Vox DA5 Digital Amplifier

This amp actually has too many features. They could take out all those high gain amp modes, they sound pretty bad. They also put in too many effects and lumped them together. You can turn parts of the effects off if you want to like turn off reverb in chorus+reverb mode by turning the effect knob down. The microcube implemented their effects better I think. Some improvements I would like would be to make the strap buttons metal(easily changed), remove that plastic grip thingy from the strap, it makes it harder to carry, Put a right angle plug on the AC adapter so if it falls backwards, it would not break the PC board. Wish they would make the cheese grater grill black not chrome. Wish they had put a 12volt SLA battery in it with a charger instead of C batteries.

The clean 2 is the best mode, I use my tubescreamer for distortion sounds as the amps modes are not very good. This has 3 power levels that you can choose from. Bad thing is if you dial in your tone at the 5 watt level, then drop to 1.5 watts your tone is gone and you have to tweek it again to get it back. This happens even more if you drop the power down to .5 watts. I leave it at 1.5 watts, dial in my tone, turn on the clean channel, add a little reverb and it does sound very good. I am running it on batteries and it still sounds good. I got this so I could move from room to room easily and not disturb others in the house. Love the small size.

No problems.

no problems.

Mine is pink, special edition and very nice gift from sweetie.
I was among the first to own the microcube, and at the time it was way incredible. Now with this Vox I really can't stand it anymore, I sold it right away.
If you like the rectum fryer sound, the microcube do it better than the Vox (but quieter of course). It is the only department in its favor.
What I like is the tweakability of effects, a huge improvement to any sound.
The power attenuator on the back is way useful too, and more so since I use the Vox hooked to an open-back 212 box in my living room.
Now sweetie has some regrets, after all it was not a so good idea for a gift...

I like clean and not to distorted sounds, and the thing sounds absolutely killer. Very natural, relaxed sounds in there.
Not too tight, so the heavy fraction should look elsewhere, but nothing unmanageable with a metal zone in front of it.
Absolutely silent, a nice point. Very good sounding effects, only the lack of compressor w/reverb combination is to object, but this applies to the whole ad series so...
One point for the lack of rectifier sound, but myself I don't care.

The open-back design lets you see the innerlife of the main board, I would have seen a better protection since we have the possibility to use this carrying space for a pedal or God knows what.
No opinion since it's new and working flawlessly.

This amp is a real one, hook it to a big box and you'll see, and a good sounding one.
It made me to buy a korg ax3g in order to have its sounds elsewhere, and I am in love with the Vox modeling thing, fresher and more natural than other stuff have/had. Such as line6(flat and lifeless, no sparkle), Fender fm25dsp (still flat and lifeless, but some sparkle and enjoyable), and Roland cube 30 (somewhat dark and flat, still lifeless, but usable nevertheless).
My atention on Vox modeling was drawn by Mr Rob Math on gearwire.com and his test of the vox ad30vt, a very precise transcription of what the Vox modeling does. And I found the same sounds in both da5 and ax3g, hats off for your honesty Rob.

This is a practice modeling amp. all solid state. can run on 'c' battries. several useful settings. Like all modeling amps, there are like three or four good settings and the others are filler. Its loud, and a very handy size.

For what it is, the prime competitor to the Roland MicroCube, its absolutly superb! really, there is no comparison.

Yes, its solid state. It either works out of the box, or it doesn't. Used by kid to good effect at outdoor recital and it was fairly loud.

n/a

I also have the AD 30. I like this better. This blows away the Roland Microcube. Considering that a bottom of the barrel practice amp is $60 but this is only $125, I'd say its a bargain. For a parent shopping for a practice amp for a kid, this solves the problem, period. Beware though, this amp can be irritatingly loud.

It's a fairly new model, which I've owned a few months. If this amp won't do it, you probably don't need it. It is super for playing around at home, low volume jams, and campfire rockouts!

I love the way this little box sounds. You should be able to find just about any sound you want in there.

Don't know.

Don't know.

I've been guilty of ranting on and on in the past, but have gotten a little tired of all the long winded reviews. So, I thought I'd keep this one short.

I've played forever, and own or have owned about anything you can name. If you play guitar, any style, you need one of these. It sounds good, can cover a lot of ground from solo practice to jamming with an electric drummer. Unless you mic it, it won't cut it for a gig - just in case you're tempted to try. And, bottom line, it's just plain cool - what more do you want for the money?

