Anybody Play An Ovation?

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

Chuck you just said what I was trying to put into words.....Word, I've played lots of acoustic guitars at music stores before, including Taylors, Ovations, and Seagulls. But the only acoustic that I would offer my opinion on here is my old Fender, because I have real experience with it. For all you know the guitars and other equipment that you play in the store could break down a week after your purchas(case in point, several Music Man Petruccis in your other thread). You've been playing for what, 3 years or so? When I had been playing for 3 years I had only begun to learn about gear. Maybe you should try and learn more instead of acting like 20 minutes with a guitar in a music store is equal to you owning an instrument and knowing it inside and out.

[JACKSONFREAK]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

Chuck this is a public forum. and anybody can post what ever they want can they not? As long as it's in the guidelines of the rules and regs.Word may be young and maybe a bit over anxious at times but wherent you at 14? Maybe he does know some stuff about acousitcs maybe ha doesn't thats not really the issue. The issue is whether or not people have a freedom to say what they want. This is a public forum and we still have the freedom of speach. Im not trying to sound like I'm preaching polotics or anything cus you probably know more about that than I do. Chuck just cut the kid some slack. Any member of this forum can choose to read what they want and reply to what ever they want how they want. The person reading it is the one that determines it's value to them not to the forum as a whole. As several years his senior you should be a little more understanding of a 14 year old and ow his mind thinks. Yes we all have situations that we don't necassarily like however we deal with them. Sometimes with maturity and intelagance and others like we don't give a fu** and just fly off the handle. We all do it every day. We just need to look at the big picture more. Abviously Word hit a nerve with what he said maybe it should be left off the forum and private message him or something.
Lighten up dude.
Gil

[Chuckracer]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

Point well said and taken, Gil.

[KEaston]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

for the money...

Alvarez makes some good stuff, so does Dean. I kinda dig the alvarez a bit more than dean because of the warranty, Alvarez will let you get it fixed outside the factory, dean won't in most cases. You can find them most anywhere for a good price and selection but if you're hooked on an ovation none of this babbling mattered. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[KEaston]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

DOH, almost forgot..

Check out a newish company called CAcoustics. All composite, great tone, designed by a guy from NASA. Kinda on the expensive side for me, 2300ish but killer quality and tone. All black on black on black...

[JACKSONFREAK]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

Kevin brings up a good point warrenties.
Both Martin and Taylor have a life time warranty and you can get them repaired by any registered repair station. although there are exceptions to every rule and somethings they just want to look at. Taylor will replace a bad neck and they want it at the factory to do that. Understandable.
Yamaha also makes some really nce stuff for the money. like the FG413S a solid top acoustic for 249.99 among others.
Gil

[Hotrod]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

Ovations are OK. Keep in mind they were originally designed to help reduce feed back in amplified situations like live and recording. The rounded back is in a theory a ramp for sound bouncing as to not let it get back to the same spot twice to creat feedback.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I always wondered what the deal with that was. It makes sense I guess, just not something I'd have thought of.

[Hotrod]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

Chuck this is a public forum. and anybody can post what ever they want can they not? As long as it's in the guidelines of the rules and regs.Word may be young and maybe a bit over anxious at times but wherent you at 14? Maybe he does know some stuff about acousitcs maybe ha doesn't thats not really the issue. The issue is whether or not people have a freedom to say what they want. This is a public forum and we still have the freedom of speach. Im not trying to sound like I'm preaching polotics or anything cus you probably know more about that than I do. Chuck just cut the kid some slack. Any member of this forum can choose to read what they want and reply to what ever they want how they want. The person reading it is the one that determines it's value to them not to the forum as a whole. As several years his senior you should be a little more understanding of a 14 year old and ow his mind thinks. Yes we all have situations that we don't necassarily like however we deal with them. Sometimes with maturity and intelagance and others like we don't give a fu** and just fly off the handle. We all do it every day. We just need to look at the big picture more. Abviously Word hit a nerve with what he said maybe it should be left off the forum and private message him or something.
Lighten up dude.
Gil

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's all well and good and you are right Gil, but some people need to remember that it works both ways. We can't just say "I'm allowed to voice my opinion" and then not let anyone else have theirs. Who freaks out when someone voices their opinion on say, Ibanez? Word, again, I'm not trying to bust yer chops dude, but it does go both ways. That, "lighten up , he's just a 14 year old kid" routine will only go so far and it seems everytime there's a debate, that gets thrown somewhere. Yeah, I was a major punk-arsed idiot at 14 and I'll be the first to admit that I probably needed people telling to sit down, listen and try to learn about life a bit. And no, emoticons are not an excuse for poor diplomacy, no matter how old we are.

