Tubed Preamp recommendations?

Look for a CJ PV-1. You can find them for $600/800. They sound fantastic .

Surfmuz...if anyone is incapable of reaching over a Freya (which has room for this since the tubes demand the room) to switch it on I sympathize...mine turns on from the power conditioner anyway, although I do switch it off if I want the other items (non tube) to stay on. I don't think this is generally a widespread complaint. I actually have compared my Freya (original version) to other, more "precious" preamps including ARCs and others and it holds its own, and in fact sounds a lot better than many. It is an astonishingly good preamp that's far less expensive than most, mine has had zero issues with microphonics with any of the various tubes I've tried, and cherry picking complaints from here and there is meaningless when compared to the overwhelming success reported by many happy Freya owners. I can only assume you haven't actually compared a Freya to the preamps you've mentioned, or you lack the experience to understand what you're listening to.

@ WOLF--GARCIA, I concur. My Freya+ is great. But i am thinking, with the power button on the back will i go deaf? :)

Quicksilver remote pre for $1500 new would be at the top of my list.... i have a c-j Classic 2SE and yes they are hard on tubes but if you use a Gold lion 6922 like I have it should last a long time.... i just pulled one out that was 3 years old and still sounded great....  

I got my hands on some 6H23N-EB Reflector tubes from the late 70s and they sound awesome , and are super rugged.   That is whats in there now and so far so good.  

Great stuff fellas, Modwright and the DeHavilland are now both on the list and after much reading I took vintage ARC and CJ off the list because I don’t want to have to deal with repairs. Speaking of ARC, there is a fairly modern SP16L that’s available and has good reviews...the Rogue looks cool, I haven’t looked into them yet. As for the Schiit, I’ll pass on the Freya...I have nothing bad to say about my Saga and with the Psvane tube it sounds really nice...the remote and the way it interacts with the volume knob i find a little quirky but otherwise it’s big bang for the buck. Nevertheless, i want a preamp that I can build around rather than have to upgrade.