Highlights of Bass Gear at NAMM 2026]

NAMM 2026: The NAMM Show, in case you’re new to the beautiful circus that is the musical instrument industry, is the National Association of Music Merchants trade show.

Ostensibly it’s a three-day conference in Anaheim, California, for the people who make gear to show it off to the people who buy gear, i.e., music merchants. In reality, it’s a vortex that draws in every corner of the music biz.

Here’s our pick of the crop from this year’s show.

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It’s hard to believe that Music Man’s best-selling bass has been with us for 50 years, as it’s such an inescapable feature of the bass guitar landscape. Music Man designed and released the StingRay in 1976, a worthy successor to the Precision and Jazz Basses that Leo Fender had designed two decades before.

Ernie Ball‘s 50th Anniversary model celebrates five decades of the StingRay. They’re highly exclusive too. Available in two versions: the Liquid Gold will come in just 50 instruments worldwide, while the Molten Gold will be limited to 300 instruments. Each is fitted with a single humbucker and a commemorative 50th Anniversary silkscreen on the back of the headstock.

A truly exclusive bit of Californian craftsmanship that should have extra appeal to the well-heeled Music Man aficionado.

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An effect that plunges you deeper into subsonic territory can only be a good thing, right? We are, of course, talking Aguilar’s Octamizer pedal.

The original circuit has been updated with an added octave up setting that’s a sure-fire solution to adding thickness to higher-register lines. Three independent footswitches provide control over the clean signal, octave down, and octave up effects, allowing you to stack voices instantly without adjusting any of the controls. The clean signal can now also be fully muted for pure sub-octave tones.

“When we set out to design the Octamizer DLX, the goal wasn’t to fix the original Octamizer – it was already doing what bass players needed,” writes Aguilar. “We wanted to keep that familiar feel intact while giving players more creative space, better tracking, and new voices they could access instantly.”

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The new Mantle DI by Walrus Audio is a must-try for bass players serious about tone. It features two proprietary custom-wound Sapphire Transformers, and an EQ that’s designed to offer “powerful control over sub-lows, mids, and top-end content while remaining intuitive for fast tone shaping.”

If none of that makes sense to you, just know that bass gear guru Ian Martin Allison beelined it to the Walrus Audio booth solely to rave about it.

“I am an absolute DI fanatic, owning probably 50+ DIs and preamps,” said Allison. “And while they’re all great in specific ways, they all either lack something critical or try to stuff in too many features, making for an underwhelming or even overwhelming user experience. This is exactly why I needed this product to exist. I’m thrilled to say that now it does. And it is absolutely killer.” 

bass amps are ever growing in popularity, judging by the number of bass players we spoke to who love them, Ashdown Engineering has announced Phase 2 of its return to UK manufacturing with five brand-new UK-built amplifier ranges.

Finished in distinctive Ice Blue, the range spans ultra-portable micro heads, clean and intuitive amplifiers, studio-inspired combos, and powerful Rootmaster systems – each designed to deliver “unmistakable Ashdown tone, reliability, and practicality for today’s bassists.”

Spector Limited Custom Shop SB-1

The first bass designed by Stuart Spector in the mid-1970s wasn’t quite as slick as the current range, but with other luthiers queueing up to take a long, hard look at the body shape, it left a mark on the bass world that is still obvious today.

Recreated in celebration of its 50th anniversary, the new SB-1 stays faithful to the original specs, including the body shape, pickup placement, vintage-style headstock, and neck-through construction.

Spector has created only 50 of these unique throwback basses in four wood options: 15 of walnut, 15 of maple, 10 of curly cherry, and 15 of rainbow alder, making it a unique collectors item.

As Spector put it, “The SB-1 predates the iconic NS series and is the foundation of the Spector legacy. This limited Custom Shop run brings the historic SB-1 design back.”

Fodera Victor Wooten ’83 Monarch Standard

If Victor Wooten has a hand in a product, people are bound to take notice of it, and his Fodera signature model is no exception. Honouring Wooten’s original 1983 Monarch (serial number 037), the Victor Wooten ’83 Monarch Standard is essentially a Monarch featuring details from Victor’s own bass.

It features a solid mahogany body with a beautiful maple top. The three-piece maple neck has an Indian Rosewood fingerboard with clay dot inlays. And powering it all is a Trickfish Custom 3-Band Preamp wired to EMG P/J pickups.

