Ricky W. Hunt wrote:

I can't run my TLM103 on the preamps I have over unity gain (miking
moderate vocals at 12"). Which is fine but I was wondering does this
mean (after phantom powering of course) it could be connected directly
to a tape deck (with no mic preamp) or any line level input? I've read
about things like that but have never done it so I have no experience.

Well, "moderate" vocals probably wouldn't drive the line inputs of your
tape deck to very good levels, unfortunately; you'll most likely need some
amount of preamplification, or else the recording will be noisy.

Just from curiosity, what preamps do you have now that you can't use?

If your tape deck has balanced inputs with an impedance greater than 1 kOhm,
you can try connecting the microphone directly (after phantom powering as
you say). However, it's very important that you not send the phantom
powering voltage into those line inputs, since that could damage them.

Again, what type of phantom power supply would you be using, and does it
have transformers or blocking capacitors on its outputs to prevent DC
from being passed along to the next component in line?