Best Used Tube Based Preamp $2k Or Under?

02-12-2025 at 06:20pm 

@nightfall Luxman CL38uC, or older CL36u

I would love a CL38uC, but in checking, they go for $3500-4k! 

riche569

15 posts

02-12-2025 at 04:49pm 

I don’t know if there is any flexibility in your budget, but if you look at the deHavilland website, I believe the current price for a new UltraVerve 3 preamp is $2495. I spoke to them a while back and I believe they now include the remote. I don’t have any first hand experience with it, but based on what I’ve read, I’ve considered buying it myself.

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Thanks. I thought they were out of business. I checked the website, and the UltraVerve 3 preamp, with remote, is $2995.00. Thats a grand over my budget and definitely not possible. 

This is my last correspondence with Kara (feb 2020).

"Thank you for your interest in my products. I am actually taking a sabbatical from audio. I have been building gear solo on my tech bench for 25 years and need a well deserved break. I would strongly recommend buying a used Ultraverve preamp. Its a spectacular bargain at used prices and all of them are really the same design--so they all sound good and they do not wear out in any real way. Used examples go for $1500 to $1800 depending."

I don’t know if the sabbatical ended but the website seems to have just remained static.

There is this comment on a USAM ad for a preamp (already sold) that indicates some work is still being done by Kara. Best to email.

"He had Kara Chafee at deHavilland upgrade the output caps to V-Cap TFTF ($450) and install a 47 point volume attenuator for fine volume control. The new attenuator was installed at deHavilland ($550 upgrade) in February, 2024."

@nightfall "I would love a CL38uC, but in checking, they go for $3500-4k!” in JP used cl38uc pre goes for less than $2k.. ebay offers start at $2.8k, incl. shipping (lowest I’ve seen n years): https://www.ebay.com/itm/156670112426.. buying used tube stuff you might need additional check / maintenance, no difference to many other older stuff sold in US / else..

The problem is that if you buy from Japan, you have to use a step up transformer which negatively impacts audio quality. The only step up transformers that minimally impact audio quality are $1k or more.