Amp shopping and looking for advice.

[nosidamde]

Hello everyone, where to begin...

I currently own a 14' Archon, and I am in the market for a second amp head, or backup if you will. I don't anticipate a break down, but I realize at some point my Archon will need maintenance work in some way or another.

I've been going back and forth between buying a second Archon such as a Limited Edition one like the red snake skin unit at Brian's Guitar Shop or even an Archon 50 head. I mostly have my Archon switched to 50 Watts anyways.

I've also researched going to a different brand altogether in a 3(+) channel head such as an ENGL Powerball II or a Mesa Mark V. Does anyone have any experience with these two or any other high gain amps?

My GAS is getting stronger since I am currently not shopping a new electric to replace my main gigging guitats, my SC250 and I just picked up a new Taylor 814ce custom a few months back.

 

[László]

I've had a Mark V. Great amp, and I liked the cleans in its Tweed mode. I do think the Archon's the better sounding model if you like higher gain stuff, but that's because I prefer the way it's voiced.

Then again, I'm not a high gain player very often, so take my advice as just another opinion.

 

[bodia]

Fwiw, I sold my MkV after getting a 50w Archon head. The Mesa was great, but I prefer the Archon. You may want to check out these threads. Lots of great info.

http://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/archon-100-just-replaced-my-other-amps.16922/
http://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/jp2c-vs-archon.17210/

Good luck on your quest!

 

[Dusty Chalk]

First of all, you don't need to justify to us why you want to buy another amp. We're enablers. Sometimes we just want another amp.

That said, if it really is a backup, just wait until you need to take your Archon in for service, then get another Archon.

Mesa/Boogie amps are great, I've got my eye on a JP-2C, myself. There really is nothing else like it.

 

[elvis]

I am in the exact same position. Currently I bring my Shiva to gigs as a backup amp. I have been considering an Archon 50 head, or either a 25 or 50 combo, as a backup and to get the grab-and-go capability. I'm not thrilled with how the 25 combo sounds. I don't have access to a 50 combo to hear it.

I would like to have a backup amp that is small and easy to carry and store on stage and also sounds pretty much the same as my Archon 100, so a 50 head seems like my best bet. As much as I'd like to try some of PRS's other amps, I'm perfectly happy with the Archon and not feeling terribly motivated to experiment. And I already have a Shiva that I barely use.

 

[elvis]

Up to now I have been bringing a Mini Rectifier as a backup amp. I use a PDI-09 to FOH, so it would be loud enough if I needed it. I used to gig with it and it's actually a really great amp. Still, I'm shopping...

 

[László]

I totally understand the need for a backup amp, or really, a backup anything that you perform/record with a lot. And yet, I've never done that.

I've always gotten something different, because I never seem to need the backup, and never wanted two of the same thing at the same time.

And yet, I do worry, "What if something happens to my HXDA and PRS stops making them?"

It's weird how life works.

 

[elvis]

I totally get that. It's hard to want two of the same amps. I see pros who are touring for realsies with dual-head rigs, but at 100 nights a year, you'll for sure have a failure.

I wouldn't worry about your HXDA, though. It will be fixable long after it's been discontinued. I'm more worried that we'll see the end of tube manufacturing in our lifetime.

 

[nosidamde]

First of all, you don't need to justify to us why you want to buy another amp. We're enablers. Sometimes we just want another amp.

That said, if it really is a backup, just wait until you need to take your Archon in for service, then get another Archon.

Mesa/Boogie amps are great, I've got my eye on a JP-2C, myself. There really is nothing else like it.

I'm thinking another Archon 50 or Archon 100 makes sense based on wanting a backup for when I have mine getting serviced. However, there is also a side of me that wants something "different" to experience, this is why I was leaning heavy to the Mark V.

I am in the exact same position. Currently I bring my Shiva to gigs as a backup amp. I have been considering an Archon 50 head, or either a 25 or 50 combo, as a backup and to get the grab-and-go capability. I'm not thrilled with how the 25 combo sounds. I don't have access to a 50 combo to hear it.

I would like to have a backup amp that is small and easy to carry and store on stage and also sounds pretty much the same as my Archon 100, so a 50 head seems like my best bet. As much as I'd like to try some of PRS's other amps, I'm perfectly happy with the Archon and not feeling terribly motivated to experiment. And I already have a Shiva that I barely use.

How does your Shiva sound?! Another one I was considering even though that one only has 2 channels instead of 3. A Bogner Uberschall was always a dream amp of mine that I can now afford but I see everyone online ripping on the newer version and I have no desire to purchase an older used amp.

