Yeah, I do, too. I'm not normally too into butt rockin' hair metal, but I'm always willing to give it a chance. And their first album has some cool tracks on it. And I do dig Matt's bass sound. It's the sound of EMG P pickups. I don't know how to describe my fascination with it. I don't
like the way EMGs sound. I like the way DiMarzios/more trad. P pickups sound. But since active EMGs sound so
different, I like them. And I'm glad that I've got a bass with active EMGs so that I have that sound on tap and I never have to put EMGs in another bass.
But I love the sound for what it is.
I fell in love with my Kelly all over again yesterday. I was thinking about how cold it's been getting and remembered that my Kelly's been sitting out in my little padded cell in its case for weeks on end. So, I ran out and grabbed it so it could warm up a bit. I took it out and realized I really needed a Kahler fix, but I was daunted by memories of poor tuning stability. I screwed in the arm, jammed a while to help it settle in, and did a tentative bend with the trem. Still in tune. I did some more extreme stuff. Still in tune. I still can't get it to go out of tune within the range of the arm that came with the bass.
I don't know why I had so much trouble keeping it in tune before. Maybe it was too cold? Maybe after I set it up so that I was comfortable on it, it settled in a manner where the strings aren't under as much tension as before? If there's one thing I've learned, it's that setting a bass up so it's easy to play does wonders for everything--sound, intonation, tuning stability, feel, and it helps your playing (you're probably thinking "no ****, Sherlock"). I've found out that I'd rather have the challenges come from my imagination, not from the physics of the instrument. Others feel differently and power to them!
In any case, I've got a functioning Kahlerized bass to tide me over until my Hamer's up and running with a new bridge. If only it didn't have such horrendous neck dive...