[Harp-L] Vox DA5 review

["Ed Kliman" <info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I bought a Vox DA5 for use with a group that plays frequent "unamplified"
gigs and thought I'd post a quick review.  The group, Lux, does a lot of
piano-based boogie woogie and New Orleans music (Dr. John to Louis Armstrong
and originals in that vein) and are starting a Friday residency in the
Austin area at a swanky new venue with a baby grand and an owner who likes
his music at relatively low volume levels.  Competing with a baby grand
without any amplification at all is hard work and hard on my harps, so I
decided to look for a small, battery-powered amp for this and several
similar gigs we've got coming up.

I intended to get a small Pignose and figured the local Guitar Center might
have one.  They didn't, but they did have small battery-powered amps from
Roland, Line 6 and the DA5, so I got a chance to do some comparative
shopping with the DA5 being the clear winner.  The knobs and construction
were better than the Line 6 and the tone was more harp-friendly than the
Roland.  There are amp-modeling settings and a limited palette of FX
onboard, including some reverb and delay combinations which are usable for
harp work.  There is, by the way, an AC adapter included with the amp or it
runs on 6 "C" batteries.  At 8 pounds, it was certainly easier to haul than
a Bassman. 

In a nice bit of engineering, the battery compartment door is set up so that
it can open out to be a built-in "kick stand" allowing the amp to be tilted
back.  Nice.  There are also switchable power settings of .5, 1.5 and 5
watts, useful in setting volume and battery power consumption.  The FX
section includes a tap tempo button, the amp controls include tone, gain and
volume.  There is a line/headphone out, an Aux in jack for using an external
music source like an Mp3 player and a Mic input with its own volume control
on the back of the amp.  Beaucoup flexibility here - you can use it as a
harp amp with accompanying backing tracks and have a vocal mic all at once!
This little beast will also come in handy for my solo gigs playing acoustic
guitar, dobro and mandolin.  

On the gig, through usage of the Blues 2 setting with the tone control
turned all the way down, a touch of reverb/delay on the FX and with a little
fiddling with the balance between gain and volume controls, I got a very,
very acceptable tone using my JT30 with a Crystal Balls element.  Nice
breakup, very smooth tone and no noise/electronic interference issues
whatsoever using the AC adapter.  I kept it on the .5 watt setting and had
plenty of volume and headroom playing with a baby grand and a sax player.
Worth mentioning that my tube amps with vintage Jensen or Celestion speakers
have better tone than the Vox's solid state electronics through a 6.5 inch
speaker, but this little wonder is truly the right tool for this particular
job and a whole bunch of others I'll be working this coming year.  I don't
do any busking, but I do enough outdoor events, music for theatre, barbeque
cookoffs, chili competitions and other odd gigs during the course of a year
that this portable and self-contained tiny terror is going to get a lot of
use in addition to the upscale restaurant gigs.  At $140, I'm equally
pleased and impressed.

Lux, for anyone interested, at:  www.TexasMusicForge.com/lux.htm

Best regards to all,

Ed Kliman
Austin, Texas