I won't actually bring the amp to a show, I'll deal with a breakdown live if I have to. I just don't want any down time since I play 3 times a month on average. I know PRS wouldn't have mine back to me within a week or even two weeks.

I totally get that. It's hard to want two of the same amps. I see pros who are touring for realsies with dual-head rigs, but at 100 nights a year, you'll for sure have a failure.

I wouldn't worry about your HXDA, though. It will be fixable long after it's been discontinued. I'm more worried that we'll see the end of tube manufacturing in our lifetime.

Not wanting two identical amps is my dilemma, but I also really love my Archon...

 

[László]

I wouldn't worry about your HXDA, though. It will be fixable long after it's been discontinued. I'm more worried that we'll see the end of tube manufacturing in our lifetime.

You may, I won't. But I think they'll be made by specialty manufacturers because there are several million guitar players in the US alone, and tube amps are still the weapon of choice for many of us.

It's been over 36 years since the US and Western Europe ceased production. PRS built the solid state "harmonic generator" amps in fear of the end of tube making in the world, but as of this writing, it's still going strong and no one seems to be announcing plans to stop making them.

If they do decide to stop, I promise that if I'm still alive I will start a company to make tubes - at astronomical prices - here in Detroit. They will be the best sounding, best made tubes in the history of the world.

It will be called:

The Detroit Vacuum Tube Company.

That has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

In fact, I will organize the purchase and restoration of some old historic factory in the city to manufacture them. And they will come in cardboard boxes, which I will also cause to be manufactured in Detroit.

Each box will contain a vacuum tube, and a certificate of authenticity, and a hangtag for tube collectors who will display their tubes on shelves and not use them in amplifiers, thus arousing my ire, since I will be making them to be played and not collected.

Eventually, as more and more collectors buy them, I will threaten to stop production in protest until everyone behaves sensibly and uses their tubes in amplifiers.

Only then will I die happy.

My heirs will continue to produce vacuum tubes for musicians for another 100 years after my death, until the world is destroyed by an asteroid and all life on Earth ceases.

I will blame the tube collectors for giving the Earth bad karma. But I will be dead and no one will be around to care.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Pro Tip: As long as you have an opening band, you'll never need a backup. You own a PRS guitar and a PRS amp.

I've parlayed my ownership of a PRS guitar and a Mesa amp into decades worth of mooching. Having them is like having a great credit-score among musicians, they assume that if you've got the cash for your stuff you've got money to cover any damage you might inflict on their loaner.

 

[Alan Manning]

I wouldn't worry about your HXDA, though. It will be fixable long after it's been discontinued. I'm more worried that we'll see the end of tube manufacturing in our lifetime.

You may, I won't. But I think they'll be made by specialty manufacturers because there are several million guitar players in the US alone, and tube amps are still the weapon of choice for many of us.

It's been over 36 years since the US and Western Europe ceased production. PRS built the solid state "harmonic generator" amps in fear of the end of tube making in the world, but as of this writing, it's still going strong and no one seems to be announcing plans to stop making them.

If they do decide to stop, I promise that if I'm still alive I will start a company to make tubes - at astronomical prices - here in Detroit. They will be the best sounding, best made tubes in the history of the world.

It will be called:

The Detroit Vacuum Tube Company.

That has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

In fact, I will organize the purchase and restoration of some old historic factory in the city to manufacture them. And they will come in cardboard boxes, which I will also cause to be manufactured in Detroit.

Each box will contain a vacuum tube, and a certificate of authenticity, and a hangtag for tube collectors who will display their tubes on shelves and not use them in amplifiers, thus arousing my ire, since I will be making them to be played and not collected.

Eventually, as more and more collectors buy them, I will threaten to stop production in protest until everyone behaves sensibly and uses their tubes in amplifiers.

Only then will I die happy.

My heirs will continue to produce vacuum tubes for musicians for another 100 years after my death, until the world is destroyed by an asteroid and all life on Earth ceases.

I will blame the tube collectors for giving the Earth bad karma. But I will be dead and no one will be around to care.

Your little Anecdotes are so funny they do make me smile If you ever write a book could I have a signed copy pls Les

 

[Boogie]

We should rename the amplifier forum section "The Smartass Factory".

And like I used to say to my mom, just before I got smacked..."better than a dumbass!"

The idea of a backup amp makes logical sense but it's counterintuitive to the "I don't want to carry anything heavy" policy. Les(s) is more, as far as gear goes for us aging bar-band guitar slingers, so the thought of adding to the heap that I have to schlep to the next foul smelling dive doesn't light my fire. But, what if?

