Hi Mick,
I still make Valve MC head amps to order.
In answer to your questions :-
Sorry, I am not familiar with the performance of current MC transformer offerings so I am not qualified to judge them against the Veron valve MC head amp.
The input stage of your MM phono stage is a hybrid FET/VALVE cascode and it can be adjusted to provide enough gain for most MC cartridges. This topology was chosen to keep the cost down as it reduces the number of gain stages required to amplify MC cartridges. The input stage has to cope with different bias settings for MM or MC operation and this forces a compromise. I much prefer the unit set up for MM and driven by the Valve MC stage to provide the extra gain. Each stage is properly optimised then.
Input loading and gain can be adjusted if required so adjustment for different cartridges is possible.
It will work well with the Veron that you have already as long as it remains set for MM cartridges.
I have not made any MC head amps for a while, as I have been too busy with power supplies to promote them, so I will have to check the costing as material costs have increased in this time. It will cost somewhere in the region of £600 to £800. If this is within your budget I will assess the actual cost for you.
The MC stage uses 4 off 6922 or equivalents.
Regards
Paul