Fethead vs Cloudlifter vs Mogaines vs ?

I've bought a few things from Stephen Sank so that's why I went for the CLs. Don't know anything about the others. I was thinking about the 2 channel version too to save some. But the idea w these is to tie them to the mic stand hooked up to the short cables attached to many ribbons. Otherwise, if you run long cable runs you might pick up noise/RF. That's why many classical engineers put the preamps (sometimes remote controlled) close to the orchestra, even when not using ribbons. Anyway, I planned to use the CLs like this so I went for 1 channel versions for flexibility, otherwise I'd only be able to use (the 2 channel version) on stereo applications, or at least when the two sources were fairly close to eachother.
I've got both standard and Z versions. When I got the Z versions I experimented with the ribbons I have here (4038, RCA 44A, 74B and Varacoustic/MI6203) and to my ears the impedance on the standard version was spot on to give the fullest sound/optimal gain. Could vary with other ribbons of course, or the Z version could come in handy in other cases.

...Tony, I could swear I told you to grab a pair of Chuck Dickenson's "Durham" boxes not long ago...only $65 each and contain the identical FET-based circuit he incorporates in his active ribbon mic...each unit contains 4 hand-matched LSK170 J-fets...they're normally not listed on his Cathedral Pipes site, as he only makes a small run every so often, so you have to reach out thru the site email and request availability...I see there's a small quantity in stock now:

www.cathedralpipes.com/zen-cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=200

...worth the effort!

really? I hate noise, I'm on an impossible mission to eliminate it from my rig all together lol, I always maximize my S/N ratio with gain on a pre, i find you need about 80db of super clean gain with ribbons to get it right, hence my interest in these things(i'd LOVE a JW hi speed pre!). Thump/noise are competing forces that are inextricably combined, meaning thump is only as dramatic in contrast to the level of noise/silence that precedes/follows it, especially when compression is applied, which in effect brings whatever noise floor that is present.. closer to the surface.

To be clear, i don't equate noise with old school vibe, they are indeed two different things imo, and i certainly love the vibe/character of old school.

Love u Tony, but + 1 one this

I think you'll be real satisfied with these...very rugged, well-constructed and great on my ribbon and dynamic mics, and I suspect, every bit as good as the more costly options...they do exactly what they were designed to do...a bargain for sure!

(BTW, there's still 7 units available!)

I found this, Ronan in the house! Ronan is just a cool cat 8)

my comments are certainly being misconstrued, they were in reference to not pulling the maximum GBD out of a preamp, getting the most out of gain staging should be an AEing fundamental ritual, and of paramount importance, what's the point of your digital gears great s/n d/r spec if you don't take advantage of it? i thought it was pretty clear that was what i was saying...no?
    It also goes beyond tracking, I'm constantly looking at continuing to maintain terrific dynamic range between max volume/ silence in a mix, it's what ensures punch, beef, power etc. I'm careful about my use of compression, reverb, delays, etc in order to not compromise the silences i worked so hard to get. You can add a synth pad behind a super punchy mix, completely filtered above and below 3-5k, put it waaaay back in the mix, and still rob it of a lot of it's punch/power, if i'm forced to do something like this, i will almost always go through painstaking automation, or at least key a gate or compressor to squeeze out as much life and punch as i can get from a mix, i know i'm not the only one who understands this. Song and performance aside, the difference between a great mix and a boring mix is the emotion thats created by it's extremes in its contrast of image, volumes, movements= it's power. It's the most important contribution we can make to music as AE's, can anyone seriously argue that?

so i say again, the impact of X is only as powerful as the silence of y and Z that precede and follow it, or exist in the spaces..(or some shit like that lol)
You can even be driving in a car with a very high noise floor and still feel it's implications..without a doubt.

we're always talking about how this industry has gotten so diluted with low levelers, and we need to adapt and figure out a way to stand out from the massive crowd, one way to do that is strive to be plain better. IE, I'm currently trying to get the ambient noise floor in my track/mix room to rock bottom, if someone elses room has 10db more noise over mine(and it's usually much more as i'm at 29-31db right now, and still have some issues to deal with), how much does that add up over 32 tracks...let alone 100 tracks? lol, it's not a huge deal, but it all matters, and it just may be the straw that breaks the back of my competition? So no compromises on my end, skin your cat as you see fit.