Tubed Preamp recommendations?

@ WOLF--GARCIA, I concur. My Freya+ is great. But i am thinking, with the power button on the back will i go deaf? :)

Quicksilver remote pre for $1500 new would be at the top of my list.... i have a c-j Classic 2SE and yes they are hard on tubes but if you use a Gold lion 6922 like I have it should last a long time.... i just pulled one out that was 3 years old and still sounded great....  

I got my hands on some 6H23N-EB Reflector tubes from the late 70s and they sound awesome , and are super rugged.   That is whats in there now and so far so good.  

Great stuff fellas, Modwright and the DeHavilland are now both on the list and after much reading I took vintage ARC and CJ off the list because I don’t want to have to deal with repairs. Speaking of ARC, there is a fairly modern SP16L that’s available and has good reviews...the Rogue looks cool, I haven’t looked into them yet. As for the Schiit, I’ll pass on the Freya...I have nothing bad to say about my Saga and with the Psvane tube it sounds really nice...the remote and the way it interacts with the volume knob i find a little quirky but otherwise it’s big bang for the buck. Nevertheless, i want a preamp that I can build around rather than have to upgrade.

I'd go with the Prima Luna 3.

My vote is for the Freya +. I have owned a Counterpoint SA 5000 that I purchased new many years ago when they went out of business for $2500–it was a $5000 unit. I loved this preamp until it’s transformer went— taking with it a lot of other parts! I then purchased a used Audio Research on Audiogon. I did not like the weak bottom end and the overly sweet mids. I heard a lot of good things about the Freya + and decided to give it a shot knowing I good return it. The unit came stock with JJ tubes, It sounded good— but not great. Reading about tube rolling for the Freya I purchased a set of nos Ken-Rad 6sn7gt 9 hole top mica black glass tubes, circa 1950. This took the Freya to a whole new level! I now can say that in some ways I prefer the Freya to my beloved Counterpoint! Don’t sweat the small stuff — with a little tube rolling this is an amazing sounding preamp and an incredible bargain!
  If you don’t agree you can return the preamp and use the tubes on another 6sn7 based unit.