Anyone built the Beesneez DIY C12 Clone Microphone Body Kit?

[mics]

Here’s what I ended up purchasing for the not-included parts in the kit to keep my momentum rolling, trying to confirm with Ben if it should work and keep the intended BNC12 sound:

Vishay Dale Resistor 100M
RES 100M OHM 1% 100 PPM 0.5W
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/vishay-dale/RNX025100MFKEE/2712891

Nichicon CAP FILM 10000PF 5% 100VDC RAD
10000 pF Film Capacitor - 100V Polyester Radial
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/nichicon/QYX2A103JTP/2117777

(backup) Nichicon CAP FILM 10000PF 10% 50VDC RAD 10000 pF Film Capacitor - 50V Polyester Radial
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/nichicon/QYX1H103KTP/2117678

(The already-connected wire on the board was 22awg, so I tried to match that) Hook Up Wire, 22 AWG Kit 200 pcs, 6" each
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/remington-industries/CS22UL1007SLD-5/12446892

Please forgive my extreme newbieness, just trying to pay it forward to chronicle my path and share my learns if anyone else ventures here in the future, I really benefited from the other build threads and existing help (and I probably should have started with one of those first).

these will work. I am more than happy though to send you components and some really nice silicon sheath hook up wire if you need at my expense. again, sorry for the parts being omitted.

 

[mics]

The main thing I'm still confused with right now is the not-included resistor and cap that join tube pin 2 and connects to tube pin 9.

• Ben's instructions mention a 15ohm resistor and 392k cap.
• Ben's message to @johnsonic were 100m resistor and the cap can be anything from 2n to 10.

I've bought a variation of all of the above, and am not sure which route to follow. Functionality first (no fires), then best sound hopefully.

For a cap bridging tube pins in a mic, does the style matter?
I bought a 15ohm 5watt Vishay Mills, 15 ohm metal film and carbon film resistors (and another 15ohm 1watt specifically for audio as well).

Not sure if any you should not use or if it's just a matter of preference of sound. Since this C12 build seems different from the others on this forum, I'm not sure what a similar comparison would be.

Hi again. the resistor that joins from pin2 to pin 9 is a 100Mohm resistor) the 392K capacitor is a 3.92nf cap. any cap from 2nf-10nf will work the same and can be changed to last. I though prefer the polystyrene.

thanks

 

[mics]

I have no idea about pins 4 & 5, unfortunately. Just emailed Ben to see if he'll jump on this forum to help us and those who come after us.

Pin 4 and 5 are the ground pins. use a resistor leg to join them to the ground tab on the supplied 7 pin xls insert.

Not trolling at all, I appreciate any comments. I read in another thread here that someone was able to return a Beesneez mic body as much as 6 months out but I honestly haven’t looked into it, and I shudder at trying to send something back to Australia.

Ben did get back to me via email and apologized for the missing parts, he said he packed it himself. He’s on holiday overseas but will send the parts when he’s back. I have spent at least an extra $50 trying to buy various parts in hopes they’ll work, so I should be able to proceed soon. Super nice guy, and I’m pretty determined to try and work through this as I’m excited to hear how it shapes up, then move to more documented builds posted here. It’s tough dealing with someone as busy as Ben and different time zone but his kindness and quality makes up for it to me. Whereas to compare my experience but hopefully but not flame - the micparts guy responds in 2 minutes but usually makes me feel like an idiot with my newbie questions (so I’ve moved on from their builds).

I do wish I had a better guide though as some of the pictures are confusing about the cabling.

I’ve got the capsule mounted and will move on to the cabling and component adding soon and will document my progress for any feedback.

Hopefully my trials and stumbles will help other newbies out there too if this build shapes up as a winner!

Thanks so much for your kind comments here. I really do my very best to keep supplying some kits for those wanting to build their own products. We do find that sometimes we cop some flack on this and other forums but it's not through lack of trying I can assure you.

I hope your build goes well, just another hint; the capsule sits very close to the head grille so maybe get some clear glue (like 6000 series) and gently layer it over a few coats on the inside of the grille (where the solid metal rail goes vertical). this stops any possibility of the capsule centre wire tabs (capsule bias and reference) touching the sides and thus making pop sounds.

