ovation guitar preamp 6501

[pinkjimiphoton]

hey guys,
i picked up one of these off the web recently, and it arrived today.
wayyyyyyy back in the 70' when i first began recording, in fact, on my first session, i used one of these into a vox 2x12 combo <forget which, was solid state piggyback with a frame and a 2x12 vertical cab> and absolutley loved the fuzz. now, that was 40 years ago so it may suck to my ears now, but willing to take a chance.
i wanna restore this thing either way, but am hesitant to do much unless i can find a schematic.

when fender closed ovation down here in new hartford, they literally thru everything away. i got some parts from friends that they salvaged from there, including a couple complete but disassembled guitar amps. the suck thing is, used to be able to just call them for spare parts or schematics etc... they kept a good inventory of parts. all gone.

in addition to the schematic, if anyone is familiar with the footswitching for it or has a schematic for it, i'd be very grateful. switching appears to be from a 6 pin din jack, if thats any help.

trying to find any info on the web has been really frustrating, so i hope you guys can help!!
thanks for reading this

[dmeek]

Lots of Ovation info here, though I didn't see a 6501

http://www.ovationtribute.com/Schematics.html

[The Dude]

I saw that, also. I wonder if maybe one of those isn't close or close enough?

[pinkjimiphoton]

gonna be hard to tell til i open it up. i think i saw that site already, and could not find the stuff there. there's not much info out there on these things!!

thanks guys!!

[pinkjimiphoton]

just looked, no dice

[The Dude]

Can you upload a picture or two? It might help better identify what we're looking for.

[pinkjimiphoton]

of the boards, or the unit? may take a couple days before i can crack her open, but....

the first pic on this page is the unit in question

http://jedistar.com/ovation-2/





amp catalog.... note, there's probably a couple different names for the same dang unit

http://www.ovationtribute.com/Catalo...mps%20Catalog/

[pinkjimiphoton]

god.
i am sofa king of the sofa king fukawee tribe.

model 6051, not 6501. sorry guys!!

[g1]

Does it look the same or different from this as far as controls & functions?
http://www.ovationtribute.com/Ovatio...K-6002%207.jpg

If it's the same, musicparts sells the schematic

[pinkjimiphoton]

god.
i am sofa king of the sofa king fukawee tribe.

model 6051, not 6501. sorry guys!!

and to add insult to injury, on the front panel, it says model k 6000

the one in this picture is not it, its similar, slightly more features, mine is the one that just has fuzz and reverb level pots.

it arrived today, plugged it in, DOA.
sucks.
so i opened it up and gave it a bit of a heart massage... cleaned the pots and jacks, re-set the circuit boards.. these are a lot like the old haynes jazz king II amps, everything is modular and hooked up to the power supply in parallel. its a very peculiar setup. gonna draw up or at least take pics of the fuzz board while its open, its a two bc109 style fuzz, but i gotta look at it to see how the heck its implemented..

i've traced the problem to the output mixer board already, the channel 2 output is loud n' proud... too loud n proud, in fact, and the reverb and fuzz don't work on it .... if you use the channel 2 only output.

if ya use the parallel channels outputs, the reverb works, the fuzz works mediocrely on channel two and down right wimpidly on channel one, but the reverb works on both channels. "top boost" works irregardless of which output you choose, as does the tremolo.

once in a while if i tap on it right and manipulate the switches just so, it lets loose the mighty roar it should have... i rocked one of these back in like, 79-80 and it wasn't great, but it had plenty of balls to overdrive an amp... on both channels. and the reverb worked on both channels, as did the fuzz, which actually was thick and chewy for the shitty fuzz it was in there. would do a nice growly woman tone but more gated. cool for like, one song, maybe... one song a year.

anyways, when ya use the actual mono/parallel channel outputs, where every vegematic switch works, its like, gotta be minus 12db from just plugging in the amp. each channel works, volume, treble bass, reverb, but....

right above the reverb selector switches, and in the proximity of the top boost switches, if ya tap on it sometimes it suddenly works, kinda.

so following the lead out... and yeah, i swapped the board on the channels to see if it was the channel or after, both boards work fine in channel two, so its gotta be an issue in the mixer stage before the output, right? which is where the wires going to the outputs go to, of course. they feed a switching jack on one side... when the plug is in the parallel outputs, the switch in the jack is closed and shorts the reverb on. its f'd upper than a soup sammich.

but i figure its gotta be on that board.
it came fed ex, so i guess it probably got a bit of abuse on the way here.. it was sent the long way across the country, of course.

also, one of the mounts for the channel one socket is actually busted right off the chassis... indicating big hit somewhere down the line. so its possible something is kinda shorted in there somehow somewhere, as its working, if intermittently and spuriously.

i just dunno if its worth dealing with for the price i paid for a functioning unit.

[pinkjimiphoton]

Does it look the same or different from this as far as controls & functions?
http://www.ovationtribute.com/Ovatio...K-6002%207.jpg

If it's the same, musicparts sells the schematic

musicparts sells the owners manual, they don't have the schematic. already checked.


thanks tho!!

ok, that said, i got it working last nite.
already had iso'd the problem to the mixer stage.
me and rob strand have traced most of the circuit, he's working on a proper schematic.

in the end, was literally THE LAST FUCKIN THING IN LINE BEFORE THE OUTPUT JACKS!!

must have taken a hell of a hit in shipping, the orange drop output cap solder joints had failed.

quick clean up, suck out the old, melt in some new, and the thing lives again and TOTALLY kicks ass.

thanks for the support guys!

when i get some video etc i'll report back.

the fuzz in it is horrible, by itself. but man, put anything in the front to do your dirt, and it becomes a final stage of treble boosted fuzzy glory. amazing.

again, thanks to all!
stay tuned... peace out

btw, a question for The Dude

if lf electricity comes from electrons, where do morons come from?