Ovation Magnum I

I got this bass from my uncle. He bought it in 1975, and it was his main bass right up until he gave it to me.

I like everything about this bass. First, the shape of the body is deffinatly going to catch your eye. It isnt anywhere near your usual bass shape. Also the electronics on it are awsome. There are 2 pickups, the neck pickup being a giant humbucker, and the bridge is a single coil pickup. There is a selector switch to go from either neck, to bridge, or both. Also this bass is active, which is hard to come across from a guitar made in the 70's. The neck is very fast due to how thin it is, but this won't take away from its strength. The action is perfect, and the bridge can be adjusted dozens of ways to get it just the way you like it.

There are a few things that I dont like about this bass. None of them are really that important that it should keep you from buying the bass, but they should still be pointed out. First, the bass is very heavy, and really tests your endurance when you're standing up with it on a strap. Next, the adjustment for the preamp crackle when they are changed. Not a big deal if you play at home, but it gets annoying if you play it infront of an audiance.

The Magnum is rugged. Mine will be 30 years old next year, but still holds up better than a majority of the guitars made today. Everything on it is built solidly, and almost guaranteed not to break.

The Magnum I is an awsome bass. I play everything from the classic rock such as the Beatles, Pink Floyd and Cream to heavy punk music such as the Butthole Surfers, Crass, and Black Flag. This guitar works for all of it. If you ever come across one on ebay, I can't recomend buying it enough. A 400/500 dollar purchase on this bass (I personally would be willing to pay more) will get you a bass that plays like the ones that cost thousands.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Ovation's Magnum I is an electric bass guitar that is definitely on the unique side. I believe that these basses were made in the late 1970's, although there are a few different models of the Magnum bass. The Magnum I has both a neck and a bridge pick up, along with tone and volume knobs for each of them and a pick up switch selector to choose between the two or to blend them. Uniquely, it also has two 1/4" connections on it for sending it to either one or two places, which is really cool and unlike any other instrument I've seen that I can think of...

UTILIZATION

The overall feel of the Ovation Magnum I is definitely more than enjoyable. It has a heavy sort of feel to it, in that I found the strings and action on the one that I played to be quite thick. It isn't hard to play, but does take a little bit more force than something with a more fluid feel. To me this isn't a bad thing, it just means that it has a different feel and therefore a different type of sound. The look and style of the body is really quite cool looking and very unique.

SOUNDS

The sounds that are possible with the Ovation Magnum I can definitely be manipulated in a variety of ways, but overall it has a very thick and heavy sound. It's great for getting more of an aggressive sound rather than a smooth one, but it is capable of getting a wide array of tones between the way you play it and the pick ups. I've used the bass in the studio, where we recorded it both direct with a Sansamp DI and through an Ampeg amplifier and got a really outstanding sound.

OVERALL OPINION

Other than the one that I've used, I've never seen or used another Ovation Magnum I bass guitar. Upon first seeing this guitar in the studio where I used it, I was definitely instantly impressed by the look and make up of it. I was even more surprised to find that Ovation made it, as I'm used to seeing them only make acoustic guitars. The Magnum I is one of the coolest bass guitars that I've had the pleasure of using.