I never found Ovations remotely inspiring, either as player or listener, until recently someone plugged one in to an ELECTRIC guitar amp. Perfect acoustic tone - I guess the electric amp losing all those high frequencies killed the tizzy nature of the plugged sound. This is what they must have been intending all along.

As regards other makes, I have a Tanglewood and really rate them as a budget brand due to the B-band electronics. The plugged tone beat the Simon & Patrick, although the S&P had the better unplugged sound (I already had a Seagull Folk).

My advice would be to try not just a variety of guitars, but a range of amplifiers and find the best combination. For example, I've tried several systems through my Marshall AS50R and the B-band on the Tanglewood was good, while other systems (Taylor ES) wouldn't give me a decent sound - but that could be me. I had the reverse problem with the Roland AC60, which sounded great with the Taylor but not so good with the Tanglewood.