Incoming new amp.

Ascension

Ascension

New member
I pulled the trigger on a 2017 PRS Custom 50 head last night. Should be here early next week. I love the first gen PRS Archon I have, but it's mostly a metal amp with a solid clean. I because of what I do playing modern worship needed a head with more versatility that was a more straight-up classic rock voiced crunch side but also had a really pristine clean side and a lot of tonal versatility. Had Boogies and still own the little Subway Rocket but wanted something different. . After looking around for quite a while, this one popped up for a very good price over on The Gear Page. Since Doug Sewell has come on board as the Chief Designer at PRS, I have been super impressed with his stuff. Almost bought a Sweet !6 head a few years ago in a local shop and really like the real US HRDX head, but it's way too much in both $ and volume than I need.
So last night I finally made the deal on the Custom 50.
Here is the best demo I have heard on these, and the cleans in particular are absolutely spectacular. With both it and the first gen US built Archon plus the cabs I have on hand, I should be set for a LONG time now in my play out big gig rigs.
 
Congrats! :beerchug:

I've never even heard of that model tbh but man.. That's a fine sounding amp. Enjoy rocking it!

I keep fighting down the urge to check out the new Indo Archon 50's that are in almost all the stores here ...they sound practically the same to me as the US one's in demo's (ie ..great :D) but I'm yet to play one myself. PRS amp's are tone monster's..
 
Phantasmagoria said:
Congrats! :beerchug:

I've never even heard of that model tbh but man.. That's a fine sounding amp. Enjoy rocking it!

I keep fighting down the urge to check out the new Indo Archon 50's that are in almost all the stores here ...they sound practically the same to me as the US one's in demo's (ie ..great :D) but I'm yet to play one myself. PRS amp's are tone monster's..
Click to expand...

Thanks.
I prefer the MT 15 to the new Archon. I owned an MT 15 for a while and really liked the little amp, but it was too similar to the first gen real US Archon I have, so traded it for a couple amps.
Played a couple of the new Archons and don't care for them. They are to compressed and have lost something in comparison to my 2019 US 50. The cleans are also just not happening, and I actually preferred my MT 15 to the 2 I have played. The new Archon has a little more gain, so it may make a better pure metal amp, but my real first gen Archon has a feel and almost 3 D tonal quality that is just different.
A well sorted MT 15 is no joke, and the cleans on mine were fantastic.
 
There is a bit of a difference that can be heard even in the demo's. But I'll have to check one out for myself to see whether I like that or not. I've played MT15's and they're right up my street. Just can't find any here for sensible prices atm. As far as the new Archon' go, might have something to do with the new tubes they're shipping with (6CA7's) vs.the 6L6's that were in the US one's? I've never tried 6CA7's but my understanding is that they're from the EL34 family...so pretty different than a 6L6 I'm guessing...
 
Phantasmagoria said:
There is a bit of a difference that can be heard even in the demo's. But I'll have to check one out for myself to see whether I like that or not. I've played MT15's and they're right up my street. Just can't find any here for sensible prices atm. As far as the new Archon' go, might have something to do with the new tubes they're shipping with (6CA7's) vs.the 6L6's that were in the US one's? I've never tried 6CA7's but my understanding is that they're from the EL34 family...so pretty different from a 6L6 I'm guessing...
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The new series II Archon is a completely different amp. My first gen head is not a PC board amp, so the amp is a completely different design. Goes a lot farther than just the power tubes. For me, it was mostly about how the amp responded to touch. The first gen amps are very liquid and organic in playing feel. The new one, has a much more compressed and stiff feel. The cleans on the new one are not as full and fluid, much more bland and sterile feeling than the first gen amps. When you crank the gain side on my Archon it really opens up and clears up. It is also very touch sensitive and really opens up when you back off or roll back the volume. The new amps are more aggressive, just get louder and more compressed when you crank them, and don't have the same touch sensitivity as the first gen amps.
The gain side on the MT 15 and second gen Archon are very similar, but the MT 15 has the better clean with the gain boost pulled. An MT 13 is not a 15 watt amp but closer to 30 and is very close in volume to a 50. To me, the MT 15 is just the better amp than a second gen Archon. The First gen real US built point to point wired amps are on a different level than both the MT 15 and the new Archon. IMO they should have renamed the new Archon as it's the SE version of a real one and a completely different amp.
Bottom line is.
The new Archon is a purer metal amp than the first gen. It has more gain more bottom chunk and is tighter, but it looses that magic in the way it feels and responds to touch and opens up when cranked of the first gen amps. For some, that may be what they want, but it wasn't for me.
 
Well, thanks for that. It looks like I'll have to play one first and see what it's like & whether or not it's my thing..

I have no problem with "purely metal" amp's generally. Not really into cleans..so who knows..

For me it's just got to feel right for shred :p

That's what makes me happy :laugh2:
 
Phantasmagoria said:
Well, thanks for that. It looks like I'll have to play one first and see what it's like & whether or not it's my thing..