I hop all of this info help and please feel free to call me on my cell phone if you need any more help. If it is too expensive with your carrier to call me, send a SMS and I will call you!

thanks

 

[kingkorg]

Come on guys! let's not do this.

Transfomer (common; no, iron starved; no {measure the inductance before making comments please} our own design and manufacturing!
Powdercoating Done by us! (well a shop up the road actually)
Capsule (spacer size is used to match the capsules as in every other capsule ever made too) (each batch of capsules will have a slight difference in the bevel not the hole size))
PCB and components also populated and soldered by us. Average Australian wage in total inc superannuation and workers compensation is over $50.00 /hr and factor in some profit too. How many hours do you think it takes to make a mic like that?

we have sold over 15,000 of those since 2005.

The Neumann U87 ai has a total parts cost of around the same amount.

I am trying to be as respectful as possible. I simply report what i found inside. A lot of things are different now in '22 compared to '05.

 

[mikeaude]

Hey, Ben,

Is there any chance we'll ever be able to get a backplate for the Lulu that more closely matches the KM84 cross-slit design?

Thanks for doing what you do.

Mike

 

[lightningbefore]

You are the best Ben, thank you so much! I’m so excited to get started, I don’t think it’ll be too tough once I get rolling. Hopefully my last remaining newbie question is if XLR 4-5 pins that are joined via a resistor wire should also join to the XLR shield? Another tube mic I made did have to do this, but if it’s not explicitly called out here I don’t know if that’s required or not. Here’s a pic if it helps:

 

[mics]

Hi

You are the best Ben, thank you so much! I’m so excited to get started, I don’t think it’ll be too tough once I get rolling. Hopefully my last remaining newbie question is if XLR 4-5 pins that are joined via a resistor wire should also join to the XLR shield? Another tube mic I made did have to do this, but if it’s not explicitly called out here I don’t know if that’s required or not. Here’s a pic if it

You are the best Ben, thank you so much! I’m so excited to get started, I don’t think it’ll be too tough once I get rolling. Hopefully my last remaining newbie question is if XLR 4-5 pins that are joined via a resistor wire should also join to the XLR shield? Another tube mic I made did have to do this, but if it’s not explicitly called out here I don’t know if that’s required or not. Here’s a pic if it helps:

Sorry. A bit hopeless on my part. It’s not pin 4 and 5 to shield, it’s 4 and 7 as i have marked for you on the picture. Thanks.

 

[mics]

These are the pins explained. Sorry, my bad on the pins. It is pin 4 and 7 joined to ground as in this picture. I do it this way so that our producer series psu pinout is the same as many other brands, this way, our psu is often used as an upgrade for those mics.

 

[lightningbefore]

@mics got it, thanks Ben. So pins 4-7-shield joined via resistor wire. Does pin 5 get connected anywhere then? On the earlier instructions it said pin 5 was same as pin4, but I don’t know how that would still apply in this scenario.

With my Producer PSU, what other mics could I use it with? I have a Charter Oak SA538B and some mic part mics that are tube, and am curious if some of the other DIY tube mic projects on this forum could also be used with it. I would be awesome to buy another BNC12 and convert it into a BN251 if that could be possible, too.

Other than that, I’d love to take you up on the offer for your better XLR cabling and the resistor/cap parts and will wait to start my build until after you’re back. Until then I’ll so you can get back to enjoying your holiday! Thanks, Jeff

 

[lightningbefore]

Hi Ben @mics apologies for pinging you here too but I tried email and text over this week and weekend to no avail...

I am more than happy though to send you components and some really nice silicon sheath hook up wire if you need at my expense. again, sorry for the parts being omitted.

if you're back in the office now would it still be possible to get the missing official parts for the hookup wire, cap, and resistor? I'm order 29387.

These are the pins explained. Sorry, my bad on the pins. It is pin 4 and 7 joined to ground as in this picture. I do it this way so that our producer series psu pinout is the same as many other brands, this way, our psu is often used as an upgrade for those mics.

