Blackstar Fly 3-3-watt 1x3 inch Compact Mini Guitar Amplifier w/ 2 Channels and Patented ISF - Black

***UPDATE*** Don't worry. I still give this thing 5 stars, and would give it more if I could. This is honestly my favorite sounding amp with distortion. I've not played other Blackstar offerings, but I plan to very very very soon as I'd like something like this ...but bigger. However, I have a couple new tidbits to share. For starters, I have an Agile Interceptor 8-string with Rondo Music's active Cepheus pickups installed. I've sadly struggled to find a good amp to get the tone I wanted, as most amps would mud out on the lower strings. When I got this Blackstar Fly3, I didn't even consider using it with my 8-string. With any 6 string guitar, I was able to get the most versatile distortion tones that made it fun to play along with classic rock to metal tracks. But with the 8-string, I got a nice growl, reminding me of tones found on Meshuggah's "Nothing" album. I'm totally floored and need the bigger version of this. It's a must have amp. *** This little badass of an amp really has me rethinking my setup. Yes, a little battery powered amp is upsetting my existing rig. I'm getting tones out of this that I've struggled to accomplish with a couple of my other amps. So lets start here, giving you a frame of reference for what I'm about. I love rock n' roll; everything from classic rock to prog metal, and almost everything in between. I'm also one who sometimes lends my playing to country artists, and have really found it a struggle to get a twanging tone out of some of the amps I own. I've tried different effects, different guitars, etc. All tend to not impress me much. Now in comes this amp. I bought the Fly3 after I did some rewire jobs. I didn't have a small, compact amp to test my wiring with, and didn't want to skimp on a cheap battery powered amp. I've owned battery powered amps from Fender, Marshall, Danelectro, etc. All shared one thing in common: A very thin sound. They all sounded like they were battery powered, giving me no useable tones. They just did a simple job of amplifying my electric guitar, and that's pretty much it. But then I read reviews here about how great this amp was. It was a bit more than I thought I'd spend on a battery powered amp. Seriously, I could have bought a used Line 6 Spider amp at the local pawn shop for less than this, and almost did. But I splurged, because I like the idea of it running on batteries for noodling while sitting in my bedroom, testing circuits on the word bench, or even playing in the car. When it arrived, I plugged it in and was floored by how huge the sound was. While the clean sound is solid, the overdrive is amazing. I tend to keep the gain above 5, sometimes playing at 10 for this setup - depending on the guitar I'm using or song I'm playing. My sweet spot for gain is typically at 7.5 or 8. The volume is much louder than my Pignose was, where neighbors can easily hear it. When it comes to Blackstar's ISF knob (/EQ), I've found that I love being at "0" (zero) the most, as I get this bright, mid-rangey sound that helps bring out some twang from my Telecaster. If you're familiar with that growly, twanging Brad Paisley Telecaster sound, this amp has gotten me closer to it than anything else I can afford. Crazy, right? However, I also have the extension cab. When that's connected, the twang disappears and the sound will deliver more bottom end (which I'll talk about in my extension cab review). On top of all that, the delay is a nice touch. I'm not usually one who uses delay. But with the absence of reverb, the subtle delay is a wonderful addition. Now lets tackle some rock 'n roll. You want AC/DC growl, you got it. You want tight distortion for speed picking, it's there. You want a clean intro to a song, it'll be rich and full. Want a footswitch to kick on the overdrive? ...Well, that's not an available option, sadly. But for a nice little apartment amp, this will not disappoint. I highly recommend this amp to anyone looking for something small to stash away when not in use. We all know guitar amps can be upsetting to our neighbors, and to those who share your home. This amp can be packed away quickly and easily in a closet or drawer when not in use, making it a great solution for the musician with limited space. And honestly, it's just a great solution for someone that needs to practice at home, period.

