Conrad Johnson PV-1

The PV1 was cj's first product. I never sold them - we picked up the line with the PV2, but I have played with a few of the units. It's a little noisy and a little bandwidth limited. For the time it was a great pre, but has been superceded many times over since the early 80's.
Midrange is great and it images well, with that 3D feeling that only tubes can do.

You might consider it as a gateway pre - once you've heard its charms you can't go back to SS.

I have been using a friends PV4 and 6 and both are quite good and have convinced me of tubes on the front end. They are older technology but well maintained. It is a bit warm but the midrange is great and it sounds right. I would agree for a good price ($200-300) it might acquaint you with the tube pre experience if you are a little leery. If you can do better in terms of $$ I would look for a more recent CJ pre like the PV12-14. The current production The Classic is available for $1500 from Spearit Sound and it has great ratings from users and Stereophile. If you can swing that kind of money then I would not hestiate to go there.

I presently own a PV-1 thats been factory upgraded to PV2a that is absolutely wonderful. I have used it with both tube and ss power amps. I had an associate that told me that it was broken when i let him borrow it in an attempt to buy it from me lol. I have used it with Bottlehead Paramours Carver M400 Cubes B&K and Adcom with great results driving everything from Bozaks to Tektons to Zu Omens.While i realize this is an old post i felt my comment is relevant being that i own and use this preamp daily. I wouldnt consider selling it for less than $750