Bottlehead Forum
Bottlehead Kits => Legacy Kit Products => Foreplay III => Topic started by: porcupunctis on October 12, 2015, 11:23:37 AM
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A huge thank-you to Doc and Eileen for helping me with the information I needed to do this restore.
I purchased this extended FPIII off eBay for the price of the upgrade (though no longer available). It was equipped with some really nice Mazda Cifte tubes and well built. It sounded great but had some real cosmetic issues. The transformer bell was heavily rusted and there was sticky goo all over the chassis. Underneath, the electronics was coated in some kind of blue paint like substance that made updating difficult. The wooden base was completely untreated and suffered from the accumulation of dirt and dings.
After securing the extended upgrade manual from Doc and Eileen (I had the Foreplay manual from a previous build), I began the work of completely rebuilding this wonderful preamp.
Months later, here is it with wenge base and gold anodized top plate. I literally took it all apart and rebuilt it.
I never thought anything could sound better than my FPIII. The extended version was quite a lesson in sound for me. Both the FPIII and extended FPIII have Mazda Cifte tubes and I can really hear the difference. This preamp has securely found a home driving my Paramounts in the main system.
More later, here is the pic:
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Looks very nice!
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Randall,
That is a really nice build. The base is truly a step up from any of mine.
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Nice job! The extended FPIII is a true classic. One that I doubt I'll ever part with.
Mine drive Paramour II monoblocks wired for 45's and the Bottlehead OT2 upgrade.
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Beautiful work! I think I sold you that preamp. I bought it from a guy in Ottawa. The green stuff was sprayed everywhere! A real mess. Those CIFTE tubes are nice! These BH products should have passport like city stamps for all the places they go!
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I just scored a FPIII off of eBay too. The extended kit is included but not yet built/installed. I plan on modifying this one to run 6SN7's. I wanted to do this with the FPIII in my main system but was reluctant to rip it apart. And I really didn't want to go the tube adapter route. Now I'll have a test bed to A/B the two. The plan is to disassemble, paint, install octal sockets, adjust filament voltage and install the extended kit. A 12AU7 will be used for the shunt regulator in lieu of a third 6SN7. Should be fun!