Solid state practice amp with several built in effects (reverb, auto-wah, flanger etc). 5W max output with power selector. Auxilliary in, Line in, Headphone out. Can be powered by battery as well.

This amp has settings for clean, blues, crunch, higain, and drive. All sound great.

I play mostly soft rock, a little blues. This amp does both wonderfully.

It is a practice amp. Would not gig with it.

It has never broken down yet.

Never had to deal with customer support.

I have been playing for a little under 3 years now.

I run this amp with an Ibanez AS73, and the combination sounds awesome. I have fiddled with the effects - and I mostly use reverb, and sometimes delay or flange. But that's about it. The amp is capable of a lot more, though.

Eleven amp modes/models and plenty of effects. It's small enough to pack in your suitcase for the plane, or you could even put it in a backpack and carry it on. I got it mainly for travel, and the size/weight is perfect for that. The control for some of the effects is a little complicated, but it's nothing to really hinder the overall value of the amp. Besides, I don't really use effects. I got the one with the classic Vox styling - it looks really sweet.

First the bad - it's got a very slight hum when on (undetectable while playing it), and it seems to be more sensitive to your cell phone than other amps (y'know, that annoying beeping sound that cell phone signals make through speakers).

I know, the bad points are pretty petty, so let's get to the good stuff! This is one of those modelers where all of the models sound good. I've got other modeling pedals - a Line 6 Pod 2.0 and a Zoom G7 - and both of those have some really sorry models. Vox (or actually Korg) made the most of all 11 models. The cleans have sparkle and character, and the overdrives all have a good range. You might have some problems with a real metal sound, but really - this has a 6.5" speaker and it says "Vox" on the outside. Of course it's not meant for metal! That said, it does have good high gain sounds, and they sound as fat as the small speaker can make them. The effects are all pretty good, though I really only use reverb. Another good sound option is found with the battery door - it's made of wood, and it's located on the back of the cab... this translates to open back and closed back sounds! Not too shabby if you ask me.

I have used this with a Gibson Les Paul and an American Strat. Great sounds from both!

No problems yet, but I just got it. Looks well-built.

I've had to call them before concerning a different amp (the problem was really with the retailer - long story, blah, blah) and they were nice and helpful. Remember, Korg owns the Vox name, so you're actually dealing with Korg when you call Vox for support.

I was really amazed by the sounds of this little thing. This would be a great first amp, practice amp, or travel amp. I've been playing alternative and classic rock for 11 years, and I've got a ton of gear. This is a fine addition to the collection!

Brand new vox da 5 amp. It is extremely versitile, many effects. I use mainly auto wah, chorus, and the crunch settings. At home I use the .5 watt setting. You can see all the bells and whistles on the website so I won't go into detail. For a semi-serious amateur like me this is an ideal amp.

I also own a Fender Mini-Deluxe, and for a few extra dollars the Vox is very impressive. Totally worth the $100 I paid. It has the power, the look, and the versatility to handle many effects, plus it is completely customizable

The crunch 2 setting is nice and chunky, even with my Fender Strat with the 3 single coil pickups. Auto Wah sounds very good. The clean channels are probably the only thing that I can criticize. But that is a minor complaint, and I'm sure with a little tweaking I could get the sound I am looking for.

I have had it for a short time so no opinion.

Don't know yet.

Great value, great looks. I am very happy with the purchase and it was one of those things I knew was a good decision right out of the box. You will not regret purchasing this amp, if your need is something smaller that still has many options for sounds and effects.

I really don't think the amp needs much more, except as others have said it would be nice to have a input for a sound petal. But Vox has my loyalty now for this high quality product.

NEAT LITTLE AMP!!! I got it for X-Mas, have played it almost every day since. It is my sit in the living room and noodle around amp...basically disturbing my wife as we watch TV...REVVING up those American Idol Jack-asses!!! Anyways this thing is PERFECT for that. You probaly know all of the features or you wouldn't be looking at this...VERY nice Modeling tones for sucha small package. Has a neat feautre of being able to slap some batteries in it an go portable!!! Kind of cool...for FEATURES I will give it a 10!!! It ain't no 70's Marshall/AC-30 or anything like that...but it can clone them in your bedroom/Lvingroom and not freak out the neighbors!!!

