“Since I started with music, I knew that's kind of always what I wanted to do. I was already dreaming of playing big tours when I was a teenager, and thinking it was entirely possible.” – Camilla Charlesworth
As a teenager, Camilla Charlesworth dreamed of touring the world, and she believed it was possible. Relocating from Adelaide to Sydney, she dove headfirst into playing small gigs and jam sessions, cutting her teeth and gaining attention from other musicians in the scene. From there, word of mouth led to her climbing the local ladder and being hired to play larger shows.
It wasn’t long before she was performing for household Australian names, Delta Goodrem and Guy Sebastian. This only led to even bigger gigs and tours with Tina Arena and The Veronicas, all in her early 20s.
Having gained recognition in Australia, Camilla set her sights on the world stage and was accepted into Berkley School of Music. After dividing her time between studying in the US and touring back in Australia, she quickly finally relocated to LA, where she picked up local gigs and began building her reputation in a new city.
Since then, she’s worked with the likes of Kim Gordon, Lenny Kravitz, Ziggy Marley and most recently Olivia Rodrigo, touring and playing some of the world’s biggest venues.
“I would use something like this for Kim Gordon or The Veronicas. It’s an all-purpose rock, pop, punk sound. When combined with a pick, these settings bring a momentum to your playing.
There is just enough drive to bring clarity to the attack, but not so much that it’s losing any of the body. In a mix, it wouldn’t read as a driven bass tone, but the bass would sound defined and present. The Cali76 is set a little slower to let that attack pop through and saturate, so with a pick it is super articulate.
On Pop-Rock gigs, I’m hired as a bass player and I need to sit behind everything else going on. I need to sound like a rock bassist, without being so overblown that I take everyone else’s spot. The lows on this would sit with the kick, and the high-end clarity wouldn’t get in the way of the guitars and vocals. It’s what you expect from an Ampeg on a rock gig. It’s articulate, pronounced, and hits you in the chest when loud enough.”
“I love this tone for Kim Gordon’s more electronic stuff. I’m using the classic OC-2 settings mixed with a compressor up front to maintain consistency for each note. The DCX BASS is there to add character to the sub, boosting the lows a lot and giving some saturation and additional high-end. It just elevates the OC-2 sound.
To me, it feels like a ‘blown speaker’ sound, like the bass is about to overwhelm the sound system. Live, I’d use this sort of thing for the tracks with electronic elements like triggered trap hi-hats.
When gigging with Kim, I’m using an octave sound for like 90% of the set. On that gig I switch between normal ‘big bass amp’ sounds, bass tones with the octaver and an actual keyboard synth bass. An octave pedal on bass is a great middle ground.”
“I’d pull this tone out for Ziggy Marley – the smooth reggae and dub thing. It’s almost a precursor to the OC-2 thing; all subs, but this one is more articulate and feels more grounded. With reggae tones, you really want to feel it in your heart and gut as you move through the track.
Fat and clean, I’m using the DCX BASS to add all those lows in a musical way, and to cut highs to keep everything down low. The Cali76 is there to keep everything nice and even. It’s all lows but the articulation of each note still has an immediacy to it. The whole tone just sounds round, bouncy and has a rubber-like quality to it.”
“This is something I might bring to my own project. I want the pick attack to cut through, I want the body and bottom-end. I like a little drive on the top-end that brings clarity at the start of each picked note.
I like finding that balance, to get the presence without having it sound like I’m doing too much. It keeps the bass punchy, it gives it a chewiness, it just sounds like a well recorded bass amp tone. The compressor is set to allow that pick articulation to pop through at the beginning of each note. Whether I’m palm muting or playing open, each note has nice definition to it.”