Well here's the thing, let's say your mic is -60dBV/Pa, and you are recording a source that is 74dBSPL at the capsule, that's -80dBV. Even an extremely quiet pre won't exceed equivalent input noise of -130dBV. That gives you SNR of a mere 50dB, or comparable to condenser mic self-noise of around 40dBA (a bit more than 44dB because of the A-weighting). Most people would consider that to be fairly horrible noise, and the more you amplify it, the more objectionable it will become.
But let's take that for what it is. A converter generally will do a little better than -100dBV of noise, so you need to get your noise about 10dB above that level, which is only 40dB of gain. That gives you a signal level of -40dBV, which is probably something like -55dBFS. No, that's not a strong signal level, but you know what? You won't change the SNR materially if you add another 50dB of analog gain before the converter, or just do a 50dB digital gain change.
The bottom line is that insensitive ribbon mics and quiet sources are never going to mix, because the physics doesn't allow noise to get much below the levels listed above.
AEA's ribbon pre attempts to change that equation with a very high impedance input, but it needs a cooperating mic, which would have a correspondingly high-ratio transformer. That increases the mic's listed sensitivity, but also requires a preamp with that high input impedance and low current noise. That's what AEA has done.
Even so, if the ribbon mic doesn't take advantage of that with an appropriate transformer, there is nothing further to be done. +80dB of gain won't change that 50dB SNR.
I would use the quietest preamp you can find at 50-60dB of gain, and use digital gain change and noise reduction as required . . .
