Hah, what a setup, Matt! You rock. :-p

Jay, I bought my Oktava directly from Michael at OktavaMod.com. I think the mic's omni and cardioid capsule have a wonderful, warm, fairly true sound, but the high frequency attenuation really is audible in the cardioid and the hypercardioid capsules - I think the directional capsules are great for dialog or if you like your dialog EQ'd by your mic, which can work for certain voices. The omni capsules sounds the most transparent and, heck, you get ANY mic close enough to a source and it'll be directional. Of course, all Oktavas are extremely susceptible to heavy handling noise. Shock mount 'em at all times, even on mic stands.

But I still feel like the self-noise isn't great, even with Michael's work. I use 'em for "stunt mics" and loud-source material where a small condenser mic is the right thing. If multi-capsule mics are your think and you're on a budget, I'd argue that you should only use modded Oktavas, and Michael (and his wife) are absolute joys to deal with. If you don't need multi-capsule mics, then for the price, brands like Rode repesent a far better value, in my opinion.

They're cool tools to have if your needs fit the niches they fill. Personally, I reach for mine infrequently, but everyone's usage and needs will vary, and it wasn't a huge investment to put one in the bag o' tricks for when they make sense.

(Side note: I also was on a thread over at Gearslutz that I can't find now that had a guy named Zack who got a stock Oktava mid-side rig going. For hot sources it'd be fine, but for ambience recording, it wouldn't be my choice.)