Zoom Fire 30 Combo

This amp has many features and provides much versatility for various playing styles. The other reviews cover the many of the features so no need to go in to much detail. A foot switch which allows for switching between more than two effects would have been a big plus. Perhaps a 2-button switch to control other stuff like reverb, or the modulations. Considering the price it looses only 1 point for this.
The Power damp works great, very cool and useable feature. I will mention that this amp is 35 watts (per the manual not 30) and the speaker seems to be a standard 10 inches not 9.5. looks like the marketing staff at Zoom may really zoomed or zoned out when they wrote up the specs...:>)

I Use a Fender MIM Fat Strat, Epi LP standard, and old hollow body 60's electric with this amp. You will absolutely find great sounds. The fender and marshal sounds are fairly true to my ears, like them both. Several other settings also have their place. You can get heavy metal to light blues type sounds out of this amp. The acoustic setting is lousy... I also notice a drop off in volume when switching from a distortion to clean. Here the thing, several other reviewers hear noise (odd hiss when touching strings etc).... This is true with the high gain/distortion settings. You also get an adjustable noise filer which works. What the other reviewers do not seem to understand is, that this noise my be a characteristic of digital effects pedals. I have 2 other (both digitech) RP-3 and RP 100, both will make the same type noise.... with out the filter... So I will not take points away for this as I have seen this before. I will take a 2 points away because it is susceptible to electrical noise. Appliance goes on you hear a little pop/crackle/ static. Touch my TV nearby I hear it. This amp needs better filtering in the power section, - 2 points for this. If you find a good power source you probably could eliminate this. Would only be a problem for recording, but would you use this amp for that?

One more thing on the Sound not mentioned in the other reviews. I have tried my Ovation acoustic electric though this and it sounds Great! Better than an epiphone acoustic amp of the same wattage. Plus you will get some usable effects for acoustic, like chorus, reverb, and tremolo! Lots of versatility with sounds! I do think this amp is loud enough to gig with at a low-level backyard/small room session.

Seems reliable, very and well made. Speaker looks a litte suspect... but seems to do the job. I may try differnet speakers at some point

Haven't called yet.

This is a very versatile amp for the money. Other modeling amps in this price range include a Roland cube and a Marshall. Check them out; you will then buy the Zoom. It is less than half the price of the closest fender or Line amp. This is a great buy if you are looking for something more than a standard practice amp. I have several other amps, tube and solid state, Gibson atlas tube 50 watts, Peavey Bandit, Epiphone acoustic, premier 50 tube (very cool). This amp can hold it own. And does a good job of emulating other amps. I would definitely buy another if it were stolen. Happy Zooming?.:>)

Model was released 'round May 2003; bought it about a month later, was so new the salesman had not even had time to check it out yet. Was feature-laden, that's what caught my eye. Can't be faulted on features. A gazillion knobs and buttons, not too convenient to use unless you keep the amp at eye-level (or keep your eyes at amp-level); desto minus 1 point here. Tuner is a nice touch, and a breeze to use (providing it is accurate).

This is where it hurts, and I had the same experience as some of the other reviewers in that regard. Hissy, hissy, hissy. Very susceptible to interference from any electrical motor switching on or off in the house (furnace blower, refrigerator, etc.), interference which took the shape of a loud click in the speaker. I was afraid the damn thing would blow. Lots of interesting amp simulations, but very weak clean (and acoustic) simulations. Volume varies wildly from one simul to the other; moving around the dial can produce some loud squealing (I have a semi-hollow Washburn, with humbuckers, perfect feedback machines). If you can overlook the constant hiss, it's a superb sound. But you shouldn't, this is a solid-state machine. Heavy hit here for hiss and mismatched volume among models.

Looks OK, although jacks are of the plastic variety.

Warranty seems to be handled by dealer; there is not even a mention of a warranty in the manual, at least here in Canada. Must admit customer support (here in Canada) looks outstanding: I made an inquiry by phone one afternoon, the rep couldn't reply on the spot, but he made the research and called me back a few hours later, in the evening! They should change their slogan from "Catch us if you can": they're easy to catch!

