EBS Fafner 2 amp review from a blind player's perspective

[JGSpector]

Overview.

I’ve wanted an EBS Fafner 2 since they first came out in 2010, but there was no way I could afford the hefty price back then. I have always kept an eye on the pre owned market in the hope that one would come up at some point however. Earlier this year (2024) a pre owned Fafner 2 became available from Bass Direct here in the UK. Needless to say, I was very keen and was particularly pleased when I found the price to be significantly less than half of what it would have cost new back in 2010. Naturally I bought it and man am I glad I did. Here’s my review of this beast of an amp.

Disclaimer: I’m just a dude who plays bass in a few projects and bands, I am by no means an online reviewer. All views are my own and I have not received any payment or other incentives to produce this review. I am only reviewing gear that I actually own and have purchased with my own money or that I have access to due to items being on loan from various friends.

Build Quality.

The Fafner 2 is sadly no longer produced, in 2020 it was replaced as the EBS flagship model by the EBS 802. When it was being produced however, it was hand built in Sweden to ridiculously high levels of craftsmanship with high quality components. As I mentioned earlier, the amp wasn’t cheap when it was being produced, but I have to say, my example oozes quality and is showing no signs of falling apart.

The amp is incredibly well constructed and has nice clear writing for the controls which, for those who can see, is very useful indeed. The aluminium casing is solid and the whole thing is generally built like a tank. The front panel facing is thick aluminium with a beautifully machined air intake for the fan and a stylised dragon head that illuminates red when the amp is on. The amp is rack mountable and even the rack mounts and guard plates that double as handles for manhandling the amp into a rack are beautifully engineered.

Dimensions & Power.

Width, 48 cm (19”).

Depth, 36 cm (14.2”).

Height, 13 cm (5.12”).

Weight: 16 Kg (36 lbs).

Power: 750 watts continuous into 2 ohms, 610 watts continuous into 4 ohms, 310 watts continuous into 8 ohms.

Knobs & Switches.

The knobs on this amp are solid aluminium with a raised ridge that runs down the centre. There is also a notch at the end of the ridge that indicates which position the control is set at. They feel great under the fingers and it’s incredibly easy for me as a blind player to feel how my controls are set.

The push buttons on this amp are nice and chunky and all are of the type that stay in when engaged. This is brilliant for player’s like me with vision loss or indeed for people playing on dark stages as it is immediately obvious whether a button is engaged or not when relying on touch.

There are 2 power switches of sorts on this amp, a power switch and a standby switch. They are both rocker style, are good and solid with a positive clunk under the fingertip when engaged. What I particularly like is that the power switch is wider than the standby switch that is located to the left of it. This again is fantastic for me as I can tell by feel which switch is which and because they are next to each other at the bottom right of the front panel, it’s very easy for me to get my bearings before adjusting any controls.

Features, layout & ease of use.

Front panel, from left to right.

 

1/4” instrument input jack.

 

High (top) and Low (bottom)  character filter push buttons. Pushing these buttons to the in position engages the associated character filter boosting the high or low frequencies respectively.

 

Gain knob: This control has an LED that illuminates red when clipping occurs. EBS recommend setting this control so that the LED illuminates when playing loud notes such as when digging in or slapping.

 

Compressor knob: Turning this knob clockwise increases the amount of compression applied to the incoming signal. This control has an LED that illuminates blue when compression is occurring.

 

Tube mode push button (top): Tube mode is engaged when this button is in the in position. An LED on the button illuminates when this button is engaged. This applies the tube to the clean channel resulting in a gorgeous tube purr.

 

Filter active push button (bottom): The EQ filters of the amp are engaged when this button is in the in position. An LED on the button illuminates when this button is engaged. Disengaging this button removes all filters, EQ and drive, leaving you with the pure tone of your instrument.

 

Drive channel, top row, from left to right.

 

Drive knob: Turning this knob clockwise increases the amount of drive.

 

Mid EQ knob: This is a band pass filter that enables 15db cut or boost at the frequency selected on the Mid Frequency Selection knob. This control has a centre detent.

 

Mid frequency selector knob: Turn this knob to select the frequency you wish to adjust with the Mid EQ knob.

- 7 o’clock position is 50Hz.

- 10 o’clock position is 200 Hz.

- 12 o’clock position is 400Hz.

- 2 o’clock position is 900Hz.

- 5 o’clock position is 2KHz.

 

Edge knob: Turn this knob clockwise for more sizzle, turn this knob anti clockwise for warmer tones. This control has a centre detent.

