This surfaced on ebay recently:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370171960171I don't expect the quality to be anything to write home about, but the price is hard to beat for noobs on a tight budget.
Since they offer shipping from several countries, you can avoid customs and long distance postage costs no matter where you live.
I don't think there are any other offerings where a noob in EU can get a stereo preamp incl. shipping for less than $50.
I've mailed a few question regarding gain (fixed or steppable?), plug-in power etc, which weren't covered in the FAQ.
One drawback is the odd powering option: one G27A 12V non-rechargeable battery. It remains to be seen how long the runtime is in a taper setting.
Technical data:
* WIDE COMMON-MODE
* LOW INPUT BIAS AND OFFSET CURRENT
* LOW NOISE en = 15nV//Hz (typ)
* OUTPUT SHORT-CIRCUIT PROTECTION
* HIGH INPUT IMPEDANCE J–FET INPUT STAGE
* LOW HARMONIC DISTORTION : 0.01% (typ)
* INTERNAL FREQUENCY COMPENSATION
* LATCH UP FREE OPERATION
* HIGH SLEW RATE : 13V/ms (typ)
The line-in preamp is built with high speed J–FET input quad operational amplifiers incorporating well matched, high voltage J–FET and bipolar transistors in a monolithic integrated circuit. The devices feature high slew rates, low input bias and offset currents, and low offset voltage temperature coefficient.