Upgrading preamp. Best for under $1K

I am partial to tubes in the preamp by a large margin.

A used Audible Illusions or Melos would be very good if you can find one.

I have also bought 12 clone board sets from Aliexpress as well as helped modify several complete tube preamps from AliExpress for local audiophiles in the Las Vegas Audiophile society of which I am the admin.
 I can say with certainty that this one ARC clone is REALLY good as well as the EAR .https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256801635725386.html?spm=a2g0o.cart.0.0.4b2856bacbP0UP&mp=1&gatewayAdapt=glo2usa

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805647237552.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.1000014.3.6c902d7dhWEDV2&gps-id=pcDetailBottomMoreOtherSeller&scm=1007.40050.354490.0&scm_id=1007.40050.354490.0&scm-url=1007.40050.354490.0&pvid=e59b8f66-042f-471d-9b0e-271629892df7&_t=gps-id:pcDetailBottomMoreOtherSeller,scm-url:1007.40050.354490.0,pvid:e59b8f66-042f-471d-9b0e-271629892df7,tpp_buckets:668%232846%238110%231995&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21USD%21860.00%21765.4%21%21%21860.00%21%21%402101c59116955078871795873e9863%2112000034513797567%21rec%21US%21139333621%21

I would not hesitate to buy from either seller as well. The VTA SP-13 mentioned above is locally made here in Las Vegas as well but is not as good of a value and is a but "Tubey" to me but some like to add that flavor.

The Musical paradise is the best bet if you want to tweak and play with tube and coupling caps and is a good into to basic DIY mods.

If you get into DIY then the playing field opens up a lot. 

There is a lot of suggestions that the best value is to be had when a Kit Design is adopted.

The idea of this should not be off putting, I have nearly all my audio devices produced by Electronics Engineers.

If a Engineers Service is to be used, the cost per hour in the UK, is usually between £30-40.

A Pre Amp Build will come in at approx' 3-4 Hours + Testing Time.

When this method is adopted the end user can decide on any Boutique Components wanted to be used and the design for the Casing they want.

My most recent build, that is 75% complete, is to have a Panzerholz Casing produced, which is intended to be the better of material options to attain the best from the sonic. This is done commercially by a limited amount of Companies and comes on Products that command a substantial asking price.

If a commercial route is taken and a Brand is selected, the cost of the aesthetics used for Casing, can alone surpass the costings for the products components, and the casing cost will most certainly surpass the overall costs for a Third Party Service Built Kit Design.  

I wouldn’t say ’it’s easy’ to get a great preamp under a grand, however, I’ve had that challenge before and it can be a lot of fun. There’s a lot of very very good stuff, especially vintage stuff, that you can really enjoy chasing down. Make sure to get good, competitive pricing on whatever you choose so that if it doesn’t work out you can at least get your money back- or most of it, moving it along so the next guy who needs $1,000 preamp.

And if I could add, when you're dealing with that kind of budget, I myself would keep it solid state because it'll be a lot easier to get something that works right out of the box now and going forward without having to dik around with tubes, which are lovely, but it's all a crapshoot without really good tubes.

Ps, I wasn't going to suggest one particular preamp because there are a lot of good ones in the world of vintage gear. That said, for a little more than the grand, I recommend a Krell KRC 3 which can probably be had for $1,200 at this point in time. For 1,200, you'll be living with a fine preamp that sounds better than some $5,000/$6,000 preamps I've had- and it has a remote.

Thank you all for all the recommendations. I am intrigued that their are quite a few within my budget that have tube preamplifier. Honestly I really like the tube sound but for the type of music I listen to might not work well and that is mostly rock to latin. I also listen to some vocals but where I want to get is a balance and tone of the overall sound. I really like the to have a tight, articulate, well define bass which is one of my priority I think the Rotel has this region right. What lack with the Rotel is the anything in the upper midrange and high end as far as dynamics.