All kinds of sounds can come out of this thing!!! Like the onboard effects!! Wish I could blend a few more other sounds together but such is life!!! It has a TINY speaker so don't expect to drop it down by a set of drums and keep up!!! It is 5 watts or 2 or 0.5 or what ever they have on the back of it...I got it set at .5 watts right now...and it is PEFECT for what is does!!! Does touch my 66 Super Reverb, or my Brothers AC-30, but then again at bedroom volume it is much clearer and crisper...so how can you raet that...for what it does I say 10...in the overall sceme of life maybe a 5....

Bullet proof so far!!! It is a Vox/Korg thing...they have been around a long time...

No need so far...wish there was an on line manual!!!

For what this thing is meant for it is OUTSTANDING!!!! A bedroom BLASTER...I am closing in on 40, but if you are young guy/girl....don't worry this thing can still irritate your parents...If you are a parent this thing will irritate you, but I sure wish I had somthing like this when I was a kid (I had a little Peavey that to this day makes me a little leary of that brand...although my Brother just picked up a 5 watt Tube King which is pretty NEAT). Like I said, compare it other little amps in this price range...it is a 10!!!

For me, the best feature is the sound. I don't really care for the effects, and bad is that there is not enough room for some decent knobs for volume and tone, plus the effects are automatically ON whenever you switch on the amp. They are nice though.

The sound:
Well I have to admit, I'm really just interested in THE SOUND: MY sound, and if the amp has just an on/off switch but delivers it, then I'd rather have that than an amp that gives me 200 poor sounds.

Surprisingly enough, when finally A/B-ing this baby with my 1976 VOX Escort (which I absolutely LOVE), I will now have to admit, that, yes indeed, I like the new one better than the old.
Crunch2 is where for me the magic sits: gain 5 / tone 5 / master 10. With a Zemaitis or my Electric Gypsy, the sound is absolutely perfect for me.

Could NOT believe that a small battery powered "modern" thing can out-sound my little vintage Escort (which I bought in London in 1976).

Everything is pretty flimsy on it, but that doesn't seem to matter much. I knocked it around quite a bit already, and everything works just fine on it.

I don't like the wall-wart setup: will probably replace that with a real on-board transformer.

BTW the batteries give you 9V, but the AC adapter should give 12V DC.

Never dealt with VOX directly. So cannot say.

I am a fully pro guitarist for 23 years, semi pro before that. And a gear addict... I also build my own amps, and build my own guitars that are getting quite the recognition (read reviews right here on HarmonyCentral: Teye guitars)

If this baby gets misplaced or all torn up, I'lll just buy another (Immediately).

LOVE the sound, compared it A/B with the Pignose (will not comment on risk of being overly harsh); and with my 1976 VOX Escort. I think the DA5 wins easily.

I wish it had a longer strap (but am about to fix that!)

Features as with other listings. Full range of effects and adjustability on both clean sounds and effects. I use it at home because I'm not good enough yet to be seen in public with a guitar. I sound fine at home alone, though, and the amp is better than I am.

It has plenty of effects and adjustments - more than I will ever need. For improvements, I have two suggestions if VOX reads these things: 1. Use of AAA batteries instead of C batteries; AAA's would take up less room and make the little storage compartment into a nice little storage compartment. 2. Use switches which have a more positive feel. The ones on there work fine, but I'd prefer a more solid feel changing between style models. That's really nit picky though.

Initially I didn't like the speaker grill, but now I realize I could hit it with my car and the speaker would probably survive, so it's a good thing. The battery compartment is big enough to store the AC transformer and a short cable but not at the same time with a can of beer.

The sound quality on this amp is simply amazing for it's size. Use is at home, but it has plenty for small outdoor settings or small venues. I tested the VOX DA5 compared to the Roland MicroCube with both my a/e and with solid body electrics. The VOX sound is MUCH better than the Roland for clean sounds with the a/e active pickup. For passive pickups, both the VOX and the Roland are both nice amps but the sound quality on the VOX remains ahead of the Roland, in part because of the larger speaker. Volume was no comparison - the VOX way outperfoms the Roland. No hum or other bad noises (from the amp)..

No opinion. I just got the amp. It seems very well made. I'll probably take it apart to modify the battery layout so I can get a beer in there.

No Opinion. I bought it at Guitar Center and the person I delt with (Krystal) was relly very nice. I would buy there again.

I've only been playing guitar for a couple of years. Have about 20 years of playing other instruments in symphony, jazz and blues. I consider tone to be more important than effects, and since I'm mainly playing fingerstyle acoustic, the clean sounds on the VOX makes it a perfect amp for me. I'm planning to use it on a jazz box (Ibanez Artcore AG75) I'm getting in a few weeks and feel it will be perfect for blues/jazz as well. My son plays metal, and likes the effects and volume on this amp for that style. I might have to get another one....

