Blackstar FLY3BLUE Electric Guitar Mini Bluetooth Amplifier, Black

Note: this is a review for the BLUETOOTH model, as some people will want that. I’ve attached a photo of the Blackstar beside my Roland MicroCube, which is about 9x9” height and width and can also run on batteries. The Roland is a much better amp, of course, but the Blackstar is great for traveling or practicing in a living room. The question here is whether it will meet your minimum requirements. I play swing and gypsy swing, so I want a good clean line where I can increase thickness of the sound by turning up the gain while turning down the volume knob a bit. I need a passable acoustic guitar sound for gypsy jazz, but also adequate tone for jazz soloing. I have a little Washburn Rover travel guitar that has a very nice neck and is very playable, but the acoustic sound is very quiet. I’ve installed in it both a piezo pickup and a Kent Armstrong jazz pickup, and they work either separately or together. I spend a couple weeks a year st a resort in Mexico where I sit in the shade on the beach near the crashing waves and play while my band—on my iPad—backs me up. The guitar by itself is not loud enough. I usually use a little round Altec speaker with Bluetooth with the iPad, and that is loud enough for my practicing with a mandolin. But not with this guitar. I wanted a tiny amp that will play Bluetooth from my iPad while also amplifying my guitar. The Blackstar is tiny, though much bigger than the Altec speaker. It weighs just under two pounds, and it is small enough to fit easily in my suitcase. Note: for Bluetooth, read the instructions and note the different meanings for single blinks and double blinks when setting it up with a new device. It’s easy, but there’s an unexpected step. So read it. Also, to get sound, turn up all the knobs. You might think it’s broken, otherwise. It’s very quiet—no annoying hums by itself. The EQ knob works well but is more cold to warm than treble to bass—very nice. It sounds good at all levels, but it changes to different sounds. Remember to match the Gain and the Volume knobs to get the tone you want, too. For an acoustic sound with a piezo pickup, turn down the Gain a lot and turn up the Volume. For a clean jazz solo with more thickness, turn up the Gain about halfway, then set the Volume to your likes. Both sound quite good, and without extra noise or distortion. (I hate distortion—if you want that, use the distortion button. I didn’t test it.) Again, the tone is not as compelling as my Roland MicroCube, which is less compelling than my AER which costs a lot more, but it’s acceptable. Volume: I used a decibel amp on myniPad to measure the volume from about two feet away, just asmImdomwoth instruments. I find that I can get a good acoustic strumming sound at about 85 to 90 decibels from a travel guitar I can barely hear. Using the jazz pickup and more gain, I can get about 95 to 98 decibels. The amp will go louder, but it then starts distorting a little. So how loud is that? Most acoustic guitars see, to provide about 85 decibels max, so the acoustic strumming volume is a significant bit louder. However, I have a couple unusually good luthier-made gypsy jazz guitars that easily cruise at 92 decibels and max out at 95. That’s very loud indeed for an acoustic guitar, and matches my Collings mandolin. (I do have a shrill travel mandolin that will hit 99 decibels.) Thus, the Blackstar is somewhat louder when clean than any acoustic guitar I’ve ever played. It’s just fine for the beach, or for using your solid-body while jamming with acoustic guitars. It’s great for your hotel room or the porch. You won't want this for your main amp if your band mates have big amps. If your band is playing at 110 decibels or, worse, 120 or 130, this won’t cut it. If you play jazz guitar in an unamplified big band with horns and brass and you can’t hear yourself, but your fellow band members don’t want you to use an amp and blast them out, this is barely noticeable and would give you enough volume to be heard a bit better without having to play as hard. You can use the batteries. By the way, I also bought the Hosa five foot cord, which seems very well made. I’m going to put two inch wide black Velcro around the sides and bottom of this amp (the rough part) and use a longer piece of the soft part of the Velcro to make a strap, so I can toss the amp over my shoulder or hook it to my belt and walk as I play.

I now have two of these BlackStar mini amps (the first one I bought without Bluetooth) and I leave that one in another state where I visit. The Bluetooth one stays at home where I can play backing tracks from my phone through the amp via Bluetooth (controlling that volume from the phone), and play lead guitar by plugging into the same Black Star mini amp. Using the Overdrive mode does not apply to the Bluetooth audio - smart thinking by the engineers who designed this amp. The sound of the Black Star Fly3 for a mini amp is excellent - whether you prefer a clean channel or overdrive. The compression of the tones provides a beautiful even sound across the strings and even with heavy overdrive, the sound isn’t muddy… great distinction between the notes - even in playing full barre chords in heavy overdrive with decently long sustain. The sound shaping tone knob allows you to dial-in tone from cutting to subtle. Add in the adjustable delay to your liking and you have beautiful leads or lush rhythms coming from a tiny speaker. Again, no muddy mush from this little practice amp. I did lots of research on YouTube video reviews for mini guitar amps before I chose this Black Star… I really feel like I made the right choice - I have a hard time putting down my axe once I start playing through this mini amp.