 

Drive channel level knob:

 

Clean channel, bottom row, from left to right.

 

Bass EQ knob: This is a shelving filter that enables 18db cut or boost at 80Hz. This control has a centre detent.

 

High Mid EQ knob: This is a band pass filter that enables 15db cut or boost at the frequency selected on the Mid Frequency Selection knob. This control has a centre detent.

 

High Q push button: When this button is at the in position, a narrowed band of 1.8 that is effected by the High Mid EQ and Mid frequency selection knobs is engaged. When this button is at the out position, the affected band is 0.7.

 

Mid EQ frequency selection knob: Turn this knob to select the frequency you wish to adjust with the High Mid EQ knob.

- 7 o’clock position is 100Hz.

- 10 o’clock position is 400 Hz.

- 12 o’clock position is 800Hz.

- 2 o’clock position is 1.8KHz.

- 5 o’clock position is 4KHz.

 

Treble EQ knob: This is a shelving filter that enables 15db cut or boost at 10KHz. This control has a centre detent.

 

Clean channel level knob.

 

Boost push button (top): Engaging this button gives a linear boost to the drive channel resulting in more of a fuzz tone.

 

Serial push button (middle): Serial mode is engaged when this button is at the in position. Parallel mode is engaged when this button is at the out position.

 

Drive active push button (bottom): Drive is engaged when this button is in the in position.

 

Master volume knob.

 

Standby switch: Turning this switch on supplies power to the tube section. This switch should only be turned on after a delay of at least 15 seconds after the power switch has been turned on.

 

Power switch: Once this switch has been turned on, wait at least 15 seconds before turning on the standby switch. This allows power to warm up the tube section.

 

Pre EQ DI out (left): This sends your clean unprocessed bass sound to the front of house sound desk or studio recording interface.

 

Post EQ DI out (right): This sends your processed bass sound, including compression, EQ and drive, to the front of house sound desk or studio recording interface.

 

Ground lift push button: Ground lift is engaged when this button is at the in position.

 

Pad push button: Pad is engaged when this button is at the in position.

 

Back panel, from left to right.

 

Power cable socket.

 

Line out 1/4” jack (top).

 

Power amp in 1/4” jack (bottom).

 

Clean channel send 1/4” jack (top).

 

Clean channel return 1/4” jack (bottom).

 

Drive channel send 1/4” jack (top).

 

Drive channel return 1/4” jack (bottom).

 

Standard FX send 1/4” jack (top).

 

Standard FX return 1/4” jack (bottom).

 

Lo-Z input 1/4” jack (top): You can plug the receiver of your wireless system directly into this jack.

 

Tuner output 1/4” jack (bottom).

 

Filters remote 1/4” jack (top): You can engage and disengage the high and low filters as well as the EQ section with a footswitch connected to this jack. Note that the high and low and filter push buttons must be at the in position for this to work.

 

Remote 1/4” jack (bottom): You can engage and disengage the drive and mute the amp with a footswitch connected to this jack. Note that the drive push button must be at the in position for this to work.

 

FX mix mini knob: 7 o’clock position is 0%, 12 o’clock position is 50%, 5 o’clock position is 100%.

 

2 Speak-on sockets.

 

The RM4 Footswitch.

 

My Fafner 2 came with an EBS RM4 footswitch. The RM4 is incredibly well made, very sturdy and has 4 high quality footswitches running across it. Here’s what they do, running from left to right.

 

Character: Engages and disengages the high and low character filters.

 

Filter: Engages and disengages the EQ filters.

 

Drive: Engages and disengages the drive.

 

Mute: Mutes and unmutes the amp.

 

Sound quality.

I said this in my review of the EBS Reidmar 752 but I’m going to have to say it again. EBS have some black magic going on in their amps which apparently maximises the power efficiency to squeeze out every last decibel of volume and tone. Whatever they are doing is very definitely working! The Fafner 2 is rated at 310 watts into an 8 ohm speaker load. I run mine into my Barefaced BigBaby III, which is an 8 ohm cab that can take a maximum amp power of 800 watts and I play in a very loud metal fusion instrumental band but have never taken the master volume above 3. I do not say this lightly, but my Fafner 2 is the loudest thing I have ever heard or played running into a single 12” speaker cab. I cannot imagine ever needing to run it into a 4 or 2 ohm speaker load to get the 610 watts or 750 watts respectively, but it’s good to know that I have the option if I ever need to go truly nuclear.

