Vox DA5 Digital Amplifier

I just bought this Vox DA5 new a couple of days ago, and I've put it through its paces at the store, at home, and at the jam space where I play with a bass player and drummer.

As far as I know, it was made in 2005 or early 2006. For it's size and price, I think an amp company would be hard pressed to get more sounds and features into a box this small.

Right now I play a blend of blues based pop music, and I have also played acoustic gigs. I think the amp would work well for any electric style provided the player is okay with having the amp break up from being driven. There's not a lot of headroom with this little amp. It works well acoustically too, but again the amount of clean power is quite limited.

Another one of the limitations of the amp is that there aren't "channels" per se, and no footswitch ability, but it's very simple to switch sounds manually. If you need to change sounds within a song quickly this probably isn't the amp for you, but within a couple of seconds between songs you can easily dial up what you want.

There's no effects loop, but the built in effects sound quite good (see sounds). There's a line-out/headphone jack which defeats the speaker for practicing, recording, and it would probably work as well as any other direct source into a PA.

There are some features I wish it had, but I want to qualify what I'm saying because its asking a lot at this price and size. However, if I had my way the amp would have a provision so that a separate cabinet or amp could be used with it to make the effects stereo.

The features I will not likely use are the auxiliary in jack, the high gain settings, and the noise reduction feature which is for the high gain settings.

A special feature is an adjustable mic input. This may not be useful for everyone, but I think I'll find it handy for small acoustic coffee house gigs. It's not enough power and the speaker isn't big enough to amplify a singer singing straight on the mike, but I used a 58 and backed off the mike so that it just augmented the higher vocal frequencies and spread the sound farther. I found it usable for this purpose.

It can be switched between 5 watts, 1.5 watts, and half a watt of output power, so you can drive the power amp and make it sing.

I'm using this guitar with a strat, and I mostly use the neck and middle pickup. I would like hear what this amp sounds like with a nice hollow body jazz guitar.

For electric guitar, it sounds fantastic. The models are good. I'm not sure what the exact amps are that it models, and the manual doesn't say but they sound good to me. There are two clean, three blues, two crunch, three high gain, and a drive model. I've been using the clean and blues models, and they sound tubey enough as far as I'm concerned.

The effects are a bit of different story. They auto wah, compression, delay, rotary, and reverb all sound great. The others leave a bit to be desired in a couple of specific ways.

First, I have to admit I don't have much use for modulation effects at the best of times, but especially not when they are mono. The combinations include compresson with chorus and compression with phaser, but not compression with delay. I would like to have compression with delay.

I like tremolo, but this one doesn't go slow enough. The manual says 2.5 to 10 hz., but you can't get a hypnotic type of ultra slow tremolo. You can get something sort of similar with the rotary sound though.

I don't know how reliable it is because I haven't had it long, but it seems solidly built. Time will tell.

I haven't dealt with the company.

I have been playing twenty years. I also have a line 6 pod which I play through a small stereo PA system.

If it were stolen or lost, I would probably replace it because I think it will be handy over time.

I love how portable, inexpensive, and versatile it is, and how it can scream when its driven.

I can't say I hate anything about it, because there is not currently anything out there at the price that had the sounds and features it has. The only similar thing is the Roland Microcube which is only two watts, has less amp models and effects, and no separate mic input.

I would like to see an amp company put out a stereo amp/ PA system where there are two cabinets with one being the power amp/ mixer, and the other being just a cabinet. It could have one guitar input with modeling and effects, and say two mic inputs with level adjust, pan, and maybe two or three band eq. It would be great if the cabs could be locked together for carrying around, and the whole thing be about as big as a 2x12 amp. Just putting ideas out there, because who wants to carry around more than what's necessary to get the job done?

Made in 2006. Practice/Travel amp that can be used as an effects box. Very good sound from this battery powered (6 "C" batteries) and/or AC amp. It has 11 amps models and loads of effects. There is an aux input and a line out/headphones jack. You can hook the amp up to a mixer or another amp and/or PA! I have it hooked up to a Kustom 12" amp at home---sounds incredible! It also has a separate microphone jack and volume adjustment--unfortunately, a microphone does not sound very good through this! It has a tone control for an EQ that works fairly well---although I wish it had 3 controls: mid, treble and low. The wattage is adjustable with this amp--.05, 1.5 or 5 watts.

For what this is---it sounds fantastic! Don't let anyone kid you---this amp gets loud---enough to fill up a good sized living room! Better than the Roland micro-cube---except for the microphone hookup. The Roland microphone setting sounds incredible. I use the Roland to sing through---and the Vox to play my guitar through--a completely portable/battery powered setup! In church, I can plug the Vox into the mixer and line out to the PA! Vox has done a superb job with this!

