don't lynch me but i actually like the new ovation range .........

Keira-WitherKay

today was a lazy day for me....... and i ended up on my way home from the mall stopping off at Osthavens music to check out some steel string acoustics i'm in the market for............. so i had lots of time ...and my initial idea was to get a 00 body shape (like the old blues guitars of the 30's/40's) and i tried 2 the shop had......... then worked my way thru all the mid to upper mid range acoustics..so all the yamaha's /hohner/cort/tanglewood/ibanez/takamine ect ect ...i had the time so i referenced almost their entire stock ? and then by sheer default i picked up some of the new ovation range........ and wow they felt and sounded fuller and warmer than any of the wooden guitars i been trying ......it seems the range they have in of ovation is totally made out of composite and NOT got the usual wooden top ......... i've owned back in the late 80's an adamas in blue and a legend so i know their classic range quite well....and never really liked it ..always put the ovation tone down as a unique sound only to ovation .......... but these composite ones (the neck is still wood from what i can tell.)........ but they sounded fat and warm.......

and one of the the idea model was tricked out with an onboard digital recording system built into the guitar ....amazing and only priced retail at about 7K (thats before what should be a generous discount........ and then i found a pitch black one which looked amazing .....and then there was the one with the graphic art on it.......... which was a deep purple in colour with the design

below is some pics of the "idea" model with the digital recorder ......and one of the graphic design one.......... (not the same design i saw but it gives the idea(no pun) ) both were retailing at about 7K before any discount

ok so maybe i'm a bit touched by the hot african sun ......... or maybe my ears were out of wack today ................ but i was suitably impressed....... and the tone sat well with my fingerstyle technique .i use fingers and nails (no pick) and it sounded like i would want an acoustic to sound.....i'm a jazz player so i like a thick warm acoustic cos i play mostly multipart fingerstyle so i want a nice round bassline and a fat sounding chord and melody line .... and not a thin jangly one like most folk players like for strumming chords ........... i found most of the wood guitars i tested had a top end that was "sizzling" or too thin sounding .....but the ovations tone remained fat and round from treble to bass........ and the neck was a dream to play ..... i was even teasing the staff that i can't believe i'm liking these guitars ....definitely a leap forward from the old style ovations which i know well and disliked but the new generation is pretty surprising ......... although i must mention i did try a wood topped adamas and that sounded NOT great so it seems the composite tops are definitely doing something i like ...........

*** disclaimer ... i'm assuming they composite tops cos i stuck my fingers into the sound holes to try get a feel of the texture and it seems very plastic/composite to me.......... but maybe it's just thick paint but i doubt that ..... the one i know was a wooden top(NOT the ones in the pics) but the adamas one in fact had a beautiful looking grain on the top ......... and oddly enough that one i did not like.......... so anyway just in case i'm calling em composite tops and they not ... let me say thats my guess not what i read

moral of the story ......they not that cheap at a possible around 5 K discounted price but they have changed my view on ovation (well these new ones) and i will check them out again or even a few times after that to make sure i was not just imagining what i heard ........ but i might just buy one of these ?

Ray

Why would anyone lynch you? Kaki King seems to think they're fine. I've got an ad in a mag says Preston Reed and Ana Popovic also endorse them. So some pretty good (and good looking) guitarists think they are OK.

Keira-WitherKay

Ray wrote: Why would anyone lynch you? Kaki King seems to think they're fine. I've got an ad in a mag says Preston Reed and Ana Popovic also endorse them. So some pretty good (and good looking) guitarists think they are OK.

? yeah Ray you forget that many of us have got programmed by that "tupperware guitar " reputation that ovation had since the 80's ...and yes many great artists have used em ..even tracy chapman ........one of my idols ........but ...between you and me i never liked the sound of em even in their hands ........ so yes i have "seen the light" and will NEVER joke about an ovation again ..i promise ......... cos i'll prob be owning one soon ....... ?

vic

Keira WitherKay wrote:
Ray wrote: Why would anyone lynch you? Kaki King seems to think they're fine. I've got an ad in a mag says Preston Reed and Ana Popovic also endorse them. So some pretty good (and good looking) guitarists think they are OK.
? yeah Ray you forget that many of us have got programmed by that "tupperware guitar " reputation that ovation had since the 80's ...and yes many great artists have used em ..even tracy chapman ........one of my idols ........but ...between you and me i never liked the sound of em even in their hands ........ so yes i have "seen the light" and will NEVER joke about an ovation again ..i promise ......... cos i'll prob be owning one soon ....... ?

