Don't make the mistake of thinking a 'toob' is automatically going to
give you the sound you want.

Mikey, you are of course, right. But there seems to be a reluctance to
address the simple fact that there is equipment which is said by many to
have a vintage sound. It may be due to transformers; it may be mistakenly
associated with tubes, it may be due to other aspects of circuit design,
but it does exist. My question is about mics and preamps, not about all
the other elements that go into making a good recording.

Keep in mind that there are many types of "vintage" sound. Some "vintage"
sounds like ass. I'm guess that you may be mistaking a vintage sound for
really great mikes and really great preamps in a nice room with a great
engineer recording great talent with great instruments. It's a combination,
I don't see how you can seperate it. You will get many different answers to
your question, because it's a matter of personal taste. So here's mine:

U-47---GML Mic Pre---TubeTech Opto Cell Compressor

Lemmee see, yep... there's a tube in there :-)