The things that stood out once out the store (like the hissing and clicking) turned me off this amp. I took it to another dealer and traded for a (Traynor) hybrid, a well-kept secret with fewer bells and whistles, but an outstanding sound. Took a hit ($), but I'm perfectly happy with the little Traynor.

Loads of features for the money. Considered a POD but once I heard this amp and played it at by brother-in-laws I had to have it. Sold my Fender Princeton Chorus to buy it and feature-for-feature it was an outstanding trade UP!

Play with 2 Ibanez's (Ibenezi?) - One an '85 EVHish strat copy (one humbucker, etc.) and another the Ibanez Artstar (copy of the Gibson 335). Makes me sound pretty polished and produced, though I'm neither. I've noticed NONE of the noise experiences complained about in other reviews and am amazed at the effective modeling of Marshall, Fender, and other amps married up to some adjustable effects patches that ROCK. One of the most convenient features is the power damping button that attenuates the high volume crunch to a moderate level without losing the flavor of the tone.

Only had this for 2 weeks so a rating on long term reliability would not be relevant from me. Brother-In-Law's gets alot of use and he's still sold on it!

N/A

I've been playing off and on for several years, alot more lately now that I can sound this cool. I would absolutely recommend this amp and would purchase another if I ever got this one stolen. I do wish that the built-in chromatic tuner easily facilitated tuning down a half-step vs. standard tuning, but this is quibbling. In case you noticed, my overall rating is a 10/10 or "fantastic value" as put by our friends at Harmony Central... higher than average of the individual ratings I have heretofor assessed. This may not be arithmetically or even statistically valid, but since the overall rating focus keys in on VALUE I have to rate it a 10/10. Why? In my humble opinion you simply cannot touch the versatility and sound of this modeling amp for near this kind of money elsewhere.

This is a fairly new Amp from Zoom, offering a lot of built-in effects & Amp emulations, and reasonable power (36W), at a low price (#150, $240). It must rate 10 for its numerous features, but unfortunately I have to report that the Amp itself has such serious flaws that I cannot use it as a guitar amp under any circumstances.

The first problem is immediately obvious as soon as you switch on;- the amp has terrible "hiss". Zoom include a switch to reduce this (perhaps knowing it's a problem?), but the hiss has the very odd charchter of starting & stopping abrubptly whenever you touch the guitar strings. Similarly the amp produces a muddled sort-of rumbling noise in the background. All Amp emulations are also accompanied by a low-level swooping or whooshing noise. When playing fast runs/riffs the circuit actually seems unable to cope, & it actually appears to lose notes completely! At very best it becomes a jumbled & incoherent mess. To me that makes the Zoom Fire-30 entirely unusable as a guitar amp in any setting.

I sent the first Amp back thinking it had serious circuit faults, but the second amp was identical (except for wobbly feet & loose mains plug). Full marks to Aire Guitars though, who were very quick to provide the replacement, and also agreed to return my money without hassle. The vinyl cover on both amps has a strange 8-inch slit on the base area (apparently the way Zoom join it?). Otherwise all the panel switches work well, and the rotary controls are fine (albeit the main Drive positions could be more positive). On the first amp I loved the built-in tuner, which was fun to use & accurate. Unfortunately, on the second amp even the tuner was faulty (G was hopelessely way off).

Obviously a bad experience with the Zoom. I emailed Zoom to ask if such hiss, rumble, stopping-starting, apparent loss of notes & jumbling of notes etc. etc. was intended on this product, but so far no reply. As I say, Aire Guitars were fine about it.

I've been playing over 25 years, I've owned numerous guitars & amps, but I've never before encountered a product like this, in any field. I just found it a total non-starter.

I bought my Zoom Fire 30 in August 2003, it was brandnew, came from
a ebay using profi music shop. Packed very good, looking very good,
weight 12 kg, which is good for comfortable transport. When I first tried it, it was already diappointed. This amp makes a big noise.
This black big box is filled with incredible effects, which I consider
to be very very good, but this amp makes a big noise. The features are
absolutely saddisfying. The ground noise is too loud.

