I had a littlebox with switchable input trannies, and I loved running my 460/mk46/ck1x combo into that littlebox with the trannies on. If was wonderfully warm. The problem was that it ran hot, and I was always worried I was going to brickwall at a loud show. Most recently I was running 461's or 481's into my OCM R4 Pro, and liked it, it seemed significantly mellower than the V3.
I've always found it interesting that different mics and pres seem to blend differently in different combinations; interesting because it's not always predictable. I used to think "those are bright mics" and "that is a warm pre", etc, but it's not that simple. Here are some rambling examples.... With AKG's my V3 is "too detailed", AKG's into OCM R4 Pro is "smoother". With my Gefells, it's exactly the opposite. Gefells and AKG's into Mini-MP was good (too bad the form factor sucks). With a Busman T-mod R4, it seems neutral with AKGs or Gefells... a bit lifeless, but not objectionable in any particular way. In some cases, with a given pre and caps, switching between 460 and 480 bodies seems to matter, and sometimes it doesn't. I never got an "akg active project" setup mostly because it adds another variable, and I would probably have to go through another 3 preamps until I found one I liked with them. ADK-TL's seem to mate well with almost any pre, and Schoeps seem to tolerate almost any pre well also.
What does all this mean? I don't know, except that it's not always predictable, and at an intellectual level I would really like to understand it. I suspect a lot of it has to do with input/output impedances of the particular devices, which most of us don't think about very often. Some studio pres have variable input impedance to allow the engineer to tweak the flavor of the mic. I've never used one so I don't know if it's really audible with music, or only when recording unicorn farts with properly burned in cables.
Anyway, I just bought back into Team Gefell. but I haven't sold all my AKG's yet.