Well I Did It. New Archon Day

[elvis]

The Archon has an aggressive tone. If you want mark-style smooth, you may struggle. Try turning the presence way down. That seems to be an aggression control. I keep it way up.

Way up.

 

[strat63]

The Archon has an aggressive tone. If you want mark-style smooth, you may struggle. Try turning the presence way down. That seems to be an aggression control. I keep it way up.

Way up.

Aggressive is a good description. Last night I had the gain and volume up about half way on the gain channel and it was pretty brutal. I mean that in a good way. My wife thought the volume was a bit excessive for the house though.

I can live without smooth so it's all good. The over the top distortion is a nice diversion from my normal sound and I'm having fun with it. I'm going to test with an additional closed back cab this weekend.

 

[bodia]

How about the half power switch? That should change modes and give a little smoother gain structure.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

For single coils, yes, keep the presence down. And Boogies (Marks?) are extremely fat in the mids. In fact, most think BLOATED unless you pull that 750 slider WAY WAY down. However, that's usually with humbuckers. With single coils maybe anything less than that sounds thin but trust me, every other amp I've heard has less mids than a Mark unless you pull the 750 down considerably. I'm one of those who say, for the tone I want a Mesa for, I could never use without the GEQ. Now, if you were going for the Santana or some of the jazz cats that use them tones, then yeah, I could get along without the GEQ. But for hard rock and metal, no way.

So if that's your basis for comparison it is an extremely mid heavy amp. So, with single coils, presence down and mids way up on the Archon. Heck turn the bright switch off if you have too. I never turn those off. But I play 98% humbuckers.

 

[strat63]

How about the half power switch? That should change modes and give a little smoother gain structure.

I think the clean sounds better on the 50 watt setting so that's probably where it will stay for now. The difference is subtle but still noticeable. The important thing is I like the amp.

When I went the down the modeling rabbit hole a while back I sold all my amps and was pretty satisfied. I liked all the options but grew to dislike all the tweaking I was doing. The simple solution would be to just find a sound I liked and then stop but it didn't work that way for me in practice. If there are options, I want to try them. The Archon is my first step in simplifying my rig. It's less flexible but so satisfying. I never realized how much I cared about having an amp in the room sound until I had an actual amp in the room again.

There are a lot of different sounds on the gain side and I'll keep exploring.

 

[bodia]

When I went the down the modeling rabbit hole a while back I sold all my amps and was pretty satisfied. I liked all the options but grew to dislike all the tweaking I was doing. The simple solution would be to just find a sound I liked and then stop but it didn't work that way for me in practice. If there are options, I want to try them. The Archon is my first step in simplifying my rig. It's less flexible but so satisfying. I never realized how much I cared about having an amp in the room sound until I had an actual amp in the room again.

There are a lot of different sounds on the gain side and I'll keep exploring.

I'm with ya on this! I had a Kemper for awhile. I was looking for a low volume solution since I live in a townhouse. It was perfect for that, but unfortunately there was too much to play with. That meant playing the same thing on 836 different profiles. Too much time tweaking, not enough playing. I'm living with an Archon, a Bogner ATMA, and have an MT-15 on order (since NAMM). I stick with the real deal, as well.

 

[strat63]

For single coils, yes, keep the presence down. And Boogies (Marks?) are extremely fat in the mids. In fact, most think BLOATED unless you pull that 750 slider WAY WAY down. However, that's usually with humbuckers. With single coils maybe anything less than that sounds thin but trust me, every other amp I've heard has less mids than a Mark unless you pull the 750 down considerably. I'm one of those who say, for the tone I want a Mesa for, I could never use without the GEQ. Now, if you were going for the Santana or some of the jazz cats that use them tones, then yeah, I could get along without the GEQ. But for hard rock and metal, no way.

So if that's your basis for comparison it is an extremely mid heavy amp. So, with single coils, presence down and mids way up on the Archon. Heck turn the bright switch off if you have too. I never turn those off. But I play 98% humbuckers.

I've run the gamut of Boogies over the years, most recently the full size Mark V. My favorite channel or mode on that was the Mark I which put me in the minority. I have no illusions that the Archon will get me there and it doesn't have to.

 

[László]

I've run the gamut of Boogies over the years, most recently the full size Mark V. My favorite channel or mode on that was the Mark I which put me in the minority.

If I recall, my favorite lead channel was the Mark I as well, when I had a Mark V.

 

[strat63]

I'm with ya on this! I had a Kemper for awhile. I was looking for a low volume solution since I live in a townhouse. It was perfect for that, but unfortunately there was too much to play with. That meant playing the same thing on 836 different profiles. Too much time tweaking, not enough playing. I'm living with an Archon, a Bogner ATMA, and have an MT-15 on order (since NAMM). I stick with the real deal, as well.

