Matching pre-amp for Bryston power amp

And the innards of the 20 are the same as those of the 25. The only difference is no remote on the 20

Am using an Audible Illusions Modulus 3A (current model) with a Bryston 2B-LP and it sounds just fine. The Bryston never sounded better.

Your comment in the first sentence of the second paragraph of your post is revealing. Have you actually listened to the new Bryston BP-26 preamp in your system, or are you ambivalent about doing so because some audio equipment reviewers didn't give it a rave review? I don't mean in any way to sound critical, but with the overall quality of your system, the best advice is: audition the finalists in your own system, AND trust your own ears.

I also own Bryston equipment (see description of my system), and I also have been thinking about adding a good tube preamp, primarily for use with my analog front end. (The other option is get a much better phono preamp than my Lehmann Audio Black Cube SE, and run the signal through the analog bypass circuit in my Bryston SP-1.)

My recent auditions of several tube preamps have reinforced my previous conviction that the "audio quality" differences between a good tube preamp and a good solid state preamp have narrowed considerably in the past five years. One of the preamps (and phono preamps) that I am auditioning (on Wed, Jan 19th) is the Aesthetix Calypso linestage preamp, and its' companion phono preamp, the Aesthetix Rhea (I may post my impressions here on A-gon). Before I make a purchase, however, I also want to hear several good solid state models, and the Bryston BP-26 is certainly on that list.

The January 2004 issue of TAS listed the following preamps in its "Recommended Preamps" list (starting at $2000, and going up to $7500, in order by increasing price):
1. Audio Research SP16L ($2000) (tube)
2. Musical Fidelity A308 ($2400)
3. Meridian 502 ($2600)
4. EAR 864 ($3000) (tube)
5. Herron VTSP-1A ($4000) (tube)
6. Placette Audio Active Linestage ($4000)
7. Sim Audio Moon P-5 ($4300)
8. Aesthetix Calypso ($4500) (tube)
9. Pass Labs X1 ($5900)
10. Hovland HP-100 ($6500)
11. Wytech Opal ($7500)

I've used a BP-25 with my 3B-ST and my 3B-SST. A few months ago I replaced it with a PS Audio PCA-2 (with optional power supply), and I'm still in love ...
Rich

Used the Audio Research SP-11 MKII and worked great