+ 1 for Aric Audio recommendation. You can reach out to the owner, designer who has a passion for his work, he’ll listen to what your needs are, match those needs to one of the current designs and he’ll also redesign one of his offerings to ensure you get exactly what you are looking for. All with top notch, high quality parts and a history or really happy customers that rave about the quality, attention to detail, value and most importantly the sound of the gear.
OP, I have a solid state amp (Krell 300xd Duo) and matching a tube Pre was a challenge, the amp is designed fully balanced with the XLR inputs providing the best sound. The amp is also sensitive or better put, designed to use with pre’s that don’t have a really hot signal coming in (gain). I found that it was more common for Tube Pre’s to either offer no balanced options or not be a truly balanced design. When I found truly balanced Pre, finding a pre that matched the gain for the amp was also challenging. I landed on a PS Audio BHK Preamplifier and it’s been great so far. Picked mine up used. I tied various other Tube Pre’s but none had the right synergy with the Krell. I’ve also had a Coda Integrated CSiB, Coda makes great gear, I used the Pre in that unit for a minute with the Krell, paired really nicely. It’s not tube based but you might find the either Coda’s top of the line Pre or the pre that sits below that would give you some of the best attributes of a Tube Amp. I almost went with the 0X7 pre. Coda makes unbelievable gear, the quality of parts, design and build quality are second to none and rival gear costing multiples more, silly how underrated or really under the radar they are. Best advice would be call Coda, you’ll get one of the owners, designers and they are extremely knowledgeable, I’m sure they would offer up Pre suggestions if you were stuck on Tubes, they don’t make any Tube gear but would still point you in the right direction.
Good Luck,
