Ovation VXT

This is the 2008 "D" model with a flamey Top. It's the brown sugar finish and is an orangey brown color - beautiful.

Single vol and tone, blend for acoustic/elec sounds.

Stereo/mono switch wither combines or separates the two voices.

Great sound versatility, can do the big jazz box thing or a pretty convincing Les Paul. The acoustic voice is a little noisy on the bass side which makes finger picking kind of boomy. You just touch the strings and the bass booms at you. Still overall its usable and inspiring. I like the control layout and the master volume with the blend knob works well.

Nice unplugged acoustic voice for couch picking while watching TV. Big chunky neck like a 50's Les Paul.

Awesome setup. Superior craftsmanship. I can't find a fault. The neck pickup is a little lower than I'd like for aesthetic reasons but it really is a beaut!

The body is an odd shape on the back. It's kind of like the shape of a shallow bowl Ovation acoustic in that it is rounded from the top down about mid-way. That surprised me. Body is bigger than I expected too.

It's brand new - used on 1 gig - I don't expect problems.

No experience.

I've been playing 30 years and have owned four other acoustic electrics and the Brian Moore i2.13 was very similar in function but would not stay in tune. This guitar is really a fine instrument. They are going stupid cheap right now - I got mine new for $800. I'd buy another one for that in a second if didn't have this one - its the best of its class that I've tried.

I have to begin this review with a disclaimer: I really like this guitar. I have played Fender and fender-type instruments for 20+ years, so this guitar has a definite "platypus" feel to me, but it is a truly great guitar. That said, I think Ovation missed the boat a little.
In the world of hybrids, I challenge anyone to find a more versatile guitar. The Fishman p'up/preamp combo is stellar. with the exception of the t-5, you won't find a more organic acoustic sound in a guitar of this type. Where it is far superior to the t-5 as well as the rest of the hybrid world is on the electric side. The Seymour Duncan '59 humbuckers give it a superior tone - truly playable in any context as a legitimate electric. Between the p'ups and the chambered body, you can get a great tone that sits somewhere between an ES-335 and a Les Paul. Blend in some acoustic and a great Jazz Box sound is at your fingertips. So how did Ovation miss the boat? Well, the neck is a baseball bat. A nice-feeling baseball bat, but a baseball bat nonetheless. It is thicker than their very comfortable acoustic necks. No locking tuners. No coil tap. Realistically, this is supposed to be a versatile, modern hybrid guitar, so why fall short with the features. My guess is that they wanted a vintage and/or acoustic feel, but I think that they were just off the mark with their demographic. Either way, I give it an eight for features.

I touched on the sound briefly above, but I can't overstate this: IT IS A GREAT SOUNDING GUITAR. Head and shoulders above all hybrids on the electric side, second only to the t-5 in acoustic. Blending is fantastic...had I mentioned it sounds great?

I've never received a more meticulously set up guitar. Perfect out of the box.

As I stated earlier, I am a Fender guy, so I have to admit I am a little wary when I gig with this guitar. It is very pretty, with a sunburst flame maple top, and the chambering makes it very light. After years of hauling around cheap bangers, I am very careful with this guitar. It feels plenty solid, I just feel a little anxious.

N/A - never dealt with them.

I hve been playing for over twenty years and gig regularly in two different projects. I have owned a lot of guitars and dumped most of them. The quality and versatility of this guitar make it a keeper. I can't see myself parting with it.

black model.two 59' duncans.fishman power bridge.this guitar looks sharp with glossy black finish and chrome.after a treatment of stewart macdonalds' fretboard finishing oil, rosewood board became a nice dark rich color.string through body and good quality ovation tuners make stringing up and tuning easy.when standing and playing,the guitar balances nicely.a top cut-away like on a strat would have made playability better.a chambered mahogany body gives the vxt a comfortable weight.the vxt has the right amount of features and quality parts to play well.

