Good tube preamp w/ HT bypass


I've finally decided to snag an AVM30 for my pre-pro, and aragon 8008 amps for my amplification (or Sherbourne 7/2100 - I bought both, and will sell whichever I like less).

However, I keep hearing about tubes! I don't have any experience with them, but I'd love to give it a try. I've read that by combining SS amplification with tube preamps, I can preserve the bass control of the SS w/ the midrange of tubes.

SO - are there any preamps you can recommend to me to try and/or demo? I need it to have HT bypass, so I can use my HT rig separately from this...

I've read the Rogue Magnum 66 is good... The audio research sp-16l is supposed to be good... And the TAD-150 was recommended to me (http://www.angelfire.com/biz/bizzyb/TAD-150.html) but I can't find any other information on it.

Non tube pres that have been recommended to me are the sonic euphoria plc and adcom 750; but i'm not sure if either would better the avm30.

Oh; budget would be $500-1000, used or new. Thanks for any recommendations!
kincade
BAT VK3i with remote would be at teh top of your price range. It has an HT (unity gain) bypass setting.
Ok; so far we have:

Rogue Magnum 66 - 0 votes

The audio research sp-16l - 2 votes

Sonic Frontiers Line 1-3 - 2 votes

belles 21A - 1 vote

Anthem Pre 2L? - no votes

Looks like the Rogue and Anthem aren't too well known?

The SF line 3 is too much, as is the ARC sp-16l; I can't find any of them anywhere near to $1k. Do any of the above sound close to those?

Can anyone describe how these sound? Are they very accurate, or do they add a lot of "tube" to the sound?

Thanks again!
Kincade,

I have not yet heard the Belles pre, but it will be arriving any day now. It is a hybrid, combining tubes and ss, a FET valve design I believe. Audio by Van Alstine also offers such a pre. May also be a name to consider, not sure of the features though.

Good luck,
I have the Anthem AVM20 for HT and a Cary SLP2002 tubed preamp for 2 channel. The Cary has a HT bypass and with the right tubes, the Cary preamp is an absolute steal used. I have compared it to the Bat VK30 and it stomps all over it. It is a little more than your budget at 1400-1600 used. Have you purchased the AVM30? If not then I know where you could get a great deal on a demo AVM20 which would free up some resources for a nicer 2 channel preamp. If not, then my vote is on the Anthem Pre-2LSE.
Matty,

I don't believe that the 21a is a hybrid, but a true tube pre with an emitter follower configuration. I had the pre at one time and remember it having 2 12Au7s and no FETs. The pre sounded great after replacing the coupling caps with equivalent Auricaps and rolling in Mullard CV4003s instead of stock tubes.