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Joined:
May 2010
Posts: 4
Location: Sunny SoCal | G'day folks, thanks for letting me in. Not only am I a newbie here, but I'm a newbie to guitar. I bought an Ovation celebrity model CC157 many years ago with the hopes of learning to play. It is a Pacific rim shallow body with a 3-slide Equalizer (model not able to ID). I bought the guitar back in 95-96, when I had a few bucks to burn, but never took it out of the case except to admire it and wipe the fingerprints off of it! Until now. I have an 11 year old son that wanted to learn to play but not without me alongside, so I got him a 3/4 size cheapie acoustic and just recently started taking lessons with him. We're having a blast learning together! But I'm a tinkerer, and have done some poking around and noticed newer models with the onboard EQ with built-in tuners and also saw the retrofit kit for the new iDea unit. I don't have the bucks for the latest & greatest, but I'm hoping to find a newer unit than the 3-slider EQ that came with the guitar I have, something like an OP-24 Plus C with the tuner, or the Optima, or even the OP-20,30,40's. Has anyone out there done their own retrofit to a newer unit, and maybe like to sell their older unit? Or have a source for some of the mentioned units that can be bought? Any help or advise would be greatly apprieciated. :D |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12750
Location: Boise, Idaho | Probably no help, but some advice. I wouldn't bother trying to upgrade the preamp in a CC157. The cost of a replacement preamp and cutting a hole to fit it would exceed the value of the guitar. Get a Korg tuner for $15 for that one. That would be a nice guitar for your son as soon as he gets big enough, which won't be long.
Get yourself a newer Ovation with a tuner and a kidney shaped preamp. The Optima preamps were great, but the tuner was so small it was hard for me to read. The OP30 or 40s, and maybe the 20s could be replaced with the iDea if you wanted.
To me, the changes in the preamps weren't all that useful until they started with the tuners and then the next big leap was the iDea. You could just get one of the iDea guitars, but if you don't like the guitar, try to at least get one with a solid top. The Ultras that they made a couple years ago were solid tops and sounded good for a nonUSA built Ovation. |
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Joined:
May 2010
Posts: 4
Location: Sunny SoCal | Thanks Mark, I don't really know what the costs would be as far as procuring a newer preamp with the tuner, but I'm as I mentioned a tinkerer and would, and I believe I could make the modifications like cutting the proper sized hole, fitting the case into the body, and any connections required to install it. My real roadblock so far is finding a replacement at a reasonable price. Is that what you believe would make it not worth the effort, the cost? I did price out a few aftermarket units not made by Ovation, saw a few in the $30-80 range that might work, but before trying that route I was hoping to find a unit made by Ovation. I've seen the iDea retrofit kit but it's priced at about $299, and that is cost prohibitive. I also saw an Ovation with the iDea at about $189. but I also saw a factory rejected guitar that required a bridge and had a newer preamp already in it for around $55.
So I'm at a kind of crossroad as to which way to go, but it stll needs to be the least cost way. |
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Joined:
May 2010
Posts: 4
Location: Sunny SoCal | Has anyone here made the switch to the iDea unit and is willing to sell the other Preamp/tuner providing it's in working condition. Or if anyone can steer me in the direction of a reseller that might have one of these older units. |
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Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | check with Alpep. One of the moderators.
He is a great source for all things Ovation. |
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6992
Location: Jet City | Try posting your request in the For Sale section |
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Joined:
May 2010
Posts: 4
Location: Sunny SoCal | Thanks Stephen & Damon, I'll try both suggestions.I think I'm too new here to access certain areas just yet. Does anyone know how long the newbie trial period is? |
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