Have a look at a canary c803 there is a nos one on eBay at the moment it is a four chassis design so true channel preamplifier. Each channel has its own power supply and each channel has its own volume control. The volume control is a stepped resistor ladder. Is is at 7500 USD. This is at the very top end in my opinion. So that would be what I would like if I wanted tubes.
Solid State my favorite is Ayre k1xe preamplifiers. Same thing it has a stepped resistor ladder for a volume control.
Now to your question minimalist design s are generally more money than ones with a bunch of extra junk on them. That being said there are some cheap minimalist design preamplifier s that only offer one feature which is low sound quality.
Regards