Smash vs Extended Foreplay III

[Larpy]

I did a search and could only find one thread that compares the Smash to the Extended Foreplay III.  Can anyone else who's heard both preamps chime in with their impressions?

My preamp is a much-loved Extended FPIII that I converted to use 6SN7 tubes.  Would the Smash be more of a lateral move or a significant step up?

[Paul Birkeland]

The two preamps are far enough apart in terms of when they were produced that there won't be a ton of direct comparisons. 

What I do remember is that the advent of the Quickie ultimately led to us discontinuing the Foreplay and reevaluating our entire line of preamps.

[galyons]

I have a FPIII stock, FPIIIExt with 7N7 tubes and a Smash.  The stock Smash is much better than the stock FPIII in every sonic parameter.  The stock Smash and the 7N7 FPIII Ext were very close, but the FP had high quality PIO caps.  Once I brought the Smash up to "boutiquey"  it, again, was better than the FPIIIEXT in every way.  The Smash can be very touchy in terms of microphonics while the FPIIIExt has always been solidly plug 'n' play.  The BeePre trounced them all!!! Oddly, I have never compared my Quickie to any of my other BH line stages.

As always, YMMV!

Cheers,
Geary

[Alonzo]

Don't do it!! You'll be surprised how good the Quickie is.

[Larpy]

Thanks for the responses.  I know the BeePre might be the logical replacement for my Extended FPIII, but I don't think I have the clearance in my audio rack for a preamp with 300B tubes.

Those of you who have a BH 300B amp or preamp, how tall overall is it, including the 300B tubes?

[Larpy]

Found the answer to my question on Wikipedia of all places (I was looking at tube data sheets and not finding an answer):  300B tubes are around 6 1/2" high.  Definitely too tall to fit in the space I have for a preamp in my audio rack.

Thanks again for the responses.  For now, I'll stick my Extended FPIII.  It still sounds great to me a good 10 years after building it.

[Paul Joppa]

In our amps, the chassis plate is usually about 4" above the surface, and the 300B sticks up 5.5" above the chassis.You will want at least 1.5" more for ventilation, so 11" absolute minimum shelf space. Some boutique 300Bs are taller than the WE standard ST-19. The WE spec is 5 5/16 above the tube base, 6.5" including the pins.