Best budget phono preamp?

There is a little known small box phono pre with user adjustable gain from Australia called Redgum superb very musical presentation. A little more than the Bellari and SS, but friends of mine are generally stunned by its quality -for a little box pre. You can find them here at an Agon dealer Quest for Sound. No it doesn't compare to a Supratek but it's really very good for the money. See if you can audition one. No I have no affiliation financial or otherwise with either Redgum or the Dealer. I just stumbled into it.

the grado

K&K Audio, kit version of Art Audio vinyl reference

The Channel Island Audio VPP-1 is a nice little pre that is in your budget range.

Trigon Vanguard II - $495

Solid state. Lots of gain and loading options to "dial in" your cartridge.

I don't have the Volcano II power supply (another $495) and mine still has an extremely low noise floor.

Tried Grado, Monolithic Sound, Rogue, and a few others and this is the one I kept.