Help! GAS is striking again! - Ovation 1868 TX

[wingsdad]

Hey, Tara ... long time no see....been twinkling that 360-12, have ya :

I almost wasn't gonna post a reply, since I had something to do with you going for the Rick...but yep, I've had Ovations in the past, and have one now, not a US-made, but a Korean Celebrity Deluxe CS257, super shallow bowl (not as loud unplugged), solid spruce top, since '99.

My Local GAS Station had one of those you're looking at a while ago.

The carbon tops (started with the Adamas line) are nice...never have to worry about humidity issues...

I assume you've at least played an Ovation before? Some folks just can't 'handle' (get comfortable with) the 'bowl' instead of a flat back. And some say they sound like plastic. I say you just have to have the right DI. A tube pre-amp helps, but I finally got an LR Baggs ParaAcoustic. The bomb.

Ovation just came out with these, hitting the stores 10/31/08. Made in China. My dealer has one, and they also sell the Idea Pre-amp separately, retro-fitting in Ovations with certain model pre-amps (not all/any Ovation)
http://www.ovationidea.com/

EDIT: one note about Ovations unplugged sound: carbon, polycarbonate (plastic) or wood top, you get a louder, more 'acoustic-like' sound from either a roundhole model (Balladeer, Legend) or those with the 'epaulet' multi-port holes on both the lower & upper bouts vs. those with the epaulet holes only on the upper bout. Those models are truly intended as plug n' play guitars, not acoustics.