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Joined:
November 2012
Posts: 15
Location: New York, NY | When just using the audio capabilities, is the iDea preamp inferior to the rest of the Ovation preamp line? May less fidelity, freq responce or dynamic range?As far as using the iDea preamp, do you need headphones or an amp, or is there a speaker too?Has anyone found it to be a worthwhile device, something that they have actually continued to use? |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | I don't know about the iDea being "inferior" to other preamps...
But there are fewer ways to manipulate your tone with the iDea.
You only have the 3-band EQ.
The iDea preamp is Louder than some others. Let me explain...
I play through a Roland CubeStreet and the iDea produces more volume than an OP-Pro.
(But so does the OP-30, OP-24+, Optima, and the OP4BT... The OP-Pro is not very loud)
The iDea has a very simple preamp, but you can tailor your sound with your amp.
You do need headphones or a speaker to hear the iDea. (there is no built-in speaker)
And if you are playing with headphones, you will not hear your guitar through the headphones.
You will hear your guitar acoustically and hear the backing-tracks through the headphones.
But if you use an amp, you will hear both your guitar and the backing tracks.
The backing track volume is adjustable.
I will not comment on the usefulness of the iDea preamp.
Some members here have stated that they find it useful, I am not one of them.
But if you like playing with backing tracks (I don't) this would be very useful.
You can clean-out the iDea's preset backing tracks and have lots of room to load your own.
You can put any MP3 in there to play along...
And if you save the factory tracks on your computer you will have them for later.
Here are the Ovation downloads
These are not the one that come pre-loaded into the iDea, but extras.
Plus you can copy any other song you want.
Plus you can record your own musical accompaniment and play with yourself. 
But I have the iDea and I rarely use it.
It will drop-into any OP-Pro can.
And if you buy the iDea kit it comes with it's own can.
But you cannot drop an OP-Pro into an iDea can.
Rumor has it that you can drop an OP-Pro Studio into the iDea can...
But I ain't gonna risk my Studio preamp to test that theory.
Hope this helps...
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Joined:
December 2008
Posts: 253
Location: Seattle | More info. http://www.ideafordummies.com/
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Joined:
November 2012
Posts: 15
Location: New York, NY | Thanks Arthur, very thorough review |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4081
Location: Utah | slush, I found that the iDea sounded a bit thin when just dropped into a guitar and played with the same eq on the amp. With some tweaking it can be made to sound pretty darned good. Certainly good enough to gig with or to be pleasing if you are jamming at home. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | I put an idea pre in an adamas and thought the straight preamp sound was great. it is a really good sounding preamp. all the extra stuff is a bonus.
of course it can be argued that it could have been made more useful but who knows? |
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iDea preamp