Archon 25 Plum speaker swap!

Deedsoftommy

I ♡ chip's n' salsa.
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Jun 19, 2016
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Ingleside, Texas
After playing with my 25 watter. The stock G12t75 wasn't cutting it for me. Especially in my living room. It's to sharp, bitey, and a doesn't have the middle I need. The bass is fine. Since I own an EVH 4x12. Why not right? My middle is back and the top end is now controlled. Peace at last!!!
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The only Archon I've played was the 25 watt combo. I wanted to be blown away and wasn't, and I knew it was because I'm not a big fan of that speaker. Luckily some forum brothers sent me clips of their Archon and I immediately fell in love.

Drop Scumback or at least a Creamback in there!
 
Which model?

I should also add that I am fond of a couple Eminence speakers that I have. Preferred the Private Jack over 3 different versions of Celestion Greenback, and prefer the Governor over 2 V30s I had, but not the Mesa version of the V30. Don't know if I prefer the Gov or Mesa V30 as I haven't compared them head to head in the same cab, but both are better than the two Celestions I had. Also would consider trying a Warehouse in there. The ET65 might be perfect, or one of their V30-ish speakers if you prefer that.
 
It seems like many combo players end up swapping out the speakers, this isnt limited to the Archon either...makes one wonder how the manufacturer arrived with that speaker choice to begin with. I personally am addicted to Mesa V30s, my vert 2x12 sounds absolutely amazing with them.
 
makes one wonder how the manufacturer arrived with that speaker choice to begin with.

It's a subjective preference, so it's not surprising that a lot of people might not prefer what the manufacturer thinks is the 'best' choice.

I have a distortion pedal that has a tube in it. On a forum, someone asked the manufacturer what replacement tube would be a better choice than the stock tube. The manufacturer said, "We think we picked the best tube for the pedal. If we thought there was a better choice, that's the tube we'd have used."
 
The only Archon I've played was the 25 watt combo. I wanted to be blown away and wasn't, and I knew it was because I'm not a big fan of that speaker. Luckily some forum brothers sent me clips of their Archon and I immediately fell in love.

Drop Scumback or at least a Creamback in there!
Yeah you are right. After playing on this EVH G12. I'm not digging it. So far the G12T75 and EVHG12 are a no go. I still have a V30 I can try at least. :)
 
Which model?

I should also add that I am fond of a couple Eminence speakers that I have. Preferred the Private Jack over 3 different versions of Celestion Greenback, and prefer the Governor over 2 V30s I had, but not the Mesa version of the V30. Don't know if I prefer the Gov or Mesa V30 as I haven't compared them head to head in the same cab, but both are better than the two Celestions I had. Also would consider trying a Warehouse in there. The ET65 might be perfect, or one of their V30-ish speakers if you prefer that.
Those Warehouse speakers have been looking pretty nice lately.
 
It seems like many combo players end up swapping out the speakers, this isnt limited to the Archon either...makes one wonder how the manufacturer arrived with that speaker choice to begin with. I personally am addicted to Mesa V30s, my vert 2x12 sounds absolutely amazing with them.


I'm pretty sure every one here is waiting for a sweet pine PRS Vertical 2x12 ;)
 
It's a subjective preference, so it's not surprising that a lot of people might not prefer what the manufacturer thinks is the 'best' choice.

I have a distortion pedal that has a tube in it. On a forum, someone asked the manufacturer what replacement tube would be a better choice than the stock tube. The manufacturer said, "We think we picked the best tube for the pedal. If we thought there was a better choice, that's the tube we'd have used."
You are totally right. The manufacturer can put any speaker they feel sounds the best with an amp. I did give it a try and some time to let the G12T75 sink in, but it was time to move on. The amp is a different story. I LOVE it.
 
I have a G12k-100 in my Archon 50. Sound much bigger with that speaker in there. Smoother highs; bigger bottom.
 
Just put an Eminence V1216 into mine and It was AMAZING!!! I really feel like this is the speaker they should have put into the amp in the first place. Perfectly compliments the amp sound. Must buy! Cheaper and sounds better than WGS and Celestion.
 
I'm pretty familiar with Emi line and have a few of them. Haven't heard of the V1216. What is it?

If I had two Archon combos, here is what I'd do. I'd put an Emi Private Jack or Scumback M75 in the first one. In the second one, I'd put a Red Fang Alnico speaker, and an NOS 5751 in V2.

Amp #1 = RAWK! Amp #2 BLUEZ

p.s. And where did Deedsoftommyboy go???
 
I'm pretty familiar with Emi line and have a few of them. Haven't heard of the V1216. What is it?

The V12 is Eminence's "V-30" type speaker from their Legend series, although they don't have quite the midrange spike of a real Vintage 30. (The V1216 is the 16-ohm version.) I have one paired with a GB1216 (the 16-ohm version of Emi's greenback-alike from the Legend line) in an AC30 2x12 extension cab, and it sounds great.
 
I have the Private Jack and Governor. That's the greenie and V of the Redcoat line. Same with the Gov, less spike (a few dB) than the Celestion, and I like it better. And the PJ is like a greenback without the fizz. Sounds more like the old greenbacks I've heard.

So, that should be a great choice for the amp. And I like mixing those two as well. Right now, my Archon gets 90% of it's play time through my 2 1x12 Avatar cabs with the PJ and Gov. The mix can be aggressive of more vintage or a blend... 2 V30s are more modern sounding. Right now, I LOVE the Archon with the blend of the two.
 
Has anyone tried the Celestion G12 65 Heritage? I searched for the most expensive PRS amp I could find and asked what speaker it ships with. And the answer was two G12 65's.
 
I believe they used the g12 because it's familiar to many players and it sounds good clean. In my opinion it's kind of a disaster on the lead channel, but the Archon has loads of midrange on tap, so you can fill it out if you choose.
 
How the hell did you cram four 12” speakers in there??!! :D

Has anyone tried the Celestion G12 65 Heritage? I searched for the most expensive PRS amp I could find and asked what speaker it ships with. And the answer was two G12 65's.
Each amp was voiced with a particular cab+speaker combination. So, in this ‘buy-it-on-the-internet’ market these days, if you hear a demo you like, you’d better buy the whole rig, amp+loaded cab. Feel free to experiment from there, but start with a foundation of what sold you on the amp to begin with.

BTW, for the longest time, most PRS amps were demo’ed with their pine 2x12 and bigmouth 2x12 for the higher gain ones. All were loaded with V30s and mic’ed with SM57s at a 45 degree angle (one on axis, one off). Knowing that formula made it much easier to reproduce their results.
 
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