First tube preamp recommendations (under $5k)

+1 for GAT

The Shinzo recommendation is a really interesting one. I have never heard one… but read so very much. Shindo has a small but loyal following. I am always drawn to the descriptions. I lived in Japan off and on and knowing the dedication for details and iterative improvements,  and esoteric nature of the products  is intriguing. But I have never heard of a Shindo in with say a Pass amp and B&W speakers… it sounds like if you go down that path. If I find some extra money sometime I am going to buy one for fun and see where it leads.

Aric Audio Motherload at just under 5k.  6SN7, dead quiet, variable gain. Very good with my Pass xa25

Audible Illusions used. Affordable & sounds tube great. Worth a shot!

Should look at First Sound; new and/or used. Brady upgrade path to top of the line if you desire in the future.
https://www.firstsoundaudio.com/products

I would check out a pre-owned Conrad Johnson ET-5. It is essentially 1/2 of a CJ GAT1. It listed for $9,500 when discontinued a couple of years ago and are now available for $3,500 to $4,000.

This preamp uses a single 6922 tube, and it’s pretty easy on them, too. So, I run a Telefunken 6922. It sounds great with the Siemens 6922 tube, as well.

i am an owner of an et-5 as well, love it for its utterly beautiful, spacious sound and build quality, and the fact it runs a single tube, so tube rolling is effortless and cost effective

however, it is well known among owners of this unit that it runs the tube fairly hard (6.3 to 6.4v heater voltage, which is slightly above the spec for a standard spec 6dj8 tube) - so that tube will typically get noisy after about 1 year of regular use

there are solutions to this issue but i did not want those folks who may be considering the et-5 to believe that the single small signal tube will last as long as other tube linestages

*****************************************************************************************************

as a separate note, to the other post... the audible illusion mod 3a is infamous for being very hard on its tubes, and for not being at all forgiving of even slightly noisy tubes... furthermore their customer service over the years has been spotty at best... that unit sounds lovely when it is working right, but there are some issues/challenges to long term ownership