Best Used Tube Based Preamp $2k Or Under?

@hightfall my friend had one for a year. Re-Sold it. He just wanted to try it for fun. No real "signature" that he commented about really - was a big collector of tube preamps and has owned and owns several of Dennis Had's Inspire Linestage units, another about to go up for sale later this year.  He felt the sound of Holger's preamp was more dependent the 6SN7 tubes used. Buddy just wanted to try one with tone controls and you might even notice the loudness switch too. Kinda fun.  All in the signal path of course when switched on.  Nobody does that any more, so its really something different. Best to contact Holger and talk with him directly, he's been doing these for a while. Its an option and kinda unique. Are there better preamps, sure. 

I don’t know if there is any flexibility in your budget, but if you look at the deHavilland website, I believe the current price for a new UltraVerve 3 preamp is $2495. I spoke to them a while back and I believe they now include the remote. I don’t have any first hand experience with it, but based on what I’ve read, I’ve considered buying it myself. If you are interested in a Rogue RP1 preamp, which is a decent reasonably priced tube preamp with a remote, I have one that I would consider selling, so you could PM me if you have any interest.

@nightfall Luxman CL38uC, or older CL36u

The SP14 is, IMO, one of the great buys in audio. Rich and linear like the Cary SLP-98 but *much* more transparent and responsive, with a quieter background. Compared to the SP14 I find the Cary a bit thick and slow, but still very musical. The Don Sachs versions are nice upgrades and can be found used (he no longer makes them) but the newer SP14s are no slouches. They’re based on John Broskie’s "Aikido" noise cancellation circuit, next to the Williamson amplifier one of the great contributions to public domain audio circuits.

I would also look at the LTA Velo, which is a preamp/headphone amp but just about in your budget range. David Berning is a brilliant designer.

I haven't heard the DeHavilland but I have very good memories of their 76-based preamp, which was super-musical.

02-12-2025 at 06:20pm 

@nightfall Luxman CL38uC, or older CL36u

I would love a CL38uC, but in checking, they go for $3500-4k!