Who makes this Pre-amp?

If I recall correctly I seen a few used TRL Dude preamps that had an option volume control along with the core requirements you laid out. There are a number of rightly regarded members praise it somic capabilities..

Cary Audio SL-P 05 might satisfy what you are looking for. I have one and has great SQ. 

04-04-2019 10:59am, I wrote: “Doug Sachs preamps include PCB’s..”

I meant to write: “DON Sachs preamps include PCB’s..” (emphasis added) 

I hate getting names wrong, so I apologize to Don for having done so here.

hoopster OP179 posts04-04-2019 1:45pm

rx8man

"Very little information on the vuja de website. Also their price points are a bit beyond me. I am looking at $3K or so max. The Don Sachs or DeHavilland look to be my alternatives."

Sorry I couldn’t help, good luck in your search.

Ralph, do you mean if it has tube regulated voltage, e.g., using OD3/VR150 type tubes, etc., or something else? How can one visually tell if a point to point wired preamp has regulated power supply? Thanks.

Whether it is tube regulated or not should not make a difference. An effective regulator will not allow of the sawtooth waveform generated by a rectification to pass to the output. BTW, 0D3s and the like are voltage reference tubes, sort of the vacuum tube equivalent of a zener diode. They are known to make noise and so must be adequately bypassed, and generally are not of much use unless also used with an active regulator circuit, which if in a tube embodiment will have some sort of power tube involved.

It can be hard to tell if the high voltage is regulated but if there are no power devices like a transistor or tube for the task its a pretty good bet that no regulation is employed.

rx8man

Very little information on the vuja de website. Also their price points are a bit beyond me. I am looking at $3K or so max. The Don Sachs or DeHavilland look to be my alternatives.

OP: you might consider this one, too, from Supratek Audio: New Generation 3 Chardonnay Line stage. 6SN7 preamp tubes, 5AR4 tube rectifier, 6L6G/5881 tube shunt regulators. XLR in/out. 4 RCA in/3 RCA out , remote volume.

It appears to check off all your boxes. I am not sure the XLR ins/outs are true differential balanced connections (likely not), but you did not specify that requirement in any event.

There are several Supratek products available on the Market Site. They appear to be shipping from Western Australia.

www.supratek.com.au

“Tube rectified won't do you any good if the preamp has regulated power supplies..”

Ralph, do you mean if it has tube regulated voltage, e.g., using OD3/VR150 type tubes, etc., or something else? How can one visually tell if a point to point wired preamp has regulated power supply? Thanks.

@cscrutinizer

Not many tube preamps can drive headphones directly. Headphones typically have a 32 ohm impedance- that's a bit of a problem for tubes. Its a pretty short list as far as I know; our MP-1 preamp and the microzotl headphone amplifier are the only ones that come to mind. The latter can be used as a preamp. It is based on the 6SN7 and gets excellent comments.

Doug Sachs preamps include PCB’s, so it is not strictly a point-to-point wiring job. Also a quote from his custom line stage landing page regarding his finest preamp: “I cannot do XLR outputs, so please don’t ask. Also, I no longer wish to build preamps with HT switches, so please don’t ask for that either.”

But the Sachs line stage appears to check all of your other boxes. It’s got great aesthetics, and many attest to it having great sound quality. 

I'm looking for similar but with tone controls and a headphone jack.
Does anyone know if Don Sachs can add a headphone jack? Could the preamp circuit drive headphones? Or, do you need a separate headphone amp circuit?

They build exactly what you describe, sound is off the charts, ask for Peter.

https://www.vujadeaudio.com/6sn7-preamplifier.html

I have a Mapletree 2A SE with tube rectification. That’s where I got a love of the octal tube. Just want to see if I can move up with this type of pre and add a remote.

Check out Mapletree Audio:  https://hollowstate.netfirms.com
I have the Ultra 4C Preamp that came with an external tube rectified power supply.  Unfortunately, I don't think that he still offers the tube rectification anymore.  Regardless, it is a great sounding preamp and he offers customizing.  For mine, I ordered the Auricap option and a mono/stereo switch.

Don Sachs,   http://www.dsachsconsulting.com

Allnic

Tube rectified won't do you any good if the preamp has regulated power supplies. IMO/IME regulation in a preamp is far more important! We've been using 6SN7s for well over 20 years. Nice tube.

Thanks for the responses. Do either of you own one of these? DeHavilland I am familiar with though have never heard one. The Custom I was not familiar with but looks right up my alley.

here you go.
http://www.dehavillandhifi.com/UltraVerve-Preamplifier.htm

custom line stage