atrox
Active member
OK. I actually got this like 1.5 weeks ago, but have only recently gotten a chance to crank it. I figured i'd hold on my impressions till then.
2016 Archon 100
I love my Friedman for most things, but with my one band tuned to C with 12 gauge strings, it had a frequency that i know Marshall'esque amps have that isn't necessarily bad, but not something i want for this band. I still used it for a while and the tone was still crushing, but i couldn't get over that one frequency.
Enter the Archon. Did ton's of research and decided a more modern amp would do it for me. I love Archtype model in the Helix and decided i needed that amp after I researched a bunch on it.
The clean channel is amazing and i don't even use a full clean... ever. This one has a nice compression to it where you can easily shred on it. It's warm and capable of jazz or Bright. The only other clean amp i tried that felt like this was an old Fender Bandmaster my buddy had.
The dirt channel is crazy. Gotta be careful with the Depth and bass on this channel. It's super tight and sounds great on all volumes. It's darker than my Friedman and the mid structure is different. I believe it's the different mids that hide that frequency i do not like on the Friedman with low tunings and big strings. Tons of gain available too. This is definitely my amp for this band.
For regular tuned guitars, i prefer the Friedman. It's more raw and more importantly... what i'm used to. I've been a Marshall guy since the mid-eighties and the Friedman is my god-tone. The Archon, with guitars tuned to E works very well too. It's a fantastic amp and it does not get lost in my band mix in the slightest. It compliments my other guitar players 5150 very well.
2016 Archon 100
I love my Friedman for most things, but with my one band tuned to C with 12 gauge strings, it had a frequency that i know Marshall'esque amps have that isn't necessarily bad, but not something i want for this band. I still used it for a while and the tone was still crushing, but i couldn't get over that one frequency.
Enter the Archon. Did ton's of research and decided a more modern amp would do it for me. I love Archtype model in the Helix and decided i needed that amp after I researched a bunch on it.
The clean channel is amazing and i don't even use a full clean... ever. This one has a nice compression to it where you can easily shred on it. It's warm and capable of jazz or Bright. The only other clean amp i tried that felt like this was an old Fender Bandmaster my buddy had.
The dirt channel is crazy. Gotta be careful with the Depth and bass on this channel. It's super tight and sounds great on all volumes. It's darker than my Friedman and the mid structure is different. I believe it's the different mids that hide that frequency i do not like on the Friedman with low tunings and big strings. Tons of gain available too. This is definitely my amp for this band.
For regular tuned guitars, i prefer the Friedman. It's more raw and more importantly... what i'm used to. I've been a Marshall guy since the mid-eighties and the Friedman is my god-tone. The Archon, with guitars tuned to E works very well too. It's a fantastic amp and it does not get lost in my band mix in the slightest. It compliments my other guitar players 5150 very well.
