Zoom Fire 15

Made in 2004, all the same stupid features as everyone has mention.

Terrible, this amp makes so much noise. campared to the Roland modelling amps ( which arn't that good to begin with ) its at the bottom of the list. and for all those people saying that changing the speaker will fix the problem, its a fucking practice amp, supposed to be cheap with a bunch experimental stuff. Why waste more money on the damn thing. It's a cheap, made in china, beginners amp that will bore and annoy beginners just 6 months after buying it.
It makes my epiphone dot with seymor duncan sh-2 and sh-6 picks-ups sound like my $50 Casino "strat" knock-off.

i have thrown it, and dropped it many times and it still lives. Not a giging amp

never delt with

Don't buy it. big waste of time and resources. save up for something more respectable and get a effects board or a bunch of stomp boxes.

N/A See my previous review.

This is an update to my previous review. I took the advice of two other reviewers and changed out the speaker. I put in a Vintage Jensen C8R. It did make a big difference. The clean channels are brighter overall than they were before. The drive channels are much more useable now too. If you read my first review you'll notice I issued a disclaimer regarding use of the drive channels for chords. With the Jensen speaker, the drive channels are able to breathe and respond to pick attack even when playing chords. This is epecially true in the manual mode. For example, I scooped out the mid and treb to 12 o'clock, and raised the bass to 3 o'clock. I set the level at 12 c'clock, and the gain at 9 o'clock. I always use the sustain and boost buttons with the drive amp models. These settings made the BG DRV and and the PVY DRV crunchy when I wanted with aggressive picking of chords, but also cleaner with light picking.
For those who are interested in changing out the speaker, I got my Jensen from Antique Electronics for $26 plus $9 shipping and handling. I had it in less than two business days. They also had a Vintage Jensen MOD-8 for $18. The C8R that I got is rated at 25 watts (MOD-8 at 20 watts) and has a bit wider frequency response at the low end in comparison with the MOD-8. The sales department told me the MOD-8 would be good for this amp too.
To the reviewers who couldn't get useable sound out of this amp: too bad for you. Just because you couldn't get it to sound like a tube head half stack (these are amp MODELS in a solid state 15 watt amp), or doesn't sound good with the gain, level and master switches maxed out (why try this with a ss 15 watt amp anyhow?), or doesn't sound good with the gain all the way up in the clean channels (isn't that why drive channels were invented?), doesn't mean others can't figure out how to get excellent, useable sound out of it. Instead of making personal attacks on people who can figure out this amp, maybe you should figure out how to treat equipment. Messing up an input jack speaks volumes about credibility.

Still very reliable. No problems.

Haven't had to use CS. Long past the warranty.

Same as before. Even more useable with new speaker.

Bought mine in 2004, dunno when it was made.
Features have been covered by other users, so I won't go into that.

I'm using a 300? Strat-Style Guitar from Aria(2 Humbuckers and a singlecoil). Not the greatetst thing, has very little sustian and the pickups aren't real good but you can work on it.

The Fire 15 is a 15 W practice amp, so no band-playing possible.

Sounds vary in quality. If you play this thingy with just everything maxed it will sound absolutly horrible! But I could get good sounds out of Distortion, Fuzz, Metal, jc clean, Bg and Od modellings with "only" one year of constant tweaking. Now i like their sound quite much, but of course there is no tube in there and thats what is still missing ;). But if you look beyond that, it now produces nice(thight!) Metal sound with good Punch. Is also could get quite nice vintagy crunch/overdrive sounds(think early Sabbath, ACDC)out of it. "Distorsion" delivers a fat Guns N'Roses like sound with right tweaking(but with rather a transistory than tubelike touch)that is nice with Powerchords. Fuzz, well just sound like fuzz, and the noisyness is just normal with Fuzzes.
Cleans are nothing special but useable (if you don't have high output pickups, the cleans distort on high gain settings).
What you really cant get from this amp is WARM Jcm-Marshall distortion, the "MS-Drive" yust sounds thin and horrible.

I'm not into effects in general, but i think the DElay, Reverb, tremolo and Chorus effects are useable if you don't use very high effect settings.

