"Awesome for such a small amp. I use it when practicing on my Fender Electric and my Fender Acoustic Guitar. The batteries seem to last forever. Great for playing around the campfire or around a group at a party."

"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."

"***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."