Nate Mendel and the Ashdown NM2 Distortion Pedal
"In this pedal, all of the options are available.”
It’s widely known that Nate Mendel of the Foo Fighters exclusively uses Ashdown gear. His duo of BTA-400 heads and CL810 cabinets stand out on stages with the Foo Fighters all over the globe. Nate Medel is known for his, simple yet melodic and tight bass lines locking in with Foo Fighter’s drummer, Taylor Hawkins.
In 2013 Ashdown designed a distortion pedal wholeheartedly for the needs of Nate Mendel. The NM2 is a unique, gig ready dual distortion pedal capable of driving a stereo rig for professional, such as Nate’s rig. With a UK RRP of £99.00, the NM2 is a highly affordable pedal and allows bedroom bass players to achieve a rock star bass sound on a small budget. Moreover, the NM2 – like other Ashdown pedals – is built for the road, in a durable, gig ready cast metal chassis with premium controls, switches, recessed knobs and a kick guards to protect that precious illuminated VU meter.
When talking about how the idea of the NM2 pedal came about, Nate proclaims “I don’t use a lot of effects on stage – just distortion, so it’s the most important thing to get right”. Prior to the NM2, Nate and his long term tech, Geoff Templeton experimented with a number of distortion pedals and had difficulties trying to get the right tone, modulation and flexibility that was required on stage with the Foo Fighters. Geoff talked the guys Ashdown, who were able to achieve the little subtleties that Nate required. And the rest, as they say, is history.
“When I’m playing live I like to run a little bit of distortion almost all of the time apart from the quieter songs where I won’t have any – but for the bulk of the set I run a little bit of grit in there to cut through and add some nice harmonics to the sound. In a few songs I like there to be a blown out distortion sound. In this pedal, all of the options are available.”
The Ashdown team visited Nate at the world famous Studio 606 in LA to record this magnificent video talking us through the NM2 and tells us about bass necessities in the Foo Fighters before showing you exactly what the pedal can do.
The Ashdown NM2 Double Distortion Pedal is available in all good music dealers globally.
