Cheers for that, but I'm interested in doing things the "old way" so to speak, and to the best of my possibilities. So a modern, non transformer coupled, solid state preamp is certainly not in my horizon, however more appropriate it probably is to squeeze out every last bit of performance from old ribbon microphones.

Weirdly enough, considering it's been mentioned in this discussion, my only preamp at this time is a modified Ampex 601, with a multi tap UTC Axx series on one input and the original Ampex input iron on the other. I'm able to choose multiple taps to match the mic's output impedance, but i have to say, the audible effect is more often than not rather negligible.