Ovation vs Martin
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It not often easy to compare electric guitars with a view to finding out which has a better sound, a longer sustain and which one has "character" which one doesn't have "character". There are quite a few reasons which this is so. With electric guitars, there are too many variables in the equation : the guitar amplifier and the chain of effects through which you put the guitar all have a profound on the effect of the ultimate sound you hear. Some people argue that a good cable makes all the difference and is vital to good sound. Then you have the battle between single coil pick-ups versus humbuckers, bolt on necks versus straight through necks or dovetail joined necks. Of course you cannot compare a cheap Les Paul copy with a Custom Shop Vintage Reissue. But all things equal, there are simple too many variables in the equation to make any objective assessment. In the end, it all comes to a question of taste. With acoustic guitars, the picture is wholly different, the quality of an acoustic guitar is much more discernable and comparison between acoustic guitars are also much more meaningful. An acoustic guitar is a stand alone unit, the guitar is basically a speaker, pick it up and play and you can immediate tell which is what. I have recently acquired two acoustic guitars : one Ovation and one Martin. Martin guitars are emblematic of tradition, class and history. Ovation guitars are synonymous with invention, progress and new ideas. It will be hard to find two acoustic guitars which stand for something so completely different from one another, each of the embodies wholly different beliefs and design. Well, don't mind me saying this, but it really is a bit like Predator verses Alien. Let me set out the two guitars the subject of comparison here :-
Materials and Workmanship Traditional wisdom dictates that Spruce is the best material for making the soundboard (the most important part of the guitar affecting the sound of the guitar), Ebony is best for the fingerboard and Brazilian Rosewood is best for the sides and back of the guitar. You rarely see Brazilian Rosewood these days and if you do, don't even look at the price tag. Indian Rosewood is the norm these days. For the nut and saddle, bone is preferred choice of material. A glance at the specs of the two guitars will tell you these two guitars each feature a Spruce top and an Ebony fingerboard. So these not not your a dime a dozen cheap guitars. The Martin has Indian Rosewood for its sides and its back. As to Ovation, this not applicable. Ovation believes that much of the sound of an acoustic guitar is trapped inside the corners of the guitar or else they get absorbed by they wood. To avoid this, Ovation uses a one piece Lyracord (a sort of fibre glass) rounded bowl for the sides and back of the guitar. Anyway, you can say these two guitars do employ the materials traditionally highly regard materials. My Ovation is black in colour and it has the most stunning look on any acoustic guitar. As to workmanship, I am sure at least 70% of the manufacturing process are done by machines and labour is kept to a minimal. But these two guitars are supposed to be the top of their line hence quite a lot of decorative handwork can be found. The edge binding of both guitars are decorated with Abalone inlaids. For the Martin, Abalone inlaids can be found on the rosette around hole.
The Abalone inlaids absolutely nothing to the sound of the guitar but the really make it look gorgeous. Some people prefer it plain, but wait till you see the guitar in real life. The inlaids adds something to the guitar and somehow make they seem precious and classy.
Sound and performance This is the most important aspect of the instrument, this is what we pay big money for. Ovation guitars, leaving aside how they sound, have always had an inherent problem. Their round bowl is what made them the name and it is also the round bowl which lets them down. Ovation has long been called the "slide" guitar. You can never get the guitar to rest on your knee, it keeps slipping every now and again thanks to the smooth and round bowl. Ovation players have to lift their guitar back into position after every few minutes. This is annoying. This has been the main reason which put me off buying an Ovation because an Ovation is just like a naughty child who would not sit still at the dinner table. But they have made a hugh improvement of late : they introduced the LX Contour model. With the LX Contour model, the back is tapered off and there is a recess at the lower side of the guitar which now serves a leg rest. This is a massive improvement and the guitar now sits steady on your knee. But it still won't stand steady when you lean it against anything. But by and large the problem with the "sliding" guitar is solved.
