The new DA5 Digital Amplifier from Vox delivers high-quality guitar tone in a portable, compact and affordable package. In addition to heavy good looks, the 5-watt DA5 boasts some killer digital sounds. Plus, the versatile DA5 offers battery power making it the best sounding, most versatile, truly portable guitar amp.
DA5
Reviewed by:
Guitar Freak 86, on june 26, 2008 2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 180
Purchased from: Henri's Music
Features: This amp is good for any styles with it's style switcher, some styles that are on it are rock 'n' roll, rock, metal, blues, jazz, and almost any style possible. It includes a headphone jack that works very well, and extra jacks for multiple guitars. For features I would want I can say shouldn't be on it becuase of it's low price and it is a somewhat begginer amp. I wish there were more built in pedal effects, but it is good for begginers for sure! I love effects for a more rich sound. I never use the blues or Drive styles on the style switcher. I use this amp in my home and for practice, it has enough power for a meduim room and practice, not for on stage though. It can be switched onto.5 watts, 1 watt, or my sweet 5 watts, wich can be a lot of power. It has a stereo sound or a some what surround sound. Those are the features for my Vox DA-5 amp. // 10
Sound: The pickups I use are just plain Gibson pickups. For guitars I use a Gibson Epiphone, and a Gibson SG. It is incredibly when it comes to different styles and surly suites my style wich is rock to low metal not heavy. It is loud on crunch and the highgain setting, mostly in small to medium sized rooms. Wow, the variety of sounds is a ton with like 30 different varities from auto tremelo, delay, reverb, wah, chorus, flanger, and about 5 more. They can also be combined for richer sounds! The clean channel is not distorted at high volumes or low (unless you want it to be). The distortion can be low or high, how ever you want it to be with nice udjusting knobs. Overall the sound is awesome. // 10
Reliability & Durability: I think this amp has high durability, it won't break on you. It is made out of a Nasa material tough plastic and metal sound gate. I would use it in a gig becuase I know it wont break but I am not sure it would loud enough. If my gig is small it would the perfect amp for any small gig, practice, or a small family gig. My amp has never broken down, also becuase I don't treat it badly. Buy it, it will last. // 10
Impression: I play rock and a little metal like Metallica's Enter Sandman. I think it is a wonderful match for this amp. I have played for about 3 years (self-taught) and I also am about to purchase full Marshall Amps and review them. Becuase this is so good I don't wish I would have asked anything before buying it. If I were to lose it or it gets stolen I would buy it back but I am going to purchase the Marshall amps, but other wise I would buy the Vox back. I love all the styles and sounds and effects you can make and the multiple jacks. I don't hate anything about it but my favorite feature is the effects switcher. I did not compare it to other amps becuase I just focus on the amp itself and realized how good it was. I wish it had nothing more becuase it is awesome. Please buy one, they rock! // 10
DA5
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on may 10, 2011 1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 74.86
Purchased from: Ebay
Features: First off, this amp is just awesome. The Vox tone is just my favorite above all. It has 11 Effects, and a bypass. Depending on batteries, the life-time on batteries is fairly long (according to stats it lasts 3 hours on 5 Watts, but there is a switcher so it might last longer). It has a headphone jack (you might need a converter though), and it works very well. Has an Auxiliary in for MP3 play-a-longs. Controllable Master volume, tone and gain. // 9
Sound: It has a lot of different tones you can achieve, such has a High Gain with a lot of bass and another with one with more treble (there are three higains in total). 2 Clean Channels (Overall these are pretty good however it sounds distorted when the batteries are low but what doesn't right?), 3 Blues (which in my opinion for pretty awesome as well, perfect for those Jimi Hendrix songs), 2 Crunch (I don't generally use these, but they're very good for stuff like Deep Purple, and the 3 Higains (I prefer the first because it sounds more metal for me) and last but not least a Overdrive (Sounds great for hard rock, and does wonders for Guns N' Roses.
