Bottlehead Foreplay driving Zen Amp?

[krikor111]

I'm finally getting around to building my Zen amp. However, the article indicates that a preamp capable of driving the amp is necessary.

Is the Bottlehead Foreplay such a preamp? I notice on its website that it can swing 20 volts ... anyone tried this combo?

Of course I may just build the Bride of Zen if I can find a proper dual volume control (I'd prefer not to use mono pots).

Thanks.

[dmitriy167]

Although I don't have a Zen, this should work. The Foreplay is not a preamp that is particularly picky with power amps. I will work with pretty much anything, including my chip amp. However, I should recommend having the c4s mod installed on the Foreplay, as without it, the Foreplay will cloud the Zen's sound a bit.

[Panelhead]

Originally posted by krikor111
I'm finally getting around to building my Zen amp. However, the article indicates that a preamp capable of driving the amp is necessary.

Is the Bottlehead Foreplay such a preamp? I notice on its website that it can swing 20 volts ... anyone tried this combo?

Of course I may just build the Bride of Zen if I can find a proper dual volume control (I'd prefer not to use mono pots).

Thanks.

I have a Zen V4 and tried several nice tube linestages with it. For some reason it never sounded "right" until it was driven with a solid state line.
The Zen is low gain due to it being a single stage amplifier. It really does need a good quality driver to sound its best.

George