Thank you Scott for the well wishes. It's been a drag for the past several months. Today is the first day I feel almost ready to return to work for a few hours. I'll probably wait until Monday though just to play it safe.
I have never noticed any additional noise using a line transformer. For years I've found that most musicians don't even know what I'm talking about when I ask if they are using one. Generaly, a low z mic is producing a range of between 50 to 150ohms where a high z mic is at about 600 ohms. The benifit of the LowZ is less possibility of noise and much longer cable length possibilties. If you don't bring the level from the low z mic up to this higher ohm rating, you just don't get the same performance when plugged into a jack looking for a higher level. The transformers run about $15.00 and I would probably suggest you find one and give it a try. Many of my customers who record really find they get better results when correcting the ohm load using a transformer.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California