Korg A5 Guitar

The A5 is pritty easy to handle. You just got to know how to handle it. Having a manual really helps.

The sound quality isn't that great. Its hard to get he right tone for bands. Such as Mountain, Aerosmith etc. I founf it very good for smooth blues solos.

I find the A5 some what easy to handle. After receiving the manual it got much easier. Tough I would not advise using it as for a gig, but its fair for recording.

No Opinion

I find the A5 dated and am more of a pedal board person, so i can experiment with different distortions and shifters. If i were a customer i would not by this out of date pedal. I received it from a friend for free without a manual.

The slider MUST be on bank 1 (top position) to access user patch you have saved. To write patch go into edit mode, set slider to effect being edited, make changes, press write, press footswitch equivalent to position 1 ,2 ,3,4 ,5 required, and press write again. Stored.
Ease of use is limited because of only five user patches, and manual tweaking of effects can involve turning up to five knobs..

The sounds? Compressor is poor, other effects can be all right if used sparingly, fuzz distortion is awful, but I generally don't like severe distortion much anyhow. The range of effects is limited.

Mine is quite old yet still functional, should last forever with normal handling.

The machine is very dated and lacks versatility and sparkle. It can sound very nice within its capabilities. (Ideal to play Hendrix Hey Joe and the like). It would be more useful for the home studio where there is time for setting sounds than for gigging. A much better vintage pedal is the Zoom 1010, which in turn is far easier to use than the 505.

I'm not sure who is still looking for a manual for this. I have just downloaded a pdf from the following web address. In Firefox there is an advertising frame to the left of the web page, with the manual in the main window. Look for the picture of a diskette and text "save a copy" at the top left of the pdf toolbar.

http://www.epanorama.net/schematicsforfree/pdf_redirect.php?url=http://www.epanorama.rackhost.net/schematicsforfree/Audio/Musical/Products/KORG%20A5%20MANUAL.pdf

I may submit a product review in a couple of days when I have managed to write and store some patches!

A friend recently gave me a Korg A5, without a manual and, while I could figure out the basics easily enough, I couldn't figure out all the programming intricacies. The website didn't offer a manual download for this older model. However, when I called Korg Customer service - (631)390-6500- they immediately and cheerfully e-mailed me a PDF of the manual. I find that these effect units are fun to fool around with when playing solo, but usually don't like the sound of any of them when playing loud in a band. The subtleties of the effects seem to get lost behind the drums and bass and I find myself just wanting more real punch to cut through. I'm looking forward to seeing if this one is any different.

I don't have a manual for this unit so I haven't really been able to use it to its potential.

My stereo system is connected to the outputs. Bookshelf speakers and a powered sub. Ableton Live software. I get a clean sound with little noise. Even today with modern fx units the A5 is still a decent sounding unit.

It's pretty old and still no issues yet.

I play some blues and rock. I like Korg products and that might have influenced my decision to buy it.
If anyone knows where to download the manual free let me know. I'd like to explore it a bit more.

its easy to use. Only problem is , you must manualy change banks

I'am a profesional, and I use this procesor over the 10 years. Totaly natural sound than the other newest procesors efects. If somebody dont beleave mail me at nesaminic@hotmail.com , and I send you my manual tune. *for any kind of guitar with humbucker on bridge*
"GOOD FOR ANYBODY WHO WANT TO PLAY HARD 'N' HEAVY"

Sometimes I play directly in mix without amp. Not bad for small places

I dont remeber. Some private Store...
Price was about 400 DM.

After 6 months trying, changing another pedals, procesor effects I'am back on my good old A5. I'll never change it, no matter for what price I can stole it. Now Im finishing my fourth album with my band, and at all 4 guess what im played???

I bought this unit used and it didn't come with a manual. I suspect that it's damaged cos everyone else seems to have an easy time saving patches and I can't get mine to save at all. Mind you, the parameters for each effect are written right on the console and everything else is pretty self explanatory

As I mentioned before, I think my unit is damaged. the jacks are all loos and crackle something fierce when I play. Nevertheless, I'm not gigging weith it so I'm fairly happ. I use a 1969 Ibanez Goldtone (well, it's the old goldtones but form the first year the company called itself Ibanez)through an old Bogen Challenger PA head (converted for guitar). So I'm not exactly running quality gear through this bad boy.
the distortion (I've tried a bunch of guitars to no avail) is kinda gutless and ditto for the overdrive. In the neck position with a bit of tweaking you can almost get that sludgy Tony Iommi tone, but it's only a sad replication.
The compressor is not great but I find that it does the job. The modulation effects are hardly top of the line, but the degree of adjustability to the parameters is awesome and although I don't find that I can get a traditionally warm chorus or flange out of it you can coaxe some very cool textures out of it with certain parameters at extreme settings. I think that the delay is pretty great for what I'm doing with it. You can't really get that 80's U2 sound from it, but with some modulation and a bit of playing around Robert Smith's work with the cure comes through fairly convincingly. I think that the best part of this unit is the reverb. Stage and hall don't do much for me but the room adds a nice feel to your sound and the plate reverb is actually quite kickass for the money. With my old amp and cheap old guitar, I can use the plate setting to get nice surf tones (sort of like a Jazzmaster on a budget)and a passable jazz tone.

