Mini / Practice / Battery Amps

[LeDave]

What mini/practice/battery amps do you have and what do you like about it?

I have a Blackstar Fly 3 Acoustic and it is loud for only 3w and the battery lasts forever! I'm planning to buy the extension cabinet for it eventually. Right now it's good enough.

[bsman]

Originally Posted by LeDave

What mini/practice/battery amps do you have and what do you like about it?

I have a Blackstar Fly 3 Acoustic and it is loud for only 3w and the battery lasts forever! I'm planning to buy the extension cabinet for it eventually. Right now it's good enough.

I have both the Fly 3 (non-acoustic - but in the non-od mode with some delay sounds fine with acoustics) pack (i.e. with the extension speaker) and the Super Fly (both acoustic and electric modes) with it's extension speaker. This gives me a very wide range:

Fly 3 alone: 3 watts
Fly 3 w/speaker: 6 watts stereo
Super Fly alone: 12 watts stereo
Super Fly w/Speaker: 24 watts stereo

I particularly like the fact that the Super Fly has inputs for mic and guitar and operates AC or DC. It would be a really decent busking amp...

[webwzrd]

Glad to see the Blackstar Fly 3 Acoustic and the Super Fly mentioned here. So far there has been very little and not much on the Internet other than the manufacturer's promotions.

I have an excellent studio-quality amp for my living room play, but still want something light and easy to carry to the back deck or someone else's living room when things get back to normal.

I have the Godin A6 Ultra so a mini amp for acoustic and mild electric playing is desirable. I figured if I went with the Fly Acoustic I could also spring for the regular Fly 3. On the other hand, the Super Fly might be fine for both.

Can anyone offer a detailed review of either of these?

[jonfields45]

I bought and returned a Super Fly when it first came out. I thought my Katana Mini was a better sounding acoustic guitar amp at the time (turn up the bass and it is actually a good sounding acoustic amp). I remember thinking at the time is was not even close. Maybe the one I got was defective???

Strumming open position chords brings out the worst in all mini amps. Yesterday I went to the local Guitar Center to try the Yamaha THRII to see if it could produce more undistorted rhythm than the Katana Mini (the Mini is louder than a true acoustic guitar but not by much if you really insist on no bass break up). They did not have a Katana Mini in-stock so this is not a fair A-B test, but I thought for its spec'ed 20 watts it was no louder at clean rhythm than the 7 watt Mini.

With the delay controls on the Mini both set to 10 o'clock it is an acceptable substitute for a short reverb.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by LeDave

What mini/practice/battery amps do you have and what do you like about it?

I have a Blackstar Fly 3 Acoustic and it is loud for only 3w and the battery lasts forever! I'm planning to buy the extension cabinet for it eventually. Right now it's good enough.

I started with a Roland Street Cube and now have it's larger version, the Cube EX.

These amps are both seriously good, and provide both mic and instrument inputs as well as several features that really make them a "mini PA". The Street Cube and Cube EX both have dual drivers and have real stereo reverb, chorus, and delay that make an acoustic guitar simply beautiful.

These amps are fairly expensive, but worth the price. Don't try them out if you don't want to spend the money. You'll end up closeting your smaller battery powered amp.

[Aspiring]

I have the Nux Mighty Amp the Nux mighty air and the Yamaha thr30ii. I had a THR5A that I sold when I picked up the 30ii.

The 30ii is the best of the lot for sure for absolute sound quality.

The mighty air actually does amazingly well as long as you keep your volume expectations down

I actually feel the mighty air does better clean and a accoustic sounds then it's distorted tones through its speakers once you play with it.

And it sounds truly excellent through nice headphones.

[ifret]

............................

[jricc]

I have the Blackstar Super Fly got it on a SDOTD for $99 and i had $40 in MF points, so i got it for $59. Anyway, it has to be good for busking, pretty loud, decent sound. I wanted it for the 2 separate channels and battery power.

I think it sounds better with an electric. One caveat, it has a decent amount of hiss

[RedJoker]

Blackstar Superfly is the 8/4/20 SDOTD for $99.

Someone talk me out of it!

[Morrill]

Not sure I can talk you out of the Superfly at $99. I have the Fly and extension speaker and I am on the fence myself about taking advantage of that SDOTD. Anybody need a FLY 3 and extension...LOL

[Morrill]

Update - I'll let you know how it sounds after it arrives. Couldn't pass that up.

[RedJoker]

Originally Posted by Morrill

Not sure I can talk you out of the Superfly at $99.

fine.... but I hold you personally responsible for my purchase.

[webwzrd]

Originally Posted by RedJoker

Blackstar Superfly is the 8/4/20 SDOTD for $99.

Someone talk me out of it!

Thanks for the heads up. I was on the fence about this amp given what else is available at the $200 price point. But if it's any good, it's a heck of a bargain at $99.

I ordered it!

[LeDave]

Dang. I would so buy that if I didn't already own the fly 3 acoustic

[webwzrd]

My Super Fly arrive a little earlier today. My preliminary review is not disappointed with fingerstyle acoustic which is how I'll use it the most.