The Ultra Lo
NEWS
Gigi Zimmer (Chickabass)
By: Dino Monoxelos
One thing that I’ve learned in my forty-something years of being a professional bass player is that if you wait around for your phone to ring, you’re gonna be waiting for quite a while. You have to make things happen FOR you and not wait for things to happen TO you. Especially as an up-and-coming bassist, and even more specifically in a music industry jungle like Los Angeles.
Today, I find a lot of up-and-coming players are branching out into creating opportunities for themselves, not just as bass players, but in so many different aspects of the music industry. And in Gigi’s case, producer and engineer, and then some.
How often do you come across a killer bass player and vocalist, who plays several various styles and genres, but is also a world-class engineer who works in some of LA’s most renowned studios? Meet Gigi Zimmer, aka Chickabass! Oh yeah… she’s also an Ampeg artist who’s been using Ampeg® SVT® amps and cabs since day one. Gigi is just as at home on stage, standing in front of an SVT rig as she is in the studio sitting behind a mixing console. Once again proving that making things happen will eventually lead to places other than sitting waiting for your phone to ring.
Now I would be remiss if I didn’t credit “how” I met Gigi because let’s face it, there are a lot of, and I mean A LOT of great musicians, bassists, players, producers, engineers, and more, in and around Los Angeles. But this is where making things happen, and especially networking yourself, comes into play, as in Gigi’s case.
Long story made even longer…
Enter the SVT Suite that Ampeg launched a few years ago. This is an all-Ampeg plugin that we developed to help move Ampeg into the digital realm of recording and DAWs. And I must say it does it very well.
Now, enter a good friend of mine, Mr. Daniel Liston Keller, who has been in the industry as long as I have (if not longer) and has just about as extensive a list of producers, engineers, FOH engineers, and musicians as I do bass players. Daniel now runs his own company, appropriately named Get It In Writing. Now enter Ampeg, celebrating its 75th Anniversary. You see where this is going, right…?
I reached out to Daniel about the possibility of working together to help get SVT Suite into the hands of people he knows who otherwise wouldn’t think to look at Ampeg as a solution to their bass amp plugin needs. All this is tied into the 75th anniversary celebration and all. Through Daniel’s wisdom and contacts in the studio and live sound world, he eventually puts me in contact with Gigi Zimmer. Who is not only already an accomplished producer and engineer, working with places like Atlantic Records, and in some of the best studios around LA, but she’s also a killer bass player and singer for her own projects. It was a win-win-win all around. Gigi is the epitome of making things happen instead of waiting around for the phone to ring for a gig, and networking all along as well.
Check out Gigi as she talks with us about her first experience as an Ampeg player, right up to her experience with the SVT Suite in the studio, and beyond into the future of bass amplification.
Dino has spent over 25 years in the Ampeg world conducting seminars and clinics all over the globe. He’s also the author of four instructional bass books by Mel Bay and his own publishing company, MonoTunes Music. His favorite bass to play is his MTD 534-24.
NEWS
Dreams Do Come True for Moa Muñoz
By: Dino Monoxelos
As a sixteen-year-old musician growing up in Sweden, and her dad also being a bass player, Moa talks about how her dream rig was always an Ampeg bass amp. She often mentions how, when she would practice, she would hold her head against her bass so she could hear the instrument without an amp. Now she’s touring the world with mega-superstar Olivia Rodrigo and, of course, can have pretty much any bass amp company at her disposal, and she chooses her original “dream rig” Ampeg.
I will say this is one of the wonderful collaborations amongst all the brands under Yamaha Guitar Group. I was introduced to Moa by our friends and co-workers from Guild Guitars, as Moa has been loving her Guild Starfire I basses on the last Olivia tour. When she found out Ampeg, Guild, and Line 6 were all one big happy family under the Yamaha umbrella, let’s just say it was a match made in heaven. We immediately hit it off and started discussing her new rig for the new Olivia Rodrigo world tour. Make no mistake about it, the Olivia Rodrigo gig is a true rock show. As an amp company, we’re always concerned about when and where our gear is going to be seen. I know it might sound vain, but we always love seeing our gear everywhere, and with some of the big tour stages and set “dressings,” sometimes gear is relegated to either being backstage or under the stage, never to be seen by the aspiring musicians in the audience, desperately looking to see what gear their favorite player is playing. Like I said earlier, being a real rock show, all the gear is ON STAGE, which makes it even cooler.
Fast forward to Moa’s skyrocketing career as bassist for Olivia but also as a songwriter, composer, and producer, needless to say, she’s crazy busy. We were so happy to be able to catch up with Moa just before she heads out with her new Ampeg rig for the 2025 Olivia Rodrigo tour to hear her thoughts on what Ampeg means to her and the future of bass amplification. She also loves the SVT Suite and talks about how it works for her in the studio when she’s working on projects. Being able to experiment with different cab and mic combinations really gives her the flexibility of trying different sounds.
As we celebrate 75 years as one of the leading brands in bass amplification, we’re so proud and honored to have artists like Moa as part of our family. Moa… I can honestly say, you were always an Ampeg artist, but now your dreams are becoming your reality, and we’re so happy to have you along with us for the next 75-plus years!!!
Dino has spent over 25 years in the Ampeg world conducting seminars and clinics all over the globe. He’s also the author of four instructional bass books by Mel Bay and his own publishing company, MonoTunes Music. His favorite bass to play is his MTD 534-24.