According to one embodiment, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver includes a transmitter enabling efficient preamplification gain control. The RF transceiver comprises a receiver and a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying a transmit signal of the transmitter. The transmitter is configured to provide pre-PA gain control for preamplifying the transmit signal before amplification by the PA, wherein substantially all of the pre-PA gain control is provided when the transmit signal is at a transmit frequency of the transmitter. In one embodiment, the transmitter includes a PA driver comprising in combination: a transconductance amplifier, a current steering block, and an output transformer. Each of the transconductance amplifier, current steering block, and output transformer is configured to contribute a respective variable gain control to the pre-PA gain control provided by the PA driver.