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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | You read about it in Ebay descriptions, reviews and advertising, but, what is it? What defines the Ovation sound as distinct from other makers. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Everyone has their own ideas, but to me the ovation sound triggers such words as projection, ring, crisp, bright, loud ... |
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Location: Cicero, NY | Can't...do...it...Want...to...agree...with...Dave...but...can't ...let...it...slip...
Ok, here's a compromise - it's NOT muffled, overly warm or quiet. |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | Another closet Dave supporter |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | I just hope he washes his hands when his shift is over. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | It's a function of a couple of factors. For me ... Excellent pickup:Get the sound of the individual strings as opposed to a muddy mix.
Body construction, lets you hear the strings unmuddied, especially with the Adamas, and in some, an ebony fret board, again no mud. Bright ringing sustain, but no shrillness. It has a pesonality that stands out. |
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Location: Hicksville, NY | Pretty much, the replies by fellow members summed up what I was going to write about. I was planning on writing something lengthy, but I changed my mind instead :p
(unless members don't mind, i'll post it later ... but off to Church for now) :) |
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Location: Phoenix AZ | One other thing (sort of) about the sound. Seems like Ovations stay in tune very well compared to other (much more expensive) guitars. Maybe that's not the most important thing, ie a shitty guitar that stays in tune is still a shitty guitar. But I'be gotten guitars from the factory and right out of the box the damn thing are in perfect tune. My John Lennon left the factory in tune, arrived to me in tune, and has never been tuned since. I don't even know if the freakign tuners work! Dave |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | With a mind as wise and sage as yours, you probably subconciously think that the guitar should be in tune....and through sheer telekinisis, the guitars tune themselves!
Such is the power of the Ovation prophet!
Closet Dave Supporters.....there is no shame in following those that exhibit superior wisdom and knowledge. Stand up....be known....and proudly say......
ONCE AGAIN, DAVE IS RIGHT! ;) |
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Location: Hicksville, NY | I completely agree with Dave. Not only Ovations sound good, they stay in tune very well, that I barely mess with the tuners -- except when changing strings. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I agree with everyone but Dave. Of course, you all agreed with Dave. And the Lennon was perfectly in tune and I didn't tune it.
I still remember filling out the warranty card for my Matrix back in 1977. The clarity of the tone from low E to high E and the ease of play were 2 of the reasons I bought it. |
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Location: the BIG Metropolis of TR | ...evenness of tone,consistency of sound...
....btw, I too think Dave is an Ovation prophet! :cool: |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by Trboy:
....btw, I too think Dave is an Ovation prophet! :cool: Ladies and Gentlemen, there's some bad acid being passed around. Please, don't drop any acid.... |
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Location: the BIG Metropolis of TR | ...It's the shrooms,man! :eek: |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Time for Dave to start selling string tubes again. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | You tune an Ovation?
I thought that was the special secret....they just stay that way. |
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Location: ms | To me, it's always been about the balance. By that, I mean I've had D28's, HD28's, and even a D41. They all sounded great, but to me the HD's are too muddy, "scaloped bracing". The D28's are tighter, but still too much bass for me. Now the OOO and OM martins are tight sounding, warm, but have that punch when you need it. Now back to ovations, I've mostly owned shallow bowls and loved them. Had a deep bowl legend a long time ago. It was kind of dead sounding. Now this custom balladeer,"Katrina guitar", has nice bass, but a good ballance across the mids and highs. I guess I said all that to say, most ovations seem to have about the same volume per string. I think they suit my hearing, or lack of, better. Does this make any sense? :) |
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| Makes plenty of sense! A vintage Ovation deep bowl with bright strings will sound crisp, full, and balanced. Wooden guitars sound muddy by comparison, unless it's a 100 year old small body wood-top...but then again, it's still apples and oranges.. |
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Location: SoCal | I've heard Dave play. Not sure if he would know if a guitar was in tune or not..... |
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Location: Tennessee | It was in tune. All of the little handle thingys were all lined up the same. |
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| The answer to the question is "better." |
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Location: cincinnati, ohio | Balanced tone. Every Ovation I've ever played has balanced tone; like gulfcoast said, they "seem to have about the same volume per string." This is noticeable whether the guitar is amplified or unplugged. I have a '71 Balladeer with an aftermarket pickup, a Fishman Supernatural II. There's no EQ on the guitar; I don't need it. And the amp EQ is set flat. It's pretty close to the natural sound of the guitar. I put a little reverb, delay and/or chorus on it depending on the situation.
Here's something that bugs me-- the wooden guitar snobs who sniff disdainfully about the Ovation's "inferior" acoustic sound. I'll pit my unplugged Ovation against any Martin or Taylor or Breedlove or any other "snob" guitar. It's a deep bowl, and after 35 years it has a sweet tone that manages to be mellow and bright at the same time, with tons of projection. It'll outshout any other acoustic in the room. |
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Location: GATLINBURG TENNESSEE :) | Superior Sound and Playability. Truly Outstanding Value. Will become your best friend. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by moody, p.i.:
I've heard Dave play. Not sure if he would know if a guitar was in tune or not..... He jes keeps fergettin they have two additional strings that need attendin' |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | Originally posted by moody, p.i.:
I've heard Dave play. Not sure if he would know if a guitar was in tune or not..... Now I know I'm not going to submit anything for a CD. I thought Dave sounded pretty good compared to me. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Well, that is beauty in the ear of the behelder... |
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Location: Central Florida | It's what comes out of an Ovation when you play it... |
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Location: Germantown, MD | When you buy a new Martin or a Taylor, you're really buying what you hope it's going to sound like in a few years. The change in the tone of a new Ovation over its life span is much less pronounced.
