Transistor Preamp that sounds like a Tube Preamp?

Eric Pritchard has studied this. He has some opinions on the way they sound. It may not be the ground truth but he has tried to emulate the tubes sound in overload with SS. He builds guitar and microphone amps.

In the music industry the main issue with SS is how they overload badly - try telling a musician and a band that yesterdays sessions are all useless becuase some SS mikes were overloading (not great for repeat business!!). I don't agree with everything he says but I share his believe that overload behaviour is the major difference. (Most people do not realize how easy it is to drive even a very powerful amp into overload without necessrily souding loud...speaker that are difficult loads are often to blame)

If you don't need gain, I think a Placette Active (buffer)would accomplish what you are looking for without tubes.

Have you looked at McIntosh? Their new C-2300 is a tube unit that now has both MC and MM phono stages. I recently replaced my C-2200 with the C-2300 and love the openess and transparency of the C-2300. It retails for $6k. McIntosh is often described as making tube electronics that sound like well done solid state and solid state electronics that sound like well done tubes. If you still want solid state, look at the McIntosh C-45 or C-46. You can read a comparison of Mac's tube vs. solid state gear in either Absolute Sound or Stereophile archives. McIntosh is often looked down upon by many, but I have thoroughly enjoyed my Mac systems over the years. Plus, it's still made in the USA.

I would recommend the H-Cat P-12R X7 which meets your requirements but doesn't sound like tubes either.

Thanks, guys. My problems with tube preamps:

The tubes get noisy.

Even matched sets of same tubes can sound different.

Yes, you can vary the sound with different tubes, but you are trading different colorations along with the improvements.

More hum and ground problems than with SS by far.

All tube preamps I've tried are not very accurate devices. They sound musical, but they have gross variations from neutrality and add substantial colorations. Some of these may account for the air, echo, ringing etc., but some are just plain inaccuracies that are not always good, such as glaze, texture, exaggeration.

I found this even worse in tube amps. I've since moved on to MOSFET amp, which doesn't sound like a tube amp, but still has many of the characteristics and is much clearer, less hashy, and far less maintenance issues.

I'll look into the Rowland Capri.
I'll also read the Pritchard article.