Epiphone Firefly 30 DSP Combo

I bought this **** for 170 and can't begin to figure out where the break is. The tone quality was always muddy and distorted ranged. A chord sounded like separated pitches. They said it's discontinued and I wish I knew how to trouble shoot the solid state from speaking to qualified techs.

To the first time I used this the clean channel sounded alright but got harder in the short time it was in action. I never thought this was to be a 10" speaker without a solid head until I tried additional amps like the Line 6 spider III and the BC30 combo. I was hearing all kinds of radio stations in the background. Redoing the configuration of this crap is too time consuming.

This thing is built like a tank and weighs a ton. It won't fall apart except for the electrical circuitry that doesn't pan out with the ride. If you take time out to analyze the fault it may just be easier to fix another way that's faster.

I have bought Epiphone equipment years ago in the 70's from an acoustic to electric and find the quality has made Gibson noted the the Gibson SG standard and Les Paul to be the fore runners of this pruduct and precision captive instruments to this date. If I were to say, this balance of fusion the sound will be a better quality
between guitar and amp.

I was professional at 16 and I'm in my 50's. I don't know what I would do if it were stolen. I think twice about doing things like fixing this amp and I just may get lucky. It probably was engineered in another garage that that used to be riddled with users who didn't find the time to think at all. Or, they might have gotten sharp and the system failure had gotten to me electrically. In any case, I need input on how this **** operates.

this is a follow-up review

unusable distortion channel. worst i've ever heard, bar none

clean channel - muddy and dark with humbuckers. i'd go as far as to say unusable with most typically-voiced humbuckers. can sound nice with single-coils. strangely noisy for a clean channel, there is a subtle background fizz to it.

dsp fx rendered a bit useless by all being on one dial.
odd fake-sounding (seems gated) reverb which i actually quite liked

i've had a chance to use it in every situation now and its just plain crap. its also unbelievably heavy (and quite large) for an amp with just one 10" speaker. and no there's nothing wrong with it, it's just bad... at any price! i'm selling it ASAP and from what i've read the behringer gmx210 sounds like an excellent replacement... then again i bought this amp only from what i'd read (no shops in my area had it to test)... seems like all the bad reviews came in after i bought it. people, please do not buy his amp, there are MUCH better amps out there for the price

this is a follow-up review

unusable distortion channel. worst i've ever heard, bar none

clean channel - muddy and dark with humbuckers. i'd go as far as to say unusable with most typically-voiced humbuckers. can sound nice with single-coils. strangely noisy for a clean channel, there is a subtle background fizz to it.

dsp fx rendered a bit useless by all being on one dial.
odd fake-sounding (seems gated) reverb which i actually quite liked

i've had a chance to use it in every situation now and its just plain crap. its also unbelievably heavy (and quite large) for an amp with just one 10" speaker. and no there's nothing wrong with it, it's just bad... at any price! i'm selling it ASAP and from what i've read the behringer gmx210 sounds like an excellent replacement... then again i bought this amp only from what i'd read (no shops in my area had it to test)... seems like all the bad reviews came in after i bought it. people, please do not buy his amp, there are MUCH better amps out there for the price

It has a decent set of features for such an inexpensive amp: clean channel, dirty channel, 3eq, reverb and some DSP effects. I never really used the DSP... it's not very convenient to stop playing and try to mess with a little single dial. Plus, there are 9(?) settings total. No customization. That's what pedals are for.

The clean channel is quite beautiful. Crystal clear, picks up notes, good full sound.

The dirty channel is absolute garbage. It sounds like running a lawn mower over some sticks. Never use it.

The DSP effects are pretty useless. They are a bit cheesy sounding and you can't really customize the effect. Use pedals instead.

Never had an issue.

Never had an issue.

I like solid state for acoustic, not so much electric. I'm a tube kind of guy. However, if you're in the market for a really inexpensive clean channel, this may be for you. Don't buy it for its overdrive or effects... all of that is complete junk.

