Beesneez K7 capsule survey

[kato]

Lukas, In the MK7 thread, Ian (imo) mentioned a lack of low end and Max said:

sometimes you can achieve more "modern" lowend if you try a higher valued grid resistor ~1Gohm instead of 68Mohm.
also "modern" would be the use of a much bigger output cap (~2µF).

Might pertain to the MK47 too.

 

[gary o]

I thought this type of mic was meant to have a large bottom end Im probly wrong......I have done a MK47 sounds very beefy with a Violet design Vin 67 lollypop......I have tried anothre lollipop that I think is a Lomo & I think it is a copy of a K47 & yes its doesnt have a beefy bottom......I much prefer the violet...

 

[living sounds]

Thanks everyone for the flux suggestion! I went to work with isopropyl and cleaned all the boards, and now there's a lot more bass! Still not as bass-heavy as I expected it to be, but it sounds absolutely fabulous!

So thanks to Ben for an amazing capsule at a bargain price and Max for the great MK47 project.  8)

 

[Jim50hertz]

I've just completed my MK47 with K7 capsule.  This mic amp/capsule combination sounds effortlessly classy to me, an excellent pairing (these are first impressions based on speech and a little ham fisted country singing).  The mic sounds solid.  I have a Rode classic, a good mic for sure, but doesn't have the roundness of this one, a little too hyped in the high end perhaps.  This fellow sounds well balanced, perhaps verging on the darker side of things.  Can't wait to use it in context in a track and to throw it up in front of a double bass! 

I look forward to many hours of recording bliss with this mic and can't thank Ben enough for offering this fantastic capsule to the group at such an amazing price, and at cost to him.  I've maintained this all along, Ben is a friend of the little guy, the DIYer, you and I.

I'm not a studio guy, I'm a guy who remotely records jazz and improv and runs a modest home studio, mostly kitted out with DIY gear.  Ben and Max and Skylar have provided the DIY community here with an opportunity to build an incredible mic at a low, low price point.  This is a huge asset to someone like me and the folks I record. 

I hope the issues laid out in this thread are resolved.

I especially hope that Ben's business is not affected by the negative posts here and that, as a manufacturer he does not regret the noble gesture he made to the group.   

I also urge the other folks who've built a mic with the K7 to post their thoughts and ruminations.

Peace to all of you in DIY land.

Jim

 

[deuce42]

By way of friendly input, I was reluctant to step into the ring with this given my location for fear of being seen as in cahoots with Bees Neez in some way. I say this only on the basis that on that other gear-slappers web site, (yep the purple screened one), anyone Australian who threw kudos to Bees Neez was somewhat accused of being related to them and therefore not impartial when offering praise.

But for what it is worth, if you check the large ordering thread at this site, when some complaints started emerging about the length of time taken to receive the capsules, I did post then that I legitimately believed that everyone waiting would feel they were worth the wait once they listened to them. And I still stick by this and the now three mics I have, assembled exclusively from parts Ben Sneesby sold me.

I truly concur that this K7 capsule in my EF12 circuit is just so detailed, and "intimate", particularly on soft vocal parts, and without high end problems that make even sensible and rational people throw tantrums during sessions. I also agree that my three mic circuits all take EQing very well, particularly I note slightly boosting around 12k which adds a little bit of shimmer without any nastiness in less "round" sounding microphones. This in itself is something  I feel really great about whenever I use it. 

On the issue of circuits themselves for bass frequencies, I agree that a 2.2uf output cap, say an Ero MKT or better, a PIO, is a lovely one to experiment with. Its not a huge bass boost, but an interesting feel to it.

I make no comment about communications, emails or anything, I am sorry for anyone who felt they waited too long or did not receive adequate communication - I only comment on the quality of the audio coming from the capsule and am thankful to Ben for offering these to me and everyone else at the price.

 

[bruno2000]

Yes, it took a long time to get the capsules, and yes, communication was sporadic, but what a lovely sound!  The Beesneez / IOAudio / Skylar mics went out into the real world today with some rave reviews from our staff.  I still have to hand select the tubes, but they sound very well matched as-is.
To me, the bottom end sounds very natural, not boomy, but I may try a larger cap just to check the sound.
Thanks Ben!
Best,
Bruno2000

 

[JoeMorris]

Capsule received this morning and it certainly looks excellent. If it sounds as good as it looks then I'm sure it was worth the wait.

