Ovation Adamas guitar

[Shortfinger]

Expensive, but very cool looking. Been around for a long long time, to quote the Stones from Sympathy for the Devil.

Jagger plays one in that concert show video from 1981, doing Let it Bleed.

Got one? What's it like to play?

I read here that those bowl-back Ovations are tough to play sitting with no strap, but for stand-up play with a strap, it looks like the bowl back would be comfortable and make it easy to move the guitar around rhythmically.

[Wade Hampton]

Shortfinger, an Ovation Adamas was the studio guitar at a recording studio where I recorded an album, and one day at lunchtime I stopped by and recorded a couple of tracks using that guitar. It was a breeze to record, (which is why it was the studio guitar,) had a great neck and was easy to play. It was so easy to use that we got two usable album cuts in an hour with a full band, which is fast.

I’ve never gigged with one, but I have a great deal of respect for the Ovation Adamas.


Wade Hampton Miller

PS: I was sitting when I recorded with the Adamas. It was no problem at all, not the least bit awkward.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Shortfinger

Expensive, but very cool looking. Been around for a long long time, to quote the Stones from Sympathy for the Devil.

Jagger plays one in that concert show video from 1981, doing Let it Bleed.

Got one? What's it like to play?

I read here that those bowl-back Ovations are tough to play sitting with no strap, but for stand-up play with a strap, it looks like the bowl back would be comfortable and make it easy to move the guitar around rhythmically.

I've had over a dozen high-end Ovation and Adamas axes. Currently, I have a 2020 Adamas I 2087GT-8. Its back is a Deep-Contour bowl and it stays put quite well in my lap. It has a well-balanced tone both acoustically and amplified that would serve players well in a recording session or a loud venue. Its ease of play is kind of like an electric guitar. Is its tone for everyone? Absolutely not! Much of Ovation's allure comes from its ubiquitous presence on TV back in the late-1970s to late-1990s and its shattering of what an acoustic guitar could do onstage. Acoustic-guitar purists may not be favorable of the brand's tone, but Ovation sold many guitars and helped me in my early days play in clubs with guitar clarity and without feedback. Please visit my NGD review thread at: NGD - Adamas I 2087GT-8 Custom Reverse Blue Burst

[Honkycat]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

I've had over a dozen high-end Ovation and Adamas axes. Currently, I have a 2020 Adamas I 2087GT-8. Its back is a Deep-Contour bowl and it stays put quite well in my lap. It has a well-balanced tone both acoustically and amplified that would serve players well in a recording session or a loud venue. Its ease of play is kind of like an electric guitar. Is its tone for everyone? Absolutely not! Much of Ovation's allure comes from its ubiquitous presence on TV back in the late-1970s to late-1990s and its shattering of what an acoustic guitar could do onstage. Acoustic-guitar purists may not be favorable of the brand's tone, but Ovation sold many guitars and helped me in my early days play in clubs with guitar clarity and without feedback. Please visit my NGD review thread at: NGD - Adamas I 2087GT-8 Custom Reverse Blue Burst

That blue one is class!

[ruger9]

I don't have the Adamas, I have the Custom Legend, 1991. Not easy to sit with, even with a "no-slide" pad attached to the bottom (this one is a deep bowl, which sound ALOT better than the shallow bowls acoustically). But super easy to play: they basically had electric guitar necks (9.5" radius I believe). Gorgeous looking and sound great. They have their own sound, but it's a great sound.

At the time I bought mine, I went back and forth between the Adamas and Custom Legend, for an hour at the music store. I liked the looks of the Adamas a little more, but in the end I preferred the sound with the soundhole model (Legend)... but it was very very close. Mine still gets played, and is still gorgeous, and still sound great plugged in (and it's just a simple UST).

[The Orb]

A few years ago, I ordered a new Ovation; I think it was a "Legend" model -- a black six-string with a traditional center soundhole. I think the Legends have since been discontinued, but mine was really close to their current "Timeless" series L I N K

It had a "deep contour" body, which meant it never slipped around on your knee when played seated. Its neck was incredibly easy to play and had perfect intonation. I got rid of it because its Lyrachord back and sides sounded anemic when played unplugged. When I'd ordered it, I didn't realize Ovation's unusual bodies were designed to solve feedback problems that had plagued acoustic performers for years. A friend of mine came over to play with me. His little Taylor GS Mini blew my Ovation out of the water. The Taylor's volume, projection, and broad frequency range made my Ovation sound as if it were strung with dental floss. I sold it on eBay shortly thereafter.

It baffles me that Ovation doesn't make affordable, wood-bodies guitars for people to play unplugged. Their visual aesthetics alone would sell them. If they made a non-cutaway, solid-rosewood bodied 12-string that had Epaulet Leafs and zero electronics, I'd consider paying $1,000 to $1,500 for it, something that looked like this L I N K

[ewalling]

A couple have passed through my hands, the most coveted of which was a blueburst deep-bowl model with a hand-carved headstock. I think most of them look fantastic and the ones I've played have a sweet acoustic sound. The ones I've played have been rather quiet acoustically and quite heavy, though.

My personal preference is for the wooden-topped Custom Elite models. They have the beauty of the wooden soundholes and top and the sonic benefit of the solid spruce top.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Honkycat

That blue one is class!

Thank You, Kindly!

[Boomstick]

I don't own one myself, but Preston Reed played one through the 90s and early 2000s, so it's hard to give a much better endorsement than that

[FLRon]

Many many moons ago when I sported a six pack ab my Ovation was a dream to play. Now I’m afraid that my abs would not be Ovation compatible