11 Effects
The Reverb is outstanding, I use it for everything
The Delay is perfect for Tears Don't Fall - BMFV
Rotary is a little wild sounding, but very cool
The Tremolo is overall ok
The Flanger is crazy sounding, its just plain and simple awesome.
Auto Wah is alright I wouldn't use it legitimately.
The rest is pretty awesome, just wanted to point those out. // 9
Reliability & Durability: Honestly I'd use this to take on trips with me and to bring to school. The batteries are my biggest concern. The speaker looks easy enough to replace. It has a, what feels like, a steel guard over the speaker so it protects it. I wouldn't exactly gig with it however. // 9
Impression: This is just everything I was expecting, and hoping for so I am extremely satisfied with the quality and abilities this amp has to offer. I play Metal, Alternative, Hard Rock, Country, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Abstract Sounding stuff. Suits me very well. Only had it for about 3 days, and even brought it to school all of my friends like it, even want one. I compared this to a Micro Spider, Roland Micro Cube, and an Orange Mini. None could compare to this amp. // 10
DA5
Reviewed by:
GuitarTom1995, on september 27, 2011 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: £ 70
Purchased from: Local music shop
Features: There are plenty of affordable practice amplifiers on the market, but with eleven built-in effects and styles, Vox's DA5 may well be the most impressive and versatile. It certainly backs a punch for what it is, with an unbelievable range of sounds, and a "tap" button helps you refine your tone by setting the delay time or modulation speed.
The DA5 can be powered by its AC adapter or by six C batteries; there is a built-in output power switch (5W, 1.5W and 0.5W) to help extend battery life by play at lower volumes. You can connect external audio devices such as CDs or an MP3 player, while the combination line/headphone output can link up to headphones, mixers or recorders. // 8
Sound: Using the equally versatile and great value Yahama Pacifica 15V, it suits all my need, from impressive clean sounds to blues and heavy overdrives. There are eleven different "styles" to select, while the effects to compliment them are as follows: auto-wah, chorus + delay, chorus + reverb, compressor, compressor + chorus, compressor + phaser, delay, flanger + reverb, reverb, rotary + reverb, and tremolo + reverb. Some obviously sound more impressive than others, but you can't really complain about the overall package.
If you want an "Appetite for Destruction" era Slash tone, even just to mess around with "Sweet Child O' Mine", try this out:
Reliability & Durability: It hasn't broken down for me yet, and doesn't look like it's about to either! I wouldn't particularly recommend it for gigging with, but only because of its size and power. If you're out busking or jamming, though, the DA5 is a very reliable and impressive amp. // 7
Impression: Playing a variety of music, but mainly classic to modern rock, this suits me very well for home use and practicing. I'm not a hugely serious musician - it's just a hobby for me - and am glad I got the DA5.
I initially looked at the Vox 15R Pathfinder, but the built-in effects and price swayed me. When buying the DA5, the only real difference between it and more expensive amps I looked (aside from price) was the power and size. The basic tones aren't too different to what I was getting from amps almost two or three times as much.
