see, now I dont find the 148 to be transparent at all. I use that term for a V2/3 preamp sound.
I think the 148 is warm, fat, up-front sounding. Paired w/the right mics...like 480's, which just suck detail out of the air, it makes for a VERY involving recording.
I"ve heard some amazing mk4>m118 or m148 recordings, so I know that can work out too. I sometimes think the m118/148 might have been "voiced" with mk4's (?anyone?). Those older rev schoeps mic bodies certainly sounded a little thin, and emphasiesed in a upper/mid range that really didn't help things. So maybe Doug built those to work with that ailing scheops preamp body sound.
That said, I would bet the 148 sounds best with cmc4/5 bodies vs. the 6 which sounds much warmer and natural to me than the earlier revs.
I can't think of any cmc6/mk4 > m148 tapes that come to mind as great, though i'm sure there are exceptions. When Carl was running this combo, his tapes often sounded like he 5 wool socks over his little ortf bar. muddy bottom, a blur of sound. Very noticable to both of us as he was coming off of the 481/3s that sounded soooo sweet and articulated every instrument. Those mics went out the door pretty fast in favor for the preamp sound.
In hindsight, Carl should have ditched the 148 and tried the 248, or V2 or something.
I"m not a schoeps fan, but i've come to greatly respect...and recently even go as far as to admire, the cmc6/mk4 sound. But these are mics that require special componants down stream (pre/ad considerations) to really come alive.