So my band plays this festival every year for like the last 6. People come from all over and camp out and stuff. There are big bonfire jams with members from different bands and lots of stories. Anyways this year I wanted to bring something simple, yet electric rather than acoustic for jamming. Sometimes there might be 10 guitars and 15 hand drums going. At those times when it rotates towards me I wanted something that could cut thru a little more. I got a Roland cube amp and liked it quite a bit but something wasn't quite right so I traded it in for a vox portable amp. It is a valvetronics da5. It is the smallest one they make and may be being discontinued. I hope not. It can run on battery power and gets very convincing tones. I have collected quite a bit of gear over the years and I must say this was a great find. For porch type jams and practice there are a ton of killer sounds to be had. Just wanted to post something positive about a product that I think is setting a bar for the porch jam market place

I been lovin' my DA5 for about 2 years now...

Throw a speaker out jack in the back, plug it into a 4x12 and STAND BACK!! NO JOKE!! Killer tones from a tiny SS box.

Love mine also... been using it for home playing(since I don't have a spare room to use my other rig) and for teaching the Vox DA5 is perfect!

That's cool. So, the Vox killed the MocroCube? That's a pretty good recommendation!

The little SS Voxes seem to all be pretty nice. Has anybody tried the Brian May practice amp? (The little White one.)

I have a Roland Micro Cube and I have played the Vox DA5 as well (I worked at a music store that stocked both the Roland and Vox stuff). I think that they’re both pretty cool little amps. I can remember liking the sound of the speaker/cab a little more in the Vox, it was ‘bigger’ sounding. Another thing I dug about the Vox DA5 is the tap button for setting delay time and mod. speed on the fly.

However I personally preferred the amp sounds/models in the Micro Cube. It’s a matter of taste though; there are great sounds in both amps. Since I almost never use the speaker (I use mine mainly with headphones), I chose the MC. I hook up an external source (computer, mp3 player) to the Aux-in of the MC and plug in a set of headphones and I can rock out until the rooster crows without disturbing a soul. This is actually the setup I use 90% of the time when at home, for practicing or learning songs etc. The Vox has an Aux-in plus a mic input I believe, pretty cool…

They’re still making the Vox DA5. Actually they just expanded the line to include more colors…I like the vintage diamond grill cloth one…check it out…

http://namm.harmony-central.com/SNAMM08/Content/VOX/PR/DA5-Colors.html

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Somebody over on TGP stuck an 8" Weber in the DA5 with (supposedly) amazing results. Now, if Vox would just:

-add a tuner (like the MC)
-make the speaker 8"
-add a speaker out jack (you haven't heard with this little guy can do until you plug it into a large cab! woah!)

It would be the -PERFECT- do-all/practice/travel amp. You could even gig with it (with a larger cab).