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The Magnum 1974- |
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In 1974 Ovation introduced their version of the electric solid bodied bass – the Magnum. As with the electric guitar the design of bass guitars at this time was polarised around the modern lines of Fender [P Bass] and the more traditional symmetrical lines of Gibson. Ovation were not followers and almost every aspect of the Magnum was bass was original and innovative. The most obvious difference which bore no relationship to the current marketplace was the body. The solid mahogany body had an original ergonomic shape that had been arrived at in consultation with players, designed for comfort and ease of play. It was an elongated offset double cutaway, the upper horn being a little more extended than on the Breadwinner and the upper edge had a slight waist. The lower bout cutaway smaller. The neck may appear normal but was in fact reinforced by three carbon graphite rods, both lighter and stronger than steel, and offering both strength and flexibility. This was the first use of this material in a guitar and one of the probably one of the uses in the consumer market. The headstock, ok, standard Ovation headstock but then it was new and it’s distinctive shape owed nothing to Leo Fender or Gibson. |
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The Magnum was set of by a pair of humbucker pickups. The bridge pickup, although
an Ovation design, was a conventional enough split double coil unit but the neck
pickup ….. It was huge! This Ovation developed pickup had four large u- The Magnum 1 had separate volume and tone controls, with volume compensation, for each pickup. It also had stereo output, as well as mono, so that each pickup could be played through separate amplifiers or different channels on the same one. The Breadwinner was the first commercially available guitar with an onboard active electrics. I am surprised that this claim is not made for the Magnum for a bass [?]. Whatever, the Magnum 2 was fitted with an active system controlled by a three band graphic equalizer with side controls, providing an infinite range of tones. |
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The Magnum was a radical design that offered radical performance but like the Breadwinner
it was not a commercial success. When Ovation shelved the Breadwinner in favour
of producing a more conventionally shaped set of guitars it stuck by the Magnum.
It recognized that the conservative nature of the market and redesigned the body
but stuck with the earlier features of the bass. The Magnum 3 and Magnum 4 were
simply a restyling of the earlier models with identical specifications. There was
still an element of Ovation innovation in the new basses design, which although
giving some service to current design still retained individuality in it long slender
body. Not enough change for the market place though and the Magnum went out of production
in 1982, Ovation’s last attempt at an all- |
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