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Location: Wooster, Ohio | I have a 87 collectors and a 93 collectors. Both have the same preamp. The 87 has the normal Ovation pickup and the 93 collectors has a bone bridge with a slimline pickup. On my acoustic amp there is a jack for piezo and a jack for active pickups. My 87 is matched to the active pickup, which makes sense, but the 93 needs to be plugged into the piezo jack given it obviously does not produce the power of the 87. Is something going on here, I would think that the 93 would be powerful enough with a preamp to not have to be jacked into the lower power piezo jack? Is it just the slimline? The preamp seems to be working.
Steve |
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Location: Scotland | It's not called a high output pickup for no reason. The original Ovation pickup produces a very healthy output, much higher than most standard piezos, in fact you can bypass the preamp and hardwire direct to the output jack and the pickup will work reasonably well into most inputs. As for the preamps, Ovation preamps do not produce a significant gain boost. They should really be considered as impedance buffers with a few extra toys bolted on. |
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Location: Wooster, Ohio | Interest. Given the advance in undersaddle pickups.
Would it be worthwhile to replace the ovation undersaddle with a current one.
Steve |
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Posts: 2804
Location: ranson,wva | the hight output pup/saddle wont fit the slot on a brigde fitted with a thinline, you have to route the saddle slot out. i prefer to use the thinlines because they sound better un plugged...jason |
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Location: Wooster, Ohio | I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Is there a better thin pickup that would have more power. I have a guitar with the current Baggs element that is quite good. The 93 is an interesting collectors in that it one of the few with a bone saddle and thin understaddle pickup. Sounds very different than the 87 collectors. Not sure it is better but a more mellow sound? Who really made the Ovation slimline?
Steve |
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Location: Scotland | The Ovation Thinline is not really an undersaddle pickup, nor is it bone. It's a synthetic saddle with an integral rather than separate piezo element. The Baggs LB6 is probably the closest aftermarket version of the Thinline. As far as this type of pickup goes the Ovation Thinline as good as anything out there, and probably better than some.
As for the Thinline sounding better unplugged, how do you quantify that? There are so many variables involved that it's a non-issue. Given the oppotunity to hear two of the same model with a thinline and an OPP I'd defy anyone to tell the difference acoustically, and then accurately attribute any difference just to the saddle type. |
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Location: SoCal | When you plug an Ovation in, while the type of saddle makes a difference in the power of the signal, most of the tone comes from the circuits in the preamp. The newer preamps are much better than the old ones. Keep in mind that the original 2 knobber preamps are 30 year old designs. The OP24 is about 25 years old. They can be made to sound really good using off board equipment, but the new preamps built by Ovation today are so much better.... |
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Location: ranson,wva | temp,thats just my opinion.maybe its just me being anal but i do hear a diffference....jason |
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Location: Scotland | Sure, but the point I'm making is that it's impossible to be certain that the difference comes from the saddle. Any instrument is the sum of it's parts and changing 1 small detail amounts to very little. There's the inheirent variability of wood stock plus a ton of other things which will produce subtle differences in tone just as much or more than the type of saddle. Back in the 70's I had a 1114 and a 1614. Did they sound different? A little. Was the difference down to the saddle and electronics? Who knows? Did one sound "better" than the other? Not to my ears.
If you get to the factory there's a bunch of original Adamas slotheads up there. Have someone play an acoustic-only and an electric version at you and see if you can tell which is which without looking. |
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Location: Wooster, Ohio | I think on the 93 it is a bone saddle. It is slanted 5 % to increase pressure. I think that was one of the differences of the 93. On my original question it just surprises me that there is such a large difference in output from the same preamp system. op24 As far as sound the acoustic sound the 87 I think is louder but the 93 has a very good sound that is very different and I am sure relates to many things but I am sure the bridge in a major determinate.
Steve |
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Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | They're all slanted. I had a thinline instaled in a 68 Josh White a few years ago and it was like that, so was my SMT and my 97 Collectors. The Thinlines are synthetic, not bone, take the strings off, pull it out and you'll find out. They sound different to the OPP but different is just different, not necessarily better or worse. |
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Posts: 555
Location: Wooster, Ohio | Got that form a post from Serge:
The 93 has the thinline pickup with a bone saddle and that makes it attractive to me just as an alternate tone, both unplugged and plugged in and I like the neck and features, thats all.
My favorite Collectors is still the 1984, but each one has something I like.
Serge |
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Location: ms | I had a 93 and really did not like the pickup at all. I say take it out put in the baggs it will be a much better guitar for it. |
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Location: SoCal | Gulf, why didn't you like it? Was it the pickup that you didn't like, or the preamp? What were your reasons? |
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March 2007
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Location: Montréal, Québec, Ca | Sorry to intrude, But your talking about preamp and I am looking for one of those thinline preamp fom my Ovation Viper CV-68. Is there any way I can buy a used one? Is calling "mother center" the only way of getting one? The guitar is not an expensive one. The preamp seems almost as expensive as the price I paid for the guitar...
Anyone can help, I'll be very gratefull |
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Slimline pickup
