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

I bought this amp as a replacement after accidentally bricking my Fender Champion, and I’ve got to say — I’m impressed. For a compact unit, it delivers a wonderfully warm tone that suits my style of music perfectly.What really surprised me, though, was how well it paired with my Yamaha A1M. The two together create a full, rich sound that really turned heads. At a recent jam session, my playing partner couldn’t believe how good it sounded. That alone made it worth the purchase.While I haven’t received the extension cabinet from Amazon yet, I’ve been using the amp with headphones — and the sound is even fuller and more immersive that way. I also plan to use it as a speaker with my laptop and DAW setup, and based on its performance so far, I expect it to shine in that role too.Overall, I’m very happy with this little guy. Warm tone, solid build, great with an acoustic-electric — and just plain fun to play through.P.S. It also works surprisingly well with both my Strat-style and Gibson-style electric guitars — great tone across the board.

I wanted to be able to practice electric in my condo without upsetting anyone. If I play through my Marshall or other practice amps, I have to turn it way down and the tone Im trying to dial in gets lost. Not so with this dollsized amp. I haven't played any effects pedals through it yet as I'm having too much fun with the settings it comes with. The overdrive is like a less assaultive version of my Marshall - but it too can certainly be loud enough to be too loud for my neighbors with a twist of a dial. All said, it's a brilliant amp and worth every cent I paid.

I bought this as a gift for my husband who plays guitar, and he absolutely loves it. He used to haul out his big amp and a bunch of wires every time he wanted to play - now this little thing is his go-to.It sounds great for its size, practical, super easy to pull out and put away, and doesn’t take up space on the table. No more tangled cords or bulky gear. It’s been his favorite thing to use lately, and it’s made his practice sessions way more convenient!

For the size (and price) it's a great little amp/speaker. The one complaint I have is that it doesn't come with a power adaptor, but as someone used to that from buying pedals, etc it's not that big of a deal. I do wish it took 9v so I could plug it right in to the power source for my pedalboard and have a little mini monitor right in front of me without having to do additional steps, but unfortunately not.I like it so far and have even figured out a workaround to use it with a little mixer I have without a "guitar out" plug like a pedal. All I can say is get some rechargeable batteries if you use it a lot - or the optional power plug. Would recommend overall as a practice amp.

I bought it used and we don't see any defect on it. It works with ordinary batteries and it is perfect for a kid trying to learn electric guitar. The adjust for volume works great

TL;DR: What a great little amp this is.This is actually my second Blackstar. I bought my first-generation HT-5 almost ten years ago, when Blackstar was basically still a startup company. Blackstar owes its early success in large part to the HT-5. It is one of the greatest low-wattage amplifiers of the last 20 years, a real classic.I'd known about the Fly 3 for awhile. But my HT-5 already gives me a good, Marshall-like sound. Did I need another Blackstar? Not really. The HT-5 has a tube preamp, too, while the Fly 3 is all solid state, so I didn't think the Fly 3 would be as warm and full sounding as the HT-5, anyway.But the thing is, I get a little tired of hauling out the full rig and setting it up when I want to play--even if it only takes a few minutes. Sometimes I just want to plug in and let 'er rip. I was starting to get an itch for an amp that could give me that spur-of-the-moment option. And that's when the Fly 3 started to make sense.Normally I like a lot of gain in my sound. Lately, though, I've been playing a lot of Jimi Hendrix songs, especially from his first two albums, before he started playing Marshall Plexis. So I'm steadily moving toward lower gain, JTM-style Marshall sounds. That's what this amp seemed to offer, based on the demos I saw.The one demo on YouTube that really impressed me was by an amazingly talented guitarist from the UK named Dave Simpson. While he had a few reservations, he really liked the Fly 3, and his demo was wide-ranging and well-played. More than any other, it was his demo that convinced me the Fly 3 would be a smart purchase.And his demo really nailed it. As I was hoping, the Fly 3 gives me that pre-1968 Hendrixian tone really well, no matter how the gain is set. It's even changed my playing to some degree. For the first time, I'm not afraid to play at lower gain, and even with cleans. With the gain set at around 9 o'clock, I get a nice crunchy sound at the bridge position, and a nice signature Strat sound at the neck position. On the Fly 3, I'm having great fun playing songs I'd previously never attempted, like '51st Anniversary,' 'Remember,' and 'Can You See Me?'Since I already have an earlier Blackstar amp, I'll note here about their proprietary ISF control and how it's voiced on the Fly 3. On the HT-5, the left half of the dial is meant to give us a kind of Mesa-like (US-style) sound, and the right half is kind of a Marshall-like (UK-style) sound. On the Fly 3, it's a bit different--the ISF acts more like a presence control, brighter before noon and darker after noon. My impression is it's more about tone than voicing. The size of the speaker and the amp's wattage may also play into this. It's not a drawback, necessarily, just a note that the ISF does not have the same effect on both amps.On a moderate setting, the Fly 3's delay acts kind of like a reverb, adding dimension to the sound. I set delay on the Fly 3 with level at about noon and timing at about 9 o'clock. That gives me a nice thickening effect without slapping back. A slapback effect can also be dialed in as desired. I think the delay timing maxes out around 600 ms, which is reasonable. It's not an especially powerful delay, but it's very usable.So far, I have tried the headphone input but not the auxiliary input. The headphone input sounds quite good.To its credit, Blackstar decided to include the first set of 6 AA batteries with the amp, which keeps all new Fly 3 owners (like me) happy right as we crack open the box. That little detail cannot be overemphasized.I can also attest that the Fly 3 makes a great bench test amplifier--I recently swapped out a humbucker in one of my Strats, and I grabbed the Fly 3 and plugged in the guitar to verify that the new pickup was working properly. Not having to set up a power cord with the amp makes that little task much easier.I think Blackstar has another classic in the Fly 3, right alongside the great HT-5. This is a great little amp for a very affordable price. Just imagine if every beginning guitarist had an amp like this for starters.