New (to me) amp day!

[Steve1250]

I bought this because I wanted something that will handle two ohms, I've been using a Mesa D800 up to this point but it's started to get unreliable, I've also got a trace Elliot AH300SMX, which I love but I can only use it with one cab. I wanted something old school, I know I'll probably start an argument now, I don't mean to, but I don't really like class D, preferring old school solid state, I'm convinced I can hear a difference. Anyway, I read loads of reviews on the Fafner and they were all pretty good. It's of a size, not being overly big and heavy, that means I can take it to smaller venues with just the super compact, , but it'll pack some punch through both cabs at larger venues. Pretty excited to try it out at it's first gig tomorrow night...with both cabs!

[Steve1250]

Gig went well, quite impressed with the Fafner, I read a few reviews where people said they couldn't get enough volume out of them, that picture shows where my volume was set, and the singer still asked me to turn down!  It sounded great with the Sandberg but really came alive with the G&L, I ended up backing the drive right off to get the clean sound I like, all in all very impressed with it. Being first gig with it the D800 was there as a back up.

[ossyrocks]

I haven't tried enough amps to be certain there is a difference, but my main gigging amps are old school solid state affairs. If I carried on I would have to use the "H" word, so I won't.

 

I'd like to try one of those some day.

 

Rob

[Dood]

From the same family, I can confirm that the 802 also sounds tremendous with the Barefaced cabinets. So, I knew the minute I started reading your post it was going to have a happy outcome. Congrats!

The only odd thing I found recently was that the rubber feet on my 802 actually got stuck to the BT3's finish lol.. something reacted and they became "temporarily inseparable" - is that an oxymoron? ha ha! (My other amps have been fine). 

[thodrik]

I have owned a Fafner since 2009. It still works great and generally all EBS amps are really reliable and share a similar-ish preamp, drive and compressor design. 

The Fafner is an older style design compared to the HD350 and TD650, which I have always found to sound a bit more refined, but the differences are really subtle. The current 802 is essentially a Rolls Royce of an amp which I would love to try but haven't.

The main design flaws of the Fafner are: 

 

- the cosmetic bulb which glows red is prone to blow, however this does not affect the operation of the amp. It is worth replacing it with an LED bulb which will last longer; 

- the fan is on the side, so despite being a 3U unit you need a 4U rack case to allow for ventilation; and

- it is 620 watts at 2 ohms, so using at 8 ohms it is a little bit unpowered compared to its size, but still useable in a gig (I use it with a single 8 ohm 15 inch cab for rock gigs and rehearsals without a problem).

 

My favourite features: 

 

- awesome compressor; 

- loads of headroom on the preamp; 

- really great drive control; 

- really flexible preamp;

- the 'Bright' control offers fantastic control of high frequency articulation; and

- the master control has a really useable and practical volume taper, so it does just go from silent to really loud (like my Mesa Big Block). 

 

If it is a used amp, try replacing the preamp tube (it is really easy to do so), as it might improve the sound of the drive control.

 

Funnily enough, my back up amp for the Fafner used to be a Trace Elliot 300 SMX!

 

 

[Steve1250]

On 15/05/2025 at 15:24, thodrik said:

I have owned a Fafner since 2009. It still works great and generally all EBS amps are really reliable and share a similar-ish preamp, drive and compressor design. 

The Fafner is an older style design compared to the HD350 and TD650, which I have always found to sound a bit more refined, but the differences are really subtle. The current 802 is essentially a Rolls Royce of an amp which I would love to try but haven't.

The main design flaws of the Fafner are: 

 

- the cosmetic bulb which glows red is prone to blow, however this does not affect the operation of the amp. It is worth replacing it with an LED bulb which will last longer; 

- the fan is on the side, so despite being a 3U unit you need a 4U rack case to allow for ventilation; and

- it is 620 watts at 2 ohms, so using at 8 ohms it is a little bit unpowered compared to its size, but still useable in a gig (I use it with a single 8 ohm 15 inch cab for rock gigs and rehearsals without a problem).

 

My favourite features: 

 

- awesome compressor; 

- loads of headroom on the preamp; 

- really great drive control; 

- really flexible preamp;

- the 'Bright' control offers fantastic control of high frequency articulation; and

- the master control has a really useable and practical volume taper, so it does just go from silent to really loud (like my Mesa Big Block). 

 

If it is a used amp, try replacing the preamp tube (it is really easy to do so), as it might improve the sound of the drive control.

 

 

 

Funnily enough, my back up amp for the Fafner used to be a Trace Elliot 300 SMX!

 

 

I love my Trace Elliot, it just won't do both my cabs at the same time, I was looking at using  a PPA300 and the preamp out from my AH300, too much hassle though, and that's when I came across the Fafner. I'm just getting used to the settings on it, I backed off the drive at the last gig because I prefer a clean sound, think I have the mids where I want them and it sounds pretty good to me now. Not too bothered whether the red light works or not, if it packs in I probably won't worry about replacing it. Any brand of tube you'd recommend for the preamp? I have a feeling I'll only have enough room for the Super Compact at tonights gig so I'll see how it goes into 8 ohms, I'm pretty sure it'll be plenty loud enough!

Edited 4 hours ago by Steve1250

[Steve1250]

On 15/05/2025 at 14:01, Dood said:

From the same family, I can confirm that the 802 also sounds tremendous with the Barefaced cabinets. So, I knew the minute I started reading your post it was going to have a happy outcome. Congrats!

The only odd thing I found recently was that the rubber feet on my 802 actually got stuck to the BT3's finish lol.. something reacted and they became "temporarily inseparable" - is that an oxymoron? ha ha! (My other amps have been fine). 

That 802 looks amazing, much of a difference to the old Fafner do you think?

[Dood]

12 minutes ago, Steve1250 said:

That 802 looks amazing, much of a difference to the old Fafner do you think?

 

Over the years, I've video reviewed or tried out pretty much the entire EBS range, sadly not a Fafner! I think in terms of clean tone, they may be quite similar, but the Fafner II does have a separate drive preamp' section wheras the 802 does not. The EBS MicroBass III takes those elements from the 2 channel Fafner and squeezes those in to a pedal, so I would assume that having an 802 and MicroBass III would do just the right amount of damage. I do really rate the MB3 too.

 

{edit} then I scrolled back up to the top of the post and reminded myself you have the Fafner I, so, in that case, I'd ponder that the 802 can "get" the Fafner tone along with all the other extras on board. I have to say, I love the two semi-parametrics in the pre, rather than just the one on many amplifers. (My favourite amplifer has 4 making it happy with every bass a throw at it)

Edited 3 hours ago by Dood

[Steve1250]

22 minutes ago, Dood said:

 

Over the years, I've video reviewed or tried out pretty much the entire EBS range, sadly not a Fafner! I think in terms of clean tone, they may be quite similar, but the Fafner II does have a separate drive preamp' section wheras the 802 does not. The EBS MicroBass III takes those elements from the 2 channel Fafner and squeezes those in to a pedal, so I would assume that having an 802 and MicroBass III would do just the right amount of damage. I do really rate the MB3 too.

 

{edit} then I scrolled back up to the top of the post and reminded myself you have the Fafner I, so, in that case, I'd ponder that the 802 can "get" the Fafner tone along with all the other extras on board. I have to say, I love the two semi-parametrics in the pre, rather than just the one on many amplifers. (My favourite amplifer has 4 making it happy with every bass a throw at it)

Thanks, interesting about the pedal, might look into that