Nathan Gregor “Nate” Mendel (born December 2, 1968) is an American musician for the bands Foo Fighters, The Jealous Sound, Sunny Day Real Estate, and The Fire Theft.
Mendel’s main set-up consists of Fender Precision Basses with GHS strings, played through Ashdown amplifiers. Mendel described the Precision as “iconic” in both its looks and its sound. The bassist’s preferred P-Bass is his first, a 1971 model sold to him by the lead singer of Christ on a Crutch which Mendel adapted to be easier to play. Mendel also plays Lakland basses, particularly the Bob Glaub Signature, one of which was employed on the Foo Fighters’ seventh album, Wasting Light. He uses a Fulltone Bassdrive pedal, though Mendel downsized the usage of effects pedals as the Foo Fighters rose its number of musicians – “Now that we have three guitar players, there’s a lot of distortion going on, so I try to keep it clean and stay in line with the kick drum. That way, I know that even if we’re playing a big echoey venue, at least the bass will come across with some bite and precision.”
He is seen playing the Lakland Bass in the video for “The Pretender”. He used a Gibson Ripper bass in the “Best of You” video and in the “Long Road to Ruin” video he is seen playing a Red Fender Jazz Bass with a black pickguard. He also uses a white and pearloid red Fender Jazz Bass in the “Monkey Wrench” video.
Nate on occasion also plays Gibson Thunderbird Basses.
just...BASS! 