Just picked this one up. Delighted! This little entry level amp has the broadest array of musical sounds of ANY small or solid state amp made yet! Truly versatile. There is nothing else that even comes close to the sound quality of the DA5. The unique, SIMPLE control panel is a pleasure to use. Esp. nice is the great variety of sparkling clean sounds, as well as semi crunch. The ultra gain settings are huge too, tho I seldom go there myself.
Super light and portable, I love it! I can fly anywhere with this, and deliver my colorful sounds with ease!
It uses no footswitch, but is such a responsive amp that I don't mind that. It has no line out jack except for the headphone which unhooks the speaker. I will simply add a jack to send line while leaving the speaker on. EASY if you know how. This way it will be my own monitor, and ready to drive virtually any kind of board or other amp that may be wherever I go.

This is the FIRST all transistor amp or effects unit I have found that gives TRULY AUTHENTIC guitar sounds! Great brightness, snappy clear notes, not cheesy at all. Tight and punchy on the low strings, not muddy. SO happy with this! I have played professionally for 40 years, in virtually every style of popular music. I have worked my way up from a heathkit 5 watt hifi to the marshall and dual showman stacks, and back down again thru the various combos. I have been using a small modified super champ for quite some time now. I have it miked on stage.
I would not hesitate to use the DA5 as a stage amp, miked or direct. I will set it near me, knobs within reach. It is plenty loud to hear because it has such good clarity and presence, even at the 1/2 watt setting.

New, I really don't know, but it runs cool, super efficient, and well built. Love the battery feature, a REAL plus down in the Islands! I expect it will be extremely reliable, and certainly a breeze for general servicing.

I have no idea. I am a good tech and would never bother to send one back at this cheap price.

40 years pro. Delighted with this tiny amp. No similar product is even remotely equal to this one. From a travelling pro, this is the best buy around. I have tried the DA15, and most of the larger Vox models. I actually PREFER the sound of the DA5 to all of the larger ones! My review is based on sound, but obviously the tiny size of this bawdy little amp only makes me that much more happy with it.

As many reviewer have already stated, I write this review as a comparison to the Roland Microcube.

Advantages of the Vox over the microcube are:

1. Most significant, SOUND (see below)
2. More effects: The auto wah is a desirable feature for many players not available on the microcube.
3. More amp models for sound versatility.
4. Power switchable from 5, 1.5, and.5 watts also adds to sound versatility.
5. This final comment may seem less important. As far as portability, the Vox is larger and heavier. This may seem like a strike against it in the comparison. However, the velcro battery/speaker compartment can be used to store the power supply, a short chord, and even a small tuner. This, IMO, make it more portable.

9 because I personally am not a fan of the tap feature on the effect interface. Though, it is growing on me.

I was, and still am a fan of the microcube. However, in a head to head sound comparison with the Vox, the microcube falls short. This is particularly true with the clean sounds. There is virtually no comparison in this area. Lower low's, higher high's, etc... The Vox just is phenomenally more dynamic than the microcube.

For other sound comparisons, when combining efects and distortion, sound becomes more of a matter of personal preference. It should be noted though, that the benefits of the larger speaker in the Vox makes it difficult to compare.

My students and I have been using it for 3 weeks now. My students' musical tastes range from metal to country. Whether playing Keith Urban or Metallica, the Vox delivers.

Too soon to tell, but I have great faith in my favorite old-fashioned/"main street"/ independently owned guitar shop, Mojo's in Edwardsville, IL. (http://www.mojosmusic.com/) to ake care if any problems should they arise.

N/A

Been playing 20+ and teaching around 4. Currently play through a Rivera, '68 Super Reverb, Vox Tonelab, micrcube, and a Genz Benz acoustic amp.

Perhaps the strongest endoresement for this amp has come from my students. Each lesson they argue over who GETS to play through the Vox and who HAS to play through the microcube.

Bought my Da5 in August 2006. I had serveral Vox Amps, (Pathfinder 10 and 15, both good Amps for the price! I sold them, when I got my Vox
AD15VTH, which was and is much more versatile and sounds much more full) For my doughter I bought a Roland Micro Cube, which is an impressing little Soundmonster and does a good job for practising.
A little later I saw, that Vox brought out the DA5. I decidet to wait a while, and read some reviews first. What I read seemed to be so good, that I bought one now, and really: This Amp is a winner and a keeper. So many possibilities in such a little cabinet: Fascinating!

