New Archon 25

mapleleaf14

mapleleaf14

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My new Archon 25 Plum just arrived at my office.

When I get home tonight, I will start the battle between the Archon 25 and the Custom 20...whichever one doesn't make it out is going to be returned.

I do like the looks of the Plum Custom 20 slightly better than the Plum Archon...the Fawn faceplate on the Custom is nice looking with the wheat grille cloth, but the Archon is growing on me. Besides, it's more about the sound - not the looks. The Archon is smaller and lighter than the Custom too, which I like.

I will miss the adjustable boost of the Custom if I end up with the Archon...but I could always add a boost pedal.
 
Great looking amp!

I don't know if you'll find this to be the same for you, but I like some guitars and sounds better with the DG30, and some better with the HXDA. It's why I have both!

Anyway, good luck on your quest for the tone in your head, and enjoy the shootout!
 
Oh believe me Les, I am already hearing the voice in my head saying "just keep 'em both".


Would like to keep them both, and maybe I will. I already have other amps - an Orange Rockerverb 50 and a Mesa Royal Atlantic - (and a little Bugera G5 for a practice amp at my girlfriend's place) so I'd have to get rid of one or more of those to justify in my head if I keep both the PRS amps. I might get rid of the Royal Atlantic and keep them both...I have been keeping the RA around because it has such a great clean channel, but the Custom has a great clean channel and the Archon supposedly does as well so that could make the RA expendable.


Jeez, I've almost already talked myself into keeping them both!
 
You might find that the two PRS amps cover a lot of ground, that's for sure.
 
great looking amp, I'm waiting for the Tremonti small wattage amp

Congrats, and rock it hard brother
 
I'm definitely keeping both my Archon and my MDT -- they do different things well. So I understand that completely.
 
Awesome, I really liked the look of these when I saw at the 30th event.
 
mapleleaf14 said:
My new Archon 25 Plum just arrived at my office.

When I get home tonight, I will start the battle between the Archon 25 and the Custom 20...whichever one doesn't make it out is going to be returned.

I do like the looks of the Plum Custom 20 slightly better than the Plum Archon...the Fawn faceplate on the Custom is nice looking with the wheat grille cloth, but the Archon is growing on me. Besides, it's more about the sound - not the looks. The Archon is smaller and lighter than the Custom too, which I like.

I will miss the adjustable boost of the Custom if I end up with the Archon...but I could always add a boost pedal.
Click to expand...

That plum Archon is sweet.

As for choosing between the two, three words:

Ste.

Re.

Oh.
 
Ok gang...

WOW.

The Archon 25 is wonderful...absolutely wonderful. The Clean channel is as good as everybody says it is. Might be my imagination, but the Bright switches seem to do a bit more than on the Custom 20. I started with all the EQ knobs at noon and it sounded great. After playing around with the EQ, I'm fairly certain you can't necessarily dial in a "bad" tone! The Depth knob is awesome. The Lead channel is great too...but that was to be expected with the Archon. It really is pretty impressive though how PRS got an amp with so much gain to have such a great clean channel.

I had read a few "complaints" about the effects loop being noisy. This amp is virtually silent! It is definitely more quiet than the Custom 20 which I find a little odd.

In the loop I have the following pedals:
- t.c. Electronic Dreamscape,
- t.c. Electronic Flashback Mini,
- Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail delay,
- t.c. Electronic Hall of Fame Mini


Maybe I'm lucky that those pedals match up well with the loop, or maybe the "fix" PRS implemented in these amps works! Either way, I'm glad that mine seems fine...the amp is really quiet.


I will have to re-think my distortion pedals...the Metal Core and Fullbore Metal aren't going to be required anymore for my "heavy" tone with the Archon...it has plenty of gain! I'll probably look into more of an overdrive pedal now.


