Vox DA5 Digital Amplifier

I bought this amp just for home practice, having the built-in effects unit is a bonus as it keeps the wiring to a minimum. I don't have a dedicated music room so it needs to be easy and quick to wire.

The power level is more than adequate and the headphone socket is a must.

This is a low cost package and the quality is more than adequate given the integrated nature of it. I'm using a Standard Strat and noise pickup isn't an issue, provided the small external power supply is kept 3 feet or more from the pickups.

So far so good.

No faults so no need for support.

Overall it does all I ask of it. I bought it on recommendation and would replace it with another of the same if it was stolen.

I am mostly an acoustic player, but wanted a little practice amp and was also attracted by the modelling and FX. This little beast is really very good for the bucks, and a lot of fun too.

I use an Ibanez semi-acoustic. Play blues, rock, soem folky things, singer songwriter ... whatever. Tend towards clean sounds as I use a lot of chords that have extra 'colour' - 9ths, sus chords, etc. FX are nice but they have to sound musical.

between the amp modelling and the fx you have a lot of scope to mess around. They managed to squeeze a lot of stuff in - you can even set delay/flange times by tapping tempo, really neat.

Only issue is that the speaker is tiny so sounds quite tinny. But it seems churlish to complain about that - it's a tiny little portable amp, that's what it is.

only had it 2 mins ... don't expect any issues really.

na

it's just crazy good value. practice amp, I'll even use it as an FX box, take a feed out into my bigger acoustic amp for small gigs. May pass it to my daughter who is learning guitar and likes rock music in a while. It runs on 12V dc, I guess you could also power it from a car or whatever as well.

First of All I have many amps at different size. The feature of this amp is similar to my Roland Micro Cube. But with more and better amp models. The effects are also more and better in term of tweakability. I also have Korg Ampworks G and I think the DSP engine of this thing is similar, just without the Cabinet Models.

I wish it had a full range speaker so the MP3 will play better for backing track. Just like in my Microcube.

I think the sound is best at its class. Just like the Valvetronix series. But without the valve/tube reactor circuit. I don't know why, but it is easier to make good sound on this amp if compared to my Valvetronix, maybe the tube add more complexity in tweaking the sound to my taste.

The Clean and lower gain overdrive sounds really great. Good to play jazz, pop and blues at room volume. Of course the high gain models do not sound good without enough bottom amp. Look at the size of the speaker, come one!

It is damn quiet. Good for both single coil or humbucker, depending on the amp models.

so far it has not broken.

never had to use them. I think Korg's/Vox quality is in par with Roland.

If you are starting and looking for your first amp. This will suit your need, I have been playing for more than 20 years. I think I'm good enough for the style I play (mainly blues and classic rock) but more importantly, I have a good ear for sound. The Korg/VOX modelling is the best I found so far in this area. I also like BOSS, ZOOM and Line6 modelling but always found myself going back to Korg/VOX for the musicality.

By now everyone has read all the features of this amp.

I have had this amp for about a year now and it is great. I usually use the 1.5 watt setting at 1/2 volume on the clean2 setting (fender sounding) and its plenty loud. I use the crunch2 setting (marshall distortion) setting and a little reverb and I can cover a lot of bases with just those two settings. I hated the chrome grill so much that I took it off and spray painted it a semi flat black like some of the other Da5s come with. You can order one now that has the brown diamond pattern cloth. I prefer the blue diamond cloth and North coast VOX now has a special edition with the blue cloth that looks amazing. I run this off batteries and with the back cover removed it sounds so much better. I may mod it with a speaker output jack to plug it into a larger cabinet. I did experiment with hooking up this amp to a Vox pathfinder 15 8 inch speaker but it did not improve tone or volume so will stick with the stock speaker. I have had many small tube amps but have to say this one gets a lot of play time as it can be put on a closet shelf out of the way or moved anywhere to play it even outdoors.

no problems

Made 2007
5-watt DA5
digital sound,
11 distinctive sound styles,
11 built-in effects,
knob-based control panel,
battery or cord power
handle
light weight

I play various styles of music. I have Taylor acoustic, Almansa classical, Fender Strat, Gretsch Hot Rod, Gibson Les Paul.
It sound OK through single coils pups. Good sound for a 6", no farting.
It sounds horrible through double coil pups. The speakers farted a lot, eventually my amp died because of this.
You can't expect much from any amp that is digital and this small. If you want tone get a Champ 600.

My amp died within 10 months time. I kept it next to my bed and had only about 15 hours of play. Most of this was through my Strat. When I played with the Grestch it would sound horrible. The LP was a little more tolerable. But I feel the hot pups fired the electronics.

-no you can't gig with it.
-it is as reliable as a toy amp.
-yes it broke
-it broke because it has cheap electronics

I took it to Guitar Center. They gave me a little hassle but accepted it and are in the the process of getting it fixed. No word yet.

-I never dealt with Vox directly
-Guitar center has it now and they are trying to repair it through the warranty
-Guitar Center is an autharized dealer
-Warranty is for 1 year

I have been playing for about 30 years. current gear:
Custom Bogen CHA-33 tube amp, Custom Stromberg Carlson tube amp. Alnico Jense 12' cab. Various effect (I never use). Gibson Les Paul Standard, Fender Stratocaster, Gretsch Hot Rod, Taylor steel strign acoustic, Almansa classical.

-If it where stolen I would be sad because I wouldn't be able to sell it in eBay.
-It's a great little amp to have next to your bed and play at night.
-I wish it had less bells and whistles, and more quality.

