Blackstar FLY 3 Mini Amp BK

I had heard some great things about the Blackstar Fly 3 watt mini amp so I was very keen to try it. I was looking for the ultimate portable, battery operated guitar amp and I can confidently say, I think I’ve found it. This tiny combo has all the features you need for practicing and home performances. Its best asset is the lovely crystal clear sound it provides, which is in no way tinny.

The Fly 3 is a little smaller than the average box of 80 teabags. You can pick it up easily in one hand, making it extremely portable. The big sound is a surprise! The casing is well made; sleek and modern looking and the four main control knobs on the top (gain, volume, EQ and delay) are chunky and operate smoothly.

There are two channels, switchable at the touch of a button. I mainly use the clean channel. I have mostly played my Fender telecaster through the amp.I generally have the volume at about halfway up and the gain about a third. This is more than loud enough for me to sing along to, so that will give you some idea of the potential volume the Blackstar can put out. At this level, when I switch to the over-driven channel I get a nice, fairly subtle, crunchy sound with lots of bite. But of course, it can go a lot louder and more distorted than that. It really is quite amazing that these sounds come from this little box. You have to hear it to believe it.

The delay is of fantastic quality for a unit like this. I would say it is equal to using a good quality effects pedal. It ranges from a gentle reverb to a long very clearly defined delay.

I bought this amp about seven weeks ago and have used it a lot, yet it is still operating on the original set of batteries that come supplied with the unit, so I have felt no need to buy the power supply. I am keen to buy the extension speaker cab which turns it into a stereo unit, which must produce an even fuller sound.

Other features are a bright power on light (so you never leave it switched on by accident,) a headphone socket and a line in for an mp3 player. My tunes sound great through it and I also listen to audio books on it.

I just love the unique tone of this Blackstar amp. It’s very clear, bright and full. I’m a very happy customer.

Obviously I only use it for practicing in my studio/office. It's so cute, very compact, light, easy to move.

Build: It's made of plastic, with a metal grill. Battery powered, and batteries seem to last quite a while.

Sound:
It sounds pretty great. It's got a lovely mid-range crunch to it, with a usable tone knob from dark to bright. There is a crackle/hiss though, and it's a little muddy, but it's not made for recording. For practice, it's fine. I use it on bass too. Delay is poor. Gets washed out easily, difficult to hear if it's there at all. PS, this thing is LOUD. I mean way louder than I thought it'd be.

Pro's:
Usable tones, usable features, batteries last long, compact, cool looking, loud-ish.

Con's:
Crackle/hiss, delay is poor, a little muddy.

All in all, I'd recommend this for the casual guitarist if you want an affordable, small amp to noodle around on that can be stored away in a drawer with ease. It's BY FAR the best of the pocket size mini amps on the market. It's not a toy, but it's not an amp either. It is what it is!

Check it out!

To be honest, I did not expect this amp to be so tiny.. and so adorable!

As a beginner musician, I want to practice as much as I can. And there are situations where you cannot lug around a guitar AND an amp around. This little amp that can is a lifesaver.

Sure, there are a lot of inexpensive amps for beginners nowdays, but this one packs a punch. While features are limited, it is more than enough for an aspiring musician.

It came with batteries, even though the listing said they would not be included, but this is definitely not a minus. Absolute must-buy!

I was a bit skeptical of purchasing this amp at first, I must admit. 'A battery powered amp that sounds good?', just didn't seem to make much sense to me. However. I am absolutely blown away. I recently moved into an apartment, so I didn't want to use a bigger amp and annoy all the neighbours. This amp is a godsend for that, it has a good level of volume, but would perhaps be lacking for a larger living space. Bedrooms and apartments are prime for this amp.

Great features, the gain could have been a bit more for my taste, but it's nothing a bit of overdrive can't fix! Delay is fine, as is Blackstar's ISF tone stuff. The switches and knobs feel like they're good quality, nothing is loose.

Of course it's a bit plasticy, nothing wrong with that for the price and the quality of the electronics inside though. Can't really find a fault with it for my usage. It really isn't that loud though, which is perfect for me, but some people may want something that's got a bit more power.

Overall great, good price, good quality, good controls. Can't fault it myself, especially for practicing at home in a small room. Batteries are meant to last a long time, although I can't comment on that as of yet. Highly recommended!

As a now 1-year guitar player, this was the first amp I got and was exactly what I was looking for – a small, but practical and nice-sounding amp.
I am a student and living with my parents. They are not musical at all and thus wouldn't appreciate me playing in high volumes, especially as I am not yet very good at it. This amp is great for playing in lower volume, some other bedroom amps (1-5 watts) sound bad when not in full volume, this sounds great in any volume.
It also has quite a lot of practical features, such as the overdrive channel, EQ and delay levels. It allows to play around with the tone, giving a chance to experiment with various options. I find the delay control especially attractive.
The overdriven sound on this amp is excellent. As a huge rock fan, I'd say the amp produces a great rock guitar sound. I started to play guitar to learn some AC/DC songs, and I could get a pretty good Angus Young tone with this. The overdrive channel has a bit too much gain for my taste, but I have played some Metallica on that and it sounded fabulous.

For the negative part, it doesn't come with a power adapter, but you can get one for 15 euros on Thomann. I still sometimes use the same batteries it came with a year ago, so using batteries exclusively isn't that bad either.
Also, I seldomly notice a crackling sound when playing on high gain. It's not feedback, don't know what it is.

In summary, this Blackstar mini amp is a great one for beginners, can't imagine a better mini amp for this money.

This is a great little practice amp for anyone who needs to keep the volume down at home, it was ideal for me living in an apartment when I want to practice or play my electric guitar. It's really a tiny little amp, perfectly portable and it can run on batteries.

Of course there are going to be limitations on an amp of this size and cost, the sound is not going to blow you away. It has some quality onboard effects, like an overdrive distortion and a reverb effect that allows some versatility and lets you play different styles without the need to take pedals with you.

The build quality feels sturdy enough, it is plastic so again I wouldn't want to drop it from any sort of height.

But if you're looking for a small, cheap amp to practice guitar quietly, this is going to be hard to beat.

After so many positive reviews, I decided to give it a try. Small, very light, but for it's size, it has a really good sound. From the cleans to crunch and up to it's (expected) little noisy distortion, I can only say that Blackstar beat the antagonists with this small battery powered amp. It has become my every day practice amp when I am not using my voxac15 because of it's good sound, and keeping the noise down late at night. As for the features, it has a delay which I am not using. For the price, slightly more that the other mini amps but I dare to say that it's worth it.

What do you do when the children have gone to bed, your partner is in the lounge watching TV and the only place to have a noodle on guitar at a reasonable practice volume is in the kitchen? You get a Blackstar Fly 3 mini amp!

No lugging your big amp from one room to another. Pop your Fly 3 on the table next to your lap top and jam along to your favourite music or learn something new.

The Fly 3 gives a clear punchy sound even at reasonable volume. You're not going to get tremendous bottom end, after all it's a small amp with a small speaker, but it's enough for it's intended purpose. I like the tape echo / delay, nice little feature, which also helps a bit as there is no reverb.

I have the ISF control at 12 o'clock position. Too much to the left and the top end is a bit too biting for my tastes and too much to the right and it gets slightly woollier. In fact all dials on 12 o'clock position seem right to me.

I put my little Behringer modeller / DI box in front of it and it comes even more to life and it helps the bottom end too.

It was the cheapest little desk top amp of them all but appears to be sturdily built.

All in all, just what I expected - and fit for purpose!