Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | I've just gone through the Adamas saga, so maybe I can help.
Al Pepiak (Lost Art Vintage) has said all along that the older textured top Adamas guitars, especially the ones with carved top walnut necks and carved bridges sound the best. Having played one for a about an hour in the local GC, I agree.
However, I ended up with a new SMT from Al. The deep bowl and my mutually convex middle are mutually incompatable for comfortable playing. The medium bowl, only a little less shallow, feels a lot less than the deep bowl, and thats what I got.
The SMT has a rich sound, perhaps a bit uncolored for some, because it has a very even voice from string to string, and up and down the neck. I find myself making mistakes in playing because I'm instinctually compensating for dynamics that dont exist in the SMT, ie, you really dont have to attack things differently up the neck, or on the treble strings. The SMT responds to a gentle and even hand very well, no need to dig in like you might with a wood top guitar. Call it flat EQ. In this respect, I think Ovations claim for it - having very flat response, over the entire range of notes, is more than justified.
I've not played the CVT. It is supposed to have a stronger midrange, and Ovation suggests that strummers may enjoy the CVT more, while the SMT is voiced more for solo and fingerstyle playing. Given what they say about the SMT, I'd say we can probable believe them on the CVT.
The Q597 is just a W597 (CVT) with Q style soundholes. If you dont need the look of Q, the CVT is a little less expensive.
Given your jazz leanings however, you might find the SMT more to your liking, but I'll warn ya: I've not been able to get my SMT to sound like a Heritage Sweet-16. |
Which Adamas? Q597?
