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Joined:
February 2009
Posts: 2
Location: Belgium | Hi,
I hope it's okay to ask for some help for my guitar here. I didn't see anything in the rules that said it's not allowed.
I've just bought an Ovation 1771LX online (which is my first Ovation) and I received it today, but right off the bat I seem to have some technical problems with it.
I put in a new battery in the OP-Pro Preamp and managed to tune the guitar. But when I plugged it into my amp I got no sound except for some cracking noises (which get louder as I turn up the gain). After this I was also unable to use the built-in tuner although the battery power supply seems to be okay. It did manage to pick up the tones of the G and D string when I played them loud enough.
So I'm assuming there's a problem with the pick-up? Does anybody know the best way to fix this?
The guitar is new, by the way. At least it looks new, and was advertised as such.
Thank you. |
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 2985
Location: Sydney, Australia | If it is new, then the easiest thing to do is take it back to the shop and get them to fix it. The only simple thing I can think of is that, sometimes, the cable doesn't click all the way into the socket. Mine can be kind of stiff and I need to push quite hard to get it to click into place. |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 396
| Originally posted by TAFKAR:
If it is new, then the easiest thing to do is take it back to the shop and get them to fix it. The only simple thing I can think of is that, sometimes, the cable doesn't click all the way into the socket. Mine can be kind of stiff and I need to push quite hard to get it to click into place. Yes, this is one of the advantages to buying from a large internet site. Many have good return policies and a large stock. Tell them it arrived defective. Many will take it back at their shipping charge and send you a new one. Problem solved. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Originally posted by Englishplayer:
[Yes, this is one of the advantages to buying from a large internet site. [/QB] Wow, so if this is just one of the advantages to buying from faceless online box-shifters rather than a human being, there must be more! Excluding of course ridiculous discounting that benefits the consumer in the short-term but ultimately screws the entire industry.
Enlighten us, please. Maybe the information will be useful to the smaller dealers who actually care about their customers, so they can reflect on where they went wrong while they draw their welfare checks. |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 396
| Originally posted by Paul Templeman:
Originally posted by Englishplayer:
[Yes, this is one of the advantages to buying from a large internet site. Wow, so if this is just one of the advantages to buying from faceless online box-shifters rather than a human being, there must be more! Excluding of course ridiculous discounting that benefits the consumer in the short-term but ultimately screws the entire industry.
Enlighten us, please. Maybe the information will be useful to the smaller dealers who actually care about their customers, so they can reflect on where they went wrong while they draw their welfare checks. [/QB]
Yes Paul, given the choice with roughly competitive pricing, a decent inventory, and working with someone I feel I can trust .... I will buy from the guy down the street. However, I don't find many guys like that around here. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 347
Location: Reno, NV | Yeah ...nothing really advantageous about having to box a guitar back up, ship it, wait for shipping, wait for return processing and then wait for replacement shipping. |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | I'm just telling it like it is. Ask anyone who makes their living from selling musical instruments. I agree there are useless brick and mortar stores who don't deserve to continue in business. But the fact is that there are certain high-volume online box-shifters at a regional, national and international level who are shafting the industry with shady practices and ridiculous discounting. What's even worse is that certain manufacturers and distributors are aware of it and appear to ignore it. |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4026
Location: Utah | Sounds like a loose pickup plug into the preamp. Take the little round hatch off of the back of the bowl and look inside. See if there are any obvious loose wires. Then carefully unplug and replug in the two wires going into the preamp can. One will be the pickup and the other will go to the output jack.
Also, be sure the preamp is securely plugged into the can. The user manual shows you how to remove the preamp to replace the battery. So I would pop it out and then reinstall it securely. While it is out, look at the connectors on the back of the preamp and in the bottom of the can to see if anything looks broken.
Finally, try another new battery just to be sure.
If none of that fixes it, then it sounds more than something I would mess with on a new guitar. Since you don't have the advantage of taking it back to a local shop for repair/replacement, you'll likely have to ship it back to the internet dealer. |
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Joined:
May 2008
Posts: 154
Location: Michigan | Welcome to the forum & congrats on your first Ovation.
I bought a 1771LX a few months back & had a similar problem. The tuner worked but it wouldn't play through the amp when plugged in.
I contacted the online retailer & they contacted Kaman.
I got an email from John Budny customer service manager at Kaman & a brand new unit was shipped to me & I recieved it in a couple days.
Popped it in & it worked fine.
Wally |
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Joined:
February 2009
Posts: 2
Location: Belgium | Thanks for the responses. This model doesn't seem to have the little round hatch that can be taken off, or I'm completely missing it.
Funny thing. I discovered that if I leave the guitar in its stand for a while (a couple of hours) and plug it in again it works on my amp. But from the minute I adjust the built-in EQ, it stops working and I get cracking noises again. It seems to come and go.
So that seems to verify that it's a loose contact in the preamp? Seeing as I'm not that comfortable with fiddling inside the preamp, I guess I'm going to have to send it back. Kind of a hassle, as some have already rightly stated. |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 4026
Location: Utah | Do you know anybody near you with an Ovation with the same model preamp? You could swap preamps to see if it is the preamp itself or if the problem is somewhere in the guitar.
It sounds like the problem is inside the electronics of the preamp from your description. If that is the case, it would seem to be a lot easier to just have the seller or the factory send a new preamp to you, rather than have to ship the whole guitar back.
BTW, I didn't know that the Balladeers don't have a rear hatch, but since they already have a front hatch (the sound hole), you wouldn't need one.
You could try loosening the strings and sticking your hand inside to try to feel if there are any loose wires going into the preamp. The preamp is a little electronic unit, and it snaps into a plastic can. The wires plug into the back side of the can (pickup and output jack). |
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Ovation 1771LX Standard Balladeer problem
