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Happy Birthday Ashdown! Mark Gooday and the Guys Share Their Top 10…
Happy Birthday Ashdown! Mark Gooday and the Guys Share Their Top 10…
From Ashdown…
Celebrating 19 Years of Ashdown – Ashdown have turned 19! It all began for Ashdown back 1997, but even in those early days, company founder Mark Gooday could’ve already easily been described as a bass amp veteran having previously been managing director of Trace Elliot.
Swiftly approaching the 20th Anniversary milestone since their launch, Ashdown have become a firm favourite of bass players around the globe. Known for their cool styling, tour proven reliability and superb tone, Ashdown bass amps can be seen on stages around the world with some of the biggest artists.
Building not one, but multiple globally respected and loved brands does not come easy or without hard work. Ashdown, are always learning and evolving the product range to suit the ever changing landscape of the music industry. Ashdown look forward to continue building top quality bass and guitar amplifiers for the next 19 plus years.
The last few years has seen Ashdown push the boundaries and tap in to new technologies to keep up with the demands of the modern musician/consumer. In the last year, they have been working towards to launch of Meters Music, a new consumer electronics subdivision of Ashdown that will include the recently announced Meters Headphones, which uses Ashdown’s trademark VU meter as the vision behind the entire brand.
Keep an eye out for more developments with Ashdown Engineering, Hayden Amps and Meters Music this year. Until then…
To celebrate Ashdown’s 19th anniversary, Mark Gooday and the guys over at Ashdown have (not in any particular order) shared 10 important things they’ve learned in the last 19 years that have made Ashdown the globally renowned brand they are today… and of some points have been added for a splash of humour (6 & 9).
- Unparalleled Build quality – The only way we have continued to not only survive, but to grow and prosper in today’s competitive music trade is by gaining full customer satisfaction through the consistent delivery of high quality products.
- Customer Service – Attaining and retaining customer satisfaction is key for any company. We find that a really simple yet efficient level of customer support, paired with unparalleled build quality (point 1) has been one of the primary reasons for Ashdown’s success.
- Artist Relations – We never undervalue the advantage of our brand ambassadors. We’ve worked really hard to build such a wide and recognised artist roster and it brings us much joy playing #spotthevu on stages around the globe. Our artists pay for their gear and play our amps because they love the sound and reliability.
- Social media and modern PR cannot be ignored. We dedicate a fair amount of time engaging with consumers on our social channels. During the evolution of social media, we really get the feel of our audience knowing who we are, where we are and what we stand for.
- Product Evolution is truly important. We would love it if bass players continued to buy 8x10s and 1000 watt bass heads, but in reality the trend amongst modern bass players is practicality and tone at an affordable price. We can safely say we offer a comprehensive product range to suit every player and every need, bedroom or arena, studio or live, tube or class D.
- Never get stuck in a hotel room with Shavo from System of a Down and Guy Pratt before a day’s work at the NAMM show… Just in-case you ever find yourself in such a situation.
- Brand strength and recognition. Our VU meter has become the most recognised feature of Ashdown amps… so much so that we needn’t put the Ashdown logo visibly on the front of our amps anymore.
- Listen to the pros – we wouldn’t be where we are today without the feedback from some of the world’s most respected bass players, including John Entwistle, Mark King and JJ Burnel amongst others.
- Back up your MySQL server – following the collapse of our website in March this year, we would kindly remind everyone to ensure their web hosts or IT partners back their s*** up to avoid timely and costly rebuilds.
- Attend trade shows. Attending tradeshows such as NAMM and Frankfurt Musikmesse are a great way of touching base with existing customers, scheduling press and finding new business.
Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
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Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
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Check out our top 10 favorite basses on Instagram this week…
Click to follow Bass Musician on Instagram @bassmusicianmag
FEATURED @sandbergguitars @benevolent_basses @rayriendeau @olintobass @wonkorbasses @bite.guitars @adamovicbasses @maruszczyk_instruments @skervesenguitars @ramabass.ok
Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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