ovation uses great sounding ac/el pre-amps and together with its duncan pick-ups this guitar sounds great.its a comfortable easy to play electric with which you can layer a piezo acoustic sound with.the layering function control (located on the guitar)works well.between the dual duncan humbuckers and the fishman power bridge , there are alot of tonal variations to dial in.using a stereo cord and directing the humbuckers to your favorate marshall or fender amp,etc., and the powerbridge to an acoustic amp or pa system,adds even more control. this is the best way to play this type of guitar.playing in stereo with separate amps makes the vxt sound really big.this works well in single guitar player bands.when playing songs that have acoustic and electric parts,switching between total acoustic sounds to total electric can become tricky. this is because of the distance the control knob has to turn in mono.in stereo you can use an a/b footswitch to to make this happen.switching the guitar between mono and stereo can be easily done by a small slider switch located on the back of the guitar next to the battery compartment.

all quality parts and controls. the binding on the body and neck add to its value. rosewood vxt truss rod cover make it unique.fits into a viper ac/el case.USA ovation guitars are made well.

the vxt was made to be played live.it is a guitar that you can bang out chords on.it has a nice chunky neck and a solid feel.

nver have had to deal with customer support.

the vxt has a voice all to itself.it doesn't sound like any of my other guitars.for recording it works great.you can patch the seperate acoustic and electric sounds to different channels.live playing it sounds full.it even sounds good unplugged.it can never take the place of a good strat or les paul.it will never sound as good as a sweet acoustic.but the vxt is a good sounding,well made guitar thats a lot of fun to play.

Hybrid electric acoustic guitar. It can go mono or stereo and comes with a handy switch that allows you to play through one amp for both tones or two amps...one for electric the other for acoustic. USA made and it plays like it.

I play semi-professionally both live and in the studio.
The guitar is really the one I have been looking for for 30 years. I have had an American Hamer duotone, Korean duotone, two Carvin 185s, Godin flat five, guild starfire, gibson 335, various fenders, taylors, parkers and other brands. The guitars that were hybrids were all nice guitars but were really acoustic guitars first and didn't really have satisfactory electric tones. The electrics were great, but I needed the versatility of going back and forth from acoustic to electric and even blending them. This ovation rivals any electric I have ever owned or played in a store. The humbuckers are sweet sounding and useful. The acoustic is it's own sound, really nice. The overall sound is in my opinion great.

The guitar itself came set up well. I have had it for a few months and have yet to tweak the action as I like it as is. The neck is wide and good for fingerpicking, strumming and lead playing. The neck is sort of in between an electric and acoustic neck. I like that. The one weakness in the neck is that it was very "dry." I had to treat it several times with guitar honey to make it nice and playable.

The guitar has been reliable so far though it took some getting used too. There is no pickguard so the scratches are starting to show. I purchased it used off ebay from a guy who played it for 10 minutes and decided it wasn't for him. It was mint when I got it. I play out alot and although it is never abused, the guitar is very "scuffable" and scratchable. I like the dunlop locking strap holders and the guitar stays in tune pretty well.

If lost or stolen I would surely get another one. It's a great overall guitar with professional tones and versatile.

My model is a 2007 Teardrop Burst finish low serial number. Previously submitted specs are spot on.
I would describe the neck as wide, jumbo frets. Really nice woods, body, top and particularly the fretboard (great looking piece of rosewood). It only gets an "8" rating because a 10 would have all this does, plus a Sustainer pickup and a 13 pin output! OK, so I'm a maniac!

It is clean and quiet. I've used it through a few amps:
Genz-Benz Shenandoah 60 for clean, Lexicon Signature 224,Roland VGA-7, Ampeg ReverbRocket. "Acoustic" output from Fihsman/VIP premap combo really needs to be direct into board to appreciate how good it is.
Electric output is beefy with typical Seymour Duncan '59 humbucker attributes. Hard to get better!

I am fussy about setup. But this thing is good to go. Even after many months on the floor at GC, it just needed new strings and a basic cleanup. Intonation was spot on, action nice and I didn't feel compelled to touch the truss rod (I can almost always decide a neck could use a little tweak.

Everything feels extremely solid. It wil be interesting to see how long the electronics last, but given I have a 1976 Ovation 1612 that still works great, I have high expectations.
I always replace strap buttons with Schaller strap locks ((don't you...what are ya, nuts???)
Finish seems pretty sturdy without being too think.
I wouldn't gig without a backup. Dead battery or electronics and you're hosed!