This amp can do pretty much any tone you could ever possibly need. You want warm vintage Motown, no problem. Some 80s pop thin but bright tones, a few tweaks of the EQ and you’re there. Heavy tube saturation for some 70s classic rock, it won’t even break a sweat. Crisp definition for some funk slapping, it’ll give you all you could ever want or need. Gritty punchy clear attack for some modern metal, run the channels in parallel and watch your guitarists weep.

The compressor on this amp is superb. It does a fantastic job of smoothing out your tone without squashing the life out of it, even when at its maximum setting. It’s also practically silent.

I really love solid state amps, yes they are heavy compared to class D offerings but there is a certain weight and depth of tone that comes with a quality solid state analogue amp that just makes me want to play harder, louder and for longer. The sensitivity of the Fafner 2 is an absolute joy, it responds with immediacy to everything you put into it, whether it be heavy pick attack, galloping finger style, melodic finger picking or harmonics.

The amount of tone shaping available on the amp across its 2 channels, not to mention its compressor and character filters make it unbelievably flexible and I haven’t even talked about the FX loop options and duel DIs yet!

There are 3 FX loop options on the Fafner 2, clean channel, drive channel and standard. You could just use the standard FX loop like pretty much every other bass amp out there of course and there’s nothing wrong with that. Alternatively, you can split multiple FX between the clean and drive channels to maximise your tonal signature. I particularly like having an octave in my clean channel and will often add chorus to my drive channel. The whole set up is ridiculously flexible.

The Fafner 2 has duel DI outputs, one unprocessed (without filters) and one processed (with filters). This makes it incredibly versatile for studio use. You can record both a processed and unprocessed signal at the same time and then mix the 2 together or pick what suits the track best or pretty much whatever you like. There are of course quite a few bass amps that have duel DIs these days, but I’m pretty sure that when the Fafner 2 came out in 2010, there were very few that did.

Conclusion.

I’ve waited a long time to own a Fafner 2 and I have to say that I’m not disappointed by it. In fact, it has surprised me and pleased me every time I’ve played through it. It’s the best solid state analogue bass amp I’ve ever owned for sure. It’s an absolute tone monster and so flexible I’d find it hard to believe anybody would fail to get exactly what tone they want out of it. It’s responsive, punchy and seems to have head room for days.

It is a heavy amp, not as heavy as a full 300 watt tube amp of course, but significantly heavier than modern class D amps. Mine weighs in at 21.3kg in its rack bag with the RM4 footswitch and my cables in the external pocket, so it’s heavy but not unmanageable. Does the weight put me off taking it to rehearsals and gigs? HELL NO! It’s such a joy to play through that it’s worth the extra effort to take it. Obviously I cannot see it, but the first time the guitarist in my band saw it, he said, and I quote, “holly crap man, that thing is a beast. It’s bad ass”. I must admit, I couldn’t agree more.

One of the things I enjoy the most about the amp, apart from how it sounds, is how tactile it is to use. The controls are well spaced, are intuitively laid out and all of the buttons are proper mechanical buttons rather than digital style buttons. This makes a huge difference to me, even though I can’t see any of the LEDs, the fact that I know if my character buttons or drive buttons are engaged simply by feeling them is a joy. I believe EBS take the same approach with all of their amps, it is certainly the case on the Reidmar 752 I’ve got for example, and I am a big big fan.

Reading the user manual for the EBS 802, which is the Fafner 2s successor, I see that it is roughly the same size and weight as the Fafner 2 with a similar feature set but without the duel channels. I imagine it uses the same style buttons and knobs, but don’t quote me on that because I’ve never actually seen one or felt one in real life, so would hopefully be as tactile as the Fafner 2.

As I mentioned earlier, my Fafner 2 was pre owned and although it had clearly been looked after, the tube had either been in it for a long time or the original had never been replaced. EBS recommend that the tube be replaced roughly every year as obviously they do wear out. I must admit that I was a little concerned that replacing the tube was going to be expensive but was delighted to find that even ordering directly through EBS a new tube cost me less than £25 including the shipping from Sweden to the UK. The difference the new tube has made is very very noticeable and I couldn’t be happier with the amp.

If you are a blind player then the Fafner 2 or indeed any of the EBS amps I’ve experienced would definitely be worth serious consideration from a tactile and ease of use perspective. They sound fantastic and I’d be very surprised if you couldn’t find an EBS bass amp to meet your sound, size, weight and budget requirements.

To find out more about EBS gear, visit their website at https://ebssweden.com/content2/amps/

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