 

[mata_haze]

Does anybody know if they are on holiday?
I have called them several time but no answer on the phone.

just a peaceful question 


Mattia.

 

[New Soul Rebel]

Message to the admins:

Although some people had serious trouble and long waiting time with this group buy I's suggest to erase this thread partly if not complete.
this was a friendly offer by Ben, we don't want to hurt his business


best Nicholas from Berlin

Hahahahah don't do that its too entertaining! Its handbags at dawn! Deary me chaps, you guys need to get out more often!

The ***-for-tat of this post (and the preposterous whinging over a wonky screw), misses the point of DIY51X completely. Axel, wonky drill hole or not, I will be buying two of these babies in the next round, why? because I want a nice stereo pair of would-be U47's without having to pay vintage prices for real ones. Albeit, I think its very important that BeezNeez maintain contact with disgruntled members and erm... 6 months is a LONG time to wait! (ouch!)

But I think we should still be thankful for visionary efforts and energy in supporting the 51X scene by bringing us these outstanding capsules, and anyone out there who thinks they are on a bad deal because a screw doesn't 'quite go in perfectly' needs to decide what fringe political party they want to join because nobody's listening.

I think we forget, that the very essence of DIY is not perfection. When Cemal sent me my power supply bits, it wasn't 'perfect'. you can see its DIY. the case is not powdercoated, and has that 'machined' look (I mean, there was even cnc dust in it!), the very front panel of a 51x power supply (while nice, and unique) quite obviously does not have the same finish to it that an Avalon preamp does!

I tell you something else as well. It took about EIGHT weeks to arrive. All I did was send him the odd email to say Hi and to let him know I was looking forward to receiving it. I respected that I was privaleged to be able to build something as unique as my 51X rack and power supply. It is the jealousy of everyone who comes to my studio. Nearly all my mates want one. That's what these guys do. They design us stuff that we would otherwise never be able to source ourselves, and give us the studios of dreams. What do they get for their troubles - suspicions of 'making money out of the scene' (who f*cking cares! good on them I say and i'll never be unhappy contributing to their bank balance!)

51X, Group Buy, CNC machining, sourcing decent quality suppliers, R&D, QC - jesus what do people expect? Ferrari? Its just not realistic to expect the 51X scene to get group buys on new 'groundbreaking' 51x projects to get it perfectly right first time. Give Ben a break. Like he said, 3 complaints from 150 in the group buy... (sigh).

I spent good money buying through Cemal but I expected nothing from him. He's providing us with the opportunity to build stuff we'd otherwise have no possibility of ever doing ourselves.

Its wrong to expect the same kind of service as buying from API okay! The bottom line, is that the experience, support and advice that I got from Cemal (Sahib) was invaluable. He is like so many other guys who pioneer the 51X scene. He is a 'giver' and the reality is, that we are all a bunch of skanking takers really. We build the stuff of dreams for a pinch of the price, and do so only because of brilliant people like him.


51X is about accepting, that these guys build these components and source these kits in short runs, sometimes at huge effort in the pursuit of the DIY dream for everyone else. Don't anyone think that this is serious business. Cos it ain't. Group Buy is exactly that. Its a GROUP of people buying. This slows things down.

Jeff-Baby (classicapi) is probably an exception to the rule where he is genuinely offering some truly outstanding kits, and is selling in numbers that make a business. But he deserves it. He has gone to extraordinary person lengths (and realising his own visions and creations) in order to give his all to the DIY51X scene. He's focusing purely on ClassicApi now, so you could say he's 'giving his life' to the scene.

As for the K7/MK47 combo... the many wonderful comments "Intimate, and Classy" and so on, sum up what 51X is about. Its not about having a 'perfect' piece of equipment (although just take a look at the inspiring peices of art that some of the guys out there have created!) its about having top notch broadcast quality equipment that sounds as good as the best out there.

I for one, couldn't care if it looked like the arse end of a russian tractor as long as it sounded good.

Actually... Vintage U47 meets Arse End of Russian Tractor?... now there's an idea...

 

[New Soul Rebel]

As for Ben, BeezNeez offer a glittering array of mic components. Come on lets face it, posts like this just damage the good will of the scene.

