Mike Dirnt Is Opening His Reverb Shop and We Got to Check Out the Gear

Mike Dirnt is opening the vault.

The Green Day bassist has teamed up with Reverb to sell more than three decades’ worth of basses, amps, stage gear, and clothing from throughout his career. The Official Mike Dirnt of Green Day Reverb Shop is set to launch September 9.

Before the shop goes live, The Bass Nerds teamed up with Reverb to get an up-close look at a selection of Dirnt’s gear and more importantly, put some of it through its paces.

The collection reaches all the way back to Green Day’s early years and includes instruments and amps connected to albums and tours ranging from Dookie and Nimrod to American Idiot and beyond.

Among the basses headed to the shop are two Fender Mike Dirnt Signature Precision Basses used extensively during the American Idiot touring era, as well as a signed Fender bass that was one of Dirnt’s primary instruments during the recording of Nimrod. There’s also a 1962 Fender Precision Bass in Fiesta Red that was once part of Dirnt’s studio collection.

“It’s a special bass,” Dirnt said. “This thing really plays incredibly.”

Some of the instruments have considerably rougher histories. Several basses in the sale were burned onstage during the Nimrod and Warning tours as part of Green Day’s famously chaotic finales, when drummer Tré Cool would set his drum kit on fire.  “Tré Cool is our resident pyromaniac,” Dirnt recalled. “There’d be a 20-foot fire going and my bass and Tré’s kit are burning while Billie’s playing ‘Time of Your Life.’ It was pretty awesome actually.”

Another piece is one of Dirnt’s original Gibson Grabber basses, which was accidentally smashed beyond playability by Dirnt and Cool.

The amp collection has some serious Green Day history too. Dirnt is selling one of the first Ampeg SVT-810 cabinets he bought with his first Green Day paycheck, which subsequently went out on the Dookie tour. The cabinet no longer has speakers but Dirnt says it retains “all of its roadworn awesomeness.”

Also included is one of two Yamaha G100-II heads used on some of Green Day’s earliest records and tours, along with Mesa/Boogie amps and cabinets that spent years on the road.

For Dirnt, moving the gear along is part of the life cycle of an instrument.

“I’ve found some amazing guitars and basses over the years,” he said. “Every guitar, every bass, every amp has something different. You pick up a guitar and strum it and you think, there’s songs in this thing and I’m going to extract those songs. Then once you feel like you’ve gotten the songs or the recording out of it, it’s time to let it go and give it to the next person.”

Beyond the instruments and amps, the shop will include stage and video clothing from throughout Dirnt’s career, including the leather bomber jacket worn in Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends” video, clothing from the American Idiot, 21st Century Breakdown, Revolution Radio, and ¡UNO! eras, and pieces connected to the band’s Foxboro Hot Tubs side project.

Proceeds from the clothing sold through the shop will go to charity.

The Official Mike Dirnt of Green Day Reverb Shop launches September 9. Until then, check out our Bass Nerds collaboration with Reverb above for a closer look at some of the gear from Dirnt’s collection.