If you ever played a valvetronix Amp by Vox, you can imagine, what kind of sounds this little Amp delivers. Not in the perfection of the
big amps, but the way, the style, the character. From clean sounds to
highgain you can form your sound with a wide, wide spectrum. I play
this little Box with an american standard Strat, its a joy to play.
Direct comparison to the Micro cube - as somebody else wrote before -
the Vox wins. Theres simply more "Bass", theres more Body, and the
crunch and the distortion is more "serious" an a "tick" warmer. The
effekt Section is pleasing! I wish I could use some effects pure and
alone, which are combined, but I see, that the budget for such a small
amp has limits.

OK.

Don-t know, not needet yet.

This is by far the best battery driven Amp, I-ve ever played. Wonderful the fact, that I can switch the output power between 0,5 and
5 Watts in three steps. It reacts very good, it sounds dynamic and
full, its a joy to play. The 6" Speaker produces a saddisfying sound.
Very well made, Vox! For me a dream has come true: I can play in my
Room at home with a huge amount of sounds ands effects, without disturbing my neighbours too much. You must know: This little box is
still loud. Even if you use 0,5 Watts. The 50 Euro you have to pay more for the Vox (Micro cube 99 Euro) are good invested. I would buy it again, if it was lost. I don-t miss my pathfinders. And I ask myself: should I sell my AD15VTH? Its too loud just for practising at home....As I have the DA5 now, I predume, I wouldn-t miss it....

2006 Vox DA5 - Battery or Power Adaptor. Tons of features! Good for literally any style of music. It uses "C" cell batteries, and depending on where you set it a .5, 1.5, or 5 full watts, it will last as long or longer than the Roland Microcube. I use this amp mostly to lay back and pluck around on it, also have written a couple of things on it. Could not ask for more form a battery based amp.

I compared this Vox DA5 head to head with the Roland Microcube, which is also nice, but the Vox won on all counts. Very Important: the Vox has a full size 6" speaker, the Microcube speaker is smaller. The difference is the Vox sounds more full bodied, and the Microcube sounds tinny & suffers by comparison. Once you bypass the effects and play it clean or distorted, it sounds great as a pure practie amp. I've mostly played Humbuckers through the distortion, but tried a Tele on it recently, and the Tele brings out a very Vox-ish chime, in the clean channel. Great sound all around.

This Vox is built like a tank, I've had it in severe weather, sitting in a car during snowy weather & on the beach, and it hasn't given me any problems at all.

Comes with a 1 year Warranty /& my dealer said if it broke just bring it back and he'd either repair or replace it. Not bad at all!

For the first week you have the Vox DA5, you might as well cover up your regular amp & plan on feeling a little guilty..like your cheating on your wife/girlfriend..but you will spend many, many hours on this little amp without even realizing it. The fun factor is definately there. For instance, I sat down to fiddle with the many different settings, and wound up learning "Crimson & Clover" & I didn't even particularly want to learn Crimson & Clover. Vox has improved on the basic premise of the Roland Microcube.

The main reason I got this amp was because I don't own a car, and wanted a nice light little luggable amp that I could throw in my backpack and take to jams at the local jazz club, or to a coffeehouse gig, and be loud enough to be heard. This amp serves that purpose just fine- I've been very satisfied with it.

With this amp you get a variety of mystery amp "models"- two clean, which is probably clean vox and fender; three blues which is probably overdriven fender, two crunch which must be marshall plexi and jcm 800, three high gain, which is probably modern marshall, peavey 5150 and mesa dual recto, and finally drive which is like mesa mark series. (I'm just guessing here). you also get a number of effects and effects combinations which you can dial in with a level control, and edit their parameters (the manual explains how)

You have two inputs: and guitar and mic input with level control; as well as an aux input for cd players, etc.; and a line out for a PA, larger amp, or headphones (which is very useful)

This is a really basic, straightforward amp to use and takes no time to figure out.

I was curious about trying this amp, but was worried it would sound like a toy, being so small. Luckily, I was wrong- it sounds like a decent amp, on the cleaner tones, at least. It's not going to sound like a Fender Twin, of course, it's just a tiny practice amp.