I've had good luck with Vox products in the past. In my humble opinion--Vox is building the best of all the "modeling amps" out there.

I've had a couple of occasions called and/or e-mailed Vox. They are a good company. The warranty is only a year on this amp.

This is an excellent value in a portable/practice amp. If you want something to haul around the house easily---or to plug into a PA or larger amp for live work---this is for you! It really is a portable amp and effects processor all in one! I sold all my effects stuff because it's all here in this portable amp! I've been playing for 18 years--I sure wish they had somethign like this years ago! I wish the microphone sounded better and had the means to add reverb and delay. The way the microphone is setup--the sound is loud but very dead! This is probably OK---most people won't be singing through this anyway! I wish the tone adjustment was a real EQ---although the amp would have to be a bit bigger. The tone adjustment is fine as it is. This amp would be perfect if it had a footswitch input---where you could add overdrive or turn effects on/off. Highly recommened anyway!

See the Vox site for the features. If you're here reading reviews, you've probably done that already. Short & sweet: 11 amp models, 11 effects. Can be AC or battery powered. It's a mini modeling practice/travel amp. It's also got an aux in for a CD player/MP3 player, as well as an input for a microphone with it's own volume control.

First of all, you have to keep in mind that it's a 6.5" speaker. No matter how good the digital modeling is, it is NOT going to sound like a 10" or 12" speaker. However, for a 6.5" speaker, this thing sounds great. It's not a recording/studio amp, it's not a gigging amp. It is a PRACTICE/TRAVEL amp. You're not going to get the sounds you get out of your gigging rig with this little box. It's not designed for that. Go up to Vox's Valvetronix series if that's what you're after.

Frankly, this thing sounds amazing, all things considered. I don't use all the amp models, but the "tweed" (Blues 2) and "Marshall"(Crunch 2) models are excellent. The others are good too, but those are my 2 favorite. The manual describes the characteristics of each model, without naming names. As far as I can tell, you've got models of:
Roland Jazz Corus
Fender Twin
Fender Blackface
Fender Tweed
Vox AC30
Voc AC30TB
Marshall
...and 3 hi-gain setting that I have no idea about, because I'm not a hi-gain guy.

The effects are great. And TOTALLY ADJUSTABLE, which you wouldn't know unless you read the manual. Verb, Delay, Chorus, etc. A couple of combos (verb + chorus, delay + chorus, etc.) You can adjust delay time, delay repeats, verb length, chrous sweep, etc. etc. Very versatile, and very easy & intuitive to adjust ONCE YOU'VE READ THE MANUAL.

All-in-all, a GREAT little practice travel amp (better than the Microcube, IMO), with alot of different sounds to play with. It's not a toy- it's actually a real amp, it sounds & plays like a real amp, albeit a real amp with a 6.5" speaker. (The microcube only has a 5" speaker.)

I don't use headphones, but this thing has a headphone jack, and the manual says the jack has added to it "the sound and timbre of the speaker for a more realistic sound thru headphones." If you use headphones, sounds like a plus to me.

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I've been playing 20 years, and was looking for an amp that I could:
-take on vacation with me
-play late-night at low volumes w/o waking people up
-carry in the car to work or for jamming

This amp is perfect for all the above. The power scaling really works, altho it doesn't sound any different than just turning down the volume HOWEVER- it DOES make a difference in battery life. I leave mine on the 1/2 watt setting. On the 5 watt setting, it's actually pretty loud, louder than you'd want to play if you live in an apartment.

My ratings reflect the fact that I am reviewing this amp FOR WHAT IT WAS DESIGNED FOR, which was to be a portable, small, quiet, practice/fun amp. The models are taken from Vox's Valvetronix amps, but of course the 6.5" speaker keeps them from sounding like the Valvetronix. Also, there's no valve(tube) in the DA5 like in the Valvetronix. Still, for a small, portable, battery-powered (or AC), modeling amp, it's awesome. The best I've heard, and I A/B/C'd the DA5, Microcube, and Fender GDEC. The only other 2 amps I found in this realm were the Tech21 Trademark 10 (which has been discontinued, great tone, but no effects except reverb), and the Songworks Little Lanilei (a hand-wired, all-tube 6.5" speaker tone monster, but no effects and $329.)

Big thumbs up for the DA5! What would make it perfect?
1) put the Valvetronix technology (tube) in there (it'd have to be a tad bigger, but that's OK- see #2:)
2) a larger speaker, 8" at least or maybe 10". It wouldn't have to be any bigger than the Fender GDEC or Trademark 10, and it would be true Valvetronix. Yes, Vox has the AD15VT w/8" speaker, but it's a little big to haul around on vacation, IMHO...for HOME use, awesome.

