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| I have a CC68 Celebrity with a passive preamp - just tone and gain. I like the guitar's feel and sound, but don't like it amplified. I also don't see how one removes the thing - just pry it off with a putty knife?!?
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | I've upgraded you to full membership and moved this post here to the General area where others can reply. I'm not aware of any Ovation with a "passive" pre-amp, but someone should be able to assist. |
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Posts: 1089
Location: Yokohama, Japan | That would be a "Celebrity 2 Knobs" pre-amp as identified here. Removal is simple. As you say, a putty knife to pull the volume and tone knobs up. Sometimes they're really tight so you'll probably want to use a towel to protect the finish and a plastic spatula as opposed to a metal one. I don't think there are any micro screws holding the knobs in place (unless they've been replaced with an after market knob). Once the knobs are removed you'll see the bolts holding each pot in place. Loosen those and the preamp should come loose. Good luck! |
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| Thank you for replying! I am trying to post a photo. The link you provided shows two knobs. Mine has two sliders. I am interested in possible replacements that would sound better, by the way.
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Location: When?? | It will be interesting to see what type/size of space/hole exists in the body below that plate and sliders. |
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Location: Yokohama, Japan | Interesting indeed, Al! Thanks for posting the pic Eidling - very helpful! I’ve only seen CC68s with the two knob preamp. I’ve never seen your preamp on any Ovation. If you look at the link I shared, your preamp looks a lot like the “Applause” preamp. Sometime ago I worked on an 1861 Standard Balladeer with the preamp called the “Thinline.” I suspect they are mounted similarly. In order to remove the preamp you’ll first need to remove the face plate. Once that’s removed you should see four or more screws securing the preamp in place. Unfortunately, there’s a good chance that the face plate will be damaged during removal and replacement face plates are simply not available. Of course, if you’re going to change your preamp you’ve got nothing to worry about as far as face plates go. However, swapping preamps means modifying your preamp cutout in the bowl of the guitar and that could be a lot of work! So order of preamp removal will be 1). Remove slider knobs; 2). Peel off face plate; 3). Remove mounting screws; 4). Remove preamp from inside the bowl through the sound hole. That should do it! Good luck!
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Location: When?? | @arumako - >>> 1). Remove slider knobs; 2). Peel off face plate;<<<
This is one of the best parts of the OFC-- seeing things we have not seen before-- so I will I'll go one better on the removal sequence. Before prying away, step #1 may be best suited in closely checking inside the bowl first to make sure the face plate is not installed with nuts on threaded studs that protrude from the bottom of the plate and that have no attachment visible from the outside. In that event, you'd likely suppose that the thread studs would merely be screws with the screw head visible outside; or possibly, as Ken described, a pop-off facia plate over top of mounting screws for aesthetic. HOWEVER, there may be some type of wiz-bang tech inside that kept them from designing it those ways.
PS: Eidling, if you could, please-thank-you post further photos.
Edited by Love O Fair 2025-07-14 7:04 PM
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Location: Yokohama, Japan | Good call Al! I completely agree. Better to not make assumptions!
@ Eidling - to examine the area around the preamp from inside the sound hole you might need an inspection mirror or mini endoscope camera with a light. Let us know how it goes! |
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| Thank you! Not sure I want to risk damaging the face plate. We shall see. Glad I could contribute a pic of a preamp that it seems many had not seen before! If I decide to proceed, I will keep you all informed and take pics. I recently had some surgery that has affected my vision, so I definitely won't be exploring further until I can see well again! Thank you again to those of you who responded!
Edited by eidling 2025-07-24 5:13 PM
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| Attempting to post a pic of the guitar and its label |
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| Attempting to post a pic of the guitar and its label
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Location: When?? | The downloads worked.. and that's a really pretty Celebrity. The only Celebrity I own is also a Korea model (1992 CC-13), and it has held up quite well for 33 years, but it is acoustic-only, so no preamp to compare. |
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Location: Yokohama, Japan | eidling - 2025-07-24 7:48 AM
Attempting to post a pic of the guitar and its label
Hi Eidling,
Thanks for sharing the pics as downloadable files. Nice Celebrity! Just FYI that you might have already read, but here's a link about how to post pics at the OFC...Meanwhile, I hope you don't mind my sharing the pics here 
Looks like the left side of the headstock is cracked? See that kind of thing a lot, but that's a beautiful guitar! Here's the label. 
When I first removed the face plate on my thinline preamp, my ignorance led to the destruction of the face plate, but if you use a pen knife with a thin tip, you can get under the face plate and slowly (and I mean slowly) peel enough of it back to get a clean removal. My thinline face plate was made from a thin metal-like material so bending the face plate meant destruction. The replacement face plate that the Mother Ship sent me at the time was printed differently and made of thin plastic, but pretty delicate all the same. Good luck and keep us posted! |
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| Thanks for posting the pics and leading me to the instructions! Yes, a chunk of the headstock was broken off when I got it. I stained it and sanded it a bit. It's fine. It turns out the plastic cover will slide from side to side, but not to the point where it releases. 
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Location: When?? | Eidling.. I finally.. finally.. got the link to this thread to open (per the PM I sent). Was the link being stubborn for anyone else to open, or was it only on my end? (edit: I jut now saw Ken's post to Mr. Ovation-- so that answers that).
I hope your surgery/vision is improving. Meanwhile, have you been able to reach inside the bowl to feel around on the preamp for attachment points? You said that your don't care for the plugged in sound.. so curious as to what sound properties you would like to improve with the different electronics, which still beings us back to what other preamp applications may fit in whatever hole lay beneath that face plate, or what type of alteration would need to be made to the body to fit anything available.
Edited by Love O Fair 2025-07-30 7:48 PM
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CC68 Preamp questions
