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Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 425
Location: SE Michigan | Just curious, Why is Ovation advertising "Q" in Acoustic Guitar Magazine? I cant find anyone selling this guitar, and I thought I read on this board that Q was a dead project. I think someone said only 5 Qs were ever made.
Also does anyone know about future Adamas guitar releases? I am thinking of buying a CVT but I might want to wait for a future model.
Thanks |
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June 2002
Posts: 6197
Location: Phoenix AZ | I would not say the second generation Q is dead. It's just a long road to develop such an instrument and when do you call it "done" such that you can price it and introduce it at the right time to the right market. The planets all have to be aligned.
The second part of your post is interesting - I want to buy an Adamas CVT but should I wait for something better to come along in the future. Same is true of almost any purchase, a car, home, or even other things such as your job or even your wife. Should you wait? How bad will you feel if something better comes along? What if something better never comes along? My advice would be to buy the CVT and you will be very happy. If something coms along later that you like better (and it probably will), you can always sell it and get the new thing. If you wait you are missing a lot of great experiences in the mean time - and you might wait forever.
Dave |
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May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I go thru the same quandry when I buy a new computer, should I wait etc. etc. etc. You have to balance out what you can afford, with what you need or want. If you play guitar you need as good a one as you can afford --- at this moment.
Since I got on this board last May, I've learned alot (from the board members) and I've tried dozens of guitars, and if I could afford a CVT now, I would buy one. Hopefully by spring I'll have the scratch saved up. Do it and don't look back! |
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December 2001
Posts: 7222
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | The only comments I would add is to wait until the end of January. That's only a little ways off. If Ovation is going to release something new, it will be at NAMM around the 18th of January. If stores have any leftover holiday stock, or "last years" model, it may give you some bargaining power.
There is rumour about some major changes in 2004 from Ovation. If this comes to pass, it may be worth waiting these extra few weeks.
As far as the Q, I realize they use it in ad's but didn't realize they were actually advertising it for sale. I "think" the ad is supposed to be advertising or touting the "Q" method of ongoing development. e.g. Take all factors into consideration providing the best result = Q. Not sure, if that's it... but it was the only thing I could come up with. |
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December 2003
Posts: 13
Location: Salem, NH | I just bought 2 CVT guitars (W597 and W598). I need them right away so I took the plunge.
However, if you don't need it right away, there's no harm in waiting. I think buying only what you need when you need it gives the best results.
Will I be bummed if Kaman comes out with an Adamas that has a much better transducer in the next few months that is priced not too much higher? Oh YES. But to me, that's about the only thing they could improve upon. These things play wonderfully. Piezo technology isn't really the greatest, even Ovation's version (sorry everyone). But, to get something that sounds a lot more like a real guitar, you have to buy a new Taylor with the Taylor Expression System. I'll say it right now: the Taylors with this new transducer system sound better to me than anything made by Kaman. However, I live in New England, and the weather and humidity change drastically here. It was worth it to me to sacrifice some sound quality to get something more reliable. Try freezing a wood acoustic guitar and tuning up and playing and see what happens. My Adamas were delivered to my door and left outside in 24 degree weather for over 2 hours. I tuned them up after they thawed out, and they play marvelously.
Bottom line in my opinion: keep waiting to buy as long as it doesn't keep you from doing something you need or really want to do. |
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February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Piezo technology is highly flawed, but right now there is nothing as reliable or feedback-free that will produce a reasonable analog of an acoustic guitar tone. The Taylor ES system sounds nothing like a piezo pickup, or for that matter a "real" guitar. What it sounds like is a real guitar via a cheap dynamic microphone, and it gets unruly at very polite levels. The handling noise from the ES system is unacceptable to me. I have tried maybe a dozen ES-equipped Taylors over the last few months, and tried hard to like them. My local Taylor dealer, knowing how fussy I am over my amplified acoustic sound, lent me an 800 series with an ES to try on a gig, but it just didn't work for me in any respect. The other problem with the ES of course is that it is installed in deeply lame & unispiring instruments. Right now everyone is trying to build a better mousetrap as far as acoustic pickup technology is concerned, Taylor with the ES, Schertler with the Bluestick, Baggs with the I-Beam. There's been countless others over the years which have dissapeared without trace. Piezo pickups are far from perfect, but the best of them are predictable, reliable & given some basic sound-engineering skills can be made to sound very convincing. It's easy to dimiss Ovations as something to plug-in when your "good" guitar won't do the job. The point is that nearly all the time your "good" guitar won't do the job, but an Ovation will.
I don't aggree that transducer tecnology is the only thing they could improve on, the advances in the "new" Ovations are not so much in the pickup technology but in the guitars themselves, which have been redesigned to enhance the acoustic sound. The latest Adamas has been sent out for reveiw is an acoustic-only model and so far the reveiws have been very positive.
