Decision time....

[Joe Derrick]

I've been in the market for an amp ever since I sold my Marshall AVT150 stack....it was not 'heavy' enough for my liking, and 150 watts is WAY too much for me...
Now, the Archon 25/13 has not hit the UK yet, however any reviews from fellow PRS lovers may help sway me. I'm after max of 50w or something is a good power soak so i can use a 1x12 cab and still retain decent tone at lower volumes at home.

My list narrowed down is;
Archon
Hughes and Kettner grand or tubemeister.
Mesa mark 25:5 combo or head.

I am open to suggestions.
Tones I go strive for are; Tremonti/AB, Killswitch Engage, D.theather, Periphery etc how i would like something with potential of playing lighter stuff such as some blues licks.

ANY Suggestions/ amps to demo then I will be sure to try them.


Thanks Guys. Keep rocking. :2channelh:

 

[CoreyT]

Of those three amps you listed, I own the Mesa Mark Five 25, by far the best amp I have ever owned.
I do not play out, I am only a home player, but if you are after Dream Theaters John Petrucci's tone, this will get it for you.
I will let the master himself speak and play it for you.
He ended up getting one for himself later, saw it posted on his Facebook page.

 

[Joe Derrick]

Of those three amps you listed, I own the Mesa Mark Five 25, by far the best amp I have ever owned.
I do not play out, I am only a home player, but if you are after Dream Theaters John Petrucci's tone, this will get it for you.
I will let the master himself speak and play it for you.
He ended up getting one for himself later, saw it posted on his Facebook page.

Thanks for the reply, what cab are you running?

 

[CoreyT]

You are welcome.
Running two Mini Rec 1x12 cabs.
One slant, one regular.

 

[László]

I'm both a PRS amp fan, and a Mesa amp fan, and my best advice would be to wait to play all of the amps you're considering. See which one works best for you with your own guitar and playing style, and at the volume levels you're interested in using.

It's really the only way to know what will work best for your needs.

 

[Ovibos]

FYI, Sweetwater has it demo'd with a 513:

 

[CoreyT]

I have watched that one before, sounds great with the PRS.
I also almost like using the clean channel on crunch mode with the mid knob turned past noon more than using the gain channel on extreme mode.
Petrucci likes it that way too.
You get lots of gain that way with thump.

PS, someone had told me you need to bias the Mesa, but not from what I read on their site.
Swap in new tubes and you are good to go.
Read that last week on their site.

 

[vchizzle]

I think I'd see if there's an Archon 50 around for you to try...I agree with Les to give as many of the amps a try if they're around your area. Archon master is very good. If I can only have 1 amp, I prefer a head/cab over a combo. That allows you to combine what you want and not be confined to open back combo sound. There are obvious advantages to a combo in terms of grab one piece & go, but I prefer the flexibility of head/cab.

 

[László]

I prefer the flexibility of head/cab.

I do too, hands down. You can use any number of cabs with it, and that alone can add a huge variety to the rig's tone. You can use a 1x12 for a small venue or recording, and a 4x12 for a giant venue, and everything in between.

Of course, you can always plug other cabs into a combo, but for me it's just not the same!