Bottlehead Forum: Yesterdays Experiment Was Truly Refreshing by Garland

As I was rummaging through the attic searching for my old Carver tuner to try out after a few years of CD only I ran across my McCormack SS preamp and thought, what the heck, try it out. I had used my Foreplay with my Adcom amps and really liked the sound before I got the Paramours but I had never tried the McCormack with the Paramours. So in goes the ss pre and the usual test tracks. Larry Coryell's Ovation guitar("Ovation" 1978) sounded quite nice and fast but with a bit less warmth and body. Joao Gilberto's voice(Getz/Gilberto#2) was full and articulate with out any undue chestiness and his guitar was in good form. Duke Ellington's band at Newport ("Ellington at Newport 1956") really smoked and held together quite well. All in all the pre sounded quite good. I thought, OK, I'll leave the McCormack in for a few days. But first I want to try the Foreplay just for an immediate point of reference. So...Foreplay back in, power up, laser hits the groove of the same Ellington track just played and ..."Holy S--T!!!" All I can say is that yet another SS music sqasher is soon to end up on E-Bay! The Foreplay is just so damn much better: more open, dynamic, detailed, thrilling and the "you are there" quality which is what drives my own quest for musical/HIFI experience is evident in Spades!
I highly recomment that people who came from the miasma of SS musical misery to the magic of our "lowly" flea powered, "budget" Bottlehead components occasionally switch back for a few brief moments to remember from whence they were delivered!

Happy Labor Day!

Garland