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Independent research by truerecs. Not affiliated with, endorsed or verified by Mike Portnoy. Every item links to its public source.
27 items · Last checked

What drums does Mike Portnoy play?

Mike Portnoy's Tama artist set-up lists a Starclassic Bubinga kit with his Melody Master signature snares, octobans and a gong bass drum. His Sabian page lists his signature 22" HHX MAX Ride, MAXX splashes and Max Stax, and he has said ProMark's 420X is his go-to stick.

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What gear Mike Portnoy uses: a sourced gear guide

Independent research by truerecs: every item links to the public source it comes from.

Tama kit

6 items

Sabian cymbals

10 items

Heads and sticks

6 items

Favorite albums he did not play on

5 items
Questions

About Mike Portnoy's gear.

What drum kit does Mike Portnoy play?

His Tama artist set-up lists a Starclassic Bubinga kit with two 22x18 bass drums, a 20x18 bass drum, a 20x14 gong bass drum, Octoban Low Pitch octobans, Melody Master signature snares in 14x5.5 and 12x5, and a Speed Cobra HP910LS pedal.

What cymbals does Mike Portnoy use?

His Sabian page lists his signature 22" HHX MAX Ride, 7", 9" and 11" MAXX Splash V2s, MAX Bell Chimes, HH Mid and Low Max Stax, AAX O-Zone and X-Plosion crashes, a 19" HHX X-Plosion Crash, an 18" HHX Chinese and a 19" Paragon Chinese.

What snare drum does Mike Portnoy play?

Tama makes his Melody Master signature snares. His set-up lists a 14x5.5 Melody Master (MP1455, offered as MP1455ST and MP1455BU) and a 12x5 Melody Master (MP125).

What drumsticks does Mike Portnoy use?

He plays ProMark's Mike Portnoy 420X. On his ProMark page he says the 420X sticks are the perfect medium between metal and prog and have become his go-to for all the bands he plays with.

What are Mike Portnoy's favorite albums?

On his Sabian page he lists The Who's Tommy, Pink Floyd's The Wall, all Beatles albums (especially Rubber Soul), Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Jellyfish's Spilt Milk and Mr. Bungle's Mr. Bungle as favorites he did not play on.

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Mike Portnoy
About this guide · Last checked

Mike Portnoy is the drummer who co-founded Dream Theater and rejoined them in 2023, and has played in The Winery Dogs, Transatlantic, Flying Colors and Sons of Apollo. This guide covers the Tama drums, Sabian cymbals, Remo heads and ProMark sticks listed on his artist pages, plus the albums he has named as favorites.

truerecs put this guide together from public videos, interviews and posts. Each item says how we know and links to the source. Mike Portnoy didn't write it or choose anything on it. How we source gear guides.

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