# PRS Archon vs EVH 5150



## kentheterrible (Sep 4, 2015)

Thinking of adding to my stable. Have a Mesa Dual Racktofier that I love. Can't help but be attracted to a 5150 style amp but usually feel like they're kinda one trick ponies and I get tired of the sound. That's based on the Peavey models, haven't been able to play an EVH longterm and have heard really good things about them. Have heard really good things about the Archon and have access to one for a great price. Don't really care about having 3 channels. 

Thoughts? Go!


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## TheRileyOBrien (Sep 4, 2015)

The Archon has a unique sound but sounds much more like a rectifier than a 5150. The EVH is considerably more versatile than the Peaveys. Between the two I would go with the EVH (preferably 50 watt version).


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## Devyn Eclipse Nav (Sep 4, 2015)

Eh, they are and aren't one trick ponies, depending on what you get - if you get a straight 5150/6505, then yeah - you really can only get one useable sound out of it, without tweaking the EQ

The 5150 II/6505+ is a little more versatile, given it has two separate channels, so you can get a decent clean and a good lead/rhythm, or you can switch on the crunch mode, and get a rly snarly rhythm tone, and a fantastic lead

The 5150 III, on the other hand, the full 3 channel version, can give you, without a boost, cleans, crunch, and rhythm, or with a boost, cleans, rhythm, and lead - IMO, that'd be the most versatile. The 50 watt one would fall more in line with the 6505+, since the Green and Blue channels share an EQ section.

As said, the Archon is sorta like a recto, and only has the two channels, so if you already have a recto, then honestly you're probably good to skip it.


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## cGoEcYk (Sep 4, 2015)

Have you considered Mark IV? That might be a good complement too and cover the ground you are looking for.


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## Cheap (Sep 4, 2015)

I had both an Archon and a 5150 iii head. As far as bang for your buck goes, the 5153 is pretty hard to beat (and I just had a 50 watt model). With that said, as soon as I switched to the Archon, I felt like I bought a big-boy-head--There's loads more beef and umph and kick while the 5153 is a lot more searing, kind of like a soldano if we're using that terminology.

tl;dr Archon is beast, buy archon, be happy. it's still really versatile even without a boost


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## Cheap (Sep 4, 2015)

For what these dudes are saying about having recto's and being fine passing on the archon.. I always felt like the Archon sounds like what Mesa is going for, but are loads easier to dial in and the knobs sound good _everywhere_


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## viesczy (Sep 4, 2015)

I think that the EVH 5153 is a great line of amps, I have the 50 watt and 100 watt S. 

If I was only going to have one of my amps, it would be my Road King II. It does just too many tones in too fine a fashion to even consider dropping. 

Derek


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## aqa (Sep 4, 2015)

I own a 5150 50w, cleans are "fenderish" good, second channel give you good distorted tones and third channel are for solos and metal, it tend to be raw but very good for metal, very nice to record.

I played and archon 100w and is a fantastic head, very smooth and defined, but still very strong with the gain, simple to use


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## Great Satan (Sep 4, 2015)

So basically what people are saying is;
sell the recto, get the archon 'and' the EVH 

(But on a serious note, i'd say get either one with a return policy just to directly compare to your recto. Not that there's anything wrong with a recto.)


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## kentheterrible (Sep 4, 2015)

Get thee behind me Satan!

Anyway, I think I may have to pick up that archon tomorrow morning... The thing is I was thinking I could get away will throwing a nice boost, like the Protone Bulb or TS808HW, in front of the dual and pick up a 5153 50w. Problem there is the 50w really on has eq for 2 channels at a time. The 100w version is a little steep imho but...

Anyone looking for Dual Racktofier?


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## jc986 (Sep 4, 2015)

aqa said:


> I own a 5150 50w, cleans are "fenderish" good, second channel give you good distorted tones and third channel are for solos and metal, it tend to be raw but very good for metal, very nice to record.
> 
> I played and archon 100w and is a fantastic head, very smooth and defined, but still very strong with the gain, simple to use



I love my 5153 50w, but the cleans are definitely not "Fenderish" IMO. They are passable, but don't have the depth and sparkle that most would associate with Fender-esque cleans. I haven't had the chance to play an Archon, but from the clips I've heard the Archon has a much nicer clean channel. So if cleans are very important to you take that into consideration. 

