I finally got to audition the Vox DA10 and DA20 today at Sam Ash. I took all three amps (DA5,DA10,DA20) to a private room that's used to try Amps/Guitars. I started with the DA20 because it was the one I thought I'd end up buying when I walked in. It was better than what I remembered the DA5 to be. It was clean with plenty of power. But, I thought it sounded a little brittle on the clean channels. When I turned the tone knob down, it got a little muddy. I played around with the volume and tone for a while and went through the different amp models/effects. Then, just to make sure it was indeed better sounding than the DA5, I plugged into the DA5. I was right. The DA5 sounded thin and boxier than the DA20. But for it's size, it's still a cool little amp.
Next, I plugged into the DA10 and set the gain, tone and master volume to the same settings I had dialed in on the DA20. Turned it on and, WHAT! this sounds better than the DA20. This can't be right, so I start going back and forth between the DA10 and 20, dialing in the best tone I can on each amp model. After about half an hour of this, I'm sure. The DA10 does indeed sound better than the DA20. With the DA20 having two 8" speakers, larger enclosure, and 20 watts, I thought for sure it would be better than the two 6 1/2" speakers and 10 watts on the DA10. I even went and pulled in one of the sales guys that I respect and asked his opinion. I didn't tell him what I thought. I told him to take the guitar and try both amps and set them up the way he liked and give me his verdict. When he was finished, he said he liked the DA10 quit a bit more than the DA20.
The DA10 has "More Tone" and has a Compressed sound, in a good way. I bought the DA10 and I really think It's going to fit my needs.
One thing I should say is, most of time I was trying these amps out, I had it set to .5 watts. although, I did try all the power settings. It really didn't make any difference in the tone, only the volume. My plans are to use the amp under battery power most of the time. I cared more about the .5 watt setting.
Has anyone else had a chance to try either of the new DA's out?
Res
August 16th, 2007, 10:33 PM
