Preamps ... no bass or treble control?

I think Bigjoe is right. Although I own a tube preamp without any tone controls (just volume) & have had many other high end preamps of the same design, I also own one with them. I have a B&K PT3 that has bass & treble settings but there are no mechanical knobs to turn. The settings are all done with the remote. It is very nice sometimes to adjust the tone settings slightly to offset room acoustics & recordings that need this compensation. I'll be damn if I can tell they are hurting the music signal in any way because it still sounds very transparent/airy, & detailed. I might get away on this thread by saying: One slight turn of a tone control can save you hundreds or maybe thousands in interconnects & room treatments etc. Naturally people with unlimited resources will disagree but a well engineered preamp with tone controls will do less harm to the signal and I'm enjoying my music tremendously either way!

I'm aware that if you invest enough money into your gear, the sound quality reaches such a degree that tone controls are an unnecessary circuit that would ultimately degrade the signal, I've been there. It is also true that preamps with tone controls are generally midfi or less but there are a few quality preamps out there that have incorporated tone controls with little effect on the overall sound quality. I have found even using the highest quality preamps (ARC Reference ll MK ll) and then inserting the B&K PT3 with tone adjustment, at times raised my musical enjoyment to a higher degree with some music. But we live in a free country, if you want to use them, no one will come to your home and arrest you! I don't have audiophiles sitting in my living room taking notes when I play my music, so ultimately I have to please myself regardless of what preamp I'm using. You can do whatever turns you on.