Just scored an Extended Foreplay III today!

[Downhome Upstate]

What do I need to know about this beauty? (It won't ship until Monday.)

[Natural Sound]

Congrats, the E-FPIII is a great pre-amp. I love mine. Is there anything specific you’d like to know?

[Grainger49]

Great score!  You will need the extended manual and do voltage measurements to see if the tubes are good. 

[Downhome Upstate]

Do you know where I can get a copy of the manual?

[fullheadofnothing]

The manual should be included with any secondhand amp purchase. Personally, I wouldn't buy one that didn't explicitly state in the add that it came with one. My rationale there is: why would I trust someone to wire an amp who can't keep track of the manual? I'll admit that's judgey and harsh, but hey, that's me... Bottlehead can sell you the manual if need be, but try to extract it from your seller first.

I'm not sure why you'd want to use the manual for testing the tubes. Testing for problems with the amp, yeah. Listening to a tube gives more real information than measuring it; you can listen and hear if a tube has died or become noisey. 12AU7s are cheap, so if it's not working, plug in another. Still not working, it's not the tube. Get a tube tester to test tubes. Get an amp to listen to music!

[Grainger49]

Joshua,

Won't the plate and cathode voltages, relative to the design voltages, give you some idea if the tubes are weak?

[fullheadofnothing]

We are talking about an amp that has not even been used by its owner and tubes that last a long, long, long time. As far as we know there are zero problems with the unit, caused by tubes or otherwise. These tubes are cheap enough to have a drawer full of spares for the cost of a decent dinner, so a full retube isn't really a big deal. If there is an actual problem, then measurements are prudent, but as of now, there is not. You are making up problems to worry about for no good reason.

[Downhome Upstate]

The manual should be included with any secondhand amp purchase. Personally, I wouldn't buy one that didn't explicitly state in the add that it came with one. My rationale there is: why would I trust someone to wire an amp who can't keep track of the manual? I'll admit that's judgey and harsh, but hey, that's me... Bottlehead can sell you the manual if need be, but try to extract it from your seller first.

I'm not sure why you'd want to use the manual for testing the tubes. Testing for problems with the amp, yeah. Listening to a tube gives more real information than measuring it; you can listen and hear if a tube has died or become noisey. 12AU7s are cheap, so if it's not working, plug in another. Still not working, it's not the tube. Get a tube tester to test tubes. Get an amp to listen to music!

Thanks, Josh. Apparently, PB got his hands on this unit from the seller at some point, and either troubleshot and fixed a problem, or completed the assembly.  Here's the link to the Asylum post for the unit in question:

http://www.audioasylumtrader.com/ca/listing/Preamplifier-Tube/Bottlehead/Foreplay-lll-Extended/tube-preamp/116860

Mike   

[Paul Birkeland]

Yes, I did definitely rework that Extended Foreplay III (I can tell by certain parts that are substitutions from our current inventory).

The reason for selling seems odd (you can pad the input of the FP-III enormously), but I think you scored pretty well on that one!

[Downhome Upstate]

Thanks, PB!