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Ovation Tangent T257-5 Electro-Acoustic Guitar

 

Review of the Ovation Tangent by The Man in the Jar

Lauded as the electric players' acoustic guitar.

Features of the Ovation Tangent  

Tuners - Ovation branded mini-tuners with medium-large knobs. Smooth and accurate.

Headstock - A different slant on the distinctive Ovation head. The near-symmetry of the original design is broken by the placement of the tuners - two on the topside and four on the bottom. This arrangement causes the trademark scalloped edge to be skewed off-centre. 

Nut - The black plastic nut abuts the fretboard and is immaculately cut.

Neck - The neck is finished in a black sheen finish and I can't find any reference to the material used. Although comfortable and sleek in the hand, I don't think this is the slimmest acoustic neck I've ever come across. Don't expect it to have the same "feel" as an electric, unless your electric happens to be a Les Paul. Fret access is good in the upper regions - the 20th fret can be hit quite easily once you get used to leaving your thumb behind on the heel. 

Fretboard - The very dark rosewood fretboard is smooth and close-grained and tones very well with the black finish. The fret markers are in the form of diamond shaped rainbow abalone which add a touch of understated luxury.

Frets - Medium frets are nicely finished with no snagging on the ends.

Action - This guitar has a really good action for an acoustic guitar and electric players making the transition will find little to complain about. But as with most guitars arriving from the Far East, a new set of strings improves the overall feel.  

Body - This is where the Tangent really scores in wooing a habitual electric player. The ultra-slim bowl-back sits against your body much like an electric, especially in the seated playing position. The bowled back has a durable, textured splatter finish that looks like it can safely withstand buckle-rash. The spruce top is finished in a high gloss black that looks great but does show up the fingerprints (expect your mum to be irritated if you don't wipe it down after playing).
The soundhole comprises 15 holes of varying sizes. These add up to the actual surface area of a conventional soundhole and, due to some local bye-law of physics, perform to exactly the same standard as a conventional soundhole.  

Bridge - The bridge is listed as dark rosewood. Either it is very dark or it has been stained black. It's of the slotted tailpiece variety that dispenses with the need for bridge-pins. The black plastic saddle is compensated at the second string. 

Pickup - The Tangent is equipped with a thinline pickup situated under the bridge.

Controls - The controls sit in a removable pod in the top edge at the waist. Remove the pod to access the battery compartment at its base. When replacing the pod take care to insert the fattest end first and click home the thinnest end.
The OP30 preamp has 3 eq controls; Bass, Mid and Treble plus a Volume control all attenuated with sliders. There are three buttons associated with the eq. Firstly there's an eq in/out button to bypass the sliders. Then a Pre-shape button that lifts bass and treble and rolls off sub 40Hz rumble. Finally a Mid-shift button which changes the range of the Mid slider.
Included in the control panel is a funky little chromatic tuner that is really easy to use. Be aware that the tuner turns off automatically after one minute.

Pickguard - The two collections of soundholes have very thin single-ply decorative scratchplates in black. The area directly below the strings is unprotected so expect the finish to pick up faint pick-scratches almost from the word Go. 

Strap-buttons - Metal buttons are installed in the same places as on an electric guitar.

Output Jack - On the back of the bowled body towards the lower edge.

Finish - Really good throughout. If black's your thing then you'll love this.

 

Sound of the Ovation Tangent

I expected the un-amplified sound of the Tangent to be thinner than it actually turned out. Of course it lacks the woody timbre of a full acoustic but the sound is well balanced across the strings and certainly has sufficient volume to hold its own with other acoustic instruments. Stuck through a clean amp the Tangent delivered that nice crisp guitar sound that is synonymous with the Ovation brand. The eq's are wide-ranging but not so critical as to make fine adjustments difficult. On the contrary, I found it very easy to shape the basic sound and nail exactly what I wanted to hear. The Mid-shift "doubles" the usefulness of the Mid slider and vastly increases the flexibility for "tuning" your sound to the venue. The Pre-shape function adds a cool scoopiness to the tone.   

 

Overall Impressions of the Ovation Tangent

Sonically this guitar delivers enough goods to warrant the price tag. To wear and play it is very comfortable due to the shallowness of the bowl-back. The neck and action will present no obstacle to even the fussiest of electric players. The headstock is a touch weird but it does meld well with the gothic theme of this little black beauty.

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