Of the two guitars, Ovation has a thinner neck but both are good. Taylor guitars generally have a much thinner neck and they a feel more akin to the electric guitar than either of these guitars. The necks on some of the less expensive Martins models also have much thinner necks than the OM42. But that really isn't the point here. We are talking about an acoustic guitar here, if you are looking for a neck with a break-neck speed on a hairline action, you are shouldn't be playing an acoustic guitar. The size of the Ovation is similar to that of a dreadnaught. The body size of the OM42 is "orchestral" and is smaller than the dreadnaught. On the whole, the Martin is a more cozy as it has a smaller body. Now comes the crucial point, how do they sound? The Ovation Custom Elite has a very balanced sound : high, mid and low frequencies are good. The notes come out crystal clear and clean. The guitar also has a very good sound when you strum chords. The guitar maintains that Ovation tradition of crystalline clean sound. Some people find it too clinical but I like it. Despite the synthetic bowl, the sound is very "wooden" and warm. And the guitar is also quite loud. The guitar has character and I would say they are certainly worth the price on their price tag. As a matter of fact I would say it is a really good guitar for that kind of price range. The Custom Elite is fitted with a a piezo pick-up with a full eq and tuner. The eq system is called the "OP-Preamp". This is the area where I find the most problems.
The Op-Preamp is detachable, you can take the entire eq part out by the push of a button. It has a three band eq, a tuner and a compression system controlled through the combination a sliding control and a button. There is also a red led light for low batter. When I examined the preamp, I did not find it a particularly impressive piece of work. The entire thing is housed in somewhat cheap plastic and it certainly did not give the impression of being a very expensive piece of equipment. Well, sometimes appearances are deceptive. But not this time. The built-in tuner is not very sensitive. Furthermore, a week after I got the guitar (I purchased it in Los Angles thanks to the help of my friend), the eq broke down. The thing just would not work. I changed the battery but it still would not work, it simply died off. There is no output from the guitar so when you plug it into an amp or straight into a mixing desk you get no sound. Now I have big problem, I purchased the guitar in L.A. But luckily enough, the eq part was detachable and I simply sent it back to my friend in LA who exchanged it for a new one. The new eq worked for about 5 days. The low battery light lit up so I replaced the battery. But after putting in a new battery, the low batter light remains lit. There is no on/off button for this led light, so it just drains away all the battery power since it is on literally 24 hours a day until the battery runs out. In the end, I had to dismantle the housing unit and disable the led light. The eq part is a real let down. I am sure the quality of the simple eq can be improved and it has to as well. There is a lot of choices at the price Ovation is asking for. In any event, the eq renders the guitar rather unreliable. This is a major dent in the Ovation's armour. It is really sad to see such a good guitar being let down by its electronic parts.
The Martin OM42 is in a class of its own. I have never played a better-sounding acoustic guitar. The hi, mid and low frequencies are in perfect balance, but on top of this there is a warmth and a sweetness to the sound that really defies words of description. The OM42 has smaller body compared to the dreadnaught, but the sound is hugh and very focused.The guitar literally "sings", the sound coming from the guitar sounds so musical, the notes from the guitar seem to hang and linger in the air and fill the room with a sweet musical fragrance. Don't think I am exaggerating it or trying to justify buying such an expensive, but the OM42 is really top class. I have to say the Ovation Custom Elite does not come near the Martin OM42. But having said that, one must bear in mind, the price of an Ovation Custom Elite also does not come close to that of a OM42. Martin makes so many different models it is baffling. The OM42 is their "Standard Series" and the OM42 is top model of their orchestral size body guitar. Martin is famous for making these smaller body guitars and they are famous not without good reasons. With dreadnaught size Martins, you can often find guitar from different manufactures who come close or even excel the Martin standard. But with the smaller size body guitars, the auditorium size, orchestral size, you can't beat a Martin. I think the best way to explain the difference between the Ovation Custom Elite and the Martin OM42 is this : the Ovation is like a 12 year old whisky but the Martin is a very very good 18 year old whisky and the price full reflects the quality and vice versa. It is not secret that guitar manufacturers set out to milk every single penny of those who fall victim to their products.
The Martin OM42 is not a guitar for everyone and by that I don't just mean people who do not have a deep enough pocket; the guitar is so good it deserves to be played everyday and use in every gig. If you buy it and leave it untouched in its case, it would be like pouring a bottle of 18 year old whisky down the drain. Of course you can afford it, but that is not the point, is it? If you have to ask why, you will never understand.