After all for it's price it's an ok amp, but I'm shure you will be able to get better ones.
I'd recommend to everyone rather than to buy a cheap modelling amp with many horrrible sounds buy an amp with 1-2 good sounds. There are many good&affordable amps today(and good doesn't necesarily mean tube-euipped!)like Tour Reverbs, marshall Avts, vox/line 6 modellingamps etc, so save a bit more mony and buy one of them.

Seems quite reliable. It's solid build and contains no tubes or other parts that could blow, so if you don't let it fall out of the window( ;))or something like this it will work for some time.

No idea.

I've been palying for 1 and a half year now. I'll probalby still use this amp as a practice amp in future but i'll shure switch to a tube amp as soon as possible.

Lot's of (useless) effects. Nice for starters. I've had fun with it for a month. After that I wanted to go back to basic...no more effects, better sounds. I bought a fender transistor amp, not the best there is either, but a lot better as the zoom. Dunno exactly what effects are on it, to much to use :-/. For the amount of features: 9, for the quality of the features: 4

I used my cheap strat copy on it. Sounded like shit but I just blamed my guitar for it. Then I tried my guitar on other amps. Still sounded crappy but not as bad as on the zoom. All the channels were noisy, especially the fuzz channel, there was more fuzz than guitar sound.

Wouldn't take it to a gig...I would be ashamed for my sounds.
The input jack broke after a while. No problem to fix it myself

I've been playing for 2 years now. I wouldn't get a new one, I'm happy someone wanted to buy mine.

It is the cheesiest modelling amp in the planet. Don't wanna get into the details, but it does have "pro" features, but with the flimsy displays and switches.

I can't believe what everyone is hearing and posting. Probably sweet lemons? THIS THING SOUNDS HORRIBLE AND S***TY AS HELL! This amp makes the Behringer V-Amp sound like a Bogner Ecstasy.

It is probably the ultimate kid's toy amp who is clueless about WHAT TONE IS. To the OVERRATERS, you probably have been posting more than once, and/or simply ignorant about professional tone. You don't even know what this amp wants to emulate in the first place. GRRRR....

No comment. Zoom is known for disposable units.

Junk! Junk! Junk! Junk!

On a higher note, this cheap modelling amp can take you to a few places. BUT DEFINITELY NOT IN THE STUDIO, NOT IN A GIG EITHER! This thing is not even responsive enough to your playing. Hence, it belongs to the fireplace!

Bought in 2004 new. Solid state with 10 amp models plus effect in model; 9 presets patches(amp models tweaked with modulated effects); 9 user patches that are modifiable. The amp models can be seperately modified on a manual setting, or the user patches can be modified on a program/bank setting. Multiple modulated effects: chorus, flanger, phase, doubling, tremelo, auto wah, step, slow attack, pitch, ring, reverb, echo, room and hall delays. The delays can be combined with the other modulated effects. Most of the non-delay effects combine chorus with the effect (i.e. - flanger/chorus) at the 7,8,9 settings. However, the combined chorus deadens the other effect (e.g. - tremelo), so the most full on effect level without chorus is 6, except for flanger and phase which do seem to increase in intensity up to 9. The delays do not mix in chorus, so the effect increases in intensity all the way up to 9. Has a noise reduction button and a tuner. Also has a boost button that adds some punch and bottom end (some) and a sustain button that seems more effective than the bottom button. Has a full eq, gain switch (switches are chicken head), level switch and a master switch. All switches are very effective. There is a footswitch input, an auxiliary input, and a recording/headphones output that means you can run it into a PA. The instruction manual is detailed and very complete. While I don't have the footswitch, it seems from the manual that it only runs on the effect in amp model setting which may limit using a stomp box like a non-auto wah with the other amp models or the modulated effects. But, I will defer to others who may have actually tried this feature. I use this amp as a practice amp, and have jammed with friends. Recently, played with another guitarist who was using a Fender Cyber Twin, and the Zoom kept up nicely at low volume (10 o'clock master, 2 o'clock level) in a living room setting. Friends listening in complimented my guitar (a strat knock off made in Korea, "Bronx," which I like better than the Bullets and Squires I tried and which are distributed locally in small stores on the West Coast with out any pr or promotion), but I know it was the amp mainly. I was using a "clean tube amp sound" amp model (FDR clean on the dial) with chorus at 3, reverb at 9, and boost and sustain on to play "Mr. Spaceman" by the Byrds. Nice tweedy soak with a bright chime. The drive amp models cover the spectrum from vintage sounds to distortion, fuzz and metal. They are good for lead notes, but tend to lose definition with full barre chords. I also use the tremelo set at 6 alot for Gram Parsons and George Harrison songs. Not as full as the Fender Cyber Twin's trem, but still very usable. Also found a great lead sound using the slow attack set a 1, with reverb at 9, with sustain and boost, to get somewhere in the ballpark of Jerry Garcia's lead for Candyman (American Beauty album). Nice sting for short notes, and nice widening out for bent notes. Wish they threw in the footswitch to be able to switch between the manual and program/bank modes by foot instead of by hand.