I bought and installed the 6" Jensen Mod speaker in my DA5 and it sounds good. However, it is 4 ohm, and the original speaker is 8 ohm. Does anyone know if that is going to damage the amp? The more I have researched it on the net, the more contradictory information I found.

I also read that you can install a 4 ohm resistor on the positive speaker lead and that will bring the resistance to 8ohm so the amp is "seeing" the 8ohms again.

This stuff confuses me!

Please email me at mc354@optonline.net if you have experience with guitar amps and changing speakers and can offer your opinion. THANKS IN ADVANCE!

Great practice amp with great sounds. See my earlier review for more info. The cleans are better than the distorted tones, but they are still all fun. What can you expect from a battery powered amp?

Just a 9, I'd like to have bass- mid- and treble-controls, not just a tone knob.
But I'm really suprised, this amp has many features, in a compact box.

I play death metal and hard rock.

This thing is awesome, i like the higain-2-channel. But the lack of tone controls makes it difficult to get a great metal distortion. Overall really good.

The amp is solid as a rock and its look-and-feel could'nt be better.

Why just 6? The AC adaptor is a peace of crap. I had to fix it with tape, it broke almost to its parts. I know, replacement adaptors aren't expensive, but it could be better.

Never dealt with them.

It was my first guitar amp, and I still use it for practice at home. This amp is great for jam sessions, practice and rehearsals.

It's perfect, especially for beginners!

Nice little amp for not a lot of money. I use it as a practice amp or portable amp when i don't need anything loud and it handles that job fine.
I have heard, though, of people using this amp as an effects/tone box and then feeding into something larger. I used it like that for a gig once put through a Line6 stack but i didnt really like the sound, i use my Fender Hot Rod Deville for gigs now.
It's a digital amp, so it's got quite a few presents in terms of tone and effects. I prefer the Blues settings as they are the most appropriate for my style. I use some of the effects.
I'm giving it 7 because it's cheap, small and doesnt sound all that good but its fine for a practice amp.

I dont think it matters particularly what guitar you use this amp with as its not tube so isnt as responsive. It could suit most styles of playing i suppose but you would have to compromise really good tone for a good volume for home use.
I think this amp sounds okay with my Strat on Blues 2 setting, Tone about halfway with a little bit of reverb. this is probably the warmest sound you can get out of it but with a strat its kind of bitey as well. the clean channel stays clean but its a digital amp and never goes all that loud. the distortion from this amp sounds tinny and plasticky but i dont play with a lot of gain through any amp.
i'll give it 6 because its fine for a cheap, digital amp.

heres the good part...its REALLY SOLID. ive carted it all around town on buses, back of cars, dropped it, played catch with it. its size and portability mean its actually quite robust.

never dealt

look, ive probably been too critical. its actually quite a decent little amp, i havent come across one this cheap that wasnt a complete joke like those stupid Mini amplifiers that somebody thought were a good idea.
if you want a cheap amp that does the bedroom-practice thing then buy this one, but youll really enjoy band practice once a week!

I bought in new in 9/08. The serial no 070926 so i assume it's the build date
i only play nylon string guitar solo so i don't need those features
- 2 chnls 1 mic, 1 intru
- i I wish it has the SLR inputs too along with the 1/4 jack. So if you have the mic with SLR cable then you have to have the SLR-to-1/4in transformer to plug in. That's how I mic my flamenco guitar. I also wish they have the AC adapter built-in instead of a seperate piece that you have to cary them around. I guess you can't have every thing since this unit is battery powered.

The tone is much better than my Roland AC60. The DA5 sounds best if you keep the volume down enough. Again my application is nylong string guitar. I have the Fishman pickup (under saddle) on my guitar. And on both MIC or Line application it sounds best if you have the volume down. This means it works well in intimate setting. I'm sure it sound great with elec guitar on high volume

used only 2weeks, no idea

n/a

i have an Roland AC60. For my app (nylon string guitar, solo) this DA5 sound more real than the AC60
I'd like to get the rival Roland Mobile Cube that I heard it's very the same
I love the size, weight, sound
I hate the separate AC power adapter, the mic knob sticks out to far
I really want to have an amp like this with better mic preamp so that I can mic my guitar

For what it is, and what it costs it should be a ten; but of course there are other features (looping, drum beats, backing tracks etc..) that could make it even better.

My favored setup these days is Parker Fly split to PA for the piezo, and regular PUPS into the DA5 input, Headphone/line out into a Crate microblock effects return, out to a 15" ported bass cabinet (not sure of mfg. but a quality speaker.) My sound is Huge!!
I am constantly chasing tone and have pushed Pods, and tubes, and synths, and boxs.
The DA5 setup is so easy, and sounds so good! I'm sure I will probably tire of it someday, but for now it is a keeper that I use playing out with a full band. I keep the VOX close so any realtime tweaking is done with that. The bass cabinet keeps the sound warm and musical. I cover the spectrum of clean to singing leads with just the volume knob and pickup selection on the guitar. With the Crate I can get more than loud enough for situations I play.One of the best features is that, though I am at screaming heavy metal volume I can pretty much silence all noise by simply laying my hand across the strings. Thats friggin huge for quality, soft to loud dynamic playing. I don't use a lot of the available effects, but just the simple fact that I have an unreal usable sound with the tiny thing makes it worth its weight in gold to me.
Playing the DA5 without sending out to some real power and some real speakers is way weaker, but just awesome for bedroom practice.

Had it 2 years +, never had a problem. I bought this to replace a Roland microcube and am very happy. Much better product (for me anyway) than the Roland.

no contact.

For the money paid, to the sound achieved. If it were lost or stolen, I would go and buy 2 more!!!