PRS Archon 50 Head & 25 Combo review demo

[CoreyT]

Just what you have been waiting for.
These guy's do great reviews.
I wish the 25 watt version was offered in a head version, this is one reason why I went with the Mesa.
Maybe one day I will still pickup the 25 watt one though.

 

[Bluesboy998]

Corey played the 25 archon wonderful amp but my mark 5/25 does the job quit well also I would have bought the archon if it were a 25 watt head.

 

[Bluesboy998]

Also replaced el 84's with some jj's I had lying around turned the little Mesa into a beast

 

[CoreyT]

Thanks for the info on the JJ tubes.
Have I also heard right the Mesa does not need to be 're-biased if you replace the power tubes with a matched set from them?
How much better were the JJ tubes, and did you have to bias the rig?

 

[Bluesboy998]

Corey no biasing needed Mesa I believe use Svetlana tubes there good but a little tame compared to jj's also I normally use TAD tubes but I didn't have any.I think th jj's are a little more aggressive and they are very reliable.

 

[aristotle]

I'm always the odd-man-out with regards to these low-power amp discussions about high gain amps with a decent master volume. To me, the 100W Archon sounds better than the 50 at any output volume level. And I'd be shocked if it didn't sound better than the 25 as well. I attribute this to the fact that the tone and character of the Archon comes from the pre-amp, and that the beefier transformers in the higher watt versions just add something. This holds for me with the Archon all the way down to whisper quiet. In the video, they even pointed out that the 6L6's in the 50W don't sound different than the 5881's in the 25W to their ear... I know it's all a matter of personal taste, but were it me, looking for an Archon in a head form factor, I wouldn't pass up the 50 just because it's rated at 50.

Having said that, nothing at all wrong with the Mesa, but to me, it is a very different sounding amp (lead channel and clean channel.)

And since the topic of Mesa fixed bias amps came up, I do understand the philosophy (every Mesa user's manual beats you over the head with the philosophy) but if you like to tinker with rolling tubes, it does cut down on the flexibility.....

With

 

[Bluesboy998]

Good point Aristotle but for me iam a plug and play type of guy the one thing I love about mesa's is you don't have to bias if a tube goes bad I replace it,if I want to tinker I'll experiment on my Custom 50.just my opinion.Been through the whole n.o.s. Tube thing had some good tubes and some bad spent tons of money and found newer tubes especially tube amp doctor sound very good to my ears.I just want to play and not worry about this or that.My 38 year old Mesa mark 1has the original tubes GE and Sylvania still sounds great.Also my mark 5/25 through the cab clone out to the pa sounds wonderful.

 

[Bluesboy998]

But I must say I have many amps but my custom 50 is my favorite of all.

 

[CoreyT]

I ordered two JJ EL84s, thanks for the tips Blue.
I bet a set of four of those would make my Carvin V3M better too.
Still have that amp, but it is retired to the spare bedroom for now.

 

[Bluesboy998]

Corey try some in your car in it'll turn into a new amp

 

[László]

I'm always the odd-man-out with regards to these low-power amp discussions about high gain amps with a decent master volume. To me, the 100W Archon sounds better than the 50 at any output volume level. And I'd be shocked if it didn't sound better than the 25 as well. I attribute this to the fact that the tone and character of the Archon comes from the pre-amp, and that the beefier transformers in the higher watt versions just add something. This holds for me with the Archon all the way down to whisper quiet. In the video, they even pointed out that the 6L6's in the 50W don't sound different than the 5881's in the 25W to their ear... I know it's all a matter of personal taste, but were it me, looking for an Archon in a head form factor, I wouldn't pass up the 50 just because it's rated at 50.

You're not alone in your thinking at all! In fact I posted something similar on another thread -- an important part of the sound is the big iron in a big amp. You can hear it!

Plus aren't the Archon 50 and 100 watt heads switchable down to half power?

One thing I'll say having had a Mark V 100 watt amp is that the cleans on the Archon are much more to my liking. I'd get one for that reason alone.