Ovation 1861 Standard Balladeer

The 1861 is Ovation's lowest-priced USA-made guitar. Mine is a super-shallow bowl w/cutaway, finished in black. The top is sitka spruce, the neck is mahogany and the fretboard rosewood. If you've ever seen an Ovation, you know what it looks like -- no surprises on this one. On-board preamp is the OP-24Plus, which includes 3-band EQ, a "mid shift" button, low-battery indicator, etc. Nice to see that Ovation finally made the battery door accessible from outside the body.

I bought this guitar for simple tasks: playing in church on Sunday morning and noodling around the house. I own another six-string acoustic that's a higher-end guitar, and it clearly blows the Ovation away in terms of tone. However, the Ovation really excels at plugging in direct to a soundboard and offering up usable sounds right out of the box. The preamp is quiet and offers lots of range for dialing in EQ. I got some deep bass and sparkling highs without a lot of that piezo squonk that I remember from the last Ovation I owned. Mostly, I'm strumming rhythm or doing some light finger-picking, and it fits the bill nicely. My only real quibble is that, like my last Ovation, this one has some tuning quirks. By that I mean that intonation (which is not adjustable) is suspect along the B string. To get an open A chord to sound "in," I need to flatten the B a few cents -- something I don't need to do with my higher-end guitars.

Guitar played great right out of the box. Action set to my liking -- fairly low but not buzzing. The finish is glossy and rich, though it shows fingerprints very clearly. Keep polish handy.

Between playing two services each Sunday morning, practicing with the group every other week and then using it around the house, I expect this guitar to see a lot of action. My last Ovation was virtually indestructable, and this one feels just as solid. Light, too.

Last Ovation had a problem with pickup and they fixed it under warrantee, though it took several weeks. Generally, they're helpful when I call. So far no probs with this one.

I've been playing since 1987, and my first guitar was an Ovation 1862 Custom Balladeer (no longer made) that I wish I hadn't sold long ago. There's something about an Ovation that makes me feel very comfortable playing one, and I expect that I'll keep one in my "tool kit" from now on. It would be nice if Ovation offered upgrades to their electronics for a fee -- the next model up preamp has an onboard tuner that I could use.

USA made, 1997. Solid sitck spruce top, super-shallow back cutaway, two peice mahagany neck with Kaman bar reinforcenent, rosewood fretboard, ping machined tuners, OP-24+ preamp electronics. The OP-24 has a good amount of variety in tone adjustment: EQ status (in/out), pre-shape, mid-shift. Side battery access.
U-shaped neck has full feel, very comfortable to play chords with. My finish is the Cadillac Green, a deep dark green which you can still see the wood grain up close. and white soundboard binding which compliments the dark finish.

The Standard Balladeer's solid spruce top has a well-balanced clean sound. I was surprised at the volume, this being a super-shallow back. I don't need to amp it in a small/medium size room. In a larger room, the guitar needs to be amped to be heard, but that where the OP-42+ comes into play. very powerful preamp, and clean processing. Guitar sounds great out of an acoustic dedicated amp.

Great factory set action, nice and low, didn't have to mess with truss rod. very solid built guitar, joints all very smoothly put together. finish is very durabable for it thickness (gloss finish). accidently banged on corners a couple times and finish didn't show any noticible nicks, which i expected.

This guitar has taken well to a pounding of playing. Finish hides pick wear very well, though it has no pickguard. Molded back takes massive amounts of abuse, can't get much durable than that. Haven't had any problems with the preamp and appears very durable.

Never had to have it service, don't think i ever will need to.

Very good guitar, but doesn't take the place of my straight acoustic. Great for small room settings or stage, but not really great in between. It's my main axe right now, great to practice with due to it smaller bout. Like most people i don't like big roundbacks because they slide off my lap, but this one's different, with it's thin body, sits very well on my lap when i play, almost like a electric. Great guitar for the price, one of the top stage guitars around.

Made in the USA (Conneticut) 1861 Standard Balladeer has a solid sitka spruce top. It is a super slim ovation with 20 frets, two piece mahogany neck, roseword fingerboard, and has OP-24+ preeamp\ electronics. . The OP-24+ preamp allows you to boost the bass, midrange, & treble. There is a mid-shift button which lets you shift the midrange band from a 400Hz to a 1kHz center frequency and back. There is also a preshape circuit which raises the bass & treble, and reduces the midrange.
The neck has a mild Vshape which is easy to play.
My Standard Balladeer has a finish called "Plum Burst". This is beautiful looking - especially with the sitka spruce natural looking neck. Its a very rich combination, & very unique. The "Plum Burst" is not commonly found on this guitar. I have not seen any anywhere, at least in in the Standard Balladeer models.

The 1861 has a rich, even sound, as there isn't an overkill of bass, or treble. It sounds quiet nice unplugged, and lends itself to fingerpicking quite well - as the guitar is made to be louder with the design of the slim rounded back. I have only had the guitar amp'ed a few times. The guitar did sound nice, and the OP24+ electronics really helped in making the guitar sound its best in the conditions I was playing in.

The action is really good ont he guitar. There were no flaws in the guitar when I purchased it. And to date, there still hasn't been any. The original set of strings on the guitar (of medium gauge) were not of Elixir quality, but, did not wear any quicker either. I prefer the Elixirs on this guitar (and my other 2 guitars as well).

This guitar is used at home, at church, & in studio. This guitar is my choice when I am on the move and need good sound no matter the circumstance. The hardware on the guitar seems that it is made to last a long time. I would use this guitar without a backup.

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Overall Rating: about a 9. VERY GOOD all round (pardon the pun) guitar. I purchased the hard case with the guitar for $80 - the dealer knocked $50 off the price since I bought the guitar there. The case seems to be of fine quality. If this guitar was lost/stolen I would buy another! I love the fact it is versatile, and has good accoustic sound plugged, or unplugged. I have only one reason for hating the round back....it wont sit up on it own (easily). Leaning it up against the wall is some kind of a trick I havent mastered. I HAVE to use a guitar stand to stand it up with out having to worry about it toppling over on me.
I also own a Yamaha FJ-645 I got about 15 or so years ago. I love my Yamaha too, and wouldnt part with it.