Is the Archon....?

[Deleted member 5962]

How would you who gave played and/or owned one, describe the gain channel of the Archon? I've read that it's "Mesa-ish, but tighter." I've read that it's "Mesa Mark-like, but smoother and more refined." (And Marks and Rectos don't sound alike so when someone just says "Mesa" you don't really know what they mean) I've ready that it's "high gain Marshall-ish" and I've heard it compared to a Soldano.

I hear lots of guys saying how great it is, how much gain it has, etc, but I'm looking for more thoughts on the voicing itself first. How would you describe the gain channel character/EQ/voicing?

Then, I'm wondering if the gain channel does anything other than high gain. Does it do any mid gain crunch stuff, or even mid to high? I've read one person say that by 9:00 on the gain knob it was more gain than he'd ever use, but I have a Mesa Mark V25, a Mini Recto, so I have some high gain amps (and like them!). Just saying, sometimes you don't know the reviewers perspective, which is very important in getting something meaningful out of what they say. One guys "way too much gain" might be another guys holy grail.

 

[13bats]

Archon is a weird amp ,while it gets compared to Recto cause its big sounding ,it much more percussive ,tighter and focused in the low end attack ,so i would say FEEL wise closer to a MK ,kind of actually mid ground between rect and MK.

It has the gain of a modern high gain amp like a 5150/Cobra/recto but doesn't have that high end sizzle . even with presence cranked.

The bright switch actually does a lot as to my ears its almost more a mid shift . switching the range of the mids in particular , from a more upper mid cutting ,think Marshall to the more low mid focus Boogie/Bogner.

The depth knob is the other one that can change the tone .low range its a bit thinner with tighter feel ,half way a little thicker still tight cranked its thicker and the low end gets spongier ,the amp gets darker as you increase .

The master as it goes up the amp will get wider ,fuller sounding as well.

A couple of guys at amp tests compared one to Deizel VH4 that was the there , the holy grail ch3 ,the verdict was with a/b ing the Archon could get 95% of THAT sound ,,what it lacked was some of the signature deizel low chunk and balls and the Archon wasn't as compressed as the VH4 could get .

but the fact that it stood toe to toe with the king of modern amps IMO kudos to PRS

but if it classed it I think more Deizel/Bogner than mesa /marshall.. think other its users and what they had

Emil- Bogner shiva 20th
Zach- Deizel Herb Ch2+
Tremonti- Uber, Recto

There was another guy on here yankeebulldog who said similar to his Bogner TwinJet ,The Archon was not as big in the lows but could be dialed up very similar. YMMV

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Thanks for the detailed response. I went in the store a few months back, where I just got my Big Mouth 2x12 to go with my 2 channel H. That time, he had an HXDA and an Archon and I was in too big of a hurry to try either. Kicking my own butt for that now. LOL

 

[alantig]

Then, I'm wondering if the gain channel does anything other than high gain. Does it do any mid gain crunch stuff, or even mid to high? I've read one person say that by 9:00 on the gain knob it was more gain than he'd ever use, but I have a Mesa Mark V25, a Mini Recto, so I have some high gain amps (and like them!). Just saying, sometimes you don't know the reviewers perspective, which is very important in getting something meaningful out of what they say. One guys "way too much gain" might be another guys holy grail.

I took a few minutes to play w/the gain side on my Archon (100w) today. Keeping in mind that all of this is very subjective (and the product of about 15 minutes of playing around)...

In a word, the answer to your question is yes, in my opinion.

Turning the channel volume way down (and I mean WAY down) and turning the guitar volume down, the channel gets clean. It does NOT sound like the clean channel on the amp - it's lacking the chime that the clean channel has, although it seems to have a certain girth that I didn't hear on the clean channel. It's a different kind of clean is probably the best way to put it.

Turning the guitar volume up, or hitting it with a boost puts a little hair on the sound. What I suspect would fall into the crunch category for a lot of people. VERY cool sound, very useful.

Turning the channel volume up to about 9 o'clock, the clean is pretty much gone. At lower guitar volumes, it gets into that crunch range. Turning the guitar volume up brings out the distortion a good bit. My gut reaction is to say that some folks are going to say the path between crunch and too much gain is too narrow for their tastes, but that's a personal preference. I eventually stopped playing around with the channel volume around 1 o'clock or so. I'd previously had it around 3 o'clock. There was an audible difference all along that range - it never got to the point where I felt that turning the knob wasn't changing the gain character a bit as opposed to the sound just getting louder. There's a lot to play with there.

One thing I didn't expect was how this channel reacted with pedals. I've monkeyed off and on with kicking my distortion pedals on when I've used this channel, but I turn them off right away. It's not a good combo - not that I'd expect it to be. What I was surprised by was how the pedals reacted when I had the channel down in the clean/crunch area. A clean boost (from a G-System) put a bit of hair on the sound, just like turning the guitar up. That I pretty mech expected. What I didn't expect was that the dirt pedals still had a less-than-pleasing effect in that range. Probably that girth I mentioned above. The pedals didn't seem as clear or to have as much bite as they do on the clean channel. FWIW.

 

[Boogie]

I spent some time with an Archon a few weeks ago, and as a long time MkIII player, didn't draw any comparisons between the two amps. The Archon was its own animal...not an imitator of any other product, though you could find similarities if you tried. To my ears, the lead channel was flexible throughout the gain control and sounded great, but you couldn't treat it like a single channel amp. Rolling the guitar volume down works, but like it does on a high gain amp (I know, duh! But this is PRS and they perform miracles on a routine basis), lose dynamics and touch sensitivity. That's what the clean channel is for! To me there was a hint of some MkV (not prior models), maybe Bogner and something else that seemed familiar but I'll just consider Archon-ish. It had a warm but brutal character that felt like what a PRS amp should sound like. I'd spend more time if given the opportunity.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Thanks for your thoughts, gentlemen. Looks like I need to check one out next time he has one.