Hell no. What, make a post with valid information? What kind of a forum do you think this is? :?
Serously though, your right. I am just going on what other people, like Ollie, have told me. I figure build a 76 and 72 first, then what use will the transistor stuff be? I mean, if a car company built both a Mercedes and a Volkswagon Beatle, why buy the Beatle, unless your a masochist? (Sorry Keef!) Souping up a Sparrow Hawk does not make an Eagle.
Most of the white coats were gone from Telefunken by the time the transistor stuff came out. And transistors were pretty low quality when they first came out. So why not build the Tele tube stuff and build the Langevin/API/ETC stuff that has a proven track record? Then, if you happen to find some Tele transistor stuff on evilbay for cheap, go for it. But good luck finding parts.
From Ollie:
:Without the proper interfacing units or buffers, there is not to much what you can use, mic pres were either V72,76,77 and 78, forget about the a/b/t stuff they are just buffers and may or may not sound good as mic pres...
The transistor area units were based on the tube modules so designations are the same V276 (376, 476 and 676) are designated mic pres, and the V272,372,672 are mic pres but need in most cases modifications to sound good.
Everything else ANT, Lawo, etc. is not worth the price because they do not sound the same than the tube and real transistor units.
I do not think API, Neve etc. compare to the german transistor modules, entirely different battle class....
To rack or not to, is quite a difficult question, first I would put the money were it is badly needed, rebuild the units first, make sure it is done by a professional and done to specs, before you get into the cosmetic part.
Racking, very nice to have but most racks are quite questionable for the price they are offered. If you buy plug and play racked units, make sure it was done right...
To answer your question in short, there is no shortcut into good sound, if you want to V76, save the money and buy one, if you do not want to spent get something that is cheap, there are several hundred mic pres out there you can get for under $100...
If you have lots of time check out the Surplus offering of german radio stations.
Here is one link:
http://www.wdr.de/unternehmen/t-boerse/index.jhtml
There are about 20 government owned in germany so lot of potential to get some cool stuff...
Best regards,"