Although the clean sounds are decent enough, the distorted tones are a different story. They sounded really cheap and fuzzy. Running the line out into a bigger amp helped immensely, though- the distorted sounds are much, much bigger and better. It's kind of sad, though, because it defeats the purpose of a "practice amp" if half of the sounds are almost unusable through the tiny speaker, and you need to run it into a larger amp to get the DA-5's full sonic potential. It's cool if you want a practice amp that can also double as a decent preamp... but as it is I can only really recommend it to players who use cleaner tones, like jazz and roots/blues players. Which suits me fine- I only wanted to use this amp for cleaner tones anyways, and if I were playing in a louder rock band where I'd want to use the more distorted sounds, I'd just pre-amp it into a more powerful amp anyways.

I prefer using the amp with my Strat, particularly on the more distorted tones. To my ears, the fuzzy nature of the distortions works better with the single-coils on my Strat. The Les Paul I have sounds terrible with distortions on this amp but great if I run the DA-5 into a bigger amp.

The sounds are all pretty good and cover a wide range of amps and playing styles, but are probably limited by the single tone control in some cases, particularly for the heavily distorted sounds. Again, using the EQ on the amp I was running it into was able to shape the sounds more, say, for getting the perfect scooped-midrange metal tone.

I'm not a big effects guy, but the effects all sound reasonable to me and would suit me fine if I wanted to add a bit of tremolo, reverb, etc. to my sound.

I agree with one of the earlier posters- that digital noise you get when you turn on the unit is really annoying.

I would have to say that this amp does what I want it to do and suits the very specific needs I have in mind, and does those things well. As well, it makes for a nice, versatile preamp into a larger amp.
I've never tried the DA-5's main competitor, the Micro-cube by Roland, but from what I've heard it seems to sound better in the high-gain modes on its own (I could be wrong though). If you want a tiny practice amp strictly for metal perhaps the MicroCube might be a better choice (again, this is just judging by what Ive seen in a few demos on their website).
Other than the distortion sound issue though, the DA-5 is a good little amp for carrying around.

...see other reviews for features. considering the price and size, i couldn't ask for more. the tap tempo makes this a "ten".

i also like that you can attach a guitar strap, for carrying over your shoulder.

...practically the only setting i use is the first "clean" setting, with the gain maxed and the tone control around 12:00 o'clock. add a touch of reverb, and i'm "in the tone zone". i am constantly amazed at how well this "digital" amp responds to picking dynamics and changes in guitar volume.

i use mainly single-coil strats and teles. at 58, i'm a roots and traditional player, but with a major weakness for modern hard rock and metal.

the effects range from good to very good, but i especially like the reverb, delay and flanger. i have yet to attempt to edit them.

the only weakness this amp has is the digital distortions, but they are still usable in this context, ie tiny practise amp.

in spite of that, this is the single most inspiring piece of equipment i've ever owned, so for that vs the price, i have to give it a nine.

...there's an annoying digital "scratch" when you turn the unit on, so i'll deduct a point for that, but i'm being picky.

i've only had it for six months, with no problems thus far.

...this was a gift, but purchased from a local store (steve's music store in toronto). i have little doubt that they would look after me if there was a problem. i'm confident that erickson/coast music in montreal, the canadian distributor, would also step up to the plate, if necessary.

...again, i have to give this product a solid ten.

i have been playing it for two hours every night for the past six months, and STILL can't wait to plug in every night. all my other combo amps sit idle, including a vox pathfinder 15r, vintage supro, vintage gibson and traynor ycv40wr (stage amp).

i plan to buy two more of these amps to keep at other locations.

New 2006. Really versatile for rock, folk, blues, jazz, all of which I fake sort of okay.

I use all types of guitars, bass, electric Ukulele and electric violin with this. It is a gas. Been playing for 35 years and this is one of the most fun gadgets ever!

(Effect, reviewer, thinking about your mod of a Jensen speaker... does the amp have the same volume with the addition of the 4 Ohm inductor?)

Second day I've had it, and have already logged 20 hours of flight time! Seems reliable, though, I did get a replacement warranty just in case.

Didn't need to contact them as of this point.

I wish it had a tuner and a footswitch to cycle through functions, but it does cram a lot of cool stuff into a tiny practice amp. I might even use it to play small parties, or plug directly into a PA on stage. I love how great an acoustic electric sounds through it. I love my SRV sound through it, and the delay games you can play can get very out there.
I would definitely replace it. It actually is a replacement for my old portable battery Mouse amp from the 80's, whose battery finally died from neglect. The DA5 is far superior to that one!

