Do you have an old receiver with a phono input? Knida bulky, but you could use pre-amp outputs or even a tape loop output from that receiver to make the receiver a phono pre-amp (tape loop might actually be best, as it should bypass the volume control on the receiver). If you've got one that you can use for that task, there's a free solution. Others here may have some thoughts on -- synthfreek has a phono preamp for his Rega, and may have some thoughts on inexpensive "real" phono preamps.

Merry Christmas!

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Gonk