Tube phono pre amps

As always, finding a very good used one will get you more than buying new.

hifishark is a great place to find used equipment

here is ’tube phono’; USA only; sorted by first seen, new first. (to snap something you know you want before someone beats you to it).

after that, I switch to Canada, a lot of good stuff up there.

you can sort by price, and you can put a range of prices, min/max. I do suggest viewing a few hundred over your budget, sometimes a very desirable item pops up

. For protection, I ask and get answers in writing; then use PayPal, and I fund PayPal with my best credit card which gives 2 layers of protection as well as the written answers you received..

These are pretty good and they are on sale.  Only a wee bit more than your target. 

Hagerman Cornet II  great sound for a good price

I went through 4-5 tube phono pres before landing on this on

He can get a Hagerman Trumpet MC (better than Cornet, though I'm sure that's a great value too), still well under budget at just under $1300. Stupid good, fun sound for the money. Responds very well to tube rolling (not all tube phono stages do).