Audio Research SP-9 $1250 on eBay. Seller notes recent service and excellent overall condition, manual and spare tubes. This is a screaming deal from a recognized high end brand. I would add that the adjustable gain allows proper gainstaging and optimized signal/noise ratio that is simply unachievable with other preamps lacking that ability. That translates to greater transparency, definition, detail, and soundstaging, all of which require a low noise floor.
If i wasn't preamp heavy right now I'd buy this myself.