Also, this thing is a beast. I'm guessing it weighs between 40 and 50 lbs, but more importantly, it's just incredibly awkward and large. Not a good gigging amp.

There are plenty of better amps out there for about the same price as a secondhand one of these. I actually sold this shortly after buying it. I made the mistake of buying before I heard it. I wouldn't recommend it to my friends. But hey, maybe it's for you. Just play through it first.

Bought new in 2007 from American Musical Supply.
I think the others pretty much hit on the amp, save for one thing: this sucker weighs a ton. I wanted a smaller, lighter amp to replace my marshall mfx(?) 50w, 12" combo. This thing weighs more and is more awkward to carry. But I like the sound so much its a keeper. Im gonna trade the marshall for something lighter. Which will probably turn the Firefly into a closet queen. Sigh.
Rating is due to weight. Otherwise a 8.5

Very nice. Clear and clean. I dont like the gain, but have never heard gain I liked in an amp. DSP beats the Marshall, tho I dont know if that means much. Reverb doesnt get too deep, but has a richness I havent heard since the Fender Super Reverb I owned ages ago.

Too new to have an opinion.

Too new to have an opinion.

Great little amp if you dont plan to move it much.

There are a few onboard effects, a fairly nice reverb, 2 foot switchabe channels and an 8ohm jack for an extension cab (very nice option for such a cheap amp)

OK so the DSP effects are crap useless and horrable, so is channel 1 (the over drive channel) it is hands down the worst sounding crud I have ever heard. I have a Rogue 15 watt amp somewhere that sounds like an AC30 compared to this shit. I can't figure what is going on here it just sounds awfull.

Then there is the "clean" channel out of left field. I was speachless at first when I first heard a strat using only the britge pickup through this thing. It is so warm and chean picking up every note with amazing clairity. There is no faking trying to play throught this channel It's amamzing how easy it is to tell mid song when I start to go out of tune.
I don't really play humbuckers, I have a gibson 137 that I screw around on that has hotrod 57's in it and it sounds a little "muddy" throught this thing but truthfully it sounds "muddy" through any amp, but my fenders and 72 melody maker sound amazing.

It's a solid state it should last for ever!

I tend fix my own shit so I have no idea

I paid 69.99 for this thing off of EBAY with free shipping and shit for that price there is no way you can go wrong. I was screwing around at Guitar center one day with one of these and almost baught it there for $225, but I ended up finding it on ebay for $150 cheaper. If stolen I probably wouldn't buy another only because I have 10 other amps at the moment, but even at $200 the clean channel is hard to beat.

Features are cool but more of a novelty. The DSP is no better that any cheap pedal. Delay is pretty good though. I use quite a bit during my solos.

Wow... I'm not an equipment freak. I like to do more playing than shopping, but I've tried many high end tube amps including Fender Deluxe and Blues and this one is very, very close to the same sound. In fact when I gigged with this amp I had several people ask me if this is a tube amp. Great sound on clean. OK on dirty. Pro sound amp without the price. I use a Frankencaster with humbucker bridge and single coil neck PU and run an OD pedal like Bad Monkey. I play funk and a lot of blues. Been playing for ever (25 years or so) and still learning. I use this amp now instead of my Fender Princeton.

Just got it, but so far so good.

Save yourself the big bucks you would shell out for a tube amp and go with this one. Loud enough to gig with in small places. Sounds great through pa also. Have fun.

It is a quality amplifier for the cost. I paid $150.00 from Cintiolli's.. and it is worth every dollar. Undoubtedly, it has some drawbacks compaired to many other amplifiers, however, for the price it simply cannot be beat.

By adding a 15" extension speaker, the amp opens up with much more personality, greater, and better sound.

The amp is better in a clean channel setting. The gain channel is not very manageable.

The clean responsiveness is fast.. clean, and very precise. The incorporation of the DSP effects are nicely done and present a great sound.

