Budget preamp recommendation...besides Schiit.

Oh yeah, budget: stretch it,

consider extra cost divided by many years, not much really, just gotta get the dough now: so sell something, give up doing stuff, go out to eat less, buy less content for a while, tell the wife NO MORE SHOES (just for a year)

Aric Audio makes a budget tube preamp. ~$1700 I believe.

Consider Icon Audio out of UK. Their No. Am. Distributor in Canada in excellent. 

Aric is a great choice as is AVA. 

I currently have a Parasound P5 preamp for sale here. It's in Mint condition and I'm open to offers. See if it fits your needs.