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(More customer reviews)My personal feeling is that, while Yamaha might make a guitar that plays well and accurately, their sound is overly light and flat. It is a very accurate sound, but it is cold. Maybe the guitar is just too heavy, too well glued, too strong. But I wanted one and my wife said, "I don't think I could stand hearing you practice on a Yamaha. I'm going guitar shopping with you. I have to listen to your practice and I want something that is pleasant to listen to."When I played this guitar I just fell in love with the action. It was well set up, all the resonances were right, and when I placed my fingers, they fit. The sound was great. I had been trying some cheaper Martins and this was as good as the better examples. Mellow, resonant, rich. And they were not as playable. Ovation combines good playability with excellent acoustics in the Balladeer. Their carbon fiber models may sound just as good when amplified, but if you are going to play acoustically much or most of the time, well, the sound of the wood top is just warmer. Ovation makes claims that the sound of the new a-frame is better, and, well, for once, the claims of being able to transmit string vibrations without muffling them "sound" justified. Despite modern manufacturing practices, individual acoustic guitars sound, well, individual. Wood has grain, and small differences in grain can significantly change the sound of the guitar. Ovation's limited lifetime warranty (which, of course, does not cover fret wear) does not cover changes in intonation since "that is subjective".It might be worth checking in at http://www.ovationguitars.com for information about construction and features. The balladeer comes with the Ovation OP30 electronics. There is a piezoelectric pickup in the bridge and the OP30 has a built in tuner, a volume slider, and a bass, midrange, and treble control. Turning on the tuner cuts off the pre-amp so not everyone hears you tune (they will still hear you acoustically). You can also tune one string to someone who is off (provided they are not a whole tone off, if they are, you have to subtract or add scale notes) and then "make that string right" and tune the guitar relative to the off string. The piezo pickup actually sits between the bridge and body (you can't see it), and picks up exactly what is transmitted by the strings to the top. The pickups amplify any vibration of the top or strings, and work on other models that use nylon strings (this model is a steel string guitar) because they don't use magnetics. This means that if you do plug in, you retain the acoustic sound, rather than suddenly getting a "twangy" magnetic pickup sound. The OP30 is a Ovation's low end electronics package. What you are missing that is in the OP40 is a second midrange control, and in the OP50, a notch filter. Even with a small practice amp, I get one string resonating when open, and a notch filter could "fix" that.If you did buy a higher end electronics module, you could just swap it in a few seconds. The module is powered by a standard 9V alkaline battery, which will run the preamp for about 250 hours. The battery can be changed quickly with no tools - literally, if a roadie had the new battery unwrapped you could pop the preamp out, slide the cover off, swap batteries, replace the cover and pop the preamp back in in 20 seconds. Unplugging the guitar turns off the preamp and saves the battery.This is a wonderful sounding, playable guitar. You need the Ovation hard case (should be no more than $80) which exactly fits the roundback. And if you have a wood guitar, you will need a good quality wax for the neck and guitar polish for the top and body. And if you live where there are humidity extremes, you will want a case humidifier. Relatively constant humidity is wood's friend.Some balladeer models have no "dots" inlaid on the front of the neck next to the frets (there are guide dots on the playing side) and I like the plain look combined with the inlay around the soundhole. YMMV.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Ovation S771 Special Balladeer Mid-Depth Acoustic-Electric Guitar (Natural)
Ovation continues its more than 30 years of relentless improvement of the Balladeer. The A-shaped bracing, perfected over the last few years through a computer modeling process, was once only available in more expensive instruments. Now this super-lightweight design is employed on the Balladeer to let its Sitka Spruce top sing as never before.
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