A decent preamp to complete my setup?

Hopefully this doesn't irk anyone but cartridges haven't come into the equation just yet for me. I'm at work at the moment and away from home for the next month or two in a remote area , but I'm planning to do some local looking into cartridges when I get back to get as much info on them as I can since I know nothing at the moment. That being said I'm quickly coming to terms with the fact that a $300 budget isint gonna cut it in terms of getting everything I need to get up and running.

I can accept that since I really want the pay off for hearing that first note come through sounding marvelous to be as big as possible, and now my price point really opens up thankfully. If a phono stage, cartridge, and preamp are all things that I need, given my current equipment are there any recommendations you (or anyone for that matter) would care to give for any? I'm just a recent college grad so I can't do anything extravagant like $5,000 components, but anywhere up to $1,000 for some of the more key elements is fine with me. I'm patient and don't mind saving for things, I just don't know where to look and for what when it comes to buying things like phono stages or cartridges....for now anyways!

Thanks for all the information and clarification lowrider! Talking shop with specs is still a very new practice to me, but it's great to hear from someone who knows what they're talking about that the original caution about gain wasn't completely off base!

At the moment I don't have an idea for what cartridge I'll be using, but that's mostly because I wanted to do some looking around back home in person at local shops to get a better idea (and understanding) of how they worked and functioned. Taking into account the gain of both the cartridge, phono stage, and preamp however, I'd greatly appreciate any recommendations for either that would help me get an idea of what to look for or even just flat out purchase. Like I said I'm perfectly fine expanding my budget by saving up more at the cost of getting everything up and running sooner, so at this point I'd like to assume I'm decently flexible on price points. I won't be able to throw around $4,000 for a preamp or anything of that magnitude, but I certainly am okay with moving a decent ways out of my original $300 mark since I need other components regardless.

Thanks for the amazing recommendations Soix! I looked at both and they seem like exactly what I'd want out of my components at this point in time, plus the price points are right on the money! I'm excited to see it all come together when I get back home and get everything situated. Again thanks for the great information and recommendations. 

For the phono preamp I like the idea of the Schiit Mani, but my only concern is the gain that comes with the various settings. I'm not too certain on how important this is considering it's the gain in the phono preamp versus the passive Saga preamp (I've been doing some reading up on the Schiit Saga and I honestly love it at this point). Assuming the Mani phono preamp gain is a non issue then I'd have no problem picking it up, if nothing else for the cartridge flexibility, but I don't know if it makes the 12-15db gain sweet spot that lowrider was kind enough to explain, a non issue since the preamp would be a passive one with the Saga... If that makes any sense anyways