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Ovation Magnum


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Seen one of these on ebay - looks interesting, bit rich on the buy it now though - built like a tank!

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-Vintage-1978-OVATION-Magnum-1-EBONY-PRISTINE-FAT-/160440312517?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item255afce2c5"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-Vintage-1978-OV...=item255afce2c5[/url]

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it was a long time ago - i was a terrible bassist back then.

When Johnny Roadhouse had great gear.

But i remember the metal thumb rest/surround heping my right hand find its place, and i remember a thick warm bass sound.

they are usually £1000 in tidy condition with original hard case territory.

I will own one eventually.

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[quote name='AndyTravis' post='856746' date='Jun 4 2010, 12:50 AM']it was a long time ago - i was a terrible bassist back then.

When Johnny Roadhouse had great gear.

But i remember the metal thumb rest/surround heping my right hand find its place, and i remember a thick warm bass sound.

they are usually £1000 in tidy condition with original hard case territory.

I will own one eventually.[/quote]

Like the sound of it, but 1400 squid is too rich for my blood! A grand would be more like it....

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Vintage and rare wanted a grand!

So £1400 is ambitious.

The bass is worth a grand as a player.

The other version with EQ faders is more problematic, so i'm led to believe.

Maybe send a message to the guy, offer 1k, and if it ends with no bids, he'll get in touch?

worth it in my book - a non fender, vintage bass, something a bit different.

the quality isn't lacking, just the fact that they are a bit of an 'odd ball' - Ovation changed the design of the magnum to a more fenderish shape before forgetting the solidbody market alltogether...i think

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[quote name='The inglourious bass turd' post='856740' date='Jun 4 2010, 12:35 AM']Seen one of these on ebay - looks interesting, bit rich on the buy it now though - built like a tank!

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-Vintage-1978-OVATION-Magnum-1-EBONY-PRISTINE-FAT-/160440312517?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item255afce2c5"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RARE-Vintage-1978-OV...=item255afce2c5[/url][/quote]

Hi.
I've got one identical to the one listed and a Magnum III, in a smokey blue colour.

They are a great bass and I love the sound I get out of it.
They are, however, not quite as people see them.
They are seen as heavy and all powerful, they are neither.
They are not heavy, balance well, nice neck, the pup frame allows you to rest your
thumb where ever you choose and with the right strings on, can give some bright sounds.

The pick-up have a good range of tones - I have the front one notch down from the back,
tones on 7, which gives a bright punch.
You can go "all dub" on the front pup, turn the tone right down and away you go.
The front pup has a clever facility to "Balance" the strings, as each string has it's own coil.

And finally, if you have a precision, or similar, you will have to turn your amp up to bring
it to the same volume as the "P" - they are good pup's but judging by my two, they are
not "all powerful".

Having said all that, great bass - love it to bits - bit of a rarity, so you get all the bass
players eyeing it up.

See Manual below.

[url="http://www.ovationtribute.com/Catalogues/Magnum%20Bass%20Owner%20Manual/Magnum%20Bass%20Owner%20Manual.html"]Mugnum Manual[/url]


Cheers. :)

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[quote name='The inglourious bass turd' post='857002' date='Jun 4 2010, 11:15 AM']Cheers Eric - fancy the look and sound of it but really don't want to pay the cost of 2 Fender Jazz for a 30 year old bass with impossible to source parts! Might go a grand for the 'unusual' factor though.....[/quote]

Here's one for £550...

[url="http://www.moonguitars.co.uk/moonhome.html"]http://www.moonguitars.co.uk/moonhome.html[/url]

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What a truly awful site that is... Looks like it was made in 1995 and hasn't been touched since.

Also no photos of the bass in question. The one originally posted looks in near pristine condition. I doubt the one in Moon Guitars at £550 is even close to being as good as that.

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[quote name='AndyTravis' post='856756' date='Jun 4 2010, 01:04 AM']Vintage and rare wanted a grand!