I've owned quite a few amps, and I liked the clean channel better on pretty much all of them compared to the 5153. That said, it does take pedals very well and with a delay, reverb, chorus, etc you can definitely get good sounding, passable cleans.


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## rokket2005 (Sep 5, 2015)

All these people telling you to off your racktifier haven't played a racktifier. Don't listen to these plebs.


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## kentheterrible (Sep 5, 2015)

Point well taken, Rokket. 

The thing that impressed me the most with the Archon was how all of the mid and low gain tones were still really good even with the monster gain available. Very responsive knobs.


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## kentheterrible (Sep 5, 2015)

cGoEcYk, had a Mark IV. Never really felt at home with it honestly. Then got a Mark V. Could be absolutely brutal but honestly, more knobs than I am competent to play with. The 2ch Racktofier is just money so I don't think it's going anywhere honestly.

FWIW the Archon in question is essentially brand new for $950


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## shaynedepugh (Sep 5, 2015)

Archon.


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## asher (Sep 5, 2015)

kentheterrible said:


> cGoEcYk, had a Mark IV. Never really felt at home with it honestly. Then got a Mark V. Could be absolutely brutal but honestly, more knobs than I am competent to play with. The 2ch Racktofier is just money so I don't think it's going anywhere honestly.
> 
> FWIW the Archon in question is essentially brand new for $950



Holy .... buy that.


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## Cheap (Sep 6, 2015)

dude what are you even doing--archon for 950? don't ask questions just take it and run. you can flip it for a bit more than that if you have to


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## jerm (Sep 7, 2015)

Archon no doubt. 5153 is kind of thin and anemic IMO.


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## aqa (Sep 7, 2015)

For this price, the archon is a steal


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## cwhitey2 (Sep 7, 2015)

Archon.

I have never been more impressed with an amp.

Most usable tone no matter what the knobs are set to IMO.


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## kentheterrible (Sep 7, 2015)

So...
Picked up the Archon. Thought, 'man, this thing sounds pretty beastly.' Got it home, set it up on my PRS 212 stealth cab and got it dialed in. Then my friend sat down with a similar guitar on my Racktofier on a Port City 212os. When we started playing, we kinda A/B'd some riffs and the Mesa just killed it. I thought that it might have been the cabs so we got all that swapped around and it was the same story. Going to try a boost on the form of the Archon to see if that's the magic setup but right now, that Racktofier has won again. They seem similarly voiced but the Mesa sounds like it already has a boost on the front of it.


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## Cheap (Sep 8, 2015)

hmm whenever i'd compare the archon i had to a mesa it was exactly the opposite--the mesa's kept sounding anemic. but hey, if the racktofier is still turning out to be your thing there's nothing wrong with that. maybe you could find a killer trade deal for the archon if you end up deciding it's not worth keeping. they're pretty sought after from what i keep seeing on forums/fbook pages/etc


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## TheRileyOBrien (Sep 8, 2015)

The contradiction is strong in this thread. 

Just try both and buy what you like more.


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## kentheterrible (Sep 8, 2015)

I've had DRs and TRs and they both came up way short in comparison to the Racktofier. Safe to say if you haven't heard one, it's kinda hard to describe. Dustin from BTBAM told me that if he's running through a standard dual or triple recto that he has to run a tube screamer on the front of it. Considering I just finally got a bit of a handle on what tube screamer does for your sound, I'd say that sounds exactly like what I'm hearing.

Maybe putting an Archon up for trade for 5153 100w. Going to try running a boost on the front of it and see where that gets me.


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## NinjaRaf (Sep 8, 2015)

Yeah, at that price, buy the Archon.

Keep the racto. You will regret selling that thing. If I had money, I would try to convince you to sell it to me, but I just ordered another Kiesel last week, so I gotsta wait!!


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## NeubyWanKaneuby (Sep 8, 2015)

I've had a 5153 (100w) and currently have an Archon. I like them both. I'd definitely get another 5153 in the future.

I've never owned anything Mesa, so I can't really offer much of an opinion on that.


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## MattThePenguin (Sep 8, 2015)

The clean channel on the Archon is out of this world..