I have not had anything done to this guitar, but part of the reason I bought it was my prevoius dealings with Ovations customer service.
Fantastic. Very reasonable pricing on a non-warranty repair and great fast work on a warranty issue with one of my acoustics. Really nice people too!
Here's their warranty statement:
Limited Lifetime warranty policy means that for the first 2 years you own the product, Kaman Music will cover all parts and labor for anything deemed defective. After that initial 2 year period, Kaman will cover the parts for anything deemed defective as long as you own the product, but now the consumer is responsible for any labor charges incurred in the repair.
Please Note: All electronics, machine heads and strings are not covered under warranty.

I've been playing for >30 years. I have quite few nice guitars (Brian Moore M/C1, 2.13, PRS Custom 24, Les Paul Supreme, Washburn W168. Adamas 2080, Breedlove CAL06). This guitar holds it's own with the big ones. This is probably the most guitar for the money I have found.
I wish there were more settings for the acoustic output and I really wish it had a 13 pin output for synth use. It is a great guitar when you can only have one. It is an excellent electric, suitable for both lead and rythym work and the acoustic sounds is surprisingly good.

Ovation VXT is a Hybrid Electric/Acoustic Guitar.
6-string hybrid guitar
Solid spruce top
One-piece chambered Honduras mahogany body
One-piece Honduras Mahogany neck
1-11/16" nut width
Rosewood fingerboard
Pearl dot fingerboard inlays
25-1/2" scale length
Fishman Power Bridge
Chrome Ovation tuners
Seymour Duncan '59 humbuckers
Ovation VIP (Virtual Image Processing) preamp
Output blend knob
Volume, tone controls
Separate acoustic and electric output (Stereo - Requires Y-Cable included).

I gave the VXT a 9 because it would have been nice to include a switch in addition to the blender dial to move between Electric and Acoustic. For fast switch rolling the dial to full acoustic takes more time then required. However, no other Hybrid has a Blender Dial! One Last thing that should have been included is an automatic shut-off

I am not a professional and do not have "Perfect Pitch". I further beleive that the sound from guitars is very personal. I own 30 guitars (I know it is an addiction)and chose which to play based on my mood. That said, I was very impressed with the diversity of sounds that can be achieved from the VXT. If you are a Puress and looking for the classic Gibson Hummbucker or True Acoustic sounds; do not buy a Hybrid (VXT or otherwise). Get 2 guitars and change them out between songs. However, if you like to Jam and enjoy the practicality of carrying one guitar, this does a great job and gets close to "Acoustic". The Stereo capabilities are fantastic: I run the acoustic Piezo into an Acoustic Amp and the Hums into a Marshall. That is the best way to achieve the desired sounds from the Hybrid - Ovation does that right. This is a very versatile instrument and sounds great! I give the Electric Humbucker sound a 9 and the Acoustic sound a 8 (It got an 8 because only a non-hybrid can get the Acoustic true).

Beautiful finish! I got the Black finish from GC and it was set-up nicely. I have been playing it a few weeks now and have not needed to change anything. Note: I tend to not tweak the guitar set-up much and play whatever I pick-up as given to me. Unless it is really bad, I do not complain. There were no noticable flaws.

So far so good.... But have not used it enough to render an opinion.

Again have no experience with this but I have heard and read that Ovation has great customer support.

I have been playing on and off for 15 years (consistently for the last 4 years). I am in a garage band that plays out once in a while. I consider myself to be advance intermediate. I researched the heck out of hybrids before deciding on Ovation. Since it was a smokin' deal at $800, I figured it was worth it. Had it been $1,500 as advertised, probably would have stuck with the 2 Guitar Electric/Acoustic option. Love the sound and it is fast becoming my main Guitar. As stated I own 30 of them (Fender Strat/Tele, Gibson LP, Gretch, etc..). Recommendation: If you really want the Acoustic sound: Better then most Hybrids because of the Stereo capabilities. But maybe you need to just stick to using an Acoustic. Electric: Sounds great the Humbukers will not disapoint. Hybrid: Very practical and easy to use; remember: most of your listners are far less capable of distinguishing tones. They just enjoy the music (if drunk: really does not matter what you play!). Would I buy it again? Maybe if another hybrid does not come along and offer something better. Keep Rawkin....