For a 5 watt practice/travel amp it a well worth the money. The effects on it are good. My only complaint is that you can't get delay and reverb together, nor is compression coupled with any other effects, I'm over it.

To me the greatest feature is that you can change the wattage. You can push a half watt, one and a half watts, or five watts. It's perfect if you play at many different venues of different sizes. I use it for acoustic coffee house gigs when I add a slight electric guitar atop the rest of the band and I use one and a half watts, not through the PA. If I am jamming with the guys 5 watts pushed at around 8 keeps up with it fine.

IF YOU ARE A COLLEGE STUDENT OR LIVE IN AN APARTMENT, THIS IS THE AMP FOR YOU. You can hit the sweet spot of the amp at a low volume. That's the glorious thing about a half watt.

My other complaint about this is that there is is no outboard foot control panel. This is good if you are a lead guitar player, not carrying the ryhthm but rather adding sparkles on top of songs. If you have your hands free you can get all different sounds by changing the settings with your hands. If you don't always have time for it you are in a bit of a pickle.

Ridiculously versatile if used right. If you don't actually spend some time tweaking it you will get frustrated and give up and probably write a lame, ball busted review. If you are using an american fat strat you can get a very broad range of voicings if you use crunch two with the gain at 7.5 and some reverb. Use your volume knob on your strat to gate the gain. If you are a blues player, the blues settings are good enough to jam. If you are a metal guitar player, this may not be your best choice. Go with crate, it make me cringe to say that. Not a great metal sounding guitar amp. Great for practice amps.

very reliable. I have been on 3 tours since I bought this, and this was my only piece of gear. Very easy to travel with. I left a roomfull or cabs, pedals, and heads at home and just took this. Sounds good miked with a sm57 (remove the metal grill and properly position the mic.

best practice amp, IMHO

Very good amp modeling. Some of the effects are fun to play with but the ones I use the most are reverb and delay+reverb and some of the compression effects for when I want sustain.

Sounds like a little tube amp on some settings. You can overdrive the clean for a nice blues sound. The output power settings .5, 1.5 and 5 watt really work. You can set it to .5 and crank the master and gain and overdrive the amp by turning the volume on the guitar up. Turn it down and it cleans up. The distortion amp models are decent for grunge and low octane metal. The speaker is not too bad either. You can get a decent enough bottom end out of it. I was going to get an Epiphone litte 5 watt tube amp but this is better for practicing and you don't need an effects processor. It won't disturb anyone in the next room when your playing. It gives you all the tone without the loud volume.

Have had it for a week. But seems to be solidly built.

Comes with a 1 year warranty

I've been playing on and off for 30 years. I have had other practice amps in the 15 watt range with 8 inch speakers. Behringer GM108 and Fender Frontman 15R and my main amp is a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. This litte VOX DA5 is probably better than 99% of the 15 watt 8inch speaker practice amps past or present. This thing is amazing. The sounds you can get from such a small amp. It is everything you could want in a practice amp. Portable and powerful enough to play at the backyard shindig.

All the features have been explained in other reviews.
This amp is as versitile as anyone could want. You can cover every style.

I use a Strat with Fat 50's and a Les Paul with 57 Classic pickups.
This amp has noise reduction, but it's really quiet. I haven't had to engage it.
I bought a Roland Micro Cube a couple of months ago after some friends recommended it. I didn't like it. The clean sounds were not good. Plus, the speaker farted out very easily, especially with the clean sounds. All tones from the Micro Cube have a very heavy "processed" sound to them. I hate that.
The DA5 sound very analog and natural. The clean sounds are awesome, as are all that are available. There is no farting out at any volume, and it gets much louder than the micro cube.

I'm guessing this amp will be very reliable. It's solid as a rock.

Haven't, and probably won't have the opportunity.

I've been playing for 36 years. This is a great product, obviously made with quality and players needs in mind.

I think it makes the Micro Cube sound like a toy for kids. It so cute that it comes in red, too. Awww.

My review is basically a comparison of the Vox to the Roland Microcube. It has a nice range of amplifiers. The quantity of effects is good. I really like the tap tempo, but one thing is a deal breaker for me...you can only get delay by itself or with one of the choruses. I like delay. Sometimes I want it with effects, sometimes without. If the delay/reverb was separate, this amp would be serious competition for the Microcube. The other thing is C-size batteries.....C-size??? Not the most common. The Microcube will go at least 20 hours on 6 AAs. That seems plenty.

