best bang for the buck tube preamp?

Hey Pauly: You should call or email Lloyd Peppard of MAD for info on the kits. I have the Ultra 4A which doesn't come in the kit form. A good friend recenty built the Triplex and it pretty much looked like the one on the website with a few changes of his own. He loves the triplex and that's the direction I would take if I was doing it all over again as you get the choice of the different circuits. I still have my Foreplay and it has a special place in my heart, but I think you would be happier with any of the Mapletree products for the long haul. Also, my friend that built the Triplex also had previously built a Foreplay. I am certain he would tell you the same as I am. In addition, he thought the Triplex was easier to build as there was more room to move around when soldering all those joints. The Foreplay box is still a little cramped for the ole soldering gun. Good luck with whatever you choose. Let us know how things turn out.

I'll second Benies suggestion for Space Tech Labs. I recently listened to their pre, hooked up to a Sim w5 and a pair of Maggies. It really is a great pre-amp. For the money? an excellent pre-amp.
Also make a really fine passive, wich I prefered.
http://www.space-tech-lab.com/

thanks for all the input everyone. im kinda leaning toward the Mapletree Audio Line 2A SE. good or bad choice?

I recently went through a search for a reasonably priced tube preamp.
Ended up getting an Audio Mirror PP1.
Audio Mirror also makes a linestage only (T61)
that is a little above your pricerange new, but gets rave reviews.

Also, this looks interesting:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?preatube&1169122199

I have no affiliation with this ad.

Good Luck.

What other components do you have? particularly your amp? The 2A has a low output impedance so it shouldn't be hard to match with an amp. Your amp would need an input impedance of lower than 4.5K ohms for their to be any problems. Has adjustable gain which is good and makes it flexible for amp matching. Separate power supply which is good. Barring some unforseen reason not to choose the 2A, I think its a great choice. I think you will really like it for a long time to come.