with new Dingwall stainless steels and broken-in Dingwall nickels on a film score, an instrumental cue, and brief covers for TikTok, all recorded in Logic Pro X. 

We began by plugging into a Focusrite Scarlett Solo for a take on Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” using nickels, the bridge/middle setting, and just enough EQ for oomph and definition.

On the bridge/middle setting, putting the EQs at the center detent — plus opening up the tone knob and plugging into a Solid State Logic SSL 2+ interface — gave me a fat but focused sound with steels. 

For this cover of Beyoncé’s “Just for Fun,” recorded through the Focusrite, I used nickels, chose the bridge/neck setting, and dialed in the EQ for optimum booty and snap.

The bridge/neck setting with steel strings and the tone control dimed gave me just a hint of clank through the SSL 2+. The high and low EQs were set in the center.

The bridge/neck setting with nickels into the Focusrite and just the right EQ gave this cover of Celine Dion’s “The Power of Love” neck-pickup warmth and bridge-pickup definition. 

Notice the steel-string noise and airy top end of the back pickup with a fully open tone control and EQs in the center, recorded into the SSL 2+. 

Playing over the fretboard and soloing the neck pickup into the SSL 2+ veered into octaver territory, even on steels and with the tone control all the way open. The small banjo-size frets made it easier to play glissando passages that conjure key-bass and fretless flavors.

For this film cue, I alternated between playing over the fretboard and closer to the bridge while plugged into the Neve 1073-inspired Black Lion Audio B173 and connected to the SSL 2+. The bridge/middle setting, nickels, a touch of EQ, and highs from the tone knob gave me what I needed. 

One colleague, a lifelong Fender player, felt that the JT’s mids somewhat masked the differences between Quad-Tone settings. That wasn’t my experience, but I understood his point. He also thought the JT lacked the ability to conjure old-school bass sounds. Although this Dingwall will never be mistaken for a Jazz or Precision, its singular growl will always, always cut through.

Just for fun, I turned up the low and high EQs, added tone for taste, and chose the bridge/middle setting for a midtempo slap moment on steels. The SSL 2+ was happy to oblige.

A Winner

Many things have changed since Rio first hit the airwaves in 1982, but as anyone who uses Markbass’ mid-forward cabinets will tell you, meaty bass tone is definitely still in style. If anything, establishing a strong bass presence alongside low synth parts and sub-rattling kicks is more relevant than ever.

A successful signature instrument captures the sound of an artist and makes it flexible enough for the rest of us, too. With the John Taylor signature model, Dingwall has created a distinctively designed, deliciously playable bass that captures Taylor’s influential tone while upping the ante with an RND preamp.