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## kentheterrible (Sep 9, 2015)

I wasn't completely taken with the cleans on the Archon. Not that I'm a connoisseur of clean or anything, I just tried it clean against the Racktofier and didn't find a significant enough difference. I also like to run the tube rectifiers when really going for a clean tone. 

I've got a boost coming soon so I'll try that out on the front of the Archon but it's still probably going to be put up for sale or at least for trade for a 5153 100w. That amp sounds significantly different than rectos do.


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## Talmaci (Sep 10, 2015)

Man! Check Fryette Deliverance - it's an AMAZING amp.


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## aqa (Oct 11, 2015)

Recently I acquired an Archon 100 in a crazy price.

I have a 5150 too, and I can say for high gain they have similar headroom, but the 5150 is rawer, with more bite and bright.

The Archon is more focussed, the gain sounds more "processed" but still natural and a lot dark but no muddy.


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## aqa (Oct 30, 2015)

Sorry for bump this but i have a pair of soundclips from both amps

They go to the same guitar, cabinet and mic position, sloppy playing and background sounds, just for testing

https://soundcloud.com/allan-quesada-aguilar/evh-5150-50-test

https://soundcloud.com/allan-quesada-aguilar/archon-test


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## op1e (Oct 31, 2015)

My EVH 50w was a great amp. Never really had a problem sharing eq's with Green/Blue channel. But I loved the Blue channel and it was a compromise with the cleans dialing in the gain I wanted (always boosted). When I used my Univibe either pre or post my cleans always got overdriven. Had to add compression and roll my volume back. My other gripe was the attack and compression on 7 string stuff. Not quite open like I'm used to with my Peavey Ultra 120 crunch channel or my RM100 with 6550's. My mission after the holidays is to get close as I can to it with the S1S0 module. If the Archon retains the girth and attack in 50w form it would be an amp I would love to try.


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## SwanWings (Nov 1, 2015)

In regards to how the Archon sounds, has it been biased properly recently? and are the tubes still good? I'm not saying that the archon should be blowing the mesa out of the water or anything, but the mesa does have a fixed bias so it pretty much doesn't need to be messed with when tubes are changed, but i'm not sure about the archon.


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## TheRileyOBrien (Nov 2, 2015)

op1e said:


> My EVH 50w was a great amp. Never really had a problem sharing eq's with Green/Blue channel. But I loved the Blue channel and it was a compromise with the cleans dialing in the gain I wanted (always boosted). When I used my Univibe either pre or post my cleans always got overdriven. Had to add compression and roll my volume back. My other gripe was the attack and compression on 7 string stuff. Not quite open like I'm used to with my Peavey Ultra 120 crunch channel or my RM100 with 6550's. My mission after the holidays is to get close as I can to it with the S1S0 module. If the Archon retains the girth and attack in 50w form it would be an amp I would love to try.



I have the 50 watt archon(and evh 50w) The archon absolutely has all the girth and attack of the 100 watt. The difference between the two with high gain settings is very minor.


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## cGoEcYk (Nov 2, 2015)

kentheterrible said:


> So...
> Picked up the Archon. Thought, 'man, this thing sounds pretty beastly.' Got it home, set it up on my PRS 212 stealth cab and got it dialed in. Then my friend sat down with a similar guitar on my Racktofier on a Port City 212os. When we started playing, we kinda A/B'd some riffs and the Mesa just killed it. I thought that it might have been the cabs so we got all that swapped around and it was the same story. Going to try a boost on the form of the Archon to see if that's the magic setup but right now, that Racktofier has won again. They seem similarly voiced but the Mesa sounds like it already has a boost on the front of it.


Thanks for sharing your experience with the comparison. I have been curious about the Archon too but have found that it's really hard to beat my Tremoverb. When dialed in just right it's a beastly beast.


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## shred-o-holic (Nov 3, 2015)

jerm said:


> 5153 is kind of thin and anemic IMO.



Uhh what was wrong with the 5153 you are referring too. NIME......the opposite...thick juicy and chocked with gain...

