NAD - Archon 1oo watt

[The Fight]

Hey dudes!

Yes finally here and not a moment to soon. I'm gonna say it! I love this amp saturation, for leads especially. Iv only played it for 2 hours but I'm liking it alot.
I'm very surprised how clean the clean channel is. Gotta go back play some Neal Schon!

Good job prs!

 

[László]

Sweetness! Enjoy that thing.

 

[bodia]

Very nice! Crank her up and let it rip 'til the cops show up!

 

[alantig]

Congrats, and welcome to Club Archon! Great amp - the clean channel is awesome, every bit as good as the clean on my two-channel C. The gain channel - so sweet. I was cranking some Ghost with it earlier today. Okay, it was with a Petrucci, but it sounded so killer.

 

[The Fight]

Congrats, and welcome to Club Archon! Great amp - the clean channel is awesome, every bit as good as the clean on my two-channel C. The gain channel - so sweet. I was cranking some Ghost with it earlier today. Okay, it was with a Petrucci, but it sounded so killer.

Hey you know what, when I was jamming earlier, I was thinking to myself that a dirmazio would sound killer with this this thing.
I like the saturation I'm getting and dirmazios seem to handle that pretty well.

 

[jc986]

Congrats! I love my Archon, and the clean channel is one of the reasons why. I have a wide variety of guitars/pickups and it works really well with pretty much anything you might throw at it.

 

[alantig]

Hey you know what, when I was jamming earlier, I was thinking to myself that a dirmazio would sound killer with this this thing.
I like the saturation I'm getting and dirmazios seem to handle that pretty well.

Honestly, everything I've put throught it has sounded good, but the Tremonti and 408 really shine. The DGT is no slouch, either.

 

[andy474x]

Glad to hear you're liking it! At first I wasn't impressed by the tones I heard online, but as more demos come out I'm hearing more and more things I like. Do you find the gain tones to be grainy or fuzz like at all? I'm hoping for a tight, heavy EQ, some smooth saturation. I envy you, sir!

 

[jc986]

I don't find it to be grainy or fuzz like at all. For comparison it is considerably smoother than my Mesa Roadster or Bogner Uberschall. With the bright switch engaged you can get some fizziness if you run the treble and presence high, but the EQ section has a lot of range so you should be able to dial it in pretty much exactly how you like it. The only thing that might be a sticking point for some folks is that the midrange is very prominent that some might describe as "honky". If you don't gel with that frequency it is difficult to dial out. I think the midrange prominence helps cut through the mix though and I like the way it sounds.

 

[Tahlee]

Congrats on the new amp!

 

[watelessness]

Yesssss!!!!

 

[andy474x]

I don't find it to be grainy or fuzz like at all. For comparison it is considerably smoother than my Mesa Roadster or Bogner Uberschall. With the bright switch engaged you can get some fizziness if you run the treble and presence high, but the EQ section has a lot of range so you should be able to dial it in pretty much exactly how you like it. The only thing that might be a sticking point for some folks is that the midrange is very prominent that some might describe as "honky". If you don't gel with that frequency it is difficult to dial out. I think the midrange prominence helps cut through the mix though and I like the way it sounds.

Nice! I think a lot of people are running the bright switch "on" on the dirty channel, which might be where my perception is coming from, when I hear people play with it off, it sounds smoother. I recently found a nice video demo by Tom Quayle for Interactive Guitar that gets some great tones, especially when he turns the bright switch off (not that his tone is bad with it on either). Nice to hear that you like it more than your Roadster, I've always considered the Rectifier tone to be the top of the heap when it comes to heavy rock tones, so if it's better than that, it's GOOD.

I do also hear the mid prominence in the amp. Thinking that between the mid and presence controls, I should be able to get the amp right where I want it. I don't play with an excess of mids, but I don't scoop my tone either. I just like a nice even balance of all frequencies.

 

[The Fight]

I find that alot of the youtube videos actually turn me off from the amp.
That's actually usually the case when it comes to high gain amps, but not always.
Iv always wanted to try the Archon, and when I found this one used, I jumped on it.
Now I can't step away from it. I find that with youtube, I get wrapped up in the person's talent. It's alot easer to like the amp when the guy rips like a demon, and it's very easy to home in on the tone of the amplifier, at the same time getting an idea of how you would sound using it.
I honestly love this amp, Im just blown away by how much gain you can tap into.

I like the mids alot, and the bottom end is very pleasant. Pretty surprised by this little head.