Paul Reed Smith Guitars expand their amplifier line with the new Archon, their first high-gain tube amp.
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Although designed for high-gain, the amp also caters to multi-genre players via its high-headroom clean channel, which they claim is
not normally found in other amps with this much crunch”.
Archon is a Greek word that means ruler or lord, a fitting description to what the amp is designed to do – to provide as much gain as you need without sacrificing the cleans. PRS describes the amp as having a “remarkably responsive tone with incredible note separation, whether you’re playing on the clean channel or chugging on the lead”.
The PRS Archon is a two channel amplifier head that utilizes four 6L6GV power tubes and six 12AX7 preamp tubes. The lead channel features five gain stages before the master volume, this allows it to cover high-gain sonic territories. The clean channel on the other hand comes with enough headroom for providing clean tones that you don’t usually expect from high-gain amps. Both channels are designed to provide a good platform for utilizing various pedals.
For tone shaping, PRS equipped each channel with a 3-band EQ and independent master volume knobs. Further sound sculpting is done via that Archon’s global depth and presence controls.
Mark Tremonti (Alter Bridge and Creed), Fredrik Åkesson (Opeth), Zach Myers (Shinedown) and Dustie Waring (Between the Buried and Me) now endorse the amp. Another endorser, Emil Werstler of Chimaira, had this to say: “Finding the right amp can be a life-long journey. There always seems to be an imperfection in design covered up by excess features. For the multi-genre player, it is nearly impossible to find one amp for all styles until now. The Archon delivers the best clean and dirty channels I’ve ever heard in one amp. Finally, I get to just plug in and play,”
Check out the PRS Archon in action:
The amp is rated at 100W and is more than capable to handle medium to big venues. A Half Power Switch is provided for driving the tubes at half the power (50W), ideal for small to medium-sized venue jamming and practice. Output options allow for 4, 8 and 16 Ohm speaker/cabinet connections.
The amp comes with a black over all look, featuring a black tolex and charcoal burst maple fascia. You can head over to PRS Guitars to get a closer look at the insides of the amp along with detailed explanations about the features. Pricing information will soon be available.
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