Highest value pre under 1.5k used?

Says used in the title. 
 

something from Rogue or Jolida if want to go tube. 
 

ss not sure. 

Robert Grodinsky Research RGR 4. List price in 1981 $600. I bought mine for $200 a few years ago! A superb preamp from the founder of pro audio company RG Dynamics. Sound quality competitive with any of today's four-figure preamps.

What do you need for feature set?   Remote?  Dual pre-out ?    Balanced?   

Excellent point, yes I need all three. Thank you!

You may have to stretch that budget to get all three.   I just bought a NIB old stock Zesto Leto preamp.  Sure it was more than I planned on spending but it was worth every penny.   I have long said the preamp is the most important component....maybe even more than the speaker you choose.   Which also is often times used with components that don't do them justice , so you upgrade speakers.  The electronics are so vital to good sound. 

Your options are better if you can do without balanced.   Quicksilver preamp with remote, have Mike wire tape out in parallel with main out so you have dual rca out.  Killer pre, brand new for $1600. 3 year warranty.  Its way better quality than most anything close in price

I have a pair of QS Mid Monos and his headphone amp.

Those amps sound so good.... they compete with much more expensive amps .   

Used I would recommend a CJ ET3 SE if you can find one reasonably 

Quicksilver excellent SE. You might find an ARC used….

ModWright SWL 9.0 SE. Not balanced. Great preamp for the money.

You can get a new Belles Aria pre for that. Warning though, I’ve had the more expensive Bells Aria Signature on order for over 3 months now, and Johnny at Audio Connection is checking on it’s status for me this week. I’m trying to be patient. You might try Johnny about the ‘standard’ Aria, heck, he might have one in stock, don’t know.

There is a used Counterpoint 3000 listed here on Agon right now. I understand a nice pre. It’s a bit over your budget though, maybe they would entertain an offer. You can find Counterpoint pre’s on the used market and know they are well regarded, but out off business now.

Good luck.

@bkeske  Feel your pain as I waited much longer than promised for Belles Aria Monoblocs, but it was worth the wait, however painful :)

I later bought a used Belles Aria pre to front the monoblocs, and couldn't be happier with the result.  I look forward to hearing your opinion of the Signature version.

@doni

I later bought a used Belles Aria pre to front the monoblocs, and couldn't be happier with the result.  I look forward to hearing your opinion of the Signature version

Thanks for that. Yes, I will be patient. johnny said the Signature version is definitely the way to go, so trusting Johnny, jumped on it and will be patient, even if it take a couple more month. Just can't wait to hear it in the chain. 😉

Easy, the Topping pre90 ($500) + Ext90 ($250, optional). Look at the preamp used by this Stereophile reviewer,

Perlisten S7t loudspeaker | Stereophile.com

I have the same preamp and it is great with the Benchmark AHB2 (also good with Parasound A21+). It had some volume issues with a few other amps I tried it with. 

A Benchmark LA4 preamp which may be available at a used price of $1500, a new one is $2600. It sounds exactly like the Topping pre90 but it works perfectly with all amps I have used with it. It also has better features than the pre90

The Topping pre90 and Benchmark LA4 are preamps you use of you do not want the preamp to add to the sound.

Check out Aric Audio. He makes a tube preamp within your budget. He can configure it to your needs. Great guy to deal with.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions, I do have a Quicksilver but it is out of commission right now, it's an old 6dj8 version. It does sound very good when it worked. The Benchmark stuff is intriguing also, I am going to read more about the Topping. Thanks again!

So why not call Mike at QS and see about getting it repaired.... I bet its worth the cost to repair.

used rogue audio RH 5 linestage headphone amp.  stereophile class A.  hard driving transparent and energetic.  

Just stretch a little bit and go for the Rogue Athena (no affiliation to the seller or to Rogue) currently listed in classifieds. It will trash anything else in this range, especially other Rogues.

+1 on having the QS repaired. You own it and like it. 

Easy, the Topping pre90 ($500) + Ext90 ($250, optional). Look at the preamp used by this Stereophile reviewer,

Upcoming review of the Topping pre90 ($600) on Feb 2022 Stereophile.

Go to Amazon and buy the NuPrime dac-10.

It has an outstanding preamp section...plus you get an excellent dac.

I've heard the preamp section in this dac, and it's a lot better than a lot of $2k preamps that I've heard.

If, you don't like it, Amazon has a very liberal no questions asked return policy.

It costs $1700.