Looking for a good phono preamp solid state...

Well, this question would get a lot more answers in teh "Analog" forum, but you should do reasearch and look into the Graham Slee Era Gold mkV phono pre.

I have it along with it's matching Elevator EXP "transformerless" steup unit for low output moving coil cartridges.

The GS units a fatastic and work well with the four carts I have - Grado "The Statement"($2.5k version), ZYX Fulji FS silver ($1.5k), Cartridge Man Music Maker III ($1k), and the clasic venerable Denon DL-103D.

All those carts are unique in their own way, sonically. And the GS products help discern the flavors without adding it's own signature to the mix.

I've seen the GS Era Gold selling used here for $775 lately. I don't think there are many that can compete in that price range and maybe more.

Looks like I made 2 mistakes...

1) Not seeing that Mfs was looking in the sub-$500 range

and

2) Giving the impression that I was trying to be the "forum police" - I wasn't. Just thinking that he would get more answers in that forum because phono preamps deal specifically with....phono.

Anyway, back to the original question:

I've listened to the Musical Surroundings Phonomena and it is great little performer for it's price on the used market. The Lehmann Black Cube SE and Mccormack Micro Phono Drive fall in the same price range.

The Grado PH-1 can be had for $500 new.

Also, the Benz Micro Lukaschek PP1-T9 can be found at the next step up in price, ~$650.