Preamps with variable gain... pros and cons?

the best budget preamp in that issue is mccormack micro line drive that has three active modes of operation 0dB, 6dB and 12 dB of gain and completely passive where you can use it with no power supply.

i did not research a tube preamps on that issue but everything is possible there since even for small signals you can use switchable to tetrode operation thus increasing the gain or decreasing back to triode...

opa!
somehow i recalled that that BAT VK50 tube preamp have an adjustable gain that is very simple to set up simply from the front panel from the attenuation levels to the higher amplification levels using 24 steps attenuaters on each of the channels(i assume that this preamp is dual-mono).