Are they worth it. Totally. The Langevin AM-16 is a wonderful sounding mic pre. Balls for days with a clean great top end. I have 4 that I use for drums and guitars all the time. I so far have found JLM out of Austrailia to have the best package. They go thru them and make sure everthing is working, Replace what is not except for the transformers. They also do the mod to give them 50db of gain instead of 45db. This really helps when doing softer vocals. They also fix the gain trim issue in a nice way which can be a bit tricky with these units. I love these units.

Michael Greene
mjgreeneaudio@comcast.net

ditto, I have two and they totally rule,rule,rule. gain trim IS a problem, I built a pad on the front end that goes from 0 to -30 in 5db increments, used a rotary switch and chose standard pad ratings for the input impedence (150 or 600 ohms) and this has really worked out nicely. You could use a balanced stepped attenuator, like a daven or a shallco but these are pretty desirable on ebay so you'll pay some loot for em

the gain is just a matter of soldering a jumper differently when you hook em up.

the power supply is a straight up +24v. but you probably need phantom too.

Almost all the stuff I'm talking about I learned to do by browsing the web, and if you check the tech talk forum you'll find pretty much all you need to know.

don't pass these up, you'll be sorry

Kelly

Sleeper is right, You can do it yourself via information now available on the internet. I think the DIY group here has some info. I did do mine and they work great. I am currently looking at having them redone to make them more bullet proof. Like most old gear it can get a little cranky depending on the phase of the moon or how bad the singer is. (I swear equipment stops working if you have a bad musician.) Another unit you should check out is the AM-17. Same design as the AM-16 with an extra gain stage to give 57 db of gain. I have found these on ebay for various prices. A pretty good value.
Michael Greene