Yeah, I wanted to ask why so little if any talk about Ovation on this Forum ?

Squonk

Vic wrote: Yeah, I wanted to ask why so little if any talk about Ovation on this Forum ?

Not so much anymore, but a few years back on this same Forum, there were plenty of Ovation and Zoom haters. Not that many of the haters actually owned any of the products.

I saw Mike Rowe at TJ's Last night with an Ovation, sounded better than some of the Martins, Taylors etc that I have heard at the same venue.
Last week I saw the Irving Alter band and their guitarist had an American Strat (70's Headstock) an Albion TCT50 tube amp and between the strat and the Amp was a Zoom 707, there was nothing wrong with his tone either.

In fact a few years back I saw an International Jazz act Annie Whitehead who actually leads the band with a Trombone, it was fantastic, obviously being a guitarist I went to check his setup. The Guitarist in Question, Ian Maidman(has quite a history if you google it!) had 3 pedals and one of them was a Zoom 505!

I like the Idea Model, and it got a great review in "Guitarist"

flatfourfan

no lynching from my side. I tried out the Mick Thompson Ovation and it's my choice for an acoustic.

I'm in love with it.

Keira-WitherKay

? cool thanks for the support guys........... i truly believed this would be a "hard sell " to try convince you guys that these actually sounded amazing and against NOT one but a list of guitars that until yesterday i would have said on "paper or by reputation" would or should sound much better than an ovation (btw if i recall all the ovations i saw were still chinese made at 7 - 8 K(retail /marked price ...not discounted price ) ovation was streets beyond anything i tried ...........

but as i said i want a re listen ........ before i'm totally convinced

singemonkey

Squonk wrote:
Vic wrote: Yeah, I wanted to ask why so little if any talk about Ovation on this Forum ?
Not so much anymore, but a few years back on this same Forum, there were plenty of Ovation and Zoom haters. Not that many of the haters actually owned any of the products.

Erm... Squonk old boy. Why would haters buy the products they hate? ?

Look, Ovations in the '90s typified the hideous piezo sound that made me, when first taking up the guitar, say, "Why the heck don't they mic them up like they did in Woodstock? Cos that sounds amazing, and this sounds utterly kak." There's compromise (louder without feedback) and then there's conning yourself ("this sounds just like an acoustic guitar!"). Ovations sounded appalling. And other brands with piezos, it must be said, sounded little better.

I played a couple of Zooms. See above, and note that I'm being polite there... by comparison.

In both cases time has marched on and these makers may have corrected the errors that generated their reputations. But once bitten, twice shy - as the section on idioms in the text books tells us.

chris77

Don't know about the piezo, but the ones I have played unplugged sounded fine. (A mate brought one over with him from the U.K. way back when and I would go so far as to say it sounded bleddie fantastic actually.)
But I find them very uncomfortable to play. Maybe strapped on over the shoulder, standing and strumming would be better - but sitting down....Eish. They keep slipping from my knee and I hate that. So until they change their 'bowl' to a 'box' I will maar remain, well, not really a hater hey, lets rather say an Unliker. ?

Fingerpicker

I've always been interested in Ovations but I can't hold the frigging things. They slide off my lap when I'm sitting, and are at a strange angle when I'm standing. I know my body shape is more to blame than theirs. Do they still have the same roundish back?

Keira-WitherKay

Fingerpicker wrote: I've always been interested in Ovations but I can't hold the frigging things. They slide off my lap when I'm sitting, and are at a strange angle when I'm standing. I know my body shape is more to blame than theirs. Do they still have the same roundish back?

what i did see on a few of them ..i forget which models is a flattened section at the back of the bowl..so it's not totally round ....... i was sitting and playing them and they never felt odd ....... but maybe over a few hours at a gig they may be more of an issue

Delta-Male

I used to work with Jason Tamba, guitarist for Playing For Change. He was given a sponsorship by Ovation,
and I used to jam with him on his. And although I am no fan of how the guitar looks, I can say they do play
awesome. Great sounding guitar, and very comfortable.. So no lynching here either ?