This thing delivers unbelievable sound for the money. It's crazy small and light, but the sound is bigger than you'd expect from a little guy. The little bit of delay is perfect to add ambience (don't expect a full on effect), and if you crank the gain you have a reasonably high gain tone--not quite that of a Soldano tube amp, but then, we're nowhere close to size, weight, or the $4k price tag. I love that I can connect via bluetooth to my phone or laptop easily to play along with a song, and I love that the battery life seems to go on and on (I use this every day and haven't had to recharge. I bought the power supply, since in the past small amps, like the Orange Crush, burn through batteries, but I have yet to use it). No, you can't gig or even practice with a drummer with this little amp, but you can take it anywhere and have a satisfying tone. Easily one of the best things I've bought for myself in a long time.

Saw other reviews, 99%+, took a chance. So glad. I'd give it 5 stars but I think there should be a package that includes a travel case and their own charger, often on backorger. Don't buy anything that says, "recommended, fits these sizes etc." Voids warranty, and charger volts/watts are unususual. But for sound, and yes, I include volume, this tiny terror is perfect!

The sound quality is excellent. I can't believe how much sound comes out of this little thing. I added a wireless guitar rig, so I don't need to use a cable. This has allowed me to walk around my house while jamming along with Youtube backing tracks. I simply place this little amp next to my TV and start jamming. The tone is excellent. I purchased the bluetooth version, so I could also just stream the backing tracks to the amp itself. That feature works well also. You could absolutely play a small venue (ie, quiet coffee shop) with this amp or jam along with an acoustic guitar. The modeling is great. Sustain is decent. The delay is an adequate substitute for reverb. It's so small that it's easy to bring with you anywhere. The headphone volume is adequate. This has stepped up my practice game in a big way. 100% happy with my purchase. Only negative is that it doesn't come with a power cable. That's just lame.

Grrrrr. The product description said battery or DC power. I didn’t expect batteries but I did expect a power cord to be included. Meanwhile, sound is ok and what I was looking for.

This amp is exceptional. Very small (smaller than a shoe box) but is plenty loud for practicing. (Loud enough for my wife and kids to yell at me from another room to turn it down, even with the doors closed. lol) It has a decent clean as well as over drive to rock out. Bluetooth so I can play a song on youtube and jam along with them. Headphone jack too if I want to be in stealth mode. In a pinch, I can run it off AA batteries if needed. The main point is it is always available to me even on a trip. For under a $100, it is a steal. I would buy it again if I ever had to replace it.

This little amp is great for practicing or playing out. The effects are outstanding for my Yamaha 5 string. It's a stereo amp and came with a satellite speaker. The 128ga. B string stresses it pretty good but the stereo out works great hooked to my main amp for quick setup. I usually use headphones when I practice and the sound is clear, no noise, just clear bass notes.

I recommend that amp, I bought it mainly for the amp but also because it had the bluetooth in it. The sounds really good for a small 3w portable transistor amp, the headphone out with emulation is really cool, but the best is that the bluetooth function is awesome. Even though it needs 8 AA batteries if you don't have the power supply, they last long. I mean I've been using it for a week as a portable bluetooth speaker for about 12h per day and the batteries are still good. And the best suggestion would be to use rechargeable batteries. Also it's easier to find AA batteries then 9v or any other.

Bir müzisyen olarak hem evde pratik yapıyor hem de müzik dinliyorum. Bluetooth fonksiyonu çok güzel. Bas ve tiz ayarını detaylı yapamıyorsunuz. Bunun yerine ton ayarı var o da idare ediyor. Hoparlör boyut olarak küçük çok kullanışlı ses kalitesi de ev için yeterli.

Amazing product. Perfect for bed room musicians and home practice.

Very pleased with this amp. I’ve had it a few months now, and use it one or two times a week. I’ve filled it with rechargeable batteries, thinkng it would get expensive on disposable AAs, but so far I still haven’t had to recharge them. So, very efficient. The sound quality and volume is quite bit better than expected on both counts, quite usable for playing while sitting around a BBQ. Probably not good enough for even a small pub gig but totally OK for practice or entertaining a few friends.

Ich spiele seit 10 Jahren E-Gitarre und wollte mir jetzt mal einen kleinen Übungsverstärker anschaffen, wenn ich mal nicht die dicke Röhre anmachen kann/will. Und was soll ich sagen, der Sound ist wirklich erstaunlich gut. Klar kann er nicht einem "richtigen" Verstärker mithalten, ist ja völlig logisch, aber wenn man ihn nicht zu laut aufdreht klingt er wirklich gut. Außerdem ist man so komplett mobil und kann mal ein kleines "Wohnzimmerkonzert" geben. Bin sehr zufrieden, gerade zu dem Preis. Top