Suggestions for Phono Preamp

I'm interested in a decent phono preamp in the $1,000 area code (plus or minus a few hundred) for my Rega Planar 3 and I have a dynavector 20x2l mc cartridge to work with a tube amp which has both rca and xlr inputs. 

Here's the thing. I really don't like those tiny switches, especially when you have to open the preamp to get to them. Also, I hear that it is best to play around with the gain but how do you do that if changing the settings is a pain in the rear?

There are some preamps with the knobs for settings but they almost always are in the back and, again, that drives me crazy. Why can't the settings be in the front so you can easily access them and make changes/adjustments so you can actually hear differences? 

Anyhow, if anyone has suggestions, I'd much appreciate it.