NAD - Donner DBA-2

dr bonkers

Fractal Fanatic
Vendor
So I just picked up a Donner DBA-2 for times when I just want to jam simply without lugging around my Fractal Audio Axe-FX III and two Atomic CLRs.

For a 28w RMS solid state closed back combo Amp with 8 inch speaker, color me impressed, if you like the old Polytone Mini-Brutes, this thing is very reminiscent of its sound, even though the Poly was a ported cab.

I tested it out with the following basses:
1980 Rickenbacker 4003
1973 Gibson Les Paul Triumph Bass
2018 Ibanez GSRM-25 5 string Mikro
2017 Squier VM Jaguar SS

I also tested it out with the following guitars:
2009 Epiphone ES-175
2019 Squier Affinity Telecaster with Fender Noiseless pickups
2017 Gibson Les Paul Classic Silverburst with Big Leg Circuits Jimmy Page wiring harness

The amp was able to keep up with a moderate volume, non-basher rock drummer easily with all instruments listed.

Lots of clean gain on tap with this amp, the only time you can make it distort is turning the bass control past 12 o'clock on bass and 1 o'clock on guitar which causes the speaker to fart out.

The bass controls and treble controls are set at very musical frequencies with a lot of ability to sculpt your sound. The mid control is set at a frequency that did not jive with my instruments past 11 o'clock, but within that range it was very useful for sculpting. Past that range and it started to get a little unpleasant.

The speaker had a nice tonality as long as you don't start cranking the bass control to make it fart. It has a surprising amount of low end for an 8 inch speaker. This is coming from a guy who back in the day wouldn't gig without his Hartke 150w combo with one 15 inch speaker.

I wish it had a low mid control to dial out some of the hollow low mids that presented themselves at max amp gain with the ES-175 and Mikro bass. An eq pedal in front of the amp could solve that though.

Definitely recommend this for practicing when you want to push some air in a different way than with a CLR and coffeehouse gigs. It will not keep up with Marshall stacks or Animal on drums, but very few under 50w solid state amps.
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