Clean headroom on the 5 is less than I liked. I came up with a nice mod to make it much better and put a Mercury Magnetics transformer set on it, which really helped.
For me, it's not about needing the 100 watts. My DC is only on 2 when we jam.
It's about the clean headroom. I want Alex Lifeson type huge chords, clean or not, with absolutely no mud. That's what I love about the 10, massive crunchy tones and cleans that won't break up unless you make them. :mrgreen: But you could make them breakup if you wanted! :mrgreen:
As for the Recto vs. DC-10.
The DC will cut through in a mix way better than a Recto for most people. There are some guys here who have their Recto's mastered and can get just about any tone they want. I prefer a much tighter tone, and that is why I have the DC. It is focused and precise. I always felt like my Recto could hide some of my sloppy playing. My DC has made me clean up my sloppy playing if that makes sense.