G.S.A which is a brand of Sachetti Audio has a new 500 series Mic Pre called the Vitrum 501. It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles but it's said to offer pristine sound and at a very reasonable 259€. Definitely worth investigating at this price.
From the website:
"The Vitrum 501 is a microphone preamplifier in standard API 500format, hand-assembled with the highest quality components.The name, Vitrum (Latin for glass), indicates the incredible cleanliness and transparency that this preamp has, with very low harmonic distortion even at high gains. Use whenever clean, dynamic sound is required, such as acoustic instruments and voices. Each component of the circuit has been carefully chosen to ensure the best performances from the input /preamp section (using the finest Op-Amp specifically designed for audio) to the output section, characterized by a special circuitry that allows the typical character given by an audio transformer….."
- Hand-Made in Italy;
- Standard API 500 series;
- Solid state circuitry with high quality components;
- Transformer-like floating output;
- Ultra clean sound;
- Very low distortion, high headroom;
- Phantom, Phase Reversal, Pad;
- Maximum overall gain 66dB.
Price 259€/351.91 USD