Honestly, I don't think you will do better than the Placette for a standard passive. It appears to use disrete Vishay S-102 resistors, so it is going to perform pretty much like every other stepped attenuator. I would say that you could look at passives with a transformer if you wanted something a little different and "colored":
http://remusic.it/EN/Shootout-Test-Eleven-Passive-Preamps-with-Transformers-8e1d2000
By the way, it appears that The Truth preamp is an active device, so it is not really a true "passive".