HX/DA? MDT? DG30? 2Ch-C?

[aristotle]

All great. If I had to pick just one though, it's Archon, hands down (and topping the MDT is a real accomplishment...) And I'm a classic rock kind of guy. Kick the thing into 100W mode, dial back the lead channel gain and it's Nirvana. Crank up the lead gain and it's insanely fun. At any volume. Seriously, it's as great in the bedroom (well....the piano room in my case) as it is on stage.

 

[Egads]

That's quite a statement. Glad to hear you are loving it and it's that flexible.

 

[Boogie]

Stop it!

Rats, too late...now I want to play one.

 

[CoreyT]

I may look at one later, but my dealer does not have any in.
They say I should look at the new Mese Recto Verb 25 watt combo or head too which they do have in stock.

 

[south89]

I have a Mesa dual rec and since I got my archon it is just collecting dust. It is truely an amazing amp. Great to hear you think so highly of it Aristotle

 

[CoreyT]

Cool, nice to hear that.
I may order one later sight unseen since no one around here has one in stock.

 

[jfb]

All great. If I had to pick just one though, it's Archon, hands down (and topping the MDT is a real accomplishment...) And I'm a classic rock kind of guy. Kick the thing into 100W mode, dial back the lead channel gain and it's Nirvana. Crank up the lead gain and it's insanely fun. At any volume. Seriously, it's as great in the bedroom (well....the piano room in my case) as it is on stage.

Wow. I wouldn't have expected that. Interesting stuff. I recently watched the videos of Misha playing an Archon with a ME II (was loaded with BKP) and he seemed to really be impressed. He was boosting it with his signature drive.

 

[tiboy]

Wow! Coming from you that is quite a statement. It does beg the question. Is
it the hands down winner among your entire collection? I look forward to your vid of the Archon in action.

 

[aristotle]

Wow! Coming from you that is quite a statement. It does beg the question. Is
it the hands down winner among your entire collection? I look forward to your vid of the Archon in action.

That's sort of like picking a favorite amongst your children... I see you have a Vintage Modern listed in your sig, and to me, that's an amp that's hard to beat also. Totally different amps, but both fantastic. In terms of raw vintage vibe, the MDT stands above the rest of the PRS amps I have and sort of reminds me of the 2466 someplace between LDR and HDR. The HX/DA, to me is better in that's it's more flexible, but as good as it is, the main tone out of the MDT is better than any of the tones out of the HX/DA. The DG30 is just has its own fantastic thing that nothing else can do, but I find that I like it better at home than I do in a cover band environment. The 2-channel C is just a solid 2 channel amp that has good all around performance and arguably is the best PRS amp I have for coverband work.

But the Archon is just way fun to play in any genre at any volume. I really like my JVM410 and Mesa Roadster for live applications, but I always set them up really as 2 channel amps. I like the clean tone and the lead tone out of the Archon better than any of the tones I can get out of either of those. It's not as accurate for the material that we do, but it's more fun to play, it sounds better in the band mix, and...yeah. I guess I do like the Archon for live work better than any amp I have. And unlike the rest of my amps, the Archon head comes home with me after practices and gigs, so...maybe yeah..I do like it best. It's just voiced very cool.

 

[CoreyT]

How it turned way down for playing in a home?
Can you get a nice over driven metal distortion sound at low volume too?
I see there are two master volumes, one for each channel, then a separate volume too for each channel.
So would you crank up the channel volumes to get the preamp cooking, then keep the master volume down for low volume in a home?

 

[aristotle]

How it turned way down for playing in a home?
Can you get a nice over driven metal distortion sound at low volume too?
I see there are two master volumes, one for each channel, then a separate volume too for each channel.
So would you crank up the channel volumes to get the preamp cooking, then keep the master volume down for low volume in a home?

I think so. I'm not much of a metal player other than just goofing around stuff, so maybe I'm the wrong guy to be answering.... But I find that amps like the Archon, with so much of their tone defined by the pre-amp, really do sound the same at most any volume. Ironically, I think that tone is retained at low levels better in 100W mode than in 50W mode. The low end just has a little more punch at low volumes in 100W mode.

In any case, the channel volumes are the same as any other channel volume in terms of operation. It sets the gain tone, and the overall channel master sets the output level. And because the Archon has so much gain on tap...and because it saturates so quickly, the channel volume doesn't really increase the output volume much at all at any level above 1 or so. So, it really just sets the gain.

To be clear, if you're trying to cop Angus tone for example, the Archon won't do cranked plexi. But to me, covering AC/DC with the Archon is a hoot, and sounds fantastic...even though it isn't totally accurate.

 

[CoreyT]

Thanks, I forgot the Archon did not have a gain, volume for each channel, so then the volume is more like a gain than an actual volume.
I am use to amps having a main master volume for all channels, separate volume for each channel, and also a separate gain for each channel.

Like on my Blackstars and my Carvin V3M I will turn the channel volume up, have the master down low, and then the gain almost full blast.

I do like Angus and Malcoms tones, but I also like a heavy rhythm sound like Megadeth, Metallica, ect.

I like being able to hit a power or a barre chord and hear it ring for a long time

 

[László]

I think the Archon would be a lot of fun, and I'm no metal player (unless someone has a purchase order for a track with metal tones in it ).