My initial thought is I'll keep the Custom 20 for when I want to plug straight into an amp and play...I love the breakup I get on it's Clean channel when the volume is dimed and rolling back the guitar for a clean tone. You can't really get much breakup on the Archon's Clean channel, which is why I'll probably end up looking at some more mild overdrive pedals. Though you can roll the guitar volume back on the Lead channel and get it to clean up a bit...works better with my Core guitars, not as much with the S2's - guess the #7 pickups aren't quite as good as the Core pickups I happen to have (DGT's and 57/08's).


Big shock that I wanna keep both right?!? Nobody saw that coming. :biggrin: Not 100% though, I can see that the Custom 20 might end up just sitting there not getting much use, and that's not only unfair to the Custom, it doesn't make much sense financially either.


I'm currently using an Orange a Rockerverb 50 head for my "band" situation, but I'm really thinking when I sell my Mesa Royal Atlantic, I'll sell the Orange as well and get an Archon 50 head.
 
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Don't feel obliged to keep both -- the good rule of thumb is: if one of them does everything the other does and more​, then get rid of the other one.

And then buy a third. :D
 
True Dusty...I would imagine the Archon is going to be able to do everything the Custom does, plus the heavy gain thing so more than likely the Custom will be headed out...especially since I think I want to replace my current head(s) with an Archon head as well. I just need to figure out if I want the 50 watt or the 100 watt head. I would normally lean towards the 50, but since the Archons have that half-switch, I need to think about it.


After playing the Archon 25 until I went to bed last night, I'm just giddy with how good that amp is! And after looking at it more and more, I'm starting to dig it's looks too (after thinking the plum/fawn Custom was better looking). It's the most musical high gain amp I've ever played through...which includes a Rockerverb, Royal Atlantic, Mark V, and a Dual Rec. It's the best clean channel I've ever heard, and it takes pedals as good as the Custom so I'm thrilled. I would imagine the head versions are just as good.
 
g.wizz said:
great looking amp, I'm waiting for the Tremonti small wattage amp

Congrats, and rock it hard brother
Click to expand...

Where can a guy find out more about this amp? I've Googled but got nothing. Coming out this year? I'm about ready to make the Custom 20 purchase but might hold off if it's close.
 
I took the Boss Metal Core off of my pedalboard today and went looking for an "overdrive" pedal more suited for a "light" overdrive on the Clean channel of the Archon, since I no longer need pedals for my "heavy" tone. I looked at a DLS Reckless Driver, a Barber Direct Drive, a couple Boss pedals, one of the Tube Screamers, and a couple other pedals but I didn't want to spend a ton of money and I also wanted something on the smaller side as my board real estate is getting used up.


I ended up with yet another t.c. Electronic pedal - a MojoMojo pedal. Luckily, I t was perfect for my intended use and I am very pleasantly surprised at how great it sounds rolling the guitar volume back - it cleans up beautifully, not losing any of the tone. Even better is how it sounds pushing the Lead channel...no tone change at all, it just sort of adds sustain - a nice boost.


I am continually being shocked and happy with how great these t.c. pedals are after not liking the Nova System I tried out. I now have 5 of them...the Hall of Fame Mini, Flashback Mini, Dreamscape, Vortex Mini, and now this MojoMojo and I really like them all. This is my first experience with their pedals (having added them all within the last couple of months). The ability to change the "tone prints" with my iPhone is awesome, and what I thought might just be a gimmick initially has been a feature I use quite often and it works flawlessly.


Anyway, if any of you are looking for a lower gain overdrive pedal, the MojoMojo is great IMO...I thought about the Dark Matter also but thought it might be too gain-y. TC lowered the prices on their overdrive & distortion pedals (to $49) because they said that the market is saturated with that type of pedal and they wanted to give people a reason to look into theirs...I'm glad they did. With the trading in of the Metal Core pedal, I got the MojoMojo for $15!


EDIT: Ended up getting a Dark Matter too since they're only $49...it's an awesome pedal...maybe better than the MojoMojo. I love both of them.
 
Last edited:
Glad to hear the Archon 25 is working out for you so well. It's on my radar, as is a Mesa Rectoverb 25, and possibly a Mesa Mk 5:25, and possibly an Orange OR15h or Jim Root Terror.

