a very good purist type preamp is steve deckert's "zen triode" design (zt pre). dual volume controls and outboard power supply, not many concessions to ergonomics (only 2 inputs, no remote). it does allow switching between low and high gain, and different output capacitor couplings, so it's flexible as far as the kind of sound you can get.
i own one, as you can probably guess.
it is extremely transparent sounding. it is also unique in terms of both features and sound for the price (about $900 with a lifetime warranty).
www.decware.com
well if this sounds like an ad, i guess it is.
if you don't need much gain or switching, you can look into his passive design, which is $400.
The bottlehead preamps are excellent also and dirt cheap, if you are at all interested in building one yourself. www.bottlehead.com
the adcom is good but good the best tube designs are clearly better soundwise when it comes to adding gain to the signal (tho better, rare at the price level). by the way, the decware designs are not at all tubey sounding in the sense of warm, instead, they are totally neutral and minimalist, preserving fine detail in the signal.
good luck!
i own one, as you can probably guess.
it is extremely transparent sounding. it is also unique in terms of both features and sound for the price (about $900 with a lifetime warranty).
www.decware.com
well if this sounds like an ad, i guess it is.
if you don't need much gain or switching, you can look into his passive design, which is $400.
The bottlehead preamps are excellent also and dirt cheap, if you are at all interested in building one yourself. www.bottlehead.com
the adcom is good but good the best tube designs are clearly better soundwise when it comes to adding gain to the signal (tho better, rare at the price level). by the way, the decware designs are not at all tubey sounding in the sense of warm, instead, they are totally neutral and minimalist, preserving fine detail in the signal.
good luck!