Featured review by:
Gibson808, on february 04, 2004 2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Features: The Zoom Fire 30 (36Watts) is a combo amp package that features modelling amp' systems and a rack of built in effects and combo 'patches'. The available modelling positions replicate 4 popular amp makes (Fender, Marshall, Mesa and Peavy) as well as catering for another 7 generic positions such as fuzz, metal ,acoustic etc, and all postions can be altered to mimic either solid state or valve variants. The effects board on the amp covers 14 pedal facilites that offer sustain, boost, edge, bottom, chorus, synth wah, tremelo, slow-a, ring mod, phase, step ,flanger and doubling. A delay/reverb dial allows lateration of reverberation effect and a chromatic tuner allows fast and accurate tuning changes. The dozens of inbuilt 'patches' are pre-set options that offer combined effects and level positions that aim to replicate certain guitars (ie, 7 string), effects (a wah setup that works better than simply using the auto-wah effect) and amps (rotating Fender amp etc). Saving your own patches is also possible. A footswitch input allows the user to switch between to selected patches although this unit has to be bought seperatly. // 10
Sound: The range of effects are immense and surprisingly good quality for such a low priced amp. But there is a drawback that may deter some potential buyers..the amp suffers from an intrusive hum. I have found out that this is a problem with all Fire 30 amps and is very audible when the amp' is turned up to a loud volume. Zoom have attempted to rectify this by fitting a switch that cuts the hum buy lowering the output when it detects that you are not playing. Although this helps, it does seem as a roundabout way of fixing the problem and I would have preferred to pay a bit extra if it meant that they could produce the amp without any interferance at all. The auto-wah effect is interesting as it doesn't use a manual foot pedal but instead increases the wah effect in relation to the intensity of the users playing. It isn't always convincing however and often ends up making your playing sound like a demented talk-box. The 36 watts may be 'just' enough for playing small gigs, but it's probably more suited to jamming and home recording and a power damp feature allows the amp to be played at low volumes while still having the drive of loud volume playing. I play mostly classic rock and blues so I nearly always have it in the Marshall position with some reverb dialled in with no other effect but I still feel that I would prefer to have all the options of this amp over a similarly priced solid-state Marshall as it's always fun to experiment with all the different sounds whe trying out a new playing style. // 6
Reliability & Durability: The amp' does feel like a quality piecec of kit, all the buttons turn satisfyingly and the body is heavy and solid, even my home hi-fi mad friend was impressed. // 8
Impression: I don't know how Zoom managed to get all this into a low-price package, maybe it has something to do with the humming, but it's still very impressive nonetheless. Having the range of effects helps you find your favourite tone that could help you decide what amps/guitars you want to get in the future. I enjoy the amp' a lot and it's not too big that you have to turn it up to an immense volume to make it sound good and it's not too small that you would be ashamed to let people see it. // 8
Reviewed by:
mynamewontfit, on august 02, 2005 1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Features: // 8
Sound: The countless different soudns you can get with this amp are all OK, but none of them are amazing. The clean chorus is probably the best sounding of the lot, but all of them sound very digital and fake. Also there is a slight hum whenever the amp is on, but this isn't too noticeable when the volume is up. I'm not sure whether to give this a 2 or a 3 for sound, the quality of each sound is probably worth 2, but the amount of sounds available brings it up to 3 probably. // 6
Reliability & Durability: // 8
Impression: I was drawn to the amp for its cost and the effects. I think the Fire 30 is good value for money, especially if you plan on using more than one or two of the effects. It is a much better sounding amp than other similarly priced amps that I've tried, but I've only tried rubbish. If it was lost or stolen I would probably save up and buy a slightly better amp I would only recommend this one if you want lots of effect ones. And even then you'd definately want to buy the footswitch, as it's annoying having to stop playing to press a button. Could be better, but definately could be worse. // 8
Reviewed by:
powerchord_97, on december 11, 2008 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Purchased from: Al Dawliah
Features: This 35 watt amplifier was built in China. It has a 9.5 in. speaker. It also has 11 drives (FDR, Clean, MS, BG, Hi Gain, Zoom, OD/Dist, Fuzz, Metal, Acoustic, Effect In), 2 variation effects (Vintage, Standard), 3 band EQ, auto-chromatic tuner, ZNR (Zoom Noise Reduction) device, 4 Drive effects (Boost, Sustain, Edge, Bottom), 10 modulation effects (Chorus, Flanger, Phase, Doubling, Tremolo, Auto Wah, Step, Slow-A, Pitch, Ring Mod), Delay/Reverb effects which has 4 types (Delay, Echo, Room, Hall), Power Damp Switch, Foot Switch jack, AUX input jack, Microphone jack, 10 user programmable patches, and 20 Zoom preset patches. It can also emulate 22 different amp models (Marshall, Fender, Peavey, Mesa, Orange, Randall, Crate, etc.). // 10