As stated above, I using a strat knock off. I am using all 5 switch settings on the guitar and the Zoom versatility feeds that use. I use the clean amp models for most classic rock, and the drive amp models for when I want to make songs more gritty, e.g. Rockin' in the Free World, Southern Man, Little Wing (my style). Tremelo is very good for Down by the River, Beware of Darkness, Sin City, Wheels. As I said above the drive amp models can lose definition on high volume with full barre chords, but give individual notes for lead playing alot of depth. I haven't maxed out the distortion models through the speaker, only with headphones, so I don't know about live break up. Through the headphones it sounds both brutal and tight. The variety of sounds possible is daunting. I still have really used the doubling, step, pitch, ring mods at all. But I have used all the others. Really enjoy the phase set on 8 (so chorus added in too), with reverb at 9, boost plus sustain, with the strat in no. 1 position for Strawberry Fields and Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite. Nice spacey sound.

BLAT! That's my new acronym for built like a tank! I put it on its back in the back of my Explorer and drive miles of pothole'd LA streets to the freeway and then onto more streets to jam with friends a couple times a month. Also have had it fall on its back (where the power chord inputs) more than once while playing with it tilted up, and never had a problem yet. The only time I was worried was when I mishit an input button a couple of times and the microchip started cycling like crazy, but I was able either to reseat the button by tapping it or reset the chip by rebooting. I notice that the new Zoom 36 has fewer buttons and more switches. That makes setting and changing effects easier and less susceptible to the chip cycling.

Haven't needed it. Am past the warranty now.

I started playing again in earnest about 18 months ago on my Epiphone acoustic. I have made more progress in those 18 months than in the preceding 40 years thanks to being able to jam with friends and download stuff off of the internet. That's why I went electric again after 30 years of only acoustic off and on a year at a time here and there. Would definitely by it or a Zoom 36M if lost or stolen. Love the versatility. Don't really hate anything about it. Wish they threw in the footswitch. Great practice amp. Big enough sound for small gigging on its own, and can be run through a PA for larger sound needs.

Already been covered in other reviews.

I just wanted to agree with the other reviews and add another speaker replacement option: The Weber Signature 8. I popped one of theses in and the trasformation was unbelievable. Really brings the Zoom's models to life and lets them breathe a little. ALso creates a much more open sound. Here's the URL: https://weberspeakerscom.secure.powweb.com/weber/

Excellent "all in one" practice amp that sounds closer to my real 50 & 100 watt heads than any other small practice amp out there.... after some minor tweaking that is (see Sounds below).

As received this amp had a scratchy high end like most small 8" speaker practice amps in this price range... the reason ?
They always use a cheap hi-fi speaker which is to shrill and buzzy on these things..... the SECRET to making these small practice amps sound like a real amp is to replace the stock speaker with a CELESTION SUPER 8............. WOW what a difference in tone and feel

Great no problems

Only other small practice rig that compares to this at low volume is a J-Station thru a small Fende Bullet amp.
This is cleaner. simpler and "all in one"
I use the MS Marshall Stack sounds with Boost and Sustain on with some small hall reverb..... sounds very much like the 50 & 100 watt rigs I use in the studio for recording albums...... after the Celestion Super 8 speaker is installed inplace of the cheap CHinese Hi-fi speaker that comes in the amp

Made in China in 2004. I won't go into all the features of this amp, they have been well covered and I hate fucking redundancy. Let's just say I've been in music 30 years and I've had every practice amp out there. You WILL NOT find a more versatile one than this. You name it, it has it and it has it good.

