I probably shouldn't have said I should have kicked my own butt for not buying it sooner, but yes, I wish I did. I have legit reasons for not buying it sooner though, and some, not so legit. I admit I was turned off by the name. But, while I can buy what I want and as long as it's not too extravagant, Mrs. WR will go along with it, I am trying to keep my discretionary purchases to a minimum these days, and use only or at least mainly discretionary funds. I'd have some money in the "gear fund" and buy a knife or two. Then I'd have it built back up and had a couple friends in need. Then I'd get it built back up and buy another knife... then it was so close I just figured I'd ask for it for Christmas. I also wasn't excited about $250 for an OD pedal. Trust me that the last one wouldn't be an issue now that I've heard it, although I also found a deal too good to pass up.
Further, I agree with your comment about it's transparency. Without getting too audiophile here, one thing that is commonly misconstrued about "transparency" is that it means flat frequency response. It doesn't. It means what you said... everything in the chain is very clearly presented. Every little change is clearly heard. And, this applies whether or not you're adding mids, bass, treble, and gain!
So what kills me with what I can do with this, is that I can find that spot on the voice knob that gives this gorgeous envelope shape to the lower mids, just making the notes pop out fat and juicy, but still have the ability to shape the bass and treble to further shape my overall tone. Then, I dial that up some and change that bloom spot in the mids to something higher and different, but still beautiful. I was so excited last night that honestly I'll probably spend another night or two with it going into the Bogner and see what else I can come up with. But boy, I can't wait to try it with the Archon!