But mostly it's between the Rectoverb 25 and the Archon 25. I used a Fender Humboldt v2 - supercharged Blues Jr. III, with better speakers and circuitry. Great platform for pedals, which I use for testing pedals. This next amp is going to be used with more of an amp gain, pedals less needed sort of context. I might run both in stereo, which I prefer at times. The amount of volume concerns me though, as I use it mostly in a smallish studio space. Even my Fender can get pretty loud at times.

Purchase won't happen until November/December. Big birthday coming out. I'd like to know more about this Tremonti amp too.
 
IRG said:
I'd like to know more about this Tremonti amp too.
Click to expand...

I think he pulled this from his imagination because I looked everywhere, forums here included, and it's not a thing. He's going to be waiting a long time to make a new amp purchase if he's waiting on that.
 
mapleleaf14 said:
Ok gang...

WOW.

The Archon 25 is wonderful...absolutely wonderful. The Clean channel is as good as everybody says it is. Might be my imagination, but the Bright switches seem to do a bit more than on the Custom 20. I started with all the EQ knobs at noon and it sounded great. After playing around with the EQ, I'm fairly certain you can't necessarily dial in a "bad" tone! The Depth knob is awesome. The Lead channel is great too...but that was to be expected with the Archon. It really is pretty impressive though how PRS got an amp with so much gain to have such a great clean channel.

I had read a few "complaints" about the effects loop being noisy. This amp is virtually silent! It is definitely more quiet than the Custom 20 which I find a little odd.

In the loop I have the following pedals:
- t.c. Electronic Dreamscape,
- t.c. Electronic Flashback Mini,
- Seymour Duncan Vapor Trail delay,
- t.c. Electronic Hall of Fame Mini


Maybe I'm lucky that those pedals match up well with the loop, or maybe the "fix" PRS implemented in these amps works! Either way, I'm glad that mine seems fine...the amp is really quiet.


I will have to re-think my distortion pedals...the Metal Core and Fullbore Metal aren't going to be required anymore for my "heavy" tone with the Archon...it has plenty of gain! I'll probably look into more of an overdrive pedal now.


My initial thought is I'll keep the Custom 20 for when I want to plug straight into an amp and play...I love the breakup I get on it's Clean channel when the volume is dimed and rolling back the guitar for a clean tone. You can't really get much breakup on the Archon's Clean channel, which is why I'll probably end up looking at some more mild overdrive pedals. Though you can roll the guitar volume back on the Lead channel and get it to clean up a bit...works better with my Core guitars, not as much with the S2's - guess the #7 pickups aren't quite as good as the Core pickups I happen to have (DGT's and 57/08's).


Big shock that I wanna keep both right?!? Nobody saw that coming. :biggrin: Not 100% though, I can see that the Custom 20 might end up just sitting there not getting much use, and that's not only unfair to the Custom, it doesn't make much sense financially either.


I'm currently using an Orange a Rockerverb 50 head for my "band" situation, but I'm really thinking when I sell my Mesa Royal Atlantic, I'll sell the Orange as well and get an Archon 50 head.
Click to expand...

Any chance of you doing a video demo of both? There's not a Custom 20 video anywhere to be found. Would sure be great to hear one and especially with being able to hear the 25 side by side.
 
Dusty Chalk said:
http://prsguitars.com/forum/showthread.php?14509-Tremonti-Signature-Archon

Doubters. :box:
Click to expand...

Haha.. right on. Okay, I apologize here. Man.. I even did a search for Tremonti and hit every thread I could find and still missed it! Thanks, Dusty. In the end though, after watching the vid, it sounds like he wants to cater it a bit more to being a (really nice) kid's amp, so have a feeling it might be missing some features like depth and boost. On the other hand, if it's really all that and comes in around $700, I'll just have to buy another Archon. I think I'll move forward with buying this month. Get a free amp cover after all! :P Still hoping Mapleleaf considers a comparison vid. Would love to hear both side by side.
 
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