Nate Mendel has been seen using a 1971 Fender Precision Bass for most of his career, plus his Fender signature P Bass. He has said he played a Lakland on Wasting Light. Live he has been seen with Ashdown BTA-400 heads, CL-810 cabinets and his Ashdown NM2 distortion pedal.
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“I really liked it. It was super easy to play and it was just a great sounding bass, and I played it on ten years-worth of records.”
“I played all of Wasting Light on a Lakland.”
“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”
Mostly a 1971 Fender Precision Bass he bought in 1987, and the Fender Nate Mendel Precision Bass based on it. He told Bass Player, as quoted by Mixdown, that he played all of Wasting Light on a Lakland.
Ashdown. Ashdown wrote in 2017 that he played through a pair of BTA-400 heads and CL-810 cabinets with Foo Fighters, and Mixdown reported an Ashdown CTM 300 head on the Concrete and Gold tour.
He has said he kept effects to distortion on stage, and Ashdown built the NM2 Double Distortion pedal for him in 2013. Mixdown reported a Fulltone Bass-Drive on White Limo.
Guitar.com's 2025 feature on the album says he played a Candy Apple Red Fender P Bass through an Ampeg SVT.
Nate Mendel has played bass in Foo Fighters since 1995 and before that in Sunny Day Real Estate. This guide covers his own rig: his Fender and Lakland basses, his long run of Ashdown amps and his signature distortion pedal.
truerecs put this guide together from public videos, interviews and posts. Each item says how we know and links to the source. Nate Mendel didn't write it or choose anything on it. How we source gear guides.
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