Hearing Wooten himself test out its rich tone and dynamic range was the icing on the cake. “I got my first Fodera in 1983,” said Wooten. “I got it right out of high school and it just fit me perfectly. I’ve stuck with them ever since.”

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Session veteran Nathan East was also on hand to demo Laney’s latest bass preamp that he helped design, and we were knocked out by its sound. After unveiling the dual-input DB-East signature head last year, the British amp builder is now offering the inner workings as a pro-level preamp.

With dual inputs and two pre-dialed-in outputs, the DB-East Pre features a tube channel, a Range dial for adding bottom end to its overdrive, selectable mid pre-shapes, and a Tilt switch for a little more bottom or top end EQ.

There’s even a partner app to dial in East’s favorite impulse responses, including IRs from hit record rigs. Pretty much everything a bassist could need on the fly.

“It’s a total game-changer,” said East. “There’s a lot of information packed into this little box.”

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Rated at 300 watts, Aguilar’s new Tone Hammer combo features a vertically-oriented cabinet loaded with two custom ceramic 10-inch speakers inspired by the company’s DB series.

The back is home to dual XLR outputs for front-of-house and in-ear monitor routing as well as built-in cabinet impulse responses. A headphone output and auxiliary input seal the deal.

“The Tone Hammer combo wasn’t designed as a scaled-down solution,” a press release states. “Instead, Aguilar focused on the environments bassists actually work in – small venues, Broadway pit settings, and houses of worship where players often rely on in-ear monitoring rather than stage volume.”

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Bass players of all stripes queued up to check out the latest collaboration between Jacob Umansky and Canadian luthier Sheldon Dingwall.

Designed as a mass-appeal version of Umansky’s Dingwall Custom Shop Z3, his signature model retains a host of premium features including a bookmatched ash top, a matte white/black ceruse finish and Darkglass electronics.

It’s not just for shredders either, with a pickup configuration that makes it far more versatile than you might think. Sure, you’ll need to get to grips with that multi-scale fingerboard, but where else are you going to get that tone?

“It’s more than just an instrument to me,” said Umansky, having tested the prototype on tour with Intervals last year. “It’s a reflection of how I play and who I am as a musician. Each time I pick it up it pushes me to explore new ideas.”

Blackstar booth this year, but what caught our attention was the compact MM Debut 25, a Marco Mendoza signature edition of its Debut Bass 25 practice amp. With Clean and Drive channels, and a responsive 3-band EQ, this is a bassists dream for backstage practice. Other features include Mendoza’s distinctive Bird logo, bespoke tolex, and custom fret cloth.

“The MM Debut Bass 25 is everything a bass player needs to enjoy playing every day,” said Mendoza. “It’s simple, inspiring and sounds incredible.”

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Of all the excited rumblings we heard on the show floor about new products, Fodera’s collaboration with Trickfish might have been brought up the most.

Pairing the tone shaping of Fodera’s boutique instruments with the clean preamp circuitry that Trickfish is known for, this new preamp and practice amp has got everything you need: headphone out, aux in for play-alongs, DI out for recording, and a 4-band EQ. Plus the added ability to switch between 2-, 3- and 4-band to make on the fly adjustments quickly.

Ibanez Mode Series

The latest new models to arrive from the Ibanez stable are built upon a foundation of ergonomic design. And with split-coil Delta pickups and a Sonictech S Preamp onboard, they sound just as good as they look – but most important, they feature a competitive price tag that could allow almost any bassist to cop a high-end electric.

Other features include a passive tone control with a push/pull active/passive switch, the MR5S monorail bridge, luminescent side dots for stage visibility, and Ibanez’s new Aero-light Tuners.

signature bass to mark 40 years since Cliff Burton‘s passing. A reissue of the Aria Pro II Cliff Burton – which launched in 2013 with the approval of his family and Metallica – the new model retains many characteristics of the original with a few additional features.

It’s built with an ash body, a 7-piece maple/walnut neck, and a 24-fret rosewood fingerboard. Aria fits it with an MB-1E pickup and their B.B. Circuit, which features an Attack Mode Selector offering six predefined EQ curves. Burton’s signature is also reproduced on the back of the headstock.

Geddy Lee has teamed up once again with Tech 21 to create a chorus pedal tailored to his own personal specs, allowing you to get even closer to his signature sound.

“With the Detune control, you can adjust the pitch of the choral voicing,” write Tech 21. “Engaging Deviate mode alters the Detune function and adds an additional voicing for even more depth – as if 3 people are playing at once.”

Speed and Depth knobs round out the control set for adjusting the modulation.

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