My only regret is the design. The shop didn't have the Vox Classic design, only the less aesthetically pleasing black with a chrome grill. Looks obviously aren't too important, but they go some way into your overall impression of an amp. Other than that, I can't pick too many flaws in the DA5. Well done Vox! // 8
DA5
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on august 03, 2011 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: £ 80
Purchased from: PMT
Features: Great choice of effects and the choice to use battery powered. A choice I've never taken up but could come in handy. I can play any style of music with the amp and is great for my favourite style - indie. For me the only downfall is that you can't manually change the bass, treble and middle levels of the amp to change it's built in styles to your taste. The built in effects are as good as I've heard in an amp with although I've never really used the auto-wah due to my personal preference. // 9
Sound: I use a telecaster with double Fender pick ups. I like the amp as it can produce a range of different styles from sweet clean to dirty distortion. I only use the amp in my room so the 5watts is just fine, most of the time I take up the option to use the amp as a 1.5W amp. At high volumes the sound produced is just as good as low volumes. However, personally I find the clean channel is to bass filled and lacking treble. // 8
Reliability & Durability: I've had the amp a couple of years and it the quality of it is just as good now as when I got. However 2 years is nothing. The amp isn't difficult to maintain. It just needs a wipe every now and again. I have don't use the amp for a gig as it lacks the volume to fill a room and I prefer the fresh sound of an amp rather than one through a mic. Saying this I take the amp to all of my gigs as backup to my Fender frontman and I'm fairly positive it would perform if needed. The amp came ready to play from the box, (without the inclusion of a battery) // 9
Impression: For rock, indie, and a mix of everything else this amp sound brilliant. For the 7 years I've been playing this has been my favourite amp - by far. Before buying the amp I was looking at my friends Roland Micro Cube amp but I'm glad I bought this as it sounds - and looks, so much better. I would definitely buy the amp again if it got lost or broke. I wish it gave me the choice of altering the bass, treble and middle volumes but apart from that it's great. // 9
DA5
Reviewed by:
jtbull, on june 30, 2008 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 95
Features: I do not know when the amp was made, but it was made in vietnam. There are several built in effects including reverb, phaser, tremelo, wah, flanger, chorus, most of the effects have 2 going at a time such as chorus+delay, flanger+delay. You turn a knob to select the effect you want you can't really chose the combos you want like you could not choose chorus and flanger. The flanger and reverb effects are decent. It is 5 or 10 watts and has 2 clean tones, 3 blues tones, a couple crunch tones, three high gain tones and a overdrive tone. It also can be used just with batteries but I have not tried this yet. // 7
Sound: IT sounds decent. I am using a 1991 Peavey Tracer and a 1994 Hamer totally stock. The distortions sound pretty good not super but good especially for the begininer. The effects sound decent but I prefer to have more control over my effects. I have found it to be very noisy when you try to connect effect pedals because it only has one channel and you need to select a gain on that channel so when you go to distortion with your pedal it sounds a bit hazy but mostly while you are holding it. It still sounds good during the actual playing. There is not much in the way of an EQ. You just get a tone control and gain control along with the volume. // 7
Reliability & Durability: It seems to be built pretty good I have not had to fool with it and it is pretty sturdy. It appears that it will take one or two drops without a major problem. It also can be used with a CD plug in and you can put a mic in the back and sing along. // 9
Impression: I am mostly into classical and older '80s metal (Motley Crue and Kiss) it is a decent match for me. I did not pay top dollar for it. At the price I paid it was a good deal. I think that at $100 you could find a used Peavey, Crate, or Randall with some reverb and worry about the other effects later. The other thing is that I really like to control my distortion with pedals. // 7
DA5
Reviewed by:
dzaerpoor, on march 26, 2008 0 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 140
Purchased from: Guitar Center
Features: This amp is somewhat versatile. It has 11 amp settings with eleven effects. I'm not going to list them all out because you can look them up but they are pretty good. Mainly I use clean 1 and Hi-Gain 1 because they sound the best to me. They are pretty adjustable by the tone and gain knob. It has 11 effects which are all pretty good. They have tap tempo and an effect "intensity" knob. It is really loud when turned all the way up and the guy at the store said it sounds a lot more like 15 watts. // 8