I use a Fernando Strat copy which is damned good, with Texas Special Pickups and a Fernando Acoustic Electric Guitar on the Acoustic Channel. I write my own music which falls somewhere between Dylan, Springsteen, Tom Waite, Steve Earle and Malcombe Holcombe. Kind of an electric folk/rockabilly/alternative country thing, but I also have my heavy metal moods. This amp does it all. It is not noisy because it has a noise reduction feature, so if you have these single coil guitars, you can just turn up the noise reduction and it makes that humm go away without affecting your tone or sustain. This amp can make every sound from Fender Tube Amp Clean to Brutal Marshall or Peavey Distortion and everything in between. Gets a perfect Mark Knopfler sound. Does not distort on the clean channel even at full volume. Incredible amp.

FLAWLESS, BUILT LIKE A TANK

Never dealt with them.

Been playing 30 years. Have the Fernando Strat I mentioned, two Fernando Acoustic Electric Guitars and a Washburn Acoustic. I'd get another one if stolen. It is loud enough for one man small gigs in small bars and coffee houses. Best practice amp out there.

I figure this amp was made in 2004 in China. This amp is incredibly versatile. It is the best practice amp I've ever owned. I can only do this my way. Going from left to right, this amp has the input switch and then on the upper level has the drive control knob. This amp gives you eleven drive types with this knob, FDR CLN which is a clean built tube sound, much like a Fender Super Reverb, J CLN which is this clean bright sound, like you would have on most solid state amps. It has MS DRV which sounds exactly like a Marshall Tube amp and I mean exactly. BG DRV is like a tube stack amp with big mid-range, PVY DRV is like the tube stack amp set in a heavy metal range, sounds just like the big Peavey tube amps, OVER DRIVE which is just regular overdrive, DISTORTION, which is very brutal on this amp, FUZZ which sounds like the old 60's Beatles or Hendrix type fuzz box, METAL which is your really heavy metal sounds like Megadeath or Metallica and is awesome, ACOUSTIC which is excellent to make your electric guitar sound acoustic or if you have an acoustic electric guitar, then effect in, which is what you use if you have a footswitch, which I do. Then it has a gain knob, bass, middle and high knobs, level and master volume knobs with the power switch being at the far left. Second row has your push buttons, which is your manual and program keys, Digital display, up and down switch for selecting patches (you can make 11 of them), Store key, exit key, Built in tuner (what a God send), ZNR which is noise reduction key and you can really make this thing quiet, Then you have your modulation for effects and it has chorus, flanger, flanger with chorus, phase, phase - chorus, doubling, doubling - chorus, tremelo, tremelo-chorus, auto wah, auto wah-chorus, step, step-chorus, slow A, Slow A pitch, Pitch, Ring Mod and Ring Mod-Chorus. It also has reverb and delay. It has a footswitch jack, aux in for CD and line out for speakers or headphones. I use this amp at home as a practice amp and also to record with. This amp is fucking incredible and I just can't comment enough on it. It has plenty of power at 15 watts for home and it can get quite loud.

I'm using a Yamaha Les Paul Copy (lawsuit - awesome) and a Fender Standard Telecaster on tghis amp. The Les Paul copy has two humbuckers and the Telecaster has vintage noiseless humbuckers on it. It suits my music style which is everything from 60's rock to heavy metal to country and everything in between including blues and some jazz. No noise at all off of either guitar. This amp can make any sound you want to make. Clean channel is pristine clean, sweet and the distortion can be as nasty as you want it to be or you can just have it as a nice crunch. Perfect amp.