Sound: I'm using a Samick Interceptor II which has 2 Duncan Designed humbuckers and this amp makes the crappy pickups sound great. It only breaks up at maximum volumes but with the help of he ZNR, the noise is reduced. The Clean Drive stays clean even on high volumes. The distortion in the amp isn't that heavy. Switch to Metal Drive, you can get a Metallica-like sound. Switch to OD/Dist Drive, you can get a Nirvana-like sound. Switch to Hi Gain Drive, you can get a Van Halen-like sound. Switch to Fuzz Drive, you can get a Jimi Hendrix-like sound. It's so versatile you can get many sounds by just experimenting with it. You don't need to buy any effects because this amp has it all. // 10
Reliability & Durability: I've just purchased it last week and so far I haven't got a single problem with it. I exchanged it for another because the first amp they gave me has a crack at the bottom, another crack at the rear, and the tuner doesn't work. I've checked some comments and most of them say "my input jack broke off" but mine's still intact. I haven't used it Live yet but I thing it can last one or two gigs without a backup. // 8
Impression: I mostly play classic rock, metal, punk, and some blues and this amp suits each of them very well. I've been playing for 2 years and as I've said earlier, I own a Samick Interceptor II which has 2 (sounds like crap) Duncan Designed humbuckers. I forgot to ask the salesman "can you give me the footswitch for free?". If it were stolen? Hmmm... I would definitely buy it again. I love the very amp itself. The only thing I hate about the amp is that you can only get one or two effects at the same time. But overall it looks and sounds great. For the price of this amp, I would recommend it for beginners so that they can find their own sound and experiment with different effects. I only wish this amp is an inch bigger and the distortion a lot heavier. // 9
Reviewed by:
powerchord_97, on december 10, 2008 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Purchased from: Al Dawliah
Features: This 35 watt amplifier was built in China. It has a 9.5 in. speaker. It also has 11 drives (FDR, Clean, MS, BG, Hi Gain, Zoom, OD/Dist, Fuzz, Metal, Acoustic, Effect In), 2 variation effects (Vintage, Standard), 3 band EQ, auto-chromatic tuner, ZNR (Zoom Noise Reduction) device, 4 Drive effects (Boost, Sustain, Edge, Bottom), 10 modulation effects (Chorus, Flanger, Phase, Doubling, Tremolo, Auto Wah, Step, Slow-A, Pitch, Ring Mod), Delay/Reverb effects which has 4 types (Delay, Echo, Room, Hall), Power Damp Switch, Foot Switch jack, AUX input jack, Microphone jack, 10 user programmable patches, and 20 Zoom preset patches. It can also emulate 22 different amp models (Marshall, Fender, Peavey, Mesa, Orange, Randall, Crate, etc.). I mostly play classic rock, metal, punk, and some blues and this amp suits each of them very well. // 10
Sound: I'm using a Samick Interceptor II which has 2 Duncan Designed humbuckers and this amp makes the crappy pickups sound great. It only breaks up at maximum volumes but with the help of he ZNR, the noise is reduced. The clean Drive stays clean even on high volumes. The distortion in the amp isn't that heavy. Switch to metal Drive, you can get a Metallica-like sound. Switch to OD/Dist Drive, you can get a Nirvana-like sound. Switch to Hi Gain Drive, you can get a Van Halen-like sound. Switch to fuzz Drive, you can get a Jimi Hendrix-like sound. It's so versatile you can get many sounds by just experimenting with it. You don't need to buy any effects because this amp has it all. // 10
Reliability & Durability: I've just purchased it last week and so far I haven't got a single problem with it. I exchanged it for another because the first amp they gave me has a crack at the bottom, another crack at the rear, and the tuner doesn't work. I've checked some comments and most of them say "my input jack broke off" but mine's still intact. I haven't used it Live yet but I thing it can last onde or two gigs without a backup. // 8
Impression: It suits every music genre. Even the one's I don't play. I've been playing for 2 years and as I've said earlier, I own a Samick Interceptor II which has 2 (sounds like crap) Duncan Designed humbuckers. I forgot to ask the salesman "can you give me the footswitch for free?". If it were stolen? Hmmm... I would definitely buy it again. I love the very amp itself. The only thing I hate about the amp is that you can only get one or two effects at the same time. But overall it looks and sounds great. For the price of this amp, I would recommend it for beginners so that they can find their own sound and experiment with different effects. I only wish this amp is an inch bigger and the distortion a lot heavier. // 9
butch99
: the fire 30 is a piece of crap. my jack plug broke and i waited one year for the part and never got it. Do not buy this amp!!!! POSTED: 09/16/2007 - 12:22 am / quote|
Local666Union
: My input jack broke up 3 times...this amp is not very good in terms of reilability.
At least the acoutic channel sounds good.
djmay71
: i went to try this amp at the music store with a seven string, and i was making sure the top string was tuned right when the amp blew out.
funny thing was, they didn't care. POSTED: 10/23/2007 - 11:21 am / quote|
powerchord_97
: My input jack's still intact, the salesman gave me a cover for the jack. Hmmm... maybe that's why it's so cheap. ^_^ POSTED: 12/11/2008 - 03:47 am / quote|
powerchord_97
: BTW, UG, delete my first review, I made another one, the old one has some mispellings and some are in the wrong place. POSTED: 12/11/2008 - 03:50 am / quote|
shpaz
: This amp is a piece of crab, I own one for 2 years now and I have that thing. The distortion is so bad. Its only good for clean sounds. POSTED: 02/21/2009 - 03:54 am / quote|
/ my profile 
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