The other version with EQ faders is more problematic, so i'm led to believe.[/quote]

Yeh. Mate of mine has one. I had a play with it and the one of the LF faders was intermittent. probably just a dry or broken joint on a flimsy curuit borad, cos that's what it felt like.

Anyway, last one I saw went for £800. And the Jimmy Moon one looks well used (don't the all, at that age?), but I can't mind if it had the graphic.

Edited by Stacker
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£550 is a deal. i started looking for one about this time last year when i saw one go on ebay for £420. One seems to pop up every few months and the next went for about £550 then about £600. most recent ebay magnum went for over £800 around easter. Interestingly the magnum 3 on ebay around easter went for just over £300 and the only difference to a magnum 1 is the body shape, so if you are more about the sound than the shape, that could be a cheaper option if you are on a tight budget.

I paid £500 for my magnum 1 last november. natural finish, case, passive etc like the one on the moon site. i don't know where they got the date 1973 from as the magnum was only made from around 76 as far as i know.

flateric is right that the sound is more flexible than it is made out to be. people seem to look at the huge neck pickup and think DUB straight away. Being long scale and having that pickup does provide the lowest deepest bass sound known to man, that is just one of many. i like messing with playing position and pickup selection/tone and can get a great timmy commerford palying near the bridge pickup. the bass sounds great for slap thanks to the ebony board but this will depend on whether your technique fits around the various chunks of metal that adorn the traditional right hand slap territory. i've managed to work around it and can get a cool larry graham vibe, but would doubt that wooten fans would rave about it!

here's the one i ended up getting. absolutely love it!

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=65845"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=65845[/url]

1400 is way tooooo much. £550 is a good deal

hope that helps,

rich

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good point. for the auction i'd say:

good:
finish to body
finish to hardware
frets in good condition
looks all original

bad:
weird yellow bubbles in carbon strip. not present on mine
bad looking knock to carbon/wood just near headstock on back of neck
action- looks very badly set up. it is quite a difficult bass to set up due to the unorthodox bridge but it can be made a lot lower than pictured!maybe check the truss rod works...
looks like some of the screws have been damaged a bit and the allen key bolt on the back of the body looks to be rounded (although should be kept done up fully anyway i have found)
non original case.

so not bad but not perfect, i would want to look before buying to check rod, pickups, bridge adjusters etc and probably worth 5-700 quid realistically.

rich

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Selling is all about presentation.

The bass in the OP has a whole host of fantastic photos to show off that it's in close to pristine condition, and apart from my concerns about the apparent height of the action and the fact that from a collectors PoV it should really have the original Ovation case rather than the Hiscox case that's supplied the price isn't too far removed what a fairly rare and desirable bass in the is condition is worth.

Moon guitars on the other hand obviously aren't trying to sell as hard. They're probably for the most part happy with the trade they get actually coming into the shop and their on-line presence is very much an after-thought. I'd be interested to know how long they take to reply to the request for photos and how good the photos they actually send are for determining the condition and value of the instrument.

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[quote name='BigRedX' post='860953' date='Jun 8 2010, 01:20 PM']Moon guitars on the other hand obviously aren't trying to sell as hard. They're probably for the most part happy with the trade they get actually coming into the shop and their on-line presence is very much an after-thought.[/quote]

I think the shop as a whole is an afterthought, providing the premises from where he builds his guitars.

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[quote name='BigRedX' post='860953' date='Jun 8 2010, 01:20 PM']The bass in the OP has a whole host of fantastic photos to show off that it's in close to pristine condition, and [b]apart from my concerns about the apparent height of the action [/b]and the fact that from a collectors PoV it should really have the original Ovation case rather than the Hiscox case that's supplied the price isn't too far removed what a fairly rare and desirable bass in the is condition is worth.[/quote]

That's one thing you wouldn't have to worry about buying from Jimmy Moon. Here's a clip about his shop:

Edited by dlloyd
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