I used a fender stratocaster tex mex and a couple of good copies.
My style ist country & folk an melodic rock. You can clearly notice
if you play with this zoom, that it was built and concepted by a
company, which is doing mainly effect equipment. The effects are
very good, the amp is just added and not optimized. The Amp has no
"personal ground character". In germany we say: Its a "eierlegende
Wollmilchsau" which means: It can do nearly everything, but it has
no main strength. If I take my litle Orange practise Amp crush 10,
I hear a wonderful orange character. With my VOX 10 its the same.
The Zomm has no character. Not really.

Its built very good an stabil.

No need for it, seems relyable.

Its definitly not MY amp. I-ll sell it. I want a real good ground
character, and this amp has non. Good Effects, great possibilities,
But the end product, the sound you get, is not saddisfying. Try a Behringer AC112. Its a far better amp with nearly the same effects.
Its louder. Its warm in Tone, it has Power. It has Character.

Great sounding distortions and tons of features. The acoustic modeler is kinda weak but the distortions more than make up for it. Many nobs and buttons to fine tune settings. I have yet to figure them all out.
MORE than enough power for me, Its begging to be unleashed.

I'm using a weak Ibanez rg170 but the amp masks it's shottyness. I play rock - which this is great for. There are so many distortion variations - fuzz, zoom, metal... and a setting for vintage or standard which adds a really cool fullness to the sound. I have been looking at amps/pedals for a long time trying to make up my mind and this really made it easy having it all in one package.

Haven't had it long enough

Thanks ebay

I been playing for about a year. I love the effects and I would def buy another if it was lost. The acoustic effect is weak but thats to be expected I think. I think the price is excellent compared to getting things separately.

Amp modeling, digital effects, noise reduction etc. More knobs and buttons than a 747. Preset patches are very good and the ability to edit them and save 10 user patches is nice. I'm not usually impressed by gadgets, I prefer to keep it simple (stupid) but this amp has alot of useful features I like.

Currently playing my electroacoustic through it while I find a new electric I like. I've been playing (on and off) for 12 years and felt like getting back into playing electric guitar. The preset patches cover most sounds you'd like to get out of an amp and allow you to make any sound from country to death metal. The MS setting is very impressive, sounds just like a Marshall valve amp.

Despite the guitar I'm using it still sounds great but not quite full marks as I'm limited by the guitar in testing all the features.

No problems yet.

Got it from Highly Strung online who were very helpful when I bought it. No need to contact the company yet.

Got to be a 10 for this one. I'd considered the Marshall MG30DFX but this has more features, is better built and sounds better. I'd definitely get another if lost or stolen.

Brand new model as of Feb 2003. Comes LOADED with features. This is a 35 watt solid state modeling amp w/digital effects, with a 10" speaker. Has CD/Aux in, Headphone/direct out, and a footswitch in. It boasts 22 amp models, but you really get 11 basic models, with a 'variation'button that gives a different version of the original. Has delay,reverb, chorus, flanger, phaser, ring modulator, slow attack, tremelo, and pitch shifter. There is a dedicated knob that controls the delay or reverb, and it's mix. This means you can use this in conjunction with the other modulation effects. There are 2 different types of delays and reverbs to choose from, and you tweak the 'mix' knob to taste. The effects are surprisingly good, and not gimmicky as most other amps of this type seem have. Has buttons to add Edge (Treble boost, Bottom (Bass boost), Sustain (For well...sustain) and a Boost button that adds a little more distortion. Has built in chromatic tuner and a noise reduction button that's adjustable. For 35 watts it's surprisingly loud. The amp even has a Power Damp button that's supposed to work like a power brake, and does a pretty decent job of it. Although loud, I don't think it's built for any live outings. A big plus for this amp, is that unlike a Line 6 Flextone that only has 4 channel memories, this amp has 10! Unfortunately, an optional pedal you can connect to it only allows you to switch between 2 of them (Another reason this may not be the ideal live tool).

