Stuart Zender Interview in Japan
"Ashdown amps have a superior punchy bass tone with no extra colouring".
Earlier this year, Ashdown Artist and bass legend, Stuart Zender was out on tour in Japan with Inaba/Salas for their ‘Chubby Groove’ tour which saw 15 sold out concerts throughout Japan in January/February 2017.
The Chubby Groove album is a result of a collaboration between Japanese vocalist Koshi Inaba - the lead singer of Japan's biggest selling rock band, the B’z and Stevie Salas.
Whilst out in Japan, Stuart caught up with Ashdown’s Japanese Distributor, Kikutani Music for a short interview. The interview roughly translates to…
Stuart Zender is the genius bassist who participated in ‘Jamiroquai’ and holds the record of the highest selling funk album sold worldwide whilst in his teens. Stuart has a global following and of course, many in Japan. We intervened with Inaba/Salas’s live tour schedule for an exclusive interview.
"Ashdown amps have a superior punchy bass tone with no extra colouring and I continue to use them as they are the only amplifiers that are truly reliable!" - Stuart Zender.
Are you enjoying the Inaba/Salas tour?
It's awesome! The excitement of the audience is great! It's a very pleasant environment, and unlike Western tours, the time schedule is perfect.
More than anything on this tour, I can open up the punk rock spirit that’s in me - and play it, it's great fun.
Why do you chose Ashdown as your live bass amp?
I have had a good relationship with Ashdown’s CEO, Mark Gooday for over 20 years. When Mark left Trace Elliot and started up Ashdown they sent me a sample and I have played them ever since. I also advised Ashdown on product development.
Ashdown amps have a superior punchy bass tone with no extra colouring and I continue to use them as they are the only amplifiers that are truly reliable.
On this tour I use two sets of Ashdown’s flagship ABM amps and use the settings differently depending on the song.
So, with your long-standing relationship with Ashdown, you created the “Stuart Zender Funk Face” Pedal.
I was talking with Mark for a long while about creating a pedal, but it finally fell into shape last year! Personally, I wanted a valve envelope filter pedal like I have never used before and wanted to add distortion. The prototype version had a big enclosure, but I got Mark and his team to to do their best, and they managed to somehow make it smaller whilst, leaving in the valve.
The pedal is an absolute Monster. When this tour is over I am planning to make some videos with Ashdown in London, so please look out for them!