Budget vacuum tube preamp?

Pacific Valve sells something inexpensive called the "YS Audio A1" that looks killer as does the remote "V2R"...their "Doge 8" seems pretty cool also, and is well regarded. The "Jolida Fusion" is also a sweet preamp...I've heard one of those and it sounds amazing.

Anything from Cayin/VAS, used or new. Great value, great sound.

Ishould have mentioned Eastern Electric which are highly regarded. Not sure they are very inexpensive anymore.

blair chapman. i use it myself.

I know that going with a tube preamp/linestage and solid state amplifier is an often recommended combination. But, you should at least address certain issues before going that route.

First, I have found the interaction of any particular tube linestage with a particular solid state amp to be more unpredictable than going all tube or all solid state. The idea of expecting a "warm" tube linestage to somehow balance a lean solid state amp, for example, often just does not work out. Also, a tube linestage that might be great with almost any tube amp is often more touchy when it comes to pairing with a solid state amp. In other words, an actual trial (or willingness to take a gamble) is a high priority when doing the mixing game.

Another thing that should be worked out are operational issues such as the powering up of gear. Solid state sounds better being left on all of the time, while tube gear should be turned off when not in use. If you chose a tube linestage that makes a lot of noise when first turned on, one may not be able to leave the amp on during such power up of the linestage if there is no ability to mute either component. The noise that some tube linestages put out when first turned on can damage speakers if the amp is powerful. Even if you plan to turn off the power amp when not in use, and always first power up the linestage before the amp, you need to consider the potential effect of an intermittent power outage and the power coming back on--the solid state amp will often come back on instantly, in which case it would be subjected to the noise of the linestage powering up. These things can be worked out (e.g., an automatic mute circuit on the linestage).