I picked up a Rhumba 1.3 recently. Really love what the Rhumba is doing in my system. The bass is well extended and there is a lush midrange coupled with smooth extended highs along with a wide and deep soundstage. I have been through many pre-amps in the past decade ranging upto $8k (most recent was a Lamm ll2.1 deluxe) and I can confidently say that, in my system at-least the Rhumba 1.3 favorably competes with all of them. Lastly the support I got from Andy at Backert was phenomenal. Easily the best customer service that I have experienced in the recent past. I highly recommend Backert to any one planning to get a tube preamplifier.
Preamp Upgrade
I have a Herron VTSP-1/166. Sounds great. Looking for better. I don't know a lot about preamps. I had been using a passive for years until I bought and Herron VTPH and found that they work best often with Herron preamps. Now I've found another phono stage I love and I'm thinking about upgrading the pre. Is there something incredibly simple (I'm vinyl only) that is an upgrade to what I have? Or have preamps not become better for the buck in the last 7 years and it's going to cost $3500 to improve on what I have?