Ovation Celebrity DLX Mandolin  

SKU 
#513557000226000
  • MSRP:
    $749.50
  • Your Savings:
    - $220.50
  • Free Shipping on Orders over $49
  • Your Price:
    $52900

Order Now! Expected to ship 06-11-2012

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Ovation

The MC148 cutaway acoustic/electric mandolin, with Spruce top and OP-24+C preamp.

Rules were made to be broken. These are uncommon times. These are times for an Ovation Celebrity Acoustic. If you're bending the fretted world's rules to the limit, you need an instrument that expands your boundaries. This collection of long-scale, short-scale, high-pitched, low-pitched, wide-necked and solid body cousins goes where no guitar has gone before.

Features

  • Electronics: OP-24+ /TD>
  • Style: Mandolin, cutaway
  • Top: Spruce
Write a Review Overall Rating Customer Reviews 7 See all 7 customer reviews...

Beware. Be Very Aware.

| Review By: Christopher Russell | 5 months, 2 days ago

3 people out of 3 found this review helpful

Features:

Very nice features.  On-board active EQ is a plus.  Ball-end strings are a minus, only because it's hard to find them sold in stores as a set.  However, most music stores will let you assemble a set from singles.  Also, Internet/mail-order is a supply solution.  Related to this is the fixed bridge.  No adjustable saddles means no adjustable intonation.  This is bad.

Quality:

Fairly robust construction, it seems.  Dealing with the trap door to get to the interior (including the nine-volt battery nest) is a bit tricky at first, but one can get used to it.  Except for the intonation, I'd give it higher marks for quality.

Value:

I can't get past the intonation issue to answer this question.  I wish I got a different instrument.

Overall:

I bought one of these products because I wanted a mandolin that looked cool and could be plugged into a PA system.  It's  certainly a handsome instrument, and its active EQ features are  serviceable. Electronically, it's okay.  I understand that bluegrass  purists give it a collective thumbs down, if not for the deep-bodied  plastic back construction, but for the absence of chirp and sparkle that  a traditional mandolin offers.  Unamplified, this instrument does not cut  through an ensemble like the "real" thing.  But since I'm using this for  pop/rock/alternative applications, I was content with the tone and  other features.  What disappoints is this product's truly lousy  intonation.  Simply put:  it does NOT play in tune up and down the  neck.  Tuning it means balancing the apparent pitch achieved between  open positions and, say, the fifth or seventh frets.  I am already  seriously contemplating a replacement.

Do you own the product?:
Yes
Have you used the product?:
Yes
Musical Experience:
Church
Style of music you play:
Alt-country rocky stuff
Where you live:
U.S.

Did you find this review helpful? yes no1103361

Solid Buy!

| Review By: Bronc | 1 year, 7 months ago

0 people out of 0 found this review helpful

Features:
Quality:
Value:
Overall:
This is a great mandolin for the money.  Mine has held together fine.  I think it sounds great unplugged and amplified.  I've got a buddy who has the same one and has played it for many years without issue.  I took lessons from a guy who's "The Gibson" mandolin supposedly cost more than his car and I couldn't hear THAT much of a difference.  Great starter mandolin.  Weakest point would be the tuners.  I may replace them one day, but it stays in tune way better than cheap guitars.
Do you own the product?:
No
Have you used the product?:
No
Musical Experience:
Church Worship Leader
Style of music you play:
Praise and Worship
Where you live:
Colorado

Did you find this review helpful? yes no1051836

A good value

| Review By: T.J.-efOvR | 2 years, 7 months ago

1 people out of 1 found this review helpful

Features:
Quality:
Value:
Overall:
This is a very nice instrument for the price. Very solid and has the same pre-amp as the much more expensive USA-made Ovation mandolin. I have recorded and gigged with it with zero problems. I would, however, have it set up by a pro luthier. I felt like the action at the nut could be lower and took it for a set up- now it plays great. If you are a bluegrass purist  or are really into high-end traditional mandos, this might not be for you. For a gigging player in a folk, rock or eclectic setting, it works very well. Considering that the USA model is way more expensive, this is a bargain. BTW, the bridge is bolted to the top, so bridge lifting is not an issue.
Do you own the product?:
Yes
Have you used the product?:
No
Musical Experience:
active musician
Style of music you play:
folk rock jazz
Where you live:
Austin, TX

Did you find this review helpful? yes no966165

Really Good for the Money

| Review By: Mr. Sunday Strummer | 3 years, 1 month ago

0 people out of 0 found this review helpful

Features:
Quality:
Value:
Overall:
This is really pretty good Mandolin for your Money.  It doesn't compare to a $1000 one but that is apples to oranges.  The pickup works pretty well though the features of the preamp are more designed for guitar the mid scoop doesn't really work with the tone of a Mandolin.  My only change was the tuning machines were not too great but some Grover 18:1 fixed that.  Some call these un-traditional but the first Mandolins' backs were hollowed out Gords.  I wish though that more stores carried the strings and that they would make more than just 11's in Ball end.
Do you own the product?:
Yes
Have you used the product?:
No
Musical Experience:
Sunday Strummer
Style of music you play:
Country / Gospel
Where you live:
Austin, TX

Did you find this review helpful? yes no965748

Bridge defect

| Review By: gobfcs | 3 years, 4 months ago

0 people out of 0 found this review helpful

Features:
Quality:
Value:
Overall:
I have gone through two of these in two years. After the bridge pulled up on the first I got it replaced by the manufacturer. However, when the bridge bulled up and the body cracked on the second I moved on to a better quality instrument. Sound is good, but these just won't last more than a year or two.
Do you own the product?:
Yes
Have you used the product?:
No
Musical Experience:
Active Musician
Style of music you play:
Celtic
Where you live:
Maryland

Did you find this review helpful? yes no1044644

See all 7 customer reviews...
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