I was going to buy a Beesneez James...

[Fastermouse]

..but after getting an email from them today, I found that the price has gone from $899 to $1250usd because of the new body. No change in the function, just the aesthetics. I am sure this was well thought out on their part, but that places it right out of my budget.
I'll respect that this is not the Moan Zone and just leave this as info.

[dominic hoenig]

this may be a problem !

[Jonboy79]

I'd rather a mic be ugly as sh*t and sound amazing. Why raise the price over 300 bucks just to make it look better. At the very least they should give people an option.

[Fastermouse]

Sorry, it is $1220usd.

[BOWIE]

Is that really what they said? I'm not calling you a liar but if they literally said that they added $320 to the price because of the body ALONE...

[Karloff70]

The other way around is : Where do you get a better mic for the same money, and maybe the bus for the ridiculous bargain simply just left.

[Darwin James]

Buy the Darwin James

[Karloff70]

Originally Posted by Darwin James

Buy the Darwin James

With a new body?

[PlugHead]

Ben had mentioned months ago that those were 'introductory' prices and they would increase soon, not to mention that due to the currency fluctuations he was going to be listing all mics in $AUD to avoid the USD and it's shaky nature the past yr+...

[Darwin James]

Originally Posted by Karloff70

With a new body?

The current body is vintage! Thus better!

[Karloff70]

Originally Posted by Darwin James

The current body is vintage! Thus better!

lol

[Fastermouse]

Ben himself emailed me just a bit ago and justified the increase with a cost breakdown. Yes, sad to say the bus has left. And I missed the damn thing. I would quote his emails to me about this, but only if he says that is okay. Maybe he will step in here and verify what I have said.

[Darwin James]

MA-200 is another great mic to consider. It's what I used on my upcoming album.

[Fastermouse]

Originally Posted by BOWIE

Is that really what they said? I'm not calling you a liar but if they literally said that they added $320 to the price because of the body ALONE, then that just sounds questionable at best.

I am sharing the first email, hopefully Ben won't mind.

Hi Bobby, yes we are in the process of upgrading our website. We have had a price increase due to the fact that we are no longer usig OEM bodies but rather Australian made. The new Australian body James comes with a texture gold finish and looks very smart. The price for a James is now $1450 AUD which is $1220 USD.

[lynyrd]

It is a drag being asked to pay $1220 for a James when they were previously selling for $899, but that price was an introductory price. He sent out notices that there was going to be a price increase on quite a few threads about his mics.I paid the $799 introductory price for my Jade, but you know what, if Ben sent out notice that he would take back his original product in full trade for the new fully Australian made mics, I just might take him up on it. I have seen what the new Tribute mic looks like and it is beautiful. If his new Jades look as good as that, I would be willing to pay the upcharge. I would rather have something fully original than with a generic body and grille. Just my 2 cents...