I think it will hold up. Heavy for a 15 watter and built like a tank. It is the first digital amp I've ever had, so I don't know how long that stuff will last but time will tell.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing 25 years. I have the above, as well as a VOX AC30 for gigs. I have several Epiphone and Gibson Acoustic and Acoustic Elecrtric Guitars. I especially love the fact that I can do well with my acoustic electrics on this amp. Ordered it online, so I didn't compare it, but I did research it thoroughly.

I think mine was made in 2004. It was made in China. This is an incredibly versatile amplifier for the money. In the Philippines, the amp costs 10,995 pesos brand new, which is about $199.00 US. However, I got the amp in a special package deal with a Fernando Stratocaster Copy (excellent guitar - which I gave to my wife), hard shell case, strap, cord, picks, extra strings, all for 11,995 pesos which is about $218.00 US. Great deal. Again, it is incredibley versatile for the money, absolutely the best practice amp I've ever seen except for my old tech 21 trademark 10, which I gave to my son. It is two channel, with channel switching and effects loops. It has basically everything. It has a Fender clean mode, bluesy clean mode, Marshall Overdrive mode, tube stack mode, Peavey Overdrive mode, solid state sounding overdrive, distortion, fuzz, wah and an awesome acoustic mode. I can't think of anything you need that this amp doesn't have. You can even record patches on it. Reverb is good, has delay, chorus, flanger, tremelo....you name it, it has it. Clean channels are not real loud but loud enough for home practice. This thing can get extremely loud on the overdrive channel. I use it in my spare room, which has been converted to a guitar room. However, here in the Philippines, all the houses are close together, like my neighbors bedroom window is right outside my music room window so a really loud amp doesn't cut it here. No one has air conditioning and it's too damn hot to be closing windows. Mostly I practice in the daytime so I can crank the volume up and not disturb anyone. This is a solid state amp, but the tube emulation is the best I have heard. This thing even has a built in tuner! I thought my Marshall MG15RCD was a really good practice amp and it is, but I'm afraid this one outshines it. It is definitely good enough for the pro to practice on and even record in a studio on. Might be a little complex for some beginners.

I personally have four guitars I use it on. I have a pre lawsuit Yamaha Les Paul copy with two humbuckers which is better than any real Les Paul I've ever seen, I have a Washburn X-21 with a humbucker and two single coils, I have a Fender Standard Strat made in Mexico and a Fernando Acoustic Electric Guitar, which sounds incredibly good on the acoustic channel of this amp and then my wife plays her Fernando Strat copy on it too. They all sound great on this amp. Suits my music styles well, which is whatever I'm in the mood for. The stuff I write is kind of electric folk, sort of a Tom Wait or Steve Earle type stuff, but I also play country, southern rock, classic rock, blues, blues rock and get my metal moods too. This amp handles all of it incredibly well. It sounds like a huge stack amp on low volume. It isn't noisy because it has a built in noise reduction system. Has a boost button and a sustain button which really gets that sustain to be awesome. With all the features it can make a very wide variety of sounds. I can't think of any sound you would want to make that this amp won't emulate. Clean channels both stay pristine clean. Doesn't distort at higher volumes. The distortion can be brutal. This amp is excellent for the metalhead.

Well, we've only had this amp for three weeks but it seems solid as a rock. It is not a gigging amp, it's a practice amp, but I suppose it might drive a cab or you could mike it if you wanted to gig with it. It is loud, but loud for the home. I don't see it filling a nightclub or anything like that. Hasn't broke down yet.

Never dealt with them. In fact never heard of them until I got this amp.

I've been playing for 20 years. I have the stuff I mentioned above and several acoustic guitars as well as a Marshall AVT50 for gigs. I'd get another one if it were stolen. Love it.

This is a good starter amp. Plenty of features, a tuner. Everything you need to start off with... The ratings I give are based on the skill level... So If you're a pro, step away. If you've been playing a short time or are just really skint, then this is a good amp.

I've used this with a squire strat, an epiphone sg, a fender us strat and my gretsch malcolm young. The amp is quite a nifty little thing. My only problems is that with the squire (piece of crap) strat, it sounds terrible. My epiphone sg made it sound good... The us strat was not an improvement. The gretsch is great on it, but I think it''s time I moved on and bought a new amp.