I, too, would be compelled to try a Mesa JP for s-n-giggles. It would never be a replacement for my PRS amp, but it would entertain me until it were fixed.

 

[elvis]

I would buy Detroit tubes. I would post pics of them in my "collection" and then secretly use them in my amps.

 

[dsenoj]

You may, I won't. But I think they'll be made by specialty manufacturers because there are several million guitar players in the US alone, and tube amps are still the weapon of choice for many of us.

It's been over 36 years since the US and Western Europe ceased production. PRS built the solid state "harmonic generator" amps in fear of the end of tube making in the world, but as of this writing, it's still going strong and no one seems to be announcing plans to stop making them.

If they do decide to stop, I promise that if I'm still alive I will start a company to make tubes - at astronomical prices - here in Detroit. They will be the best sounding, best made tubes in the history of the world.

It will be called:

The Detroit Vacuum Tube Company.

That has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

In fact, I will organize the purchase and restoration of some old historic factory in the city to manufacture them. And they will come in cardboard boxes, which I will also cause to be manufactured in Detroit.

Each box will contain a vacuum tube, and a certificate of authenticity, and a hangtag for tube collectors who will display their tubes on shelves and not use them in amplifiers, thus arousing my ire, since I will be making them to be played and not collected.

Eventually, as more and more collectors buy them, I will threaten to stop production in protest until everyone behaves sensibly and uses their tubes in amplifiers.

Only then will I die happy.

My heirs will continue to produce vacuum tubes for musicians for another 100 years after my death, until the world is destroyed by an asteroid and all life on Earth ceases.

I will blame the tube collectors for giving the Earth bad karma. But I will be dead and no one will be around to care.

When I fantasize about winning the Powerball or MegaMillions lottery, I wonder how expensive it would be to set up a high quality vacuum tube company in the US. No offense Les, but I was thinking North Carolina and not Detroit but that's a detail to be ironed out. I suspect that it would be a quick way to make a small fortune out of a large one. It won't happen anyway because I rarely even buy lottery tickets. I figure my odds are the same either way.

 

[elvis]

You may, I won't. But I think they'll be made by specialty manufacturers because there are several million guitar players in the US alone, and tube amps are still the weapon of choice for many of us.

Well, with the Axe, Kemper, Helix, etc. movement, I think we are coming to the point where the kids are not going to go for tube amps like we did. Better start planning your factory...

 

[László]

I would buy Detroit tubes. I would post pics of them in my "collection" and then secretly use them in my amps.

I love you, man!

Well, with the Axe, Kemper, Helix, etc. movement, I think we are coming to the point where the kids are not going to go for tube amps like we did. Better start planning your factory...

Those are movements, but this kind of thing has been around a long time.

My son and his friends in their 20s who are touring will not play modelers. They play tube amps only. That's his crowd of contemporaries. Maybe if his band was less punk/rock and more pop, it wouldn't matter. But right now, it matters. A lot.

The only fly in the ointment is the cost of cartage for a major tour -- amps are a big part of that, and bands can save a lot of money using modelers. But most still don't.

They use tube amps for the same reason we do. Still, I'd love to manufacture tubes, I'm dweeby enough to care about that stuff. Maybe I should start putting together a company.

 

[László]

When I fantasize about winning the Powerball or MegaMillions lottery, I wonder how expensive it would be to set up a high quality vacuum tube company in the US. No offense Les, but I was thinking North Carolina and not Detroit but that's a detail to be ironed out.

The good things about Detroit are:

1. Large and well-established base of machine shops, parts, molding companies, and electronics vendors (think "car industry vendors") and a trained factory workforce, plus proximity to Toledo, Ohio (think "Corning Glass").

2. Local and State governments offering substantial investment incentives and funding assistance.

3. Detroit, Rock City.

 

[László]

I, too, would be compelled to try a Mesa JP for s-n-giggles. It would never be a replacement for my PRS amp, but it would entertain me until it were fixed.

I'd try one. Why not?

Not sure I'd buy one, but that's another story, because there are some PRS amps I'd want. But...can a man have too many fine amps? I think not!

 

[vchizzle]

Buy another Archon. Buy a snazzy, decked out one and keep that one at home. Throw some EL-34's in it for a slightly different flavor(that's what I do). I dial my amp in differently at home anyway. Hell, throw a graphic EQ in the loop and make it a completely different sounding amp. I think it's important to have the backup be the same. Predictability is good. Especially when different venues make things sound somewhat different. You want to know how your backup reacts to those situations.