For Tamiya acrylics, the x20a does indeed work well but the Mr. Color Leveling Thinner (and to be clear, it's that exact name, NOT Mr. Color Thinner) takes Tamiya acrylics to a whole other level. Yes, as you learned, you need to use lacquer thinner (or I guess the more expensive route would me the Leveling Thinner....lol) to clean your airbrush.
In my (and many others) experience, the Leveling Thinner drastically improves how the Tamiya acrylic sprays and the adhesion to plasteek. It completely eliminates tip drying on your airbrush which often can happen when using x20a and lastly, I should also mention that it *slightly* slows the drying/curing time but again, the benefits far outweigh anything else.
I have never used Vallejo paints. I've heard they only work well with their thinner(s). Also, Vallejo is water based acrylic unlike Tamiya, which is solvent based. That most likely explains the issues you had. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but the solvent based acrylics are Tamiya, Gunze Aqueous and AK "real colors". Vallejo, the now discontinued Modelmaster and old Pollyscale acrylics are/were all water based.
Have fun!
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