[Lordofgain]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

I currently own a Dean Exotica FM and would not reccomend it. While it is beautiful to look at, I have noticed a couple of intonation problems with the guitar. It is also very harsh sounding to my ears because of the Flame Maple. My next acoustic will in fact be a Taylor or a Martin.

[EvDog]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

I currently have an Ovation. I have the basic version, was about 500 new. It's about 4 years old. I enjoy it alot, but I've noticed that unplugged, it doesn't sound as full as other acoustic guitars I've played. I believe the backs come in different sizes, and mine is the shallowest. Plugged into an amp, its sounds great. Also, as a couple of others have noticed, with the round back it tends to slide around when I'm sitting down with it. I do love the neck on it though. It's really small. Almost like the same profile as my Epi Les Paul.

[jr73]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

ok, maybe it would have help if he said why they are crap, not just they sound like, a cardboard box with rubberbands.
tell me WHY. not ive played about 5 & they all suck....just like he played about five rectos....& they all sucked.
& to say a seagull sounds just like a taylor maybe if its mic'd & played thru a cranked dual recto.

[Back For More]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

Thanks for the info, all.
I'm not completely sold on an Ovation. I was looking at Dean as my other. I would like to have a really nice one like a Taylor or Martin, but I'm not entirely sure I will take to an acoustic so I don't want to spend too much - electrics are a different story though. I'm looking at spending around $500. Anybody else have any opinions - this is helping make my decision.

J

[eaeolian]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

I have an Ovation Elite Custom from 1995 - cutaway, sitka spruce top, ebony board, mahogoany neck, and "super shallow bowl" construction, w/the Adamas-style soundholes.

It's the single best sounding Ovation I've ever heard that wasn't an Adamas. (For those that don't know, the Adamas has a graphite top.)

Having said that, I've never heard another one that was anywhere near as good sounding - and I've played a bunch of them. They're good sounding live performance guitars, but there are better pure acoustic options. Check out the Takamines, too - solid guitars for the money. Seagull's probably the best value in a good sounding guitar. The Deans look really nice, but the maple ones are really bright, and, well, their fit & finish is connsumate with their price range - unlike the Seagulls I've played, which are built much more like the next level up in price. I always liked the Yamaha APX series, too.

Of course, if you want to get into serious money - and if you want a really good acoustic, you need to - the next level is Taylor, Larrivee (the make some really nice sounding stuff), and, my personal favorite, RainSong, as well as the usual Martin/Gibson/Guild trilogy.

There are good sounding Ovations to be had, and they're as good as anything in the middle range - if you like the "Ovation Sound". There's still no better stage acoustic for handling feedback, IMO.

Mike

Mike

[necrotechno]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

I had an Ovation years ago, and it sucked. The acoustic sound was crap — it was Tinniness defined, and it was the deep bowl. The electronics were unduly harsh sounding (although piezo technology has come a long way since then). The round back caused the body to roll up to like a slide playing position, even when standing.

And one thing I'll never understand about Ovations... Look at this:



WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ANNOYING LITTLE STEP AT THE CUTAWAY??? Why can't they get the goddamned neck and cutaway to line up?!? I got so tired of slamming the edges of my fingers into it on mine, I got out the Dremel and ground it off! [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

It's like that on their $200 models; it's like that on their $1000+ models; it was like that when I bought mine (1989); it's still like that now. And I just don't get it.

I traded it in 1992 for a Charvel 625C (which I still have).

[wodka]

Re: Anybody Play An Ovation?

Tacoma and Larrivee make excellent lower priced acoustics. Martin's 15 Series is inexpensive and sounds very nice for solid Mahogany instruments.