Blackstar Fly 3 or Joyo Ma-10B

[barkin]

Hi there all,

I'm very excited to play bass after weeks of research. I bought myself a Ibanez Talman TMB-30 short scale bass and trying to find the right amp.

I narrowed down my choices to two according the prices and the random reviews I found on the internet.

I'm living in Turkey and due to the currency it is really hard to buy you want. Since I want to focus on learning I didn't want to deal with lots of effects and such. So I want to buy either Blackstar Fly 3 or Joyo. I have found a second hand fly 3 and a new Joyo. They both cost the same.

Since I have a friend close to my home who plays electric guitar, I wanted to buy a portable amp that I can carry easily to his home and play together and learn together.

So here is my questions to advanced and experienced players who may tried these little amps:

1: If you had the chance to try them both, which one would you choose? Why?
2: I read that it can be heard in an acoustic band but what about playing/practicing with a friend who plays electric guitar? Can it be heard?

Thanks in advance for your helps. I'm open to all your opinions about these amps or any other suggestions.

 

[abarson]

Welcome to TB!
While both of those amps will definitely be very portable, I don't think they have enough output to sit with an electric guitarist, unless he plays very quietly, which is against their nature.
If you can, find a combo with a 10-inch speaker and at least 50 watts. That would be the bare minimum I would consider for your situation.

 

[MakoMan]

I just bought the Joyo. For jamming with a few acoustic guitars it is perfect. If you want to hang with an electric, the guitarist had better also be playing through a battery operated mini amp.
I do however like the Joyo better than the Blackstar. It's louder, simpler and looks pretty cool.

 

[barkin]

Hi again, I bought the Joyo and started learning. I'm very satisfied with it. It is loud enough to practice at home, I can't even turn the volume all the way up. Drive mode is also decent. It is small, very lightweight and looks nice. I haven't get the chance to jam with an electric guitar since I'm not there yet but I will keep update throughout my process.

 

[MakoMan]

I'm enjoying mine too. It's loud enough that my wife asks me to turn it down. Looking forward to trying it with guitarists once we can all jam again.

 

[SBassman]

I'm enjoying mine too. It's loud enough that my wife asks me to turn it down. Looking forward to trying it with guitarists once we can all jam again.

I bouth the Joyo on a whim. I was given an unexpected gift card at work, and I figured I'd use it to give the Joyo a try.

I always wanted a mini battery powered amp, and I looked at the Blackstar a few times.

I have to say, I am disappointed in the Joyo. I didn't have any expectations for loud volume or fat tone. But lots of reviews online have said favorable things about it - with good, usable tone for quiet practice.

Maybe there is a chance mine is defective, although I don't think so. The tone I am getting from the amp is precisely what I hear in the reviews online. But - the volume is disappointingly low. First off, if I don't max the volume on the bass, forget about it. If I max the volume on the bass, and then dial volume and gain to right before distortion, that resulting tone is cool and usable, but - the volume is not meeting minimum requirements. Forget about any notion of this keeping up with an electric guitar with a small regular amp, I don't think mine could keep up with an electric with a mini battery powered amp.

Also any use for busking would be out of the question.

MakoMan - you made a reference to your wife telling you to turn it down. I wish we had a way to compare volume levels to see if I got a lemon. There is no way my wife is going to tell me to turn this down. She won't hear sitting on the couch next to me.

 

[bassfootballguy]

I had the Blackstar. I would never purchase that again, nor would I recommend it. Better off getting a quality headphone amp.

 

[MakoMan]

I bouth the Joyo on a whim. I was given an unexpected gift card at work, and I figured I'd use it to give the Joyo a try.

I always wanted a mini battery powered amp, and I looked at the Blackstar a few times.

I have to say, I am disappointed in the Joyo. I didn't have any expectations for loud volume or fat tone. But lots of reviews online have said favorable things about it - with good, usable tone for quiet practice.

Maybe there is a chance mine is defective, although I don't think so. The tone I am getting from the amp is precisely what I hear in the reviews online. But - the volume is disappointingly low. First off, if I don't max the volume on the bass, forget about it. If I max the volume on the bass, and then dial volume and gain to right before distortion, that resulting tone is cool and usable, but - the volume is not meeting minimum requirements. Forget about any notion of this keeping up with an electric guitar with a small regular amp, I don't think mine could keep up with an electric with a mini battery powered amp.

Also any use for busking would be out of the question.

MakoMan - you made a reference to your wife telling you to turn it down. I wish we had a way to compare volume levels to see if I got a lemon. There is no way my wife is going to tell me to turn this down. She won't hear sitting on the couch next to me.

Not sure why you are having this issue. Mine is loud enough even with my non-active basses. I'm not going to keep up with a Fishman mini, but no problem with reasonable volume playing. It's certainly louder than the Blackstar I had and MUCH louder than my Ibanez sub short scale acoustic is unplugged.

 

[SBassman]

Interesting. I don't get it. The tone sounds normal, but the volume is nearly not usable. Maybe I should return it.

 

[SBassman]

After testing it with other sound sources, I am convinced I shouldn't keep it. I submitted a return request with Amazon.

 

[MakoMan]

After testing it with other sound sources, I am convinced I shouldn't keep it. I submitted a return request with Amazon.

Good plan. They'll probably tell you to keep the one you have and send you another one. Then you'll know for sure if the first one is just defective.

 

[pedrorolo]

Joyo is rated 10 watts while Blackstar is rated 3watts. Though, the blackstar allows an extension cab, and thus enables doubling the loudness or sound pressure level, am i wrong? If so, the blackstar with the extension can deliver more loudness than the joyo. If having two similar speakers doubles the sound pressure level then the black star with extension will be 30watts equivalent on what regards loudness.

 

[wsomar]

Joyo is rated 10 watts while Blackstar is rated 3watts. Though, the blackstar allows an extension cab, and thus enables doubling the loudness or sound pressure level, am i wrong? If so, the blackstar with the extension can deliver more loudness than the joyo. If having two similar speakers doubles the sound pressure level then the black star with extension will be 30watts equivalent on what regards loudness.

No, it doesn't work that way. Power (Watts) is defined by energy (Volts) x current (Amperes). If the Blackstar outputs 3W, you can't automatically double the power by adding another load (2nd speaker).

What is relevant to amplification is something called impedance matching. The law of maximum power transfer states the maximum power is delivered to a load (speaker) when the impedance of the load matches the impedance of the source (amplifier). Impedance is measured in Ohms.

For example, if an amplifier is rated 100W @ 4 Ohms (notice that the impedance has to be stated) will deliver that power to a 4 Ohm speaker. If you add a 4 Ohm speaker in parallel, the overall load is 2 Ohms, and the power will drop. Similarly, if you add a 4 Ohm speaker in series, the overall load is now 8 Ohms, but the power will drop anyway.