PRS Guitars is offering its Archon and Archon Classic amplifiers, along with matching cabinets, in a limited Black Paisley edition. Production is small, ranging from 75 to 200 pieces worldwide depending on the model.
The edition covers both amplifiers in combo and head form, plus two cabinets: the Archon 50 Combo, Archon 50 Head, Archon Classic 50 Combo, Archon Classic Head, Archon 1×12 cabinet, and Archon 2×12 cabinet. The amps themselves are the Archon and Archon Classic designs PRS already builds. The edition is about the covering.
Paisley has a history at PRS. Paul Reed Smith points back to the company’s original brown paisley amp covering, which he calls handsome, and says the all-black version “has always been admired for its striking look and durability.” PRS has given an existing model a limited run before. Earlier this year, the Custom 24 “Birds of a Feather” brought the company’s Birds of a Feather inlay to a Core guitar as a limited edition.
The Archon takes its name from the Greek word for ruler or lord. It’s a two-channel amp powered by a pair of 6L6 tubes, with five gain stages ahead of the master volume. The lead channel is voiced to cover classic rock through metal. The clean channel holds its clarity at high volume and has plenty of headroom, which makes it a practical base for pedals.
The Archon Classic takes a different approach. PRS describes it as an alternatively voiced circuit with a refined gain structure. Its lead channel leans toward the rock tones of the seventies and eighties and offers a wider range of gain, particularly in the midrange. The clean channel runs hotter and moves from fully clean to the edge of breakup. It’s aimed at players who want classic tones with room to push further.
The 1×12 and 2×12 cabinets are closed-back designs, built for punch and a tight low end, and loaded with Celestion V-Type speakers. PRS chose the V-Type for its balance across everything the Archon does, from the clean channel through classic crunch and modern metal gain.
Choosing between the two heads comes down to voicing more than features. The Archon covers a wide range up to metal, while the Classic focuses on older rock gain and a clean channel that breaks up. The Black Paisley covering doesn’t change either one. With runs this small, it’s a question of whether a player wants that look on a stage or in a studio.
PRS Guitars has built instruments in Stevensville, Maryland, for over forty years, and the Black Paisley Archon and Archon Classic models are available now in limited numbers.