I have two more questions here - if Pin 4 joins to 7 to ground, do the remaining open pins shift to Pin 5 orange wire from transformer and Pin 6 yellow wire from transformer? Do you have a list of other mic brands that will work with your producer psu? Or do I need to just check the wiring of my Charter Oak SA358B to see if it's the same?

Many thanks, I'm still super excited to get started on this one.

 

[johnsonic]

@lightningbefore @mics

I too have the producer series power supply, and it doesn't match the xlr pinout as shown on page two. My pinout is as follows (lightning, you may want to check yours before going too far down the road). Also looking forward to the missing parts - am also excited to get started on this!


Pin 1 = B+
Pin 2 = heater
Pin 3 = pattern
pin 4 = ground
pin 5 = audio +
pin 6 = audio -
pin 7 = ground

 

[lightningbefore]

Yes! Thank you @johnsonic.
I also just confirmed the same with Ben. He is sending the missing parts and confirmed that since pins 4 and 7 are now ground for our Producer psus, former pins 6/7 each slide over one so now it’s pin 5 (orange transformer wire) and pin 6 (yellow transformer wire) which looks to be the same in your setup you mention with audio + and audio -.

How’s your build going so far or are you waiting for all the official parts to begin as well?

Random side question for you John - do you happen to know the type/length of the 3 screws used for the main mic body casing? I’ve opened and closed mine so many times now I can’t find those damn screws anymore even though I’m normally good at keeping them safe…

 

[johnsonic]

I'm just waiting for the parts before I get going on it. For the screws - I don't have a way to measure them. You could bring your mic body to the hardware store and head to that nuts/bolts/washer section with everything in trays that takes forever to find anything in - they should have some smaller set screws you could test fit with.

 

[johnsonic]

Got the parts from @mics (thank you Ben!) and am ready to rock. Targeting this weekend!

 

[johnsonic]

Got it together this weekend, have some troubleshooting ahead of me! It works, but not in omni - progressively loses volume as I step the pattern switch towards omni. Confirmed it's not one side of the capsule itself not working by switching front & rear, same result.

Anyone have any ideas?

@mics - do you have any ideas on where to look or have a schematic I could use in troubleshooting?

 

[RuudNL]

Are you sure you didn't swap capsule wires?

 

[johnsonic]

Positive the capsule is wired correctly - will do some digging in this week. On the plus side I get to learn exactly how the capsule works for differing pickup patterns!

I did record some audio here showing the sound at different pattens and how it almost disappears in omni. BN_DIY_Troubleshoot.mp3

Thank you!

 

[RuudNL]

IMHO I hear a fair amount of noise. No idea if this is produced by the microphone itself, or by the recording chain.
I get the impression that the problem has to do with the polarisation voltage(s) on the capsule.
Difficult to say what exactly causes this, from a distance.
Does the capsule have two backplate wires? (Or two holes close together in each 'half' of the capsule, suggesting that there could be a separate front- and a rear backplate connection?)
A close up picture of the microphone capsule could give more information.
(The fact that there is a difference in front/rear sensitivity gives me the impression that the capsule has isolated backplates, that are not connected together.)

 

[johnsonic]

Noise is partially from the mic, partially from the highway down the hill, and partially from the 65db of gain on it. I do have the backplates tied together and confirmed that the fault is somewhere downstream (I flipped the wires for the front & rear, the new "front" diaphragm still showed no sensitivity.

About to troll threads from other DIY builds to see if there's a specific region of the circuit I should be looking at.

 

[johnsonic]

Big progress today! The horrible sounds (or lack of) from before are because I connected the backplates to the wrong end of a capacitor. I read the attached as "everything attaches to the opposing leg of the cap", though very clearly Ben's instructions do not say that & verified by looking at the original C12 schematic. So that's fixed, mic sounds much better, though not 100%.

My last remaining problem is that I'm not getting continuity to one of my backplates because my saddle is too thick and the screw does not make contact. Off to find some mini screws! Will report back.