I have no problem with "purely metal" amp's generally. Not really into cleans..so who knows..

For me it's just got to feel right for shred :p

That's what makes me happy :laugh2:
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Get you in this. Believe it or not, I primarily ran my MT 15 on stage at my Church. Loved the cleans and set up a little Wampler Belle in the front end for the mid-gain stuff but spent most of the time on the gain channel. Had a Blackstar oversized 1/12 off-stage loaded with an old 90s Celestian 57 and miced with a 57. Great tones and very expressive, a touch sensitive amp. I run the Archon mostly whee I can open up and really let it sing. There really is not much over all volume difference between my first gen Archon 50 and the MT15. The MT 15 had a LOT of clean headroom also, but mine was running 6L6s, not the 6CA7s, and I prefer these amps with 6L6s. Think they lose some of the headroom, punch and tightness with the 6CA7s. Best thing for you is to find both a new Archon and a new MT 15 to play. Honestly, I was looking hard at the new Archon when they first came out, but was disappointed in the ones I played in comparison to both my MT 15 and my first gen Archon. You may feel differently when you play them.
My Custom 50 will ship on Monday and I will post something on it soon.
Few clips with my MT 15.
Mid-gain running the Belle
https://youtu.be/_mlNsRAZS-A?si=dtpyk7CmjSoNjGKJ
High gain, nothing but the amp and a little verb and delay in the loop. I am using the guitar volume and touch to open up and clean up a little at times, then digging in at times, no boost or anything. This is what I love about all these Doug Sewell amps, in how expressive they are.
https://youtu.be/_RZkqIsBJLY?si=XsxKKYawXFmHB_K1
Clean with a compressor in front and verb in the loop.
https://youtu.be/ovwKkcrbD3w?si=tyiprlY57M_l8g9d
Clean country tones Boss CS3 up front, with a little verb in the loop.
https://youtu.be/cVOT7dUyEFo?si=H8clzm4oLBOAR1Vo
All with my MT 15 and I think I was playing my 2017 Kiesel DC 135 in all these clips.
 
Sweet!

The MT15 is a great little amp. The only one I could find here was pretty much the same price as a new Archon 50 though. Not really keen to pay that much for one. To my ears the new Archon 50's sound a bit tighter/less organic than the old ones. Also w/ a raspier pick attack that I'm not loving in the demo's. The MT15 has a nice roundness to it that's missing from the (new) Archon's.


Again, I'm thinking that running 6L6's instead of 6CA7's in them might just help w/ that... but I'm not sure if that's possible..
 
Phantasmagoria said:
Sweet!

The MT15 is a great little amp. The only one I could find here was pretty much the same price as a new Archon 50 though. Not really keen to pay that much for one. To my ears the new Archon 50's sound a bit tighter/less organic than the old ones. Also w/ a raspier pick attack that I'm not loving in the demo's. The MT15 has a nice roundness to it that's missing from the (new) Archon's.


Again, I'm thinking that running 6L6's instead of 6CA7's in them might just help w/ that... but I'm not sure if that's possible..
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Spot on with what I heard in the real world. I also found the cleans to be a lot less defined and have a lack of headroom on the new Archon. On the tube swap, yes you can run 6L6s in both the new Archon and the new MT 15. You just have to tweak the bias, but PRS makes that very easy with bias points on the back and the adjustment also is very easy to access from the rear panel..
 
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I checked one of those new Archon's out in the evening yesterday. It's not a bad sounding amp. A LOT of mids. It does have a slightly raspy attack on chords/notes but I found that easy enough to dial out w/ the EQ/resonance knob. In fact playing around w/ the presence resonance did have a pretty drastic effect on the amp's overall tone & feel and I could get it to be pretty round/organic & saggy. Not going to say it blew me away..but certainly an amp capable of pretty decent high gain & lead tones. I wish they had a MT15 there to A-B it with but they did'nt....I'll have to go to another store for that.Still it turned out to be a lot nicer than I was expecting.

Also gave the Orange TH100 they have there another go, just for the hell of it. It sounded better than I remember it sounding & I I actually like the single knob EQ a lot 'cause of how quick/easy it makes it to dial the amp in.

Nice usable tones throughout the entire range of the EQ but it still lacked that characteristic Orange warmth/vintage-y kinda sound...it's pretty cold & grim for an Orange. More metal than rock (:laugh2:) .the mids are different somehow, definitely more scooped ..and bit too ratty/fizzy on top w/ a lot of settings (hard to dial out). Thank fully it's still notoverly tight though and will do the doom thing all day long..

Yeah t's definitely a pretty ballsy sounding amp as amps go...nice deep thunderous lows . It's got a mean punch to it...

The Archon was more refined & this was more raw. But coming at it from an OSDM/Doom point of view, they were both capable of some pretty sick/brutal tones ala Autopsy/Entombed etc.. and the Archon especially had vast potential for killer shred tones w/o a boost as well :bigthumb:
 
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