Tube Preamp - What to buy?

Definitely a used EAR 868PL with Phono and remote, or EAR 912 as mentioned above, they share the same line stage!

EAR 912, if you are into Vinyl, but otherwise I wouldn’t bother to put the extra money into it.  

Buy four NOS Siemens PCC88 (7DJ8) and you got a killer preamp, that matches a lot of SS and tube amps👌🏻

Another plug for the RP-1. Get it new with warranty and then use the extra $$ to find a nice set of vintage tubes you like. As others have said the phono stage is worthy. I auditioned the Moon 110LP against the RP-1 internal and the Moon was not worth the spend.  And that was with a Rega P6/Ania.  I email Moon and they responsively help me dial in the LP for the Ania.  I also called up Rogue and they helped me dial in the RP-1 for the Ania.  So purdy confident I was not wildly misconfigurated.

You will find that the selection of preamps with tonal controls and a built-in phono section to be very limited. If you could consider a line stage with an outboard phono preamp you will find a much larger selection to choose from. If you choose to go that way you can find a good solid used tube line stage and a decent used phono preamp that will equal or exceed most built-in phono preamps well within your budget. Just remember this when buying used tube equipment, many people who own tube equipment are tube rollers, usually when they sell there equipment they swap out there expensive and matched tubes for lesser quality and unmatched tubes thus reducing the sound quality of the equipment by sometimes a large margin. So be prepared to include in your budget the price of new tubes, which for preamps or line stages is not much but amps on the other hand is a different story.

Sound advice from @millercarbon! $2500 is the range of many fine integrated’s. Solve your amp problems. Buy an integrated. I bought a Willsenton KT88 for $1280 delivered. I spent $600 on tube upgrades. It drives my Martin Logan Spires just perfectly. What does $2500 buy today besides a used BAT. That wouldn’t be bad but I wouldn’t invest that kind of money into a 20 year old preamp. Buy new and save some money. Buy a tube integrated! It’s all the power your speakers need, imo. 

Conrad Classic 2 SE. This preamplifier has upgraded Teflon Caps and Vishay Resistors along with a precision Alps Volume control. Unfortunately it does not offer a remote or a phono section. If you are moving towards separates then the lack of a phone stage should not bother you however the lack of a volume remote might. This unit sounds incredible and falls within your budget. I lived with this for a long time before upgrading and did not mind the lack of remote, but not everyone would accept this.