Best in class, by far. I am blown away at the sound quality of this little guy. Granted I haven't played in person the other brands of battery powered practice amps. I originally went in planning to buy the Marshall Mini stack, so I spent a lot of time watching many YouTube comparison videos with side-by-sides of several of them (Orange, Fender, Marshall, etc). After viewing the videos it was apparent to me the Blackstar sounded better. Many practice amps do not offer any effects (except the Roland Cube for triple the price!) but this one does- delay. You can adjust both the saturation/level and the time of the delay. "No reverb?" you might be thinking. Well, a high level of delay and a low time gives a good reverb effect, so don't fear, you can make reverb happen. Or, you can use a pedal. 2 channels, both are affected by the Gain and Volume knobs, as well as the delay and ISF (Blackstar's patented tone shifter). High Gain on the clean channel will distort, giving you from a fuzz up to a good overdrive sound, AC/DC style. OD channel w/ low Gain is clean (as you'd expect) up to a very good high gain sound. Great feedback when flicking muted strings with your pick like you'd expect from high gain. Rolling the volume back on your guitar will clean up the sound too...I seen that asked in the questions. Clean tones are very nice. Adding a little bit of delay to get a reverb-y sound with tone knobs rolled back on my guitar gets such a nice jazzy tone. It's crisp, polished, and better than I thought it'd sound on this. Using the MP3 line in renders the amp's volume knobs inactive. The amp plays as an extension speaker at whatever volume your device sends to it (you control the volume through your phone or tablet. etc). The knobs only control the guitar in jack. This is great! You can then jam along at whatever volume you want for either device, controlled separately. Now, it's 3W so it's loud for its size (by comparison the Marshall Mini stack is 1W). It sounds great, yes, but a small 3" speaker doesn't move much air. This is where a lot of people mistakenly think it's a toy. If you need to make this little guy move air, (you know, vibrate your shirt, rattle your windows) use Blackstar's "emulated output" to plug this into a PA...and there you go, concert sound moving tons of air. I've read a couple reviews here where people are complaining and comparing this to a regular sized amp. That's silly. It's a battery powered practice amp, but a DARN good one at that. Don't buy a pencil and then complain it's not a pen. I HIGHLY recommend getting the extension cabinet! If you can't afford it now, add it to your to-do list (that's what I did). It's not a gimmick. It literally doubles the volume (!) and adds spaciousness to the delay. It makes MP3s played via your phone/tablet through a 3.5mm jack come out in stereo! They double as computer speakers. LOUD! The stock batteries last hours! Longer than I expected to be honest. It comes with batteries too, so you can play right out of the box. The amp by itself comes with: Amp 6 pre-installed AA batteries. Backstar sticker Instruction book/manual. *Notice: NO 3.5mm cable, if you want to use this as an MP3 extension speaker, you'll need to pick up one of these, double male-ended. (They're cheap!) NO power adapter. Blackstar sells these separately for about $20 The extension speaker comes with: Speaker 24" cat5 cable spooled up on the back (to connect to main unit) Blackstar sticker Manual *Notice* The extension speaker does NOT require its own batteries.

Andaba buscando un pequeño ampli para llevarlo a cualquier sitio sin tener que buscar un enchufe de red. este cacharrillo es ideal, pequeño, solido y con un sonido realmente bueno. que si, que luego le puedes añadir otro altavoz o incluso comprar aparte su alimentador.. bueno, son opciones pero esa no es la historia en mi caso. para eso me hubiera comprado un ampli mayor con mas watios y con un altavoz mas grande. yo creo que lo que hace que este Fly 3 sea especial, es eso, su tamaño, facilidad de transporte, sin complicaciones. en la playa, en un parque, en la calle... en cualquier sitio lo enciendes te conectas y a sonar. 3 watios son lo que son desde luego pero si lo comparamos con algunos pequeños amplis que hay por ahi los cuales si que son de juguete, no hay color. tiene lo que debe tener un pequeño ampli y algo mas. una salida emulada para auriculares que ademas nos da la posibilidad de grabar con el. aparte de una entrada para poder conectar el movil o cualquer reproductor y tocar sobre backing tracks. tambien tiene un delay bastante chulo el cual nos dara un poco mas de profundidad a nuestro sonido. con la eq ISF conseguimos lo mejor de los dos mundos en cuanto a sonidos. a la izquierda sonido americano y a la derecha sonido Britanico. (que mas podemos pedir) sin duda es un pequeño gran ampli con un sonido que no me ha decepcionado. me pregunto como no me lo he comprado antes. de las mejores cosas que he podido comprar en mi vida.

Excellent sound for its size

Fantastically Portable Speaker

Super satisfeito. Som excelente para o tamanho, ótimo controle de equalização, bom drive e delay. Adquiri uma fonte de alimentação, que não vem por padrão, para completar o kit mas estou super satisfeito.

I wanted something with a nice clean sound and reasonable volume for a small speaker. This really suits my needs. The clean sound is very good and there is more than ample volume. The delay effect that's built in is a big bonus and very adjustable. After watching many reviews I decided to pick this one up and there is no regret whatsoever. Batteries are no longer included with the amp purchase and a power adapter would've been a nice bonus, although many comment the battery life is very good. Otherwise only positives to say about this little amp.