I use a stock Ernie Ball/Music Man Axis straight into this little sucker. I play a little of everything, but mainly hard rock/old school hair metal. I am really impressed with the quality of sound I can get with this thing! In fact, the music store I got it from had one on display, and I asked the salesman what he thought of it, and he just shrugged and said no one in the store had bothered to mess with it yet. When I plugged in, the rest of the staff all gathered around to check it out, and no one could believe the sounds coming out of this little black shoebox! To everyone's surprise, there's some really useable sounds to be had. Also surprising is the responsiveness of the EQ knobs. On a line 6 Flextone, you can turn an eq knob post to post and barely notice much of a difference, whereas with this amp you can create enitrely different amp sounds within the same patch with some careful tweaking. Sure, there's some stinky models, like the acoustic patch in specific (It barely qualifies as a glorified clean setting). The model I stay with the most is the MS (Marshall Stack) model. It has a convincing growl that sounds very close to the real deal to my ears (And I happen to own a Marshall JCM 800, and Artist 3203 to compare it to, thank you). What really surprised me was how the amp really started to sing when you raise the volume! I have not read anywhere where Zoom brags about it emulating a tube amp's power stage, but I swear the amp seems to tighten up and bark at higher volumes. If the amp has any failings, I'd have to say the clean sounds are pretty sterile (but adequate), and the Metal model is really bright and harsh to my ears. There isn't much headroom on clean settings, but there's much more on the Fire 30 than on the Fire 15 which I also tried. Also, the noise gate really doesn't work if you turn on the sustain and boost together. Overall, I am supremely pleased with the sounds this thing can make. I would think that no matter what style of music you play, everyone should be able to get a sound they are happy with on this thing.

The only Zoom product I've ever owned before this was their first desktop recording unit they offered back in '90. I had that thing for 3 years and used it non-stop during that time and I never had a problem. This amp seems really well built. The cabinet seems thicker than any other amp it's size, and for how small it is, it's pretty heavy too. Seems like it should hold up, but time will tell....

Well, I had NO intention of getting this amp today. In fact, I can't believe I'm sitting next to it right now. I left my house with the need for a good sounding practice/recording amp. I've been playing seroiusly for about 19 years now, so I already have a full live rig. I needed an amp for recording at home that was small, had enough volume to use in low volume practice settings, had direct recording capabilities, but also had to sound good in the process. I had decided to try a Marshall AVT 20, Line 6 Flextone, Tech 21 Trademark (10 or 60), and thought I'd humor myself and listen to the latest Peavey offerings. I had already owned a Flextone II before, and got sick of it quickly. It sounded great out of the box, but weeks later it all sounded digital and distant. It also was very unreliable. The Marshall AVT was dissapointing. The distortion was buzzy and quacky, and the direct out was pretty poor sounding. I really liked the Tech 21 Trademark 10's sounds for recording, but it lacked power, plus the poor little speaker could barely handle the 10 watts it had. The Trademark 60 also sounded good, but the distortion wasn't as good as the smaller Trademark 10. The Peaveys weren't bad either, but just seemed lifeless to me. So there I was, heading out of the music store, when I spotted the Fire 30. I decided to give it a shot since I had the time, and I'm glad I did. Does it sound like a tube amp? I don't care. I like the way it sounds, and that's what counts. I already own tube amps, but I don't own them so I can tell my other musician buddies how cool I am. The whole point is getting the sound YOU like, and believe me, the audience could care less if you're playing a tissue box if it sounds good! For reliability and for low volume playing, you cannot beat a solid state amp. Originally, I figured I'd get the cheapest amp I could find, since I'd run my PODxt through it's clean channel to play out loud, and then just use the PODxt to record direct with. With this amp I've already laid some tracks down with it using the direct out, and I think the POD might get shelved for a while! For the money I paid, I feel like this was a terrific value. A nice, portable, feature packed amp that allows me to record direct with and also practice with. Years ago, if you wanted to make a rig with all of the sounds and effects that are packed into this amp, you would of spent 10 times what these are sold for. I wish they offered a bigger version of this amp. If they made a 50 or 60 watt version I'd have a nice backup to take with me.