As a low volume solution it is ideal but.....do you have any idea how many amps are in a Fractal? I think I tried them all. Had a Helix as well. So glad I didn't try a Kemper.

If I recall, my favorite lead channel was the Mark I as well, when I had a Mark V.

Then I guess there were 2 of us. It always worked well for me. Thanks to you I'm also on the look out for a HX/DA but that's for a different thread.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I've run the gamut of Boogies over the years, most recently the full size Mark V. My favorite channel or mode on that was the Mark I which put me in the minority. I have no illusions that the Archon will get me there and it doesn't have to.

Oh wow, yeah, you won't find ANY amp that compares to the Mark I. When I play the Mark one, I have presence dimed, bass off, mids down at like 9:00, treble from 2:00 to dimed, and an upwards slanted EQ 'line with bass cut and treble boosted. And it's STILL super fat. The Mark I is massively bottom heavy.

 

[strat63]

Another week with the Archon and I'm still liking it. One thing I'm still getting use to is the anemic low volume sounds. That's not a criticism of the amp but a symptom of using modelers in the recent past. The sound was less volume dependent before making them a good home solution when the family was around. The good news is the Archon sounds great turned up a bit. At slightly higher than happy wife volumes, I'm quite pleased. She'll be out of town this weekend so I'll get a chance to play without constraints.

I've been surprised at the range of sounds I'm getting out of the amp. The controls actually do something which is probably not news to anyone that's owned one. I think it's really hard to overstate how great of a value the Archon is.

 

[elvis]

Glad you like the Archon! I recommend boosting the presence at low volume to get that bite back. You may want to rebalance the depth as well.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

Glad you like the Archon! I recommend boosting the presence at low volume to get that bite back. You may want to rebalance the depth as well.

Yes and yes! Plus, one thing that had helped my tone at lower volumes with every amp I've ever tried... hit it with a boost. Wakes the tone up at lower volume. Try it.

 

[László]

Yes and yes! Plus, one thing that had helped my tone at lower volumes with every amp I've ever tried... hit it with a boost. Wakes the tone up at lower volume. Try it.

I was going to suggest the same thing.

Also, one problem of low volume is the Fletcher-Munson Curve, that tells us that at lower volume we hear less bass and less treble. So you might want to boost the bass and treble at low volumes.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I was going to suggest the same thing.

Also, one problem of low volume is the Fletcher-Munson Curve, that tells us that at lower volume we hear less bass and less treble. So you might want to boost the bass and treble at low volumes.

Absolutely. And with the Archon, the Presence and Depth controls cover some of the same area of compensation. The depth control, to me, feels more like a low end amp “damping” control more than a bass control. So at low volumes, it can fill in the bottom, but when you turn it up and want to tighten up the bottom, turn the depth down.
IMHO, it’s a very well thought out and very nicely functional control which adds a really nice control for “bedroom to stage” volumes, over an aspect of the amp that is normally “fixed.”

 

[strat63]

I was working with a boost last night and it definitely helps with lower volume fizz on the lead channel. Most of the time was spent with my old Strat with low output pickups. I was quite happy with the sound.

 

[reilly]

I think the Archon is a very solid amp at a great price point but it's not quite perfect. I'd like a little reverb on the clean channel so I'll need to buy a pedal for that. It's also a little different sound for me. I've played Boogies since the late 80's and the gain isn't quite as smooth. If those sounds are in there, I haven't found them yet.

On the positive side, once I get the reverb sorted out the clean channel will be just about perfect for my single coil guitars. Worth the cost of the amp. Getting the gain side dialed in will be icing on the cake.

I mentioned in the OP that I made the leap in modeling. It ended up not quite being satisfying. Now I'm looking at adding a Fractal FX8 to my Archon so I get the best of both worlds.

I run a Fractal FX8 with my Archon and it is fantastic! It also can channel switch my amp channels with just using my snake and no other external gear. I had a nice pedal board and ended up selling it off because of the flexibility and ease of use of the FX8 plus I hate to tap dance.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I run a Fractal FX8 with my Archon and it is fantastic! It also can channel switch my amp channels with just using my snake and no other external gear. I had a nice pedal board and ended up selling it off because of the flexibility and ease of use of the FX8 plus I hate to tap dance.

I bet it is great with any amp. I've got a floor full of pedals and they roll on and off the pedalboard. I've wondered about an AX8, FX8, Helix, Helix effects, etc., instead. it's just SO easy to dial a pedal and I don't want to get caught up (again) in the rabbit hole of complicated digital devices and constant tweaking.

 

[reilly]

Honestly after you set a few presets it becomes pretty plug and play unless you are just in the mood to create something new.

 

[elvis]

I also have an axe fx. I go back and forth between that and my tube amps. Like them both for different reasons.

For low volume playing I run my amps into a torpedo live and a couple of powered JBL near fields. Sounds really good down to whisper quiet.