NAD (that's New Archon Day!) Yes, finally!

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Well, it's here! I got a 50 watt head. A PRS 50 watt ARCHON HEAD! Unfortunately, by the time I got it plugged in, my wife was already in bed and asleep. I did turn it on but TV volume. In the morning, I'll crack it open a bit before I go to work.

Very special thanks to Bodia and Elvis for both the clips that sold me on the amp, and the gentle nudges (aka constant badgering! :p) to buy one.
Very very special thanks to Bodia and Elvis for being the champions of cool. More on this later
And lastly, a special thanks to Les, for the metal album we're doing together now that I got the amp. The one that, if he mixes me correctly (mute), will make me a legendary air shredder in this forum.

Now, with all these special thinks dealt out, I sure hope I LOVE this thing! :)
 
New amp days seriously rock!
I don't have an Archon to relate to, but my last two amp purchases were PRS, so I can sorta relate. And everybody who has the Archon has just gushed over it, so...
Congrats!
 
DreamTheaterRules said:
And lastly, a special thanks to Les, for the metal album we're doing together now that I got the amp. The one that, if he mixes me correctly (mute), will make me a legendary air shredder in this forum.
Click to expand...

Congrats on the amp!

And, of course, I'm looking forward to making the world's slowest speed metal album.
 
Thanks everyone! I got a few minutes with it this morning, but not long. Truth is, I shouldn't have even had it plugged in. We were getting pounded by a big thunderstorm when I was ready to leave for work and all the amps were unplugged, but I plugged it in and had a few minutes with it. So far, so good. Guitar straight in (how I always start with a new amp) and plugged into my Mesa vertical recto 2x12. The clean channel is big and bold and sounds really good, and I didn't even turn a knob. The OD channel is what I bought this amp for though. In just a few quick minutes, I really liked it and found the responsiveness of the controls to be very good. I'll report more later after I really get to play it without natures rhythm section shaking my whole house.
 
I'll try to be brief. I only got a few minutes with the amp tonight, and at pretty low volume. This morning, the lights were dimming and I was afraid I'd lose power while I was playing. Pretty bad storm. I don't know if the power was off, or if it was just that I turned the knobs a little bit tonight, but thanks to my two enablers I think I touched the edge of nirvana tonight.

First, I watched Bodia's video again, and noticed he had the gain all the way up. I had everything at noon except I scooped a little mids when I played it this morning. And my "gainy" amp experience comes mainly from Mesa, where, while it's not impossible to make it work, Mesa themselves recommends staying at 1:00 or below on the gain knob most of the time. And, things can come apart without re-EQing above that. I quickly found out that the Archon has controls that are useful literally ALL the way through their range.

Second, Elvis told me not to scoop mids and maybe even turn them up higher than B and T. So tonight, even though I was at low volume, I played a few notes and noted how nice it sounded. Then I turned the gain up to about 1:00, maybe 1:30 and boy did that just fire things up. Then I turned the Treble to 1:00. Even better! Mids to 1:00. Even BETTER. Bass to 1:00. Wow! Then I dialed the Depth knob up a bit and... HOLY CRAP!!! This was low volume playing but I can't WAIT til the wifey leaves for work in the morning to try those settings with some volume, because it sounded GREAT! I mean best gain tones I've ever heard in my music room great!

I only played the NF3 and just HOLY CRAP!!!! Didn't try 2 and 4 because I was "gainin' but 1,3 and 5 all sounded incredible. The liquid lead notes coming off that neck pickup, incredible! Bridge, RIPPIN! I wasn't even warmed up but I was JAMMING. I knew I had to stop, so I flipped it over to the clean channel. Again, just HOLY CRAP!!!!

IF and that's a big if, these tones are this great or even better with some volume (and they should get better with the fuller tone of adding some volume) then this might have an even better clean channel than my Custom 50! That's saying something! And the gain channel, well that might just be exactly what I've been looking for. I hope I"m not TOO excited. I wasn't this morning, but I knew the power was wonky and I didn't touch the knobs. It only took seconds tonight to dial in some KILLER tones. IF this holds up with some volume, then I was right months ago when I decided this was THE amp for me!

Ok, not so brief. But I'm pretty excited right now!
 
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bodia said:
I'll be brief.....TOLD YOU SO!!!! :p
Click to expand...

Oh, I believed you and Elvis all along, I just kept letting other things get in the way.

So, this time I will be brief: I had a few more minutes with it this morning. I started with the B/M/T at 1:00 or so per last nights settings but turned the volume up. Over the course of 15 minutes or so, I dialed the OD channel gain, the presence and the depth knobs between 9:00 to 3:00. Just checking out gain range and the effects of the controls. The OD channel is KILLER! I tried gain at 9:00 and volume up for a more JCM like open crunch but with the Archon flavor, and I tried 3:00 on the gain for a more melt your face flavor. Depth at 1:00 was killing it, but I remember Elvis telling me he turned the depth down to get more M flavor and indeed that's what I got.

Most appreciated, as I dialed knobs I got more or less of what I was dialing. Turning a knob 2 notches didn't make the tone "fall off" and require redialing everything, as can happen on my Mesa amps. And, everyplace I put them, it sounded VERY VERY good, again, not like the Mesa controls.

Lastly, I turned it over to the clean channel and even with no verb, it is AWESOME!

I LOVE THIS AMP! If this continues, I've found my dream amp. Considering how few guitars I've tried and how little I've tweaked, it "might" be able to get even better!
 
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Looks like that could be tonight. The wife just informed me that she was meeting her sister for dinner. Then she asked "you aren't mad, are you?" since she had just asked me 30 minutes earlier where I was taking her to dinner.

No, honey... not mad at all! Take your time. ;)

Tonight, I summon the spirit of "Speed Metal Les" to join me in a little "scare the dogs-athon" Les, better drink a couple Mountain Dews, and maybe a couple double espresso chasers. We're gonna let her rip this time! (And I'm going to remember to stretch my neck muscles this time. Headbangers unite!)
 
I bought an Archon 50 Combo last year then sold it to buy a 65Amps Whiskey. Big mistake! Don't get me wrong, the Whiskey is a nice amp but I just couldn't gel with it so I started looking again. During one of my many music store stops - I ran into another Archon. Plugged in, and there it was.

My new Archon head arrived today. It was an expensive lesson. Now I have a $2700.00 head sitting on the shelf that's only 3 months old and in need of another home. Love my Archon!!!
 
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