Or perhaps there are some people who buy here who don't consider themselves part of 'the 51X scene' at all. If that's the case then that would be a shame.

 

[khstudio]

Some POSITIVE FEEDBACK:

I've got (2x) K7's & another one on the way... I love the mics I built with them & the parts I got from Ben.
They are absolutely the BEST mics I have & not only me but my clients like & pick them over all my other mics 90% of the time.... even over my Neumann u87, etc...

Yes it was VERY hard to reach him & was a long wait but well worth it. In the beginning, before Ben got too busy, He spent a lot of time on the phone with me & gave me a great package deal on all my parts. He helped me choose what would fit my needs/budget.
I did have a few minor problem but after a few persistent emails/phone calls, I was taken very good care of.
EXAMPLE: I had a noisy PS... Ben just sent a brand new one, no charge.

Thanks Ben for your time & some KILLER Capsules.

Kevin

 

[musicbeast]

im not surprised by finding this post. i wouldnt buy another mic from ben (beesneez) ever, i myself had bad customer service experience. i can understand if dude was busy but he didnt care to respond to none of my past emails. i bought a microphone from him few years back, quality control was pretty bad. crooked logo, broken psu, the case for the mic was also broken from one side.

now someone who is paying $1400 for a mic expects more quality control, no response from ben. no email nothing. i wrote few more times, nothing. had few other customer service related questions about the mic, nothing. then he comes here talking about, email me first and ill respond when he sees that people are fed up writing on a message board, then he is quick to respond when his reputation takes a hit.  i think ill stick with the german reputable brands where i havent encountered such issues. dude is real unprofessional.

 

[TJC]

Musicbeast:  I had exactly the same experience as you with Beezneez.  I bought a mic, paid over lots of money and got a faulty power supply.  It was under warranty, and basically beezneez refused to honour the warranty because I couldn't produce the original invoice.  I gave them the order number and my name and contact details and they said they had never heard of me. I told them I had talked with Ben Sneezby personally and they said no record of this. So after numerous more emails and being ignored I gave up.

The mics they make are amazing if you're lucky enough to get one that works, and I agree the quality control on some of their products was bad.  What really made me angry was :

A) Being treated like a thief when I paid for the damn mic and it still had 6 months on the warranty.
B) Beezneez not honouring their warranty agreement (Which is illegal since it was their poor quality control that was the issue)
C) Having them totally ignore any subsequent emails I sent.
D) Even after asking Beezneez for the part number and specification of the faulty component they would not help !!! (that's the least they could have done if they were not prepared to honour their warranty and fix the mic).  I even asked them if they could send me the component and I'd pay for the damn thing, but no joy.

Would you want to deal with a company like this ?

My answer is definitely a big NO !!!  I would never buy anything else from these incredibly rude and unhelpful people if they were the last microphone company on the planet.  I use other brands now, which give me much better service and are great mics, all made in Europe with a good reputation and quality, never had any problems with any other mic manufacturer. 

The conclusion to this story is that I found the exact same component I needed online and I fixed the mic myself, it cost $60 and a bit of solder plus an hour's work, and it now works the way it should. So unless you're prepared to do your own servicing, I'd stay away from  Beeznees microphones.

Just to give you an example of a GOOD company I dealt with.  My Laney valve guitar amp blew up while recording. It was out of warranty and no one here could fix it.  So I emailed Laney with the problem.  They phoned me back from the UK told me how to trouble shoot, send me a set of schematics FREE and told me which component type would best do the job.  I fixed it in no time.  They even followed up by email to ask how I'd done with the repair job !!! That's what I call a decent company, and it cost them no more than a few dollars in mail and phone costs to ensure I was happy.  Would I buy their products again, hell YES because they helped. 

That's what it boils down to, good support. When things go wrong good support is the main reason people keep coming back to a product, and if Beezneez haven't worked this out yet then I guess they might not be around for the long haul........

 

[RuudNL]

After sales service is very important.
As a developer of high-end microphones, I sell microphones with a warranty of 1 year.
But some time ago, someone had a problem with a microphone that he bought 18 months ago.
I checked the microphone, and a component had indeed failed. (This can happen any time.)
I replaced the component, checked the microphone and returned it to the customer.
The customer was very surprised that there was no invoice for the repair and shipping costs.
Of course not! He bought a product that was supposed to last longer than 18 months!!
The result: a happy customer!