The only enhancement would be to link multiple dsp effects into the sound - you are stuck with either/or one effect and reverb.

Incidentally, the reverb is very good for this series and class of amplifier

It is solid and reliable.

no problems... not even worried about the warranty.

I've had this amp for about 6 mos.

I'll probally get the combo head or a tube amp in the future (I'm a tube head).

THIS REVIEW IS TO EXPRESS MY INITIAL FINDINGS AFTER PLAYING THE AMP AT HOME FOR A WEEK. I WILL POST AN UPDATE AFTER USING AT BAND REHEARSAL, AND THEN AT A GIG.
clean channel and distortion channel with separate eq's. reverb. dsp fx (chorus/flange/delay). speaker out for cabinet.

clean channel - very muffled, treble needs to be on max regardless of guitar. first guitar i used with this was an epiphone SG with dead strings and a muddy neck pickup and it didnt sound good, but i had better results with other guitars... i advise running something relatively bright through this amp. the amp is noisy, and oddly the noise is accentuated as you play.. i thought it was some room reverberations or something but no its the amp. as for the tone, its fine - i fail to see anything tube-like about it, but i dont care about that i just want it to sound "Good". it is a dark channel. its still boomy with the bass on 0. in fact, the tone controls don't have much affect at all. even with the treble on maximum, i have to reconfigure my stompboxes for more high-end through this amp.

distortion channel - this is some of the worst and most un-useable fuzz i have ever heard. no sustain. same amount of gain from 9 o' clock to max. i have a hard time putting into words how bad the distortion channel sounds. toneless harsh tinny buzz. simply, do not buy this amp with the intention of using the distortion channel

dsp fx - all the flanger sounds are awful. there are 1 or 2 ok chorus sounds. delays are all useable, but come nowhere near the depth and quality of a boss delay i once had.

reverb - fake sounding. and has an odd gated effect at the end. but i actually quite like it like this.

my ratings for each element (out of ten) are:
clean channel - 5
distortion channel - 1
dsp fx - 3
reverb - 5

not good

as its solid state, it should last
construction seems solid
no rattles or anything

i must say, im kicking myself for not buying the Orange Crush 30R which is better and cheaper. i'm disappointed and quite annoyed at the amount of glowing reviews this amp has got - its not even worth what i paid for it. then again, its relatively cheap, so i might as well just get the orange crush too. i cant see how the sound of this amp is possibly going to cut through the mix of my band. i've heard that its discontinued so perhaps i'll be able to sell it to someone else who's been duped by the inexperienced rave reviews - what the hell is wrong with all you people!? and as for the people who actually LIKED the distortion.. there is no hope for you. there were no shops stocking this amp in my area so i had to buy online.. oops...
one thing - it looks very cool. but thats about it.

Sorry, nothing is a perfect 10. Always room for improvements!

2 channel, with Reverb and Master volume. Relatively basic setup. It does have a headphone jack too. Awesome styling for this price range amp. Gotta love it!

Very good sound with single coils. A bit darker with humbuckers.
clean channel is very nice, not noisy. Overdrive is just as good! Can go from bluesy Keith Richards to Angus Young by adjusting the gain.

Currently I have a 2006 Gibson Les Paul Studio worn cherry finish and a 2006 Squire telecaster-the butterscotch finish one. This amp is sweet with either guitar.

I also have a 1981 Dean Elite which totally blows either of the above guitars oot of the water.

I have the footswitch which is a must for the variety of sounds this amp offers.

Seems solid and is a tad heavy.

No need for repairs yet. Waranty is for 5 years!

Been playing for 30+ years. I have an original Fender 1964 Princeton Reverb, and a 2006 Fender Blues Jr.

Lost or stolen - probably would look for a decent 50Watt hybrid.

Do not like the weight, or the original speaker with humbuckers. Original speaker is fine with single coils.