During more than 30 years experience playing and recording with iconic rock musicians including Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society, David Lee Roth, Ozzy Osbourne, Slash's Snake Pit, White Lion and now Megadeth, James envisioned a bass drive effect that operates entirely unlike any other distortion unit currently available. Now Ashdown has made that vision a reality.

In the LoMenzo Hyper Drive, a band of frequencies within the midrange of the bass signal is filtered out and the distortion effect is added only to this band. The filtered frequencies can be "tuned" to the precise range that gives the optimum effect. The degree of distortion available is variable from a subtle break up to huge overdrive, enabling a new range of extreme effects for bass to be created. The distortion effect can then be mixed with the original dry bass signal to maintain a powerful, full-bodied bass tone with distortion overtones.