Peace,
John |
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Location: Australia | I would never buy a guitar in the hope that it will sound great in a few years. If it doesn't have the tone when you buy it, it never will.
As far as the Ovation tone. I totally agree that acousticaly they have an extremely balanced tone but also great string to string separation which makes them hard to beat when you finally plug'em in. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | well said. |
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Location: Chicago | There's more, guys: When you're messing with strange chords, open voicings with narrow intervals (think Towner or acoustic John Mc.) the Ovation responds with a dark, brooding sustain where all sorts of harmonics wander, unsupervised. It's like a swarm of sonic ghosts: downright spooky sometimes! I am really impressed with what I hear now and then on a high-quality recording: things other guitars would swallow and muffle. Ovations make you play clear and strong: not much room for waffling etc. I think that has something to do with why the vulgar crowd dislikes the great O. Let them have sweet and soft, give me my deep bowl and spark it up (no shrooms or acid today).
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dobro/v
"headline: Glen Campbell Arrested for Flagrant Virtuosity" |
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Location: Ky | I think a good example of the "Ovation" sound can be heard in the Simon & Garfunkel @ Central Park video or album. These are all songs everyone has heard a million times on Simon's Martin, or whatever was used in the recordings. In this concert he plays a black Custom Legend on most of the songs, and the sound is uniquely different -noticeably. It's very easy to get an Ovation to sound like that -plugged in. But, no other guitar will. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by surfnguitar:
I think a good example of the "Ovation" sound can be heard in the Simon & Garfunkel @ Central Park video or album. It's very easy to get an Ovation to sound like that -plugged in. But, no other guitar will. Good post.
If I could point to a single event that completely turned me on to Ovation, That was it. |
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Location: Hicksville, NY | Some people might agree and/or disagree with me on this one. Personally, the Ovation sound is one that projects well, characterized with a bright, crisp tone, crystal clear sound, and light timbre. Based on looks alone, it has its own personality that stands out apart from the other guitars. It is not “boxy” or “woody” sounding as a solid-wood guitar, and it may not be loud (depending on the bowl depth), but it sure has a distinct sound that makes a guitar player, like myself widen my range or scope. Last summer, I asked a friend of mine to play the 1861 and M DM outdoors (unplugged) while I stood and listened from a distance of about 20 feet. The Ovation shallow bowl managed to project itself more effectively, and it seemed like the sound was aimed directly at me that I could hear the details from the plucking of the strings to the fingers hammering on certain frets. As for the DM, despite its pleasant tone, tended to disperse its sound in different directions, thus I was not able to clearly hear the details of its tones from where I was standing. Up close and plugged in, of course, it was a different story but the Ovation comes alive when plugged in an amp.
Just my .02 worth ... |
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Location: San Angelo, Texas | string tubes...is that like the cool tube on takamine???
The clarity of tone that the Ovation has, from unplugged outside to plugged in on the platform in worship or on stage with REK...day after day, night after night, the clarity is the same, the tuning is the same, the action is the same. Rather playing the '74 Glen Campbell Artist or the new 1777LX, it's ALL good!
Can't say that about my Taylor or my Guild or my Martin...
;) |
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Location: closely held secret | Greg, how's your new 1866? ;) |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | SRV used string tubes. I saw a picture.
Truth is stranger than fiction. |
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Location: closely held secret | And look where it got him. |
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Location: San Angelo, Texas | Hey John! The 1866 is awesome...EVERYTHING you could ask for in a 12! Thanks again!...oh...and now that is the one people want to hear in Worship, so the 1777LX is sitting on the dual herc getting lonely. :) You going to the factory tour? |
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Location: Flushing, MI | Well there's the public perception of how an Ovation is "supposed" to sound - and my super shallow Celebrity fits that definition to a T, both plugged and unplugged.
Then there's those "other" Ovation guitars that we don't get to hear so much about (let alone try out). I have a deep bowl Legend from about 1980 that has such a low end thump that it's almost embarrassing. It eats dreadnoughts in the low end department. I still have my Matrix and, while it doesn't have the low end that the Legend does, it does seem very well balanced sounding, and definately NOT thin or tinny. |
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| When I used to play at fiddle contests,the fiddlers would always get me to back them up. They said they could hear my ovation better through a mike. Ever try to mike a D28? |
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Location: WILMINGTON, DE | My Ovation isn't making a sound... its off getting a new saddle and a little crack repair while we're at it. That guitar hasn't been away from me in 25 or more years, I miss it.
Meanwhile I hope you'all forgive me for playing my wooden box guitar, a pretty well balanced Larrivee OM-03.
So do you think I should take the O to a bluegrass jam when it get it back? |
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Location: North Texas | Don't be skeert. Try not to make those box banging wood butchers jealous. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | And you might have to play a little softer than your accustomed to...just so's the others can be heard. |
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| Messing around recording this week I realised that the Ovation sound I love most, and the sound that is Ovation to me, is a (Custom) Legend. Jeff's ute sounds way better in musical terms, but when you play the sounds back it's the Legend that has that unmistakeable O sound. I've obviously spent too many years listening to AdM. |
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What is the "Ovation" sound