As for waiting before buying.... Should I have waited another 9 or 10 months before placing my
custom order? Maybe, but I'm very happy with my totally unique guitar. Do the new designs mean I will have to buy another guitar next year? I fucking hope so.
I live in "old" England, and climate, which is about as extreme & unpredictable as New England's, has never ever influenced my choice of instruments. I currently own 3 Adamas, and a bunch of wood-tops.
None, while I have owned them, have shown any trauma as a result of environment. |
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November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | In my humble opinion, no one makes a better acoustic electric guitar than Ovation. And no one has developed a better pickup than the old original high output pickup. |
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December 2003
Posts: 13
Location: Salem, NH | I will simply say that the acoustic sound coming out of my new Adamas guitars is pretty darn good. Playability of these guitars is EXCELLENT.
I have a Taylor 710, and it is certainly louder and somewhat more full that the Adamas is unplugged, but even as good as Taylor's play, it does not play as good as the Adamas to me. The Adamas has a much more curved fretboard radius than Taylors do, and as an electric player, going the Ovation route requires much less adjustment than most other acoustics.
I will say that the ES system in the new taylors doesn't sound exactly like a guitar, but it has much less distortion than piezos do (especially for high frequencies). I personally did not find the handling noise to be objectionable, because I don't move around that much when playing an acoustic guitar.
The CVT technology is wonderful in it's stability. I live in New Hampshire, and while I can't speak for what "old" England is, all I can say is that here, wood guitars are hard to deal with. Ever walk a city block through snow with your guitar and then tune it up and plug it in and play in a heated room? Well, my experience is that all wood guitars don't do that nearly as well as CVT. My W598 (a 12-string Adamas), was at 20 degrees F (about -6.6 C) for a couple hours, and I just let it get a little above freezing, tuned it up, and it played great and held it's tuning great. Can you say that about all wood guitars? If so, that's great. I still think CVT is much better. |
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July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | Going back to why Ovation is advertising the Adamas "Q"....my take on it is that it is like car companies advertising show cars....trial balloons for future production to see reaction, plus promotion to create interest in current products.
By the way, those of you that have seen the Ovation factory tour on GAC a few weeks back...you did see the Q hanging in the "historic" guitar rack towards the right end???? |
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August 2003
Posts: 396
| Since the ad is going out to the guitar buying public, not just Ovation insiders, how many people know the Q story, care about the Q story, or would be enticed to do the research to find out about the Q story? |
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Posts: 13
Location: Salem, NH | What I want to know is if/when they will actually be produced and how much they will cost.
I'm also interested to hear if they made changes to the transducer to accomodate the all carbon. |
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December 2001
Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | give me a break
first there were no adamas ads
or only adamas ads with melissa and now we get Q ads and people wonder why?
it is called advertising. who wants to know about the Q ? maybe eh... other guitar players.... Sure we here have been waiting for the Q and God knows if we will ever see it but the point is that it brings an interest in the line. who knows how many Adamas guitars these ads may have sold or even other ovations including celebrities and applauses.
some times you use squid and sometimes you use shedder crab, sometiems you use a plug, sometimes you use minnows , sometimes you use blood worms and sometimes you just sit on the beach and watch the sunset. |
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August 2003
Posts: 396
| Al, advertising a product that doesn't exist makes no sense at all. Wouldn't it make more sense to advertise a product like a CVT or SMT that someone can actually purchase? These are quality guitars that you can build advertising around. They should be advertising the Adamas products, but the entire Q advertising idea seems strange unless there is a product coming out next week. In the ad where does it state what Q is? The best advertisement is having artists play them at concerts, in videos, and to support those products in advertisments. Q?? Also, the general look of the ads are not that appealing. Sorry for my opinion. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | Originally posted by Englishplayer:
Al, advertising a product that doesn't exist makes no sense at all. >
Did you ever see the movie Tucker??
< Wouldn't it make more sense to advertise a product like a CVT or SMT that someone can actually purchase? >
Maybe but how many people out there still lust over products that were only seen in catalogs and never made??
agreed
that is the point it is sending people to the WEBSITE. I think it does what it is supposed to do very well
agreed
agreed
< Sorry for my opinion. >
Never be sorry for you opinion!!!!!!!! |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | If a company shouldn't advertise a product that is not for sale, why do auto companies spend millions upon billions of dollars on racing-only cars, and then feature them in ads? IMAGE.
If your corporate image is based at least in part on technology(as Ovation's is), you need to continue to convey the image of being near the leading edge of that technology. |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Isn't this all a marketing question again? I'm changing the channel...... |
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December 2003
Posts: 420
Location: On the beach in Southwest Florida | The Q ads got my attention...if that's what they were intended to do. |
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Why is Ovation advertising "Q"