12-23-09: Ptmconsulting I have a Transfiguration Temper that puts out .2mv. I'm running it into a Hagerman Piccolo step up that boosts it by 26db, which then feeds a Hagerman Trumpet boosting another 44db gain. I find that the Piccolo is extremely quiet and that I get no more noise from my Temper than I did using my old Dynavector with 2.5mv output.
As long as you have a quiet step up device you should not have any more noise than you would with a higher output cartridge, but all things considered a solid state phono stage will be quieter than tubes, and may also provide enough gain to let you avoid a separate step up alltogether.
