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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 68
Location: Texas | I want to buy a cool good sounding electric. I would also like it to be an old Ovation electric.
What models should be considered or avoided?
Which models would be considered higher end over others? Models, years, colors? I won't be selling this one anytime soon. This is for me for life. I want to look for a keeper. When I find her I promise I will not post a "what is it worth" subject. I just want input on what I should be after.
I don't want to say that price is no object, but I want a bad mamma jamma that no one else has.
Thanks for your help.
Shaft |
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Joined:
January 2003
Posts: 1498
Location: San Bernardino, California | Probably the best place to get an overview of whats available would be Miles' collection.
http://www.baronaudio.com/collection/ |
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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 68
Location: Texas | Miles has a nice collection..no doubt. Can we look at my original post. I do not want to look at pictures or see the models available. i have already done that. What I am looking for is genuine input on which guitars are the ones to want. I want to know which are the bad asses. what guitar can I leave my axe wielding daughter when I check out.
I am interested in an heirloom quality guitar for lack of a better description. I want advice on what to look for.... Preacher, deacon, viper???what's the difference and why do I want one over the others?
Thanks,
Shaft |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | If you're looking for mainstream guitar tones avoid the Breadwinner, Deacon & Preacher Deluxe. They are great guitars which have a lot of unique sounds, and part of their appeal is the fact they don't sound like the mainstream, they also don't sound good to me with high gain distortion. If you need an electric 12 The P-Deluxe & Deacon versions are the best electric 12-stings ever made.
This is a gross over-simplfication, but as a rough guide; The Viper is Ovation's take on the Tele, the Viper 3 adds Strat-ish tones, The Preacher is kinda like an SG but is let down by the pickups. The UK11 is a stab at a LP-style guitar, is probably the most veratile and has one of the best pickup designs ever. The Ali/foam body construction is unique. The Vipers have a 25.5inch scale, the rest are 24.75. They all have bolt-on 24-fret necks. Materials, build quality & playability on all Ovation electrics is always excellent. As for which one to own, my best recomendation would be one of each.
Like most Ovations none of the solidbodies are particularly collectible or sought-after, except by us perverts. The Deacon 12 & early blue Breadwinners are probably the rarest of the standard production. Then there's the prototypes & custom stuff like the GC Bluebirds, but they don't crop up too often.
GP zealots please note that I deliberatley kept my comments to USA guitars only, to avoid another bore-fest |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7236
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | P.T. Pretty much hit it head on. Ovation had the forsight to realease models that sounded and played different from each other and took the "features" of the competition to the next level.
All of the pickup configurations, even the mini-humbuckers that I don't like on the Preacher and Deacon, have more range and personality than most of the pickups out there. As stated the Viper tone is to go in the direction of a Tele, yet those pickups are hot enough to sound like humbuckers with the right tone settings.
As far as not sounding as good with high-gain distortion, I'd say that's partially true. The Viper and UKII and the early Breadwinners (with large single coils) can really pump the front end of a good amp, but the mini-humbuckers of the Preacher and Deacon are a little lacking in drive. True amp overdrive seemed to work ok, but I found using distortion boxes did not always give a great result. I used a Rockman Sustainer for years and that sounded fantastic with all of them.
Ok, so to answer your question. In the long run I would think an early Breadwinner or a UKII would probably be "the investment" model depending on how long you plan on living. All of the models have held their value pretty much for the last 20+ years. Few if any have gone up.
There are some exceptions. The Blue Breadwinners, the Bluebird Vipers (which are not standard vipers, they are foam/aluminum like the UKII's just Viper shaped.
The Ovation Solid-Body 12-strings are fantastic. Commercially there were the Preacher and Deacon models and also a Viper that appearently only a few exist.
Some other guitars of note. The UltraGP I think is a fluke that will be around for awhile. I don't think at current prices, but I don't think it will fall below the original price either. It's a good guitar, and should have fetched more originally, just the wrong time. I have a few one-off guitars that I think will fetch a good price someday to a true guitar afficianado. The wood-top UKII, the PF-22's, a custom Deacon made for Jim Messina, a set-neck Viper, etc..
Again, because it's worth repeating, the Ovations seem to hold their Value, I feel someday they will go up, but not yet, although I see signs of it starting if you look at prices on gBase. I think it's going to happen in maybe another 5-10 years when the guitars are 30+ years old and still look new and play like new, unlike other brands "of value" today of which some are not even playable.
My favorite "go to" Ovation is and will probably always be the Viper. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | I agree with Miles about the Viper If I ever decided to unload my Ovation electrics the guitars I'd have to keep would be the Viper & Viper 3. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7236
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | One of the cool points that I think a lot of folks have eluded to, but I don't think anyone has actually mentioned is the Viper is a great "clean slate" if you are a writer. When I used to write a lot of songs, I usually started by setting a drum beat on my drum machine.. and just noodling until I landed on something. The Viper, although can make some great classic tones, pretty much sounds like itself, and that's pretty darn good sound. The result was that I din't get distracted into the ZZ-Top, Aerosmith, Zep, BOC, etc etc etc licks that would come up on a le'Paul or Strat. The Viper with just the raw sound, doesn't "color" your palette, and it jsut seemed easier to come up with licks that sounded more original. |
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Joined:
December 2002
Posts: 68
Location: Texas | Thanks for the info guys! I am on the hunt.
Shaft |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Keep in mind Shaft
What is today's sound will not necessarily be the sound that you can leave to your children and expect it to be their "today" sound. Go for quality and uniqueness, I am prejudiced because I have a close to 30 year old Viper that I still haven't exhausted all the possible "good" sounds out of, and it is reliable, stays in tune, and is fun and easy to play. At present, it is nowhere near a "collectible" but neither was some of the telecasters and strats in the 1970's that were considered used junk and today are prized vintage instruments because some pickers bought them cheap and wailed on them (SRV, for example). Like advice on how to get rich in the stock market, buy cheap, sell high, seems so simple.
Bailey |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | "What is today's sound will not necessarily be the sound that you can leave to your children and expect it to be their "today" sound"
Irrelevant. The majority of "today's" sounds are still being produced with guitars and amplifiers whose design roots are in the 1950's and earlier. It's down to the player not the equipment. |
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"O" electrics
