Building my first bottlehead Foreplay preamp!

I haven't soldered anything yet (still need some supplies), but the base is finished, with all components attached to the chasis. I'm very excited about my first DIY amp!!

I'll let you know how it's coming along, and I'll post a picture when it is complete.

Could I possibly use the Foreplay preamp with my Mcintosh MC202 amp, or would I hurt something?? If that's an O.K. setup, I might use that until i find a proper solid state preamp (please see my post in classifieds).

I want to get into tubes SLOWLY, and these DIY kits seem to be the way to go.

Loads of fun

 

The Bottlehead Foreplay should work fine with solid state amps. The "cathode follower" stage in the preamp does impedence matching which is something that relatively low input impedence solid state amps (compared to tubes) need.

 

That Mac isn't an integrated SS, is it?

 

The MC202 is not an integrated amp, just a power amp. That's good to know that I'll be able to use the Foreplay for the time being

Time to practice my soldering! If I have any questions Sckott I'll give you a yell.

This little preamp kit is highly recommended. I am NOT the mechanical type, but the directions are very precise and easy to follow.

 

Yep. I've built 3 of them.

If you need some great NOS tubes, I have 2 6189's I can give to you as a gift. I usually buy a sleeve of green-printed RCA or Sylvanias hanging around the house. I just strike on eBay when I see em.

They're all brand new. Never seen light of day.

That should cover the AC/DC LP you snagged for me.

I have a Dynaco I will be selling soon, but not sure yet I haven't fallen out of love of my extra one.

Keep in touch.

 

The Foreplay shouldn't hurt anything. But, if I'm reading the specs right, the 202 in unbalanced input mode has a sensitivity of 1.7v to full power. With the Foreplay, which can swing a LOT of voltage, you'll end up with the dreaded "hair trigger volume". One way to address it is to pad down the input, or to build the Sweet Whispers at the lower sensitivity setting.

As for the build itself, the best advice I can offer is to take a lot of care soldering. I was really anal when I built mine, waiting for each joint to cool and then checking resistance to see if the joint was soild. I actually caught a couple of bad joints this way (with the coated magnet wire, bad joints are easier than you might think). The result was no hum (No. 1 complaint) from the get-go.

John K.

 

The Foreplay is very efficient. With a Dynaco, I've never seen more than a 10 O'Clock volume. Louder than that, and I'll be on the evening news.....

True about hum, and those pesky cold solder joints. With the coated magnet wire, just use some sandpaper and raw-out the wire a bit, or it won't solder to the RCA jacks too well.

Good luck, George.

 

Thanks for all of your tips. When your ready to sell the Dynaco Sckott, let me know