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January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | Well, I really did it two Saturdays ago: got to a gig with everything BUT my Ovation. I had planned to use either my Adamas 1581 or the 1117 Legend of 1974 vintage equipped with a Fishman ProFix pickup. It was my FANTASTIC luck that the proprietor’s husband owns an acoustic-electric which he very generously loaned me for the gig. So for the first time in my life I held the storied Martin guitar in my hands. I had no time to waste. Plugged in and, BAM! Play. A bunch of original tunes plus our covers of Corea’s “Spain” & “No Mystery”, Gismonti’s “Frevo Rasgado”, DiMeola’s “Mediterranean Sundance” etc. etc. No one complained but I must say that I sorely missed the Ovation. While the Martin has a “polite” and mellow sound across the octaves it simply cannot muster the low-end growl or razor-sharp sustaining highs of the Ovation. I understand why singers love Martins: they are a soft carpet of support and complement a vocal very nicely. But when you need to cut through percussion and the sound of a strong partner on an Ovation Elite you need an Ovation to match. Perhaps the most obvious thing is the O’s are so LOUD, they have real fire-power. Our friends at the Ovation Fan Club call them “cannons”. So, if the Martin were a gun and I a soldier in country, the enemy woulda nailed me.
Like Forest Gump sez: “and that’s all I have to say about that!” |
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July 2005
Posts: 3411
Location: GA USA | Dobro, you are a credit to the human race. |
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March 2002
Posts: 15682
Location: SoCal | Interesting read, but it leaves me with one question... how do you get to a gig w/o your guitar? |
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January 2006
Posts: 2120
Location: Chicago | Total absent-mindedness combined with the usual lame "multi-tasking" etc. Hey, I've gotten to the airport without the tickets (back in the days of old school paper)! |
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January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | That's a good post, Dobro. And you really bring up a good point that's been on my mind for awhile. I think guitars (and music) have evolved to the point where in some circumstances guitars are really "application specific". I have heard your music, and really enjoy it, but I can not imagine you playing it on anything other than an Ovation or Adamas. It's like those brands were made for you. Not that Martin, Taylor and the rest are "bad", just not the right tool for your job. To be fair, the opposite is also true (as you point out). Ovation isn't the best tool for some other situations. For example, I don't think James Taylor, Dave Matthews, or CSNY would sound at all good backed by Ovations. Different tools, different jobs. Yes, you can work a pillips head screw with a steak knife, I've done it. The results are usually not impressive. Bottom line, there's no one guitar for all situations and types of music (and the reason I've got 5 websites). Dave |
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October 2007
Posts: 2711
Location: Vernon CT | I'm NOT a Martin fan at all. Why, because ,lets face it, Martin has been around a long time, They were the standard that most Guitar Co's wanted to copy. Not that there is anything wrong or bad about Martins or their "Voice" but I prefer the "tone" that is different then what everyone else wants to sound like. Thats why I love Ovations (and yes Taylors) They call to me!!
They make the songs I enjoy listening to and playing more enjoyable. |
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November 2004
Posts: 1330
Location: ms | I own a Martin a Taylor and a Ovation and have owned many of each. For live work by myself I`ll mostly take the Martin but with a band its the Ovation hands down. |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I agree with Dave. If I could find a Martin or a Collings that would provide a similar plugged-in tone to the EF75, and have a cutaway, and be reasonably priced, I would be interested. Our rhythm guitar player uses a Martin with medium strings and when strummed hard, it sounds wonderful. However, my role is to add an arpeggio layer and leads, so all those single notes must cut through the mix. Of course, with an Ovation/Adamas, the Vipers and the EF75, those notes come through clear and (mostly) true. |
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Joined:
November 2003
Posts: 11039
Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Originally posted by Tupperware:
For example, I don't think James Taylor, Dave Matthews, or CSNY would sound at all good backed by Ovations. Different tools, different jobs. Dave Not that I spend a lot of time thinking about this... but, I have thought that Dave Matthews would sound good on an Adamas |
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Joined:
January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | As stupid as this sounds, It's also the looks. I love the looks of most Ovations, but to be honest I think they would look way out of place in some players hands. I just can't imagine CSNY with elite cutaways rolled up and pointing at the sky as they sing "Judy Blue Eyes". Sorry, that visual just ain't right. Dave |
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Joined:
October 2003
Posts: 134
Location: Lakewood, Ohio | Dave Mathews used to be the Taylor Grand Auditorium poster boy, now he's playing a Martin. Similarly, Nancy Wilson and Richie Sambora who probably did almost as much to popularize Ovations as Glenn Cambpell, now play Martins. I think it probably has more to do with Martin's marketing stratagy than actual guitar performance. |
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Joined:
January 2005
Posts: 4903
Location: Phoenix AZ | Don't confuse money with music. Martin and Taylor have artist lists as long as the Sunday NY Times. That's just business. Take those same hundreds of artists, strip away the endorsements, hand them each $2000. and send them into a Guitar Center. My bet is that more than half of them would come out holding Takamines.
Dave |
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Joined:
August 2007
Posts: 1008
Location: Tuscany, Italy | Artists are humans and have their own personality. This is expressed to the audience in the way they look, they speak, in their music and therefore in the instruments they naturally choose to play.
One don't choose to play with a particular brand of guitar because that brand adapt to his music genre, but it is his own character and its own mood that bring him to "select" THAT music and THAT guitar, as well as his friend, his house....his town/country....car...wife :D ....etc.
First time I've seen America playing with O's and to me that's their "voice" that made them so recognizable ever (even if they play Taylor nowday). It's the imprinting sometime that count.... |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Guitars are like people. Different, one not necessarily better than the other.
Different types of music and the circumstances I'm playing at govern which guitar I use. Sometimes a Martin 000, sometimes my Ovation Country Artist,(BTW my most versatile guitar), and somtimes my 1758. On occasion the 97 Collectors is ideal.
A general statement , plugged in, Ovations have the most "BANG FOR THE BUCK". |
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MARTINS are better (not)