The sounds from the unit was really good. It has more of a British flavor (duh!) than the Microcube. It all depends on your taste. The cleans were fine, with the blues stuff and with the lead sounds, there are darker to brighter models. There is definitely something in there for you. What I like about this amp is the speaker size. The main problem with the Microcube is the "farting out" on all but the quietest settings. This amp does not have that problem.

I'm not rough on gear, so I rarely have problems. This amp seems to be well built. I would not expect problems.

The are a quality company with a huge reputation. I have never called them.

I've been playing since the 70's. I play live every weekend and practice about an hour/day and teach. I'm holding off on buying this one due to the delay being combined with the other effects. Otherwise, I'd get it. And in case you're wondering.....yes, I played it. I had carte blanche to try it out unfettered for about an hour in a quiet store, then I jammed with some players (no drummer) for about an hour. I use one of the Line6 products to play live. I really like these new small, low powered amps like this. I just want to see some improvements before I get this one. I have the Microcube which my youngest son has latched onto. I want one more for me, but I'm going to wait for now.

**** UPDATE ****
you can read about what I said about this amp earlier... I replaced the VOX speaker with a Jensen Mod 6" (put a 4 ohm inductor inline with the + speaker cable... also upgraded with some rockford fosgate speaker cable i had lying around. BOTH HIGHLY RECOMMENDED... mabye not rockford cable but any decent speaker cable)

from the vox speaker i got a brittle hollow sort of sound, the mod 6 is much rounder, the bottom end is not as sloppy and has a nice punch while the highs retain a bit of that british sound. it already sounded decent before and i personally thought it was pretty much a tie between the roland micro cube and the little vox, now after the speaker and speaker cable upgrade... VOX ALL THE WAY. the blues and clean amp models seem to be made for this speaker, the high gain amp models also greatly benefit. For the cost of the amp, ($120 i think) and the speaker ($26 on ebay shipped to my door the next day) it outclasses everything in its price range and +$100 above as far as tone goes.

Got a good look at the guts of this sucker (VERY easy to disassemble btw... good job guys!) and i didnt think an amp needed such a big heat sink, but seeing it only reassured me of its reliability, everything was nice and neat, well soldered.

never dealt with them

read my other review

If this amp was food, I'd say it was delicous! Its got a great clean tone and can give you some great blues tones. On crunch, I can play hendrix stuff and when you go on the HiGain/Drive (if you play metal or hard rock at all), you will be amazed with the sounds you can get. You don't even have to change the tone or anything to get them, you just select them. (all the way from Clean 1- Drive). Oh by the way there are 11 of them. Then there is also effects!

This amp is great with my Ibanez Artcore Afs75. I can go with blues, rock, hard rock, clean stuff, whatever.

Very dependable

THe only thing I'd change it for is a Vox Valvetronix Ad50vt which is pretty much just a louder version of this.

see above
it is not possible to save presets. when changing the soundsetting, ampmodel etc and switching back, the settings are gone. that isn't good and vox didn't answer to my question.

it sounds great! much better than the microcube. more punch, more bass. you can play this amp in overdrive mode with real smooth feedback. the cleansound is glasklar! ok there is no acoustic simulator, like the microcube. i have tested both directly in the shop befor buying. the vox is more real! very good: the separate input for a mic. the effectswitch and parameters are much better than microcube, because of variety. ok , it does not sound like a valvetronix, so my rating is for a battery amp, just what it is.

The best battery amp I've heard ever!

Bought in 2005 (today actually)
has like 11 things with some other things that do stuff... strap buttons.. just read the other reviews if you want to know its features... or check their website

I play a 1998 Gibson Les Paul Double Cut, rock to blues and some jazz and funk... I can get a workable sound for all my different musical styles with this little amp. the clean channels are by far my fav on this amp... it breaks up a little (in a good way... like slightly overdriven fuzz) when I have my volume all the way up on my guitar, roll it back and I can make a nice glassy tone. The DSP effects are pretty good though I probably wont use half of them. The cabinet modeling (style knob) is pretty sweet, i can get a nice glassy clean to a dual rectifier sort of sound from a quick turn of the knob. overall the sound isnt outstanding but for a practice amp, it is definately no slouch. I think if I can find a suitable replacement speaker, this amp would sound gorgeous

just got it today so i dont know... looks sturdy enough...

never dealt with them

if it were lost or stolen, Id probably get another one or a Roland Micro Cube.