Preamp recommendations up to $2000

I am quite happy with my newly acquired Modright swlp 9.0se w/ external tube PS. I have it driving VTL Deluxe 300 monoblocks into Infinity Gammas. Very detailed and not harsh at all. Very nice preamp and a steal at the price.

Dodd Battery Preamp. You don't find many used, but close to that price new.

I've taken a flyer on a Juicy Music Peach. Very curious to hear what a well regarded, sub $1000 (used), 6922 based preamp can do.

Boy there is a deHavilland Ultraverve on agon for $1900+-. Go to the dehavilland website and read Dick Olshers review. Enough said.

I would have thought that "neutrality" was the ideal for a preamp. That is, if possible, the preamp should do as little sonically to the source signal as possible. I'm not sure what's meant by "presence" exactly, or "openness," (no criticism of your vocabulary, by the way--audiophilese is laden with such obscurities) but I would think bass would be better addressed w/ tone controls, room treatments and the like. Ideally, to my way of thinking, the best preamp is the one that exactly matches the sound of the source fed directly into the amp, unless of course you're using the preamp to mollify the perceived deficiencies of something else in your system.