I play rhthym guitar for things like AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Kiss, Jimi Hendrix and a little bit of sabbath.

For rhthym, this is a bad choice because chords don't sound too good on it. It's all fine and everything but lacks that bite I require... Maybe it's trying to tell me I' m too skilled... (I wish)

Also, when I play lead parts such as AC/DC, if I play songs such as (for example) Hells Bells or Are you ready, it doesn't handle the tune well and fuzzes between notes. Sounding a bit crappy.

Great for beginners, lasted me 8 months but it's time for a trade in.

The sound is very tweakable though, you can get a lot of styles out of this thing, but I need a tube amp now. The only reason I had problems with it and the strat, was because of the strat. Best suited for metal.

I have a small bedroom, so I have to sit this in a certain place, which is in the way of the door, everyone in my house knows to be carefull when opening the door, but it has taken a few slams and been unaffected. I also use it as a bedside table sometimes. Just sit my alarm clock and remote controls on it.

Plus I sit my bass amp on top every now and then. The thing is solid. I'll just need to get a doorstop soon.

Never had to deal with them and as this is getting put in the loft soon, I doubt it will.

I've been playing for about 10 months... thought I'd say years there eh? I wouldn't replace it because my eyes are on better products, the effects are good but the sound isn't great, very portable, light (ish) and has a nice little handle that shows no signs of giving way. Couldn't really compare it to other products as this was my first real amp, I've ran 4 guitars through it and it's fine. My gretsch actually makes it sound like a great amp but bottom line is, it's not. Great amp for beginners. Can't stress that enough. If you are a beginner, I give this a ten. But the rating I'm giving it is a 6.

Unfair? Maybe, rating depends on skill level. Great amp for playing lead but it suffers in rhthym.

This must be one of the best buys in it's class. Very portable and easy to live with. Built in tuner is excelet. You can tune with sound on or off (handy if you are 'performing'). This is a 15 watt amp and works well at home or 'down the pub' .Can get an amazing range of sounds and FX without the need of all the pedales etc etc

I use a Fender Strat and a Wasburn ES35 (orignal Jap model) both work well with this amp.

Can go from heavy metal,distort, overdrive etc to a wondeful acoustic model! Does it all

So far so good. Over 12 monthe old and no problems - other Zoom kit owned and all OK

Never used i

Played over 30 years - lots of gear collected over the years
If it were lost or stolen I would go out and buy another
Love it all - good value
Compared with other small amps - I needed something with lots if 'toys' on board as had it with lots of 'extras to cart around (play down local pub off and on and did not want the hasle of loads of gear for a fun night out with the 'boys'.

This is brand new and retails at #120 - got this of E Bay for #70! my lucky day or what! I would have paid full price for one as it is excelent. It's versatile, masses of effects etc check out the zoom web site for all details. I think it is a loud 15 watt, love it!

I play a very early JV Jap Strat, Play all sorts of stuff from The Shadows to Dubliners, Mavericks, Hendrix, etc. The clean chanels are crysatl clear and the fuz, distortion etc are just like it says on the box.

I think it is very versatile and once you have a sound, you can save it as a user patch. You have ten user patches on this model.

This is just a few days old, so can't comment other than that I have otyher zoom products and never had a fault.

not had to contact

Hve been playing about 40 years, have Yamaha acoustic and a Roland DC50 amp.

I would go for another of thse if it were stolen

I love its small size and the many features and sound you can get out of it. High marks for being able to store that special setting you spent ages finding!

I have spent some time working out a specification for my new small amp and theis Zoom fitted perfectly.

Go and buy one or if you want a bit more, go for the Fire 30, twicw as loud and a few more things to play with!

The preset patches can be Very grainy, you really have to fool with them to get them useable. But once you do your on your way. The built in digital tuner is a godsend, if you use altered tunings you'll love it.

I have had other zoom products , and they all held up quite well. so i guess this will be the same

I have been playing about 25 years, this is the 3rd "toy" amp I bought this year. Overall its a blast . the user saved patches are whats its all about. and you can create and save 10 patches. I would like them to make one with a 12" speaker.