Wouldn't mind trying an Archon tho


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## Guamskyy (Nov 3, 2015)

I've tried both the actual 5153 and archon in store, but I do have a 5153 and archon patch in my kemper (does that count? Haha). Anyway, to my ears, the 5153 occupies one sonic space of the spectrum so it can cut through the mix pretty damn effortlessly. The archon on the other hand, is ballsy, a ton of mids, and has a unique voice that contrasts pretty well to the 5153, so in my opinion a live setting with a 5153 and archon will provide a wall of awesomeness. Other than that, my opinion doesn't matter 

TL;DR I think archon is ballsier and I prefer it over the 5153 by a very small margin.


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## Humbuck (Nov 3, 2015)

Archon.


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## jc986 (Nov 3, 2015)

I have the 100w Archon and the 50w EVH. I prefer the Archon overall, but I like both amps. The Archon's clean channel is far better than the EVH clean channel, and the Archon is a bit more versatile as far as the different tones that can be dialed in. The EVH blue and red channels sound good, but there is not a lot of variety in those channels when compared to the Archon. The bright switch is almost like a completely different channel on the Archon. 

Here's some clips of both for comparison. I reamped the same DI through the exact same setup so the only variable here is the amp. 

EVH Blue, boosted with SD 805: https://soundcloud.com/guitarjunkie986/evh-blue-boosted

EVH Red, unboosted: https://soundcloud.com/guitarjunkie986/evh-red-unboosted

Archon, boosted with SD 805, bright off: https://soundcloud.com/guitarjunkie986/archon-boosted-bright-off

Archon, unboosted, bright on: https://soundcloud.com/guitarjunkie986/prs-archon-unboosted-bright-on


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## soylentgreene (Nov 4, 2015)

EVH has been on my wish list for awhile but Im hearing so many good things about the Archon. At a good price I think Id give the Archon a go.


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## aqa (Nov 10, 2015)

aqa said:


> Sorry for bump this but i have a pair of soundclips from both amps
> 
> They go to the same guitar, cabinet and mic position, sloppy playing and background sounds, just for testing
> 
> ...



Update.

Days before I realised that I was using a fake SM57, long story short I get my money back and bought a real SM57 from a authorized dealer.

I made new clips with same mic position the same day, just switched amps

Archon
https://soundcloud.com/allan-quesada-aguilar/archon-test-4-real-sm57

EVH 5150 50w
https://soundcloud.com/allan-quesada-aguilar/evh-5150-50-test-real-sm57


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## Mad-Max (Nov 13, 2015)

I don't know if I'm contributing anything at this point in the thread, 

but I've played the EVH 5150III on numerous occasions and what I can say is that they have a wide tonal ground, and can cover just about anything. Some of my favorite modern Metal tones have been made with that amp, and I plan on getting one sometime soon. 

On the other hand, I tried the Archon this past summer. Only heard demo videos online that were extremely underwhelming, so when the opportunity rose, I took it and tried it out for myself. 

I was playing an Ibanez RGD through it going straight in, and it was going through a stock Marshall 4x12, and holy cow the tone this amp produced. Had an amazing amount of definition, it cut like a knife, but smashed you like a sledgehammer at the same time. The cleans were really impressive as well, and to me that's very important. Needless to say, it made me wish I had the money, because I probably would've walked out with it. 

I don't think you can go wrong with either, but if I had to choose, I'd probably go Archon, mainly because it's really not that much more than the EVH is, and it's got a unique tone that other amps don't have, whereas the 5150III sounds the way it does no matter what. 

Or, the best solution is to buy both!


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## MattThePenguin (Nov 13, 2015)

To me the EVH just sounds sterile and generic. It's not a bad amp though, but the Archon is just on another level.


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## TheRileyOBrien (Nov 13, 2015)

MattThePenguin said:


> To me the EVH just sounds sterile and generic. It's not a bad amp though, but the Archon is just on another level.



Own both and completely disagree. 

But tone is subjective so neither is "better"


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## MattThePenguin (Nov 13, 2015)

TheRileyOBrien said:


> Own both and completely disagree.
> 
> But tone is subjective so neither is "better"



Yeah, I've owned the Archon but mine was defective annnnd I really wanted a guitar so I returned it, then traded my XXX for the EVH because I got a nasty deal on it. The cleans on the Archon had so much conviction, and I loved the authority the lead channel had. I just can't get the same satisfaction or thump out of the EVH.


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