Great little modeling practice/travel amp, highly recommended!

Comes with 11 amp "models" that are not bad, you cannot play any 2 effects you want together, and you certainly CANNOT play 3 effects at one time, so don't be misled by the Vox hype on websites concerning versatility. Half watt, 1.5 watt, and 5 watt selectable output settings allow for quieter play, but you don't get overdrive from a modeling amp the same as you get from a tube amp, so it DOES NOT give you Overdrive at a quieter setting any more than turning DOWN the volume on your Roland MICROCUBE will. Auxiliary in and separate mic works without much noise. Headphone out sounds as good as most entry level amps. The speaker is puny, tinny sounding and definitely not up to par with the speaker found in a roland microcube. In short, this amp IS NOT as good as a Roland MICROCUBE.

This amp sounds alright, but as I said before, the speaker on this thing is tinny and doesn't carry the sound in a way where you can think too highly of the amp models, or effects. I bought this to replace my Roland MICROCUBE and it didn't impress me as much as my Roland, whose feelings are now hurt. It is my fault, and I will send this new, cheap tart on her way and patch things up as best I can. The grass is always greener, and modeling amp technology simply hasn't made the jump that I was expecting. This is anything but an improvement on where the Roland Microcube left off, in spite of the gimmicks. I even tried miking the amp, and it still sounded thin, tinny and not up to par with my Roland. I think I will stick to investing in biotech companies, instead.

I cannot comment on this, because i played this amp for only one week, constantly hoping I would find the "Secret" combinations of amp and effect settings that wouldn't make this amp sound so puny, tinny and thin, even when miked. I recorded with it, then went back and made new takes using my Roland. I am truly disappointed.

Again, NO COMMENT.

I bought this blind, without the benefit of playing one, myself. My mistake, repeat this mistake and I will be laughing and telling you, I told you So! I may be a hard customer to satisfy, but I was truly disappointed when I broke this out of the box and plugged it in. The Roland MicroCube is a far better buy than this cute, but not-so-great amp.

The Vox DC5 is a 5 watt combo with a 6.5" speaker.
It uses 6 "C" batteries or the suppled 9 volt Wall Mart.
It measures 10.5" X 10.5" X 7"

The controls on top are: Input, on/off Switch, Amp Style Knob
Gain, Tone, Master, a Tap Button, Effects Edit Knob, Bypass Button
and a Effects Knob.

The Style Knob has 11 amp types: Clean 1, Clean 2, Blues 1, Blues 2,
Blues 3, Crunch 1, Crunch 2, Higain 1, Higain 2, Higain 3 and Drive.

The Effects Knob has 11 settings: Auto Wah, Comp, Comp+Phaser, Comp+Chorus, Chorus+Delay, Chorus+Reverb, Flanger+Reverb,
Tremolo+Reverb, Rotary+Reverb, Delay, and Reverb.

The back panel has a (5W-1.5W-0.5W) switch, a line/phone 1/4"
output, Aux In, Mic 1/4" input with a volume knob and a DC 12V input.

There is a back panel 8.5" X 3.9" that is held on with Velcro
it allows access to the 6 "C" batteries.

With the input on top and the two on the back three different instruments can be played at once through this amp.

I use this little amp. for the melody side of my Chapman Stick.
For the bass side I use a Roland Bass 30 Cube.
I play restaurant gigs with this setup and the DA5 is loud enough
and sounds very nice.
The speaker is the weak link on this amp, a better one would help
this amp sound even better.

I mostly use this amp for clean tones and found that the setting
Clean 1 and 2 did not work for me at all. The sound was thin on the
high strings and boomy on the low ones.
Crunch 1 was the one that worked for me.
It sounds like its modeled after an AC30.
A nice clean tone that is very responsive to touch.

The effects sound very good for a amp in this price range and with
the Tap Button, Edit 1 Knob and Bypass Button a good bit of editing
can be done.
With this system you turn the Edit Knob or press one of the two
buttons while turning the Edit Knob. A bit confusing as to what
button controls what effect parameter but it works well.

Seems fairly sturdy for an amp in this price range but I don't
expect it to last for a long time. Time will tell.

Don't know?

Overall a nice little amp for the money.
I also own the Roland Microcube and although I like it, the Vox DA5
give you more amp and features for a just few dollars more.
I do think that the Microcube is built better than the DA5 though.

I've been playing music for about 40 years and feel that Vox has
put out some great products lately.