Ovation/Applause or "Regular" Acoustic/Electric

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Vadim

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I deciding what Acoustic/electric guitar to buy mostly for recording but also for stage use, under $300. around $200.
I was thinking about buying "normal" acust/elec guitar, but i see that so many people on-stage use those roundback Ovation/applause guitars, what is exactly the difference between normal and round back ?
oh..and also i need a guitar to be good both thru Mic and Cable.
and how different is the sound thru Piezo or normal pick-up?
 
Choose what sounds good to you, both unplugged and plugged-in. IMO, Ovations sound generally crappy, with a thin, metallic sound, but some people like them. I'd rather get an acoustic that sounds great miked and put a $50 pro-mag in it for live playing rather than compromise my recorded tone with a guitar that's made primarily for live playing. YMMV.
 
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In any case, I love my Ovation Elite for recording and otherwise.

As for the roundback, Wikipedia says "Charles Kaman gained extensive knowledge of composite plastics as an engineer designing rotor blades for helicopters, working with Igor Sikorsky. He reasoned that the negative effects of vibration in wooden rotors were in fact a positive in acoustic instruments that required controlled resonance to produce pleasing musical tone. As a guitarist as well as an aerospace engineer, he developed the round-backed composite-body Ovation guitar as a way to produce uniquely modern instruments."

A lot of people will call bullshit on this though. Go play em at Guitar Center. Like em or leave em.
 
Nearly 10 years ago when I had some store credit after cashing in a PA head, I took a chance on an Applause roundback. Initially I thought it was really neat, and it got sporadically used for live gigs and some recording.

[A quick sidenote; I let my friend's guitarist borrow it for a time. However he never took it home, leaving it in an unheated practice room, resulting in a crack near the bridge. Lesson learned, never let anyone borrow anything. I tried trading it in but nobody wants it :mad: ]

Overall, as a live instrument it filled the function for an acoustic to quickly plug in and have a sound (no mic fiddling, so trying to seat a pickup in the soundhole). However, I've never been happy recording it; never sounds right plugged-in or mic'd up.

It pretty much sits in my closet as a handy idea guitar, but it barely performs that function. If I could do it over I would've done the store credit towards a better acoustic, something more worth the money.
 
I've had my friends Applause sitting in my closet for over a year, I finally put on a spare set of Earnie Ball Slinky's (electric) and it's awesome! It almost sounds like a really solid classical guitar.
 
Ovations have a sound of thier own, if that's what you want, get that.

If you want the sound of wood, get a wooden guitar. It's that simple.
 
ScreamingHead69 said:
I've had my friends Applause sitting in my closet for over a year, I finally put on a spare set of Earnie Ball Slinky's (electric) and it's awesome! It almost sounds like a really solid classical guitar.
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Uh, have you ever played a "really solid classical guitar"?

Most of the instruments I bought when I was young, no matter if they cost $100 or $1,000, were mistakes, and an Ovation was one of them :o
 
mshilarious said:
Uh, have you ever played a "really solid classical guitar"?

Most of the instruments I bought when I was young, no matter if they cost $100 or $1,000, were mistakes, and an Ovation was one of them :o
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I don't know how classical guitars sounded in your day, but in mine, yes, I have played some really nice ones.
 
ScreamingHead69 said:
I don't know how classical guitars sounded in your day, but in mine, yes, I have played some really nice ones.
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How would a steel strung ovation sound anything like a nylon strung classical?
 
It doesn't sound exactly like a classical obviously becasue their steal strings. I think what I should have said in the first plase is that it kind of sounds like one with a little twang, but I've mainly been playing it finger style so it hasn't had the full punch that you would normally get with electric strings. Plus the Slinky's have a good amount of stretch in them so they tend to behave like nylon strings IMO.
 
IMO The only thing useful about ovations (and this is barely useful because the end results ought ot be achieved throguh talent and equipment) is they project a bit better than some standard acoustics.

Otherwise they sounds like ass.

Daav
 
My brother owned an Ovation, and it was a good guitar in that it was very consistent from note to note. That type of consistent sound amplifies well IME. I never heard an Ovation that sounded like a classical guitar though. Not even their nylon string models, heh-heh.

Tim
 
It might not, it might just be me, and I'll be damned if I've never been proven retarded before, but I still stand by my love for Ovations. Just becasue it sounds "differant" from a normat acoustic dosn't mean it sounds "bad." It's all a matter of opinion.
 
well, my current $100 Johnson is what i don't want, no pre-amp, bad sound, hard to hold chords(i have to really hold em tight)...
so i want something oposite.
I need a Acoustic/electric, and so it wouldn't be too hard to hold the chords especially those in the midlle of a fret board(which is almodt impossible with my $100 Johnson).
 
I can't stress enough how good the Seagull S6 Cedar top is for the money. I can't think of a guitar that touches it in the same price range.
 
ScreamingHead69 said:
I don't know how classical guitars sounded in your day, but in mine, yes, I have played some really nice ones.
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Oh, now you've done it. You went and played the age card.
 
Vadim said:
I need a Acoustic/electric, and so it wouldn't be too hard to hold the chords especially those in the midlle of a fret board(which is almodt impossible with my $100 Johnson).
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Well, poor action is a bad setup, which could be a consequence of poor construction such that the guitar can't be properly set up. Try a quality acoustic or acoustic/electric, that problem should be solved.

There is a huge difference in playability between a $300 Ovation and one of the real expensive ones, too.
 
I had an Ovation, I thought it would be neat to have. Then I got into recording my playing and the Ovation just didn't sound like a "real" acoustic. Wood is what makes an acoustic guitar, it just can't be done with Helicopter grade fiberglass or any modeler that I have seen to date. Very thin sound. Another thing that sucked for me with the Ovation was slipping off my lap while playing.

On the flip side, for Def leppard type acoustic songs, they project well through a PA and don't feedback quite as quickly as others. They do have a near electric feel to them with their action.

Bargain guitars I have personally played and could recommend are Tacoma's, Carvins (go figure), and Seagulls. Any of the Martins with a solid top even with laminate backs and sides are fine sounding as well. Blue Ridge also makes a good acoustic.

IMHO, I would avoid the Ovation if possible, and avoid the Applause altogether.

6
 
I used to play in an acoustic duet and we always used Ovations,We didn't worry about feedback and the necks were almost like electrics,so you could jam all night without getting tired.

Not much good for recording.
 
there was an ovation that was open to play at a coffee shop i used to go to a lot...
i loved the thing

btw acirdrock, i live in wisconsin!
yay go packers
im goin to the packer/cardinal game... very excited
 
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