At the end of the day.... At the end of the day, I feel the Ovation is a very good guitar for its price but you cannot possibly compare that with the Martin. It would be like comparing a BMW with a Rolls Royce. I have to say it was not wrong to buy the Martin OM42. I am spending more and more time these days on acoustic guitar and I think that justifies buying it (and of course that is the flimsiest of excuses). But to tell the truth, I was offered the guitar with a discount that I cannot refuse. Only a fool would refuse. In terms of money for value, I say the Martin OM42 worths its weight in gold. It is hard to believe how good an acoustic guitar can sound. Everything comes with a price in life. You only live once, so if you can afford it, get one. If you cannot afford it, get one. If you want to check the price of Martin guitars, try this link. For Ovation guitars, try this link There are no surprises .......you get what you paid for If you feel the OM-42 is too expensive but you feel you deserve something better than the Ovation Custom Elite, you might want to consider the Martin OMC Aura. The Martin OMC Aura has the same body size as that of an OM-42 but with cutaway. This guitar is also fitted with the latest guitar pick-up technology from Martin in co-operation with Fishman and much for friendly in terms of price. At a glance, the specifications of seems identical to that of the OM-42 : both guitars use the same kind wood for the top and sides and back and, as said before both have the same 000 body size. On the OMC, there are the same abalone pearl binding round body and the dot markers are hexagonal squares with inlaid. Beautiful indeed. The noticeable difference between the two is the price : the OMC Aura costs around 38% less in terms of price (more than 1/3 that is) compared to that of the OM-42.
The OMC Aura is fitted with the latest pick-up and eq system from Martin called "Aura". This eq system features a tuner, a phase switch, an anti-feedback button, a three band eq, 6 different pre-programmed and programmable "sound images". You can also adjust the blending between the sound from the piezo pick-up and the sound images. The first you will find is this eq system is quite sophisticated. Much better than the a-dime-a-dozen eq system offered by Ovation. The tuner is much more sensitive. But one thing, you cannot activate the tuner unless you have plucked in a cable. This is stupid. So Martin assumes no one will play the guitar without going through an amp, or unless you play through an amp you don't need to check if your guitar is in tune. Hard to believe something as basic as this is overlooked. Common sense is not so common at all.
The fingerboard of the OMC Aura is beautiful. Hexagonal dot markers with abalone pearl inlaid. Really impressive.
So the OMC Aura is made of the same materials, fitted with the latest gadget and yet so much cheaper. Can this really be true? That can't be true can it? You can't help but feel there must be a catch somewhere. And you are not wrong. You get what you pay for, if you are lucky. You never what you pay for. No no no. Not with guitar manufacturers anyway. The difference between the OMC and the OM-42 is their sound. Although the OMC looks identical to the OM-42, the sound of it does not come anywhere near the OM-42. The sound of the OMC does not have that fragrance and sweetness that the OM-42 exudes. Yes, the OMC sounds better than the Ovation Custom Elite. The sound of the OMC is more up-front, has been definition and sounds more "wooden". It should sound better since the OMC is around 40% more expensive. But the thing is this, I am sure guitar players will argue amongst themselves whether the better sound quality in the OMC is worth the additional 40% one has to pay for. Yes, the OMC has an overall better sound, but is it that much better to justify a 40% in price? One thing I can tell you though, I am quite sure no one would argue the OM-42 is not worth the price on its price tag. Yes, the damn thing is really expensive, but it has a sound that neither the Ovation Custom Elite and the Martin OMC has. The OM-42 is simply in a difference class. I would say the Ovation Custom Elite and the OMC belong to the same class but the OMC has a better sound. But the OM-42 is just something else. So the end of the day, you get what you paid for. In the kind of competitive market we have today, you rarely find a product whose quality is below its dollar value will survive. A $2,000 guitar sounds better than a $1,000 guitar and a $3,000 guitar sounds better than a $2,000 guitar. No surprises. But I have to say, at the top end of the market, Martin really is the big brother. Very very few, if any, comes close to the kind of equability Martin offers at the top range. But you pay top dollar as well. Electronic parts Each of the three guitars is fitted with pick-ups and two them has onboard eq system. Having tested them through an rack mount guitar amp plugged striaght into the mixing desk. I can say this. (to be continued)
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