Given that I bought this used and with admitted flaws, it's never let me down. I wouldn't gig with it but it's a fun practice tool.

I don't feel the cost of Korg repairing it is worth it considering what I paid for it. They do offer a manual I believe (hardcopy and you have to pay), which is nice because i don't know of anyone that has one.

I'm basically a bedroom hacker that plays everything from metal to art rock to old school jazz and just about everything in between. While this unit isn't really ideal for any of them, it does everything except the really heavy metal to a fairly acceptable degree. Considering what I paid for it, I'm not gonna complain. I wouldn't recommend the unit (even in pristine condition) for somebody looking to gig with it or do serious recording, but for a beginner who just wants to mess around in their room (ie me when I bought it) or a curious person who wants odd modulation tones on a budget, these babies are dirt cheap used and give you pretty good bang for your buck!

The logic of it is intuitive. I figured it out in about an hour without a manual... BUT, there is no foot switch to move through the 6 Banks. If you don?t set up your 5 user patches right, you have to bend down to change banks on a tiny slider switch. No tuner.

Don?t pay more than $ 50. The sounds are not bad but basic. It is a small device, and limited, but works well in it?s class. Several reviewers complained about the distortion or compressor,etc, but I find the effects to be satisfactorily editable. All the effects can be edited to a basic degree and saved as a patch in 1 of 5 slots of the user bank. Then in ?manual mode? you can turn the individual effects of a patch (i.e. distortion, delay, etc.) on or off. A well set up user bank is like having 5 strings of 5 personally pre-adjusted stomp boxes where you can select one string of 5 at a time and stomp around until you want to use a different string of 5 to stomp some more. In this way, the single user bank could be viewed as 25 patches. Then there are the 25 factory patches of the other 5 banks. No Wah. No pitch-shifter. No frills.

Dunno, but Korg stuff is (or at least was) usually good. Plastic - don?t stomp too hard.

Dunno.

I give the A5 an 8 because in it?s class it?s a more than decent FX. I have tried many FX and have been often disappointed by the most expensive of them. You can get this one for less than $ 50 and have a nice little basic processor for small stuff.

I just dug this out of the cupboard as the band I am in dont like
me using the hot channels on my Fender Deville 2,12 .
I am on pre sets and have no manual , can anyone tell me how to store
a new sound ( in Scottish laymans tems please )

I was happy to use the Fender devilles hot channels but the band dont like it.
on initial switch on I found the dist had a hell of a bass on it
through my Les paul studio.
I tried a marshall Jackhammer but felt guilty cause it wasn,t mine
and was surprised to find that the A5 sounded better or at least the same . I also have a boss courus but again find this as good if not
better.
Echo is not up to much , I used to have a Watkins copycat ah those
were the days ( I think I sold it for drink )

This has been lying in my shed for 5 years and was coverd in dust
but it fired up no probs and went straight to work without
crackles or pops , imagine if a car could do that.
I,m gonna use it on Sat night with a Jim deacon cry baby on the
occasional lead break ( wild sound then on dist channel) and
no back up , fingers crossed. I have used it every night at home for
two weeks and thinks its tough enough to do the job.

This is the first place I have been thats got any info on this board
hope I can get some programming hints from you folks.

The guys that think this is bad have either bad guitars bad amps
or bad ears.
There is more than enough on here to please the less knowledgable
punter in a pub certainly on the dist and chourus side.
I can play the Cult and then click over for Californication and think
it sounds great.
I have never been a pedalboard buff , but now the separates are in the drawer along with the Deville channel selector and everything
is cleaned up cable wise.
For 20 quid I am delighted , wonder what I could get if I had some
money ? any suggestions anyone ?
P.s Guys who jump on their boards from the top of their amps are making far too much money.

I bought the pedel 2 weeks ago 2nd hand with no manuals or knowlage.
I figured it out in an hr. For saving your patches EASY!

I use a samick avion through a Kustom amp The amp I use feedbacks like a bitch and the NR ia awsome. All of the effects are good
but with a bad combination you get a really bay sound

with the 2 weeks i've had it i've played 8 gigs and it is relial
I do and will continue using it with out a backup...

It's plastic... don't jump on it.

I play realy slow heavey music It works great.