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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4536
Location: Flahdaw | (Ha!...I knew that would get you)
I hate the sound of my '99 Collector's plugged in. It sports the Optima pre-amp. I play it through a Fender Acoustasonic SFX-II. No matter what I do with the settings, it either sounds quacky, dull, or flat. My '77 Takamine with an aftermarket Martin thinline, no pre-amp, sounds better than the Ovation. Are the new systems that much better, or do I have a tin ear. When I played g8r's Adamas plugged in at the seacow serenade, it sounded sooooo sweet. So what's up? |
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Joined:
November 2006
Posts: 3969
| It sounded "thin" to me, too, and I couldn't quite adjust it to my liking. I don't know if it's the Thinline pickup vs. the Original Patented pickup that makes the difference, or the Optima, or both. I only owned one O with a Thinline, and it was coupled to an OP24. I don't recall being disappointed with that one plugged in. Short of sending it to Mother to have them put in a regular pickup and newer pre-amp, I think you're limited to either a good mixing board, a pedal EQ, and/or really good EQ circuitry on an amp, like the Alesis on some Genz-Benz. |
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Joined:
May 2008
Posts: 1565
Location: Indiana | A personal opinion... I wouldn't blame the Optima. The O thinline PU's are thin and brittle to my ear.
YMMV |
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Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | +1. It's more likely the pickup than the Optima, which imo is the best preamp up till the Studio. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Unless the preamp is faulty it's not down to the Optima, which is one of Ovation's best. A pickup system can only reproduce what it's given by the guitar. If the guitar sounds good acoustically (given that it has a plywood top) then it should sound good plugged-in. Maybe the thinline pickup is kaput. |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4536
Location: Flahdaw | Actually, before I bought the Ovation, and before I had the thinline installed on the Tak, I had a Dean Markley soundhole pickup on the Takamine...it also sounded better than this Ovation thinline! If the pre-amp is so good, can't I get the thinline pickup that came with the Ovation changed out with something better? |
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Joined:
November 2005
Posts: 1126
Location: Omaha, NE | I had the thinline/Optima combo on my 1597 Adamas. I had the same complaint about the tone...very edgy and brittle sounding. I agree with the consensus here that its the pickup and not the pre-amp. |
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I hate the sound of my Ovation