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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4081
Location: Utah | Two questions regarding the Preacher Deluxe. It appears to be all-original pickups and electronics.
First, the tone is not as bright as it should be. The tone control should nominally be at 5, but that sounds muddy. It has to be up to about 8 to sound "normal". Is this a case of capacitors getting old? What kind should they be replaced with? Orange dots?
Second, the pickup switch in position 3 should be both pickups out of phase. There is an adjustment on the circuit board that the instruction manual says to turn to minimum volume for maximum out of phase. However, the pickups don't sound out of phase at all, and even at minimum volume it is louder than either of the pickups alone. I suspect that the pickups have been wired in phase instead of out of phase. Any suggestions on what to look for when I pull off the pickguard? |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 1132
Location: NW Washington State | I've always thought that the stock pickups (small humbuckers) on my Deacon and Breadwinner are a bit dull. But this is subjective. Have you compared yours to another Ovation?
If I recall correctly, the minimum volume position on the phase adjustment pot is near the middle of the pot's travel. I like to adjust mine a little bit off the null so that the out-of-phase sound isn't so extreme.
The pickups will probably have a black wire (or two) that connects to the ground trace that runs all around the edge of the circuit board. The other pickup wires (maybe red) connect to individual pads on the board. There was a thread a couple of months ago with pictures of the board and wires. If you get yours apart, post a picture of the pickguard.
-Steve W. |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4081
Location: Utah | numb, thanks. The lowest volume position for her Preacher is with the pot all the way to one end, nowhere near the middle. I'll pull off the pickguard and take a look at the wiring for the pickups. It may be obvious that something has been resoldered and is now backwards.
Interesting that you say some of the pickups sound a bit dull. I have not compared this guitar to any other Ovations. When the tone control is at 10 it has plenty of bite, but the descriptions in literature say that the tone control should nominally be set to 5. It doesn't matter really, although if the tone could be made more adjustable with the quick replacement of a few capacitors I'd be willing to try that. |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 1132
Location: NW Washington State | There are two trimpots on the board. One adjusts the neck pickup volume, the other is like a balance control for the out-of-phase position. Have you tried both?
If you haven't seen it, there's a Breadwinner/Deacon manual here: http://www.ovationtribute.com/Catalogues/70_Ovation_Solid_Body_Owne...
If you look in the OFC photo gallery, BruDev has redrawn some preamp schematics. I'm not sure if your tone control can be response can be changed with a single cap.
I've thought of rebuilding my preamps just to see if they could be improved, but never get around to it. I think that electrolytic caps are the most likely to fail. If there's an electrolytic at the output, replacing it with an equivalent film cap might improve the sound.
-Steve W. |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4081
Location: Utah | Yeah, I've seen the Breadwinner manual that shows the trim pots. The one for the neck pickup works just fine, the other one that is supposed to be for the out of phase adjustment goes from as loud as a single pickup to a lot louder than either pickup alone.
I'll dig out that schematic and take a look. When the daughter isn't around to cringe, I'll pull off the pickguard and take a look at the wiring. |
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Preacher wiring and electronics questions