Sound: I'm using a standard hss strat and it has pretty good overall control. It has a lot less hum when using it with the bridge and middle pickups. it's a pretty versatile amp overall. The high gain settings can be noisy but you wont hear it when playing. Pretty good distortion. // 9
Reliability & Durability: This amp probably isnt loud enough for gigs (large ones) but it could play in a small cafe. It seems realiable though I've only had it for a week or two. It is reliable though. It has a strap attached on it to make is easy to carry and it seems very strong. It would probably withstand a few drops. // 10
Impression: This is a pretty good overall amp for me, it's my first amp. If it were stolen I would get a better amp for an upgrade but in a budget I would get a Roland microcube. It has a amp models but the DA5 has more effects. Depends what you want. In this price range I would go for this amp, a microcube, or a Epiphone Valve Junior. The DA5 and microcube are excellent practice amps but no more. // 9
DA5
Reviewed by:
bluemoon05, on april 04, 2007 0 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 183
Purchased from: Harker & Howarth
Features: I bought this amp around 4 months ago and it has been a great acquisition for me. I like to play indie rock and things like Oasis and the three different hi-gain options all having their original sound also there are crunch options and nicer softer options. It has 11 different 'style' options and a lot of effects to go along with it. It also has a headphone jack which is very useful when you are living with other people. There aren't really any features I wish this amp had, it is everything I need, and for £100 it is great value. // 10
Sound: I am using this amp with my Fender Mexican Strat and it works very well with it. This combination works perfectly me it can provide some great hi-gain for the solos I want to play and the softer settings also sound superb. In my own house I have only ever turned it up to full volume, full gain once and it nearly blew my ears off. I never have the need to turn it up to more than one-quarter of the volume it has. For such a small it packs one hell of a voice. One aspect that some may not be happy about is the distortion can never become that 'heavy', I don't find this a problem because I do not play metal music but some Who like metal may not like this amp. // 9
Reliability & Durability: This amp is very durable I have never had to service it and it is fine. It has been dropped a number of times and still doesn't show any signs of me having done so. The amp has never broken down on me whether I was using it on mains power or on battery power. It is a very reliable amp, I would definitely play a gig without a backup. // 9
Impression: This amp has been great ever since I bought it and has worked perfectly for me, I have been playing for 9 months and also own a Fender strat, as I mentioned before, it works well with this guitar. I love the hi-gain and crunch features; they have a wide range of sounds to work with. The only thing I dislike is the inclusion of the 'drive' sound; it seems like a pointless add-on. My favourite feature is the tremolo which sounds superb on the hi-gain settings. If it were stolen or lost I would save up and buy it again, it is just such a top quality amp. It was between this and Roland Micro Cube for a practice amp, I had played the Micro Cube at my Guitar Teacher's house and it doesn't come close to the Vox DA5. I chose this amp because of all the great features and it was a great choice. // 10
I take this amp to college with me for jamming and when I first brought it in people were amazed that it ran off batteries. They also asked how loud it could go, so I showed them by making the ground shake . It really is that f*cking loud.
it sounds better plugged in, only problem i had is when i turned it up about half way the metal part in the front would vibrate and buzz, i just tightened the the screws a little and its fine
this amp is awesome, the only thing i dont like 'bout this is that you don't get to control the treble, middle, and bass of the styles you can select- the styles and stuff like that are already predetermined through the style... but otherwise iz good !
this is a pretty cool amp. We can compare it to 15 watt amps in sound quality , which is awesome!
I went and tested Cube 20 X, Microcube, Line 6 spider III 15 watts and this Vox DA5 was my pick
The only thing i dont especially like is the distortions, they arent very versatile and they dont hv much tone, tho they pack some punch are ok for now, im getting a distortion pedal tho.
The effects are awesome.
I got this amp for £70 when i bought my epiphone les paul classic and think it was a bit of a bargain. For a 5 watt amp it kicks out a lot of stink and is perfect for practicing and jamming. Replicating ethe exact tone of a song you want to play can be difficult with the limited control over the effects settings but for the size and price i can't moan!
Vox Rox. A great one for practise.Sold my ROLAND amp got this & I had people telling me to get a marshall.
HHHHHAAAHHH!
Why are Marshall's SSSSOOO over rated is it just that meatheads think they'll play better with that name behind them? The only good marshall at a gig tells you where the BAR/BOGS are! Get a Good British VOX,
I take my DA5 everywhere work,garden,mates...they now do a DA20 , ok for small gigs?
I've got one in my bedroom room and my friend is like " you need a bigger amp " so I turned the wattage up all the way and max volume and strummed a high note and he jumped becuase he didnt even know that i was turning everything up so he jump and screamed. The ni thought to my self * Do I need a bigger amp? *
Just picked this up, sweet little amp, love the sound on it, doesnt miss a note like other amps of its size and even sounds not too bad with pinches. All and all this thing rocks.
I love this little thing! MicroCube's sound quality sucks out loud next to this. Just plug in a distortion pedal... and there's the best small amp ever!
had alot of problems with my peavey vyper 15 that i bought 2weeks ago took it back to guitarcenter got the vox Da5 used for $79 best decision i have ever made
Sounds like I found my next amp. How does it stack up against the Roland Micro Cube?
Much more bottom end. I don't worry about the EQ because normally mine is set to clean with a little reverb, and playing through a Digitech RP-355. I get all the tones I want and more. Great spring reverb effect with this combination.
That's my rig in the computer room and for travel. It's great, but I still use my Marshall tube half-stack and a GNX4 for shows.
Well, I let my vocalist try to use it a long with the drums and it did alright. She does rhythm guitar if you were wondering, but it seems to get loud enough. Really depends on how loud the drums are getting. The drummer thankfully wasn't doing it too loud so it worked out ok. Other than that its just something that you'd have to try out. If you goning to buy this 140$ I suggest something thats not battery powered for that reason.
It might be one of the best small digital amps on the market, it is certainly a Vox, but digital modelling amps are the most atrocious novelty in the guitar world in the last 20 years. It falsifies the very concept of Rock, which is finding your own sound . And, anyway, none of the sounds it emulates is exactly the same as the original, so does it worth trying? Giving up a real all-tube amp and switching to one of these monsters is like cutting a healthy leg and putting a titan-made prosthesis instead...
Also, none of these amps can be used for gigging or professional records.
It might be one of the best small digital amps on the market, it is certainly a Vox, but digital modelling amps are the most atrocious novelty in the guitar world in the last 20 years. It falsifies the very concept of Rock, which is finding your own sound. And, anyway, none of the sounds it emulates is exactly the same as the original, so does it worth trying? Giving up a real all-tube amp and switching to one of these monsters is like cutting a healthy leg and putting a titan-made prosthesis instead...
Also, none of these amps can be used for gigging or professional records.
You're missing the point of this amp.
BTW, it's discontinued now.
It's the only solid state amp I could really recommend for practice/bedroom/busking. Beats the pants off any MG, Spider, or Cube. It's even more versatile than the Mustangs, Vypyrs, Oranges and VOX VTs in it's class.
Hook it up to a halfway decent MFX and you can tweak any solid state tone out of it you want so you can find your own sound .
But no, it doesn't replace a good tube amp if you have the luxury of using the tube amp like it was designed to be used.
My friend, I'm an old Vox customer. I practice, for about 10 years now, on a Pathfinder 15 (IMHO, a better choice than the DA 5) and I gig on a Night Train cum cabinet. I've already stated my belief that, within the narrow concept of a digital modelling amp, this might be one of the best , if not the best. So I guess I've actually caught the point.
But if you really want to get serious about music (and you need a small amp to suit your bedroom), why not choosing the AC4TV? It's not so expensive, it's small and it looks awesome, you might even find a place for it beside your furniture, so your wife doesn't get mad about 'another music device in your house' (like mine does) etc. etc.
Let's not encourage the big names on this path, of digital modelling. Otherwise, it will be very difficult, over 20 years, to find a good all-tube at a reasonable price. They will become a luxury item, completely out of reach of common guys like us.
. It really is that f*cking loud.
it sounds better plugged in, only problem i had is when i turned it up about half way the metal part in the front would vibrate and buzz, i just tightened the the screws a little and its fine