[didier.brest]

I have been in touch with Manley about the noise from this microphone (see my post above). Mine is new. I estimate the self noise level to about 25 dBA (no official figure given by Manley, see my previous post). I believe that this figure is normal for this microphone. Note that the tube used in Manley microphone is no longer the one used previously:

The all-tube electronics in the MANLEY REFERENCE SERIES MICROPHONES are built around two triodes in cascade forming an entire gain-block. We have recently switched to a dual-triode 12AT7 tube, easily obtainable and replaceable, mounted in a ceramic socket. (We originally used 6072A until it became impossible to find quiet ones out of the NOS dreck left on the market, then we used 12AX7 for awhile.)