Improving Ovation Sound?

[LI_Slim]

People seem to either love Ovations or hate them. Personally, I'd rather play on two rubber bands strung over a shoe box. There are several much better guitars in the $300-$1000 price range.

But let's assume I like that Ovation sound. I don't know which pickup works best, but I'm assuming that since price is an issue you don't want to spend $250-400 buying and installing a Fishman or like under the saddle or blended system. So you'll probably wind up with a soundhole pickup; you might want to block off the soundhole altogether.

An LR Baggs DI box will help a lot with EQ and feedback. But at the very least, in the name of all that is holy, please, please do not put that thing through an electric guitar amp. Buy a Fender Acoustasonic amplifier; the smaller one costs less than $300.

 

[philboyd studge]

Been a few months since I've been to a GC but they were selling 'Country Artist' classicals at $399, blowing them out from $699, or $1099 retail. Absolute crap. Nothing like the ones I have. They reminded me of what Gibson is doing in making cheap imitations of their SG's.

 

[Richard Monroe]

Actually, I never thought of a magnetic pickup. It might work great with one of them plastic guitars, especially the thin bodies. Anybody have experience with that combination? It might work for some rock very well.-Richie

 

[LI_Slim]

I have seen people play an Ovation with the magnetic (in case anyone doesn't know, that's what I referred to as "soundhole") pickup. Best for strummers. But it's clearly the simplest solution.

 

[Major Tom]

OK here's my 2 cents. If you are playing with drums and other instruments that guitar will sound fine - trust me, your audience won't know or care if its a Korean Ovation or a $2000. Taylor. What they want is music they like. (unless you are playing at an "Ultimate Acoustic Guitar Tone" convention)

As far as the soundman't nightmare comment - Rule # 1 for a guitar player in a band: Don't ever listen to a drummer. That's a bunch of crap. I wouldn't listen to the gear snobs either. Guys tend to exaggerate the weaknesses of certain brands...gear snobs... brand whores... Some psychologists will tell you that men who make a big deal out of these types of things are compensating for their own perceived inadequecies of genital size. Ovations have been a popular choice for LIVE use for years. I would much rather listen to the guy with the $400 guitar play something interesting than the guy with the custom shop $5000 guitar playing some lame-o esoteric crap. Jimi Hendrix used cheap ass Danelectro's and other crap guitars early in his career cause he didn't have the cash. I'm glad he didn't wait until he could afford the best gear - we probably would have never heard of him. It's all about the music and how it makes you and your audience feel, its not about the frickin' gear! Use what you got.

Here's a "blend" system that I believe works really well for live sound in a loud environment, your Ovulation's piezo AND a sound-hole magnetic blended together. The piezo supplies the crisp high end, the magnetic contributes "girth"(bottom and mids), and mellows the overall sound.

I have to agree with the comment above about not using an electric guitar amp- it just won't sound right at all. BUT, if you don't have the cash for a dedicated acoustic guitar amp try this with your Twin or whatever; get a piezo tweeter - one of those round ones used in cheap PA speakers (I think they are only 8 or 10 bucks) wire it in parallel to your speakers, just set it on top of the amp (no need to mount it) voila you now have the crisp high end that was lacking before. No, it won't be a perfect solution, but it will be a huge improvement. I use this now on the rare occasions when I play acoustic at church and it made a world of difference. I put test leads on mine so I can easily hook it up and disconnect as needed. You DON"T need to worry about it changing the impedance (ohms) of your amp, it won't, you won't need a crossover, but wire it to one of the speaker's leads and make sure it is in phase - DON"T wire it to a 1/4" plug and plug into the extension speaker out jack on a TUBE amp, on most amps this will engage a different tap on the output transformer that is there for a lower impedance load. Guitar speakers frequency response starts dropping off at around 5000hz, the piezo reproduces roughly from 5000hz and up.