Archon 50 after 5 months

[Black Plaid]

What do you mean “it will be really noisy” the gain hum or some other type of noise? I do use the effects loop on my amp so that would suck to not be able to use it.

The effects loop is after the master volume, so the amplifier works at 100% for anything that's fed into the return. If you have any noisy pedals, the noise floor will be as if the amp is all the way up.

This is not a problem when playing at loud levels, but when playing quiet it's quite hissy.

For this reason I run an active volume (Morley optical style) pedal at the end of my effects loop and use it as the master volume of the amp. The actual amp's master can then be turned up to minimize the noise floor by having a higher signal into the pedal chain.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

I had one pedal that made my loop noisy. It was the MXR 10 band EQ. I took it out and haven't had any noise issues since.

 

[Ascension]

Best low volume tube amp I’ve played. I use mine strictly at bedroom volumes.

I agree with you. I picked up a Archon 50 head last week and was shocked at how easy the amp was to control at lower volumes and get great tones with. In particular with how utterly uncontrollable my MT 15 is at low volumes!! I'm primarily a modern Worship player so this for me is crucial if I am to play an amp out to have solid low volume tone capability. Have my MT 15 on stage at my Church running a miced cab off stage in an isolation box. Because it is utterly impossible to control the MT 15 at lower volumes it makes it hard to use in any other situation. The Archon on the other hand is a dream come true for me as a usable amp to play out in many places.
There are times I need the punch of a real 50 watt head and cab so having a versatile great sounding smallish some what light weight head like the Archon that can do both low volume and also the bigger gigs where I am playing unmiced in a loud band is a God send!!

 

[Ascension]

The effects loop is after the master volume, so the amplifier works at 100% for anything that's fed into the return. If you have any noisy pedals, the noise floor will be as if the amp is all the way up.

This is not a problem when playing at loud levels, but when playing quiet it's quite hissy.

For this reason I run an active volume (Morley optical style) pedal at the end of my effects loop and use it as the master volume of the amp. The actual amp's master can then be turned up to minimize the noise floor by having a higher signal into the pedal chain.

Trust me the Archon is NOT a noisy amp!! Own 2 Boogies a rare Carvin X 50 Hot Rod Mod Head a Zinky Blue Velvet combo and the Archon plus a MT 15. The MT 15 now is pretty noisy with anything in the loop the Archon I have is not. Yes it is sensitive to noisy pedals in the loop but no more so than any amp with a fixed loop.

 

[Black Plaid]

Trust me the Archon is NOT a noisy amp!! Own 2 Boogies a rare Carvin X 50 Hot Rod Mod Head a Zinky Blue Velvet combo and the Archon plus a MT 15. The MT 15 now is pretty noisy with anything in the loop the Archon I have is not. Yes it is sensitive to noisy pedals in the loop but no more so than any amp with a fixed loop.

I have a Mesa Mk III from 1986, the loop with the exact same setup is much quieter.

The Archon is as quiet as long as I do the volume pedal trick.

 

[TroyBaer]

I agree with you. I picked up a Archon 50 head last week and was shocked at how easy the amp was to control at lower volumes and get great tones with. In particular with how utterly uncontrollable my MT 15 is at low volumes!! I'm primarily a modern Worship player so this for me is crucial if I am to play an amp out to have solid low volume tone capability. Have my MT 15 on stage at my Church running a miced cab off stage in an isolation box. Because it is utterly impossible to control the MT 15 at lower volumes it makes it hard to use in any other situation. The Archon on the other hand is a dream come true for me as a usable amp to play out in many places.

This is probably the main reason I've hung onto my Archon 50 after the MT-15 came out.

 

[Ascension]

I have a Mesa Mk III from 1986, the loop with the exact same setup is much quieter.

The Archon is as quiet as long as I do the volume pedal trick.

May be what I have run in the loop of my Archon but it is as quiet as my Boogie DC 5 is at the least and quieter than my Carvin X 50 B with the same pedal board.

 

[Ascension]

This is probably the main reason I've hung onto my Archon 50 after the MT-15 came out.

I also hear a difference in harmonic content with the Archon. It has a depth definition and clarity at gain that is different from the MT 15 that gets more pronounced the more you turn both amps up. Just cleaner some how and more defined over all. Both are fantastic amps but it's about the same kind of step up from the MT 15 to the Archon as say my 07 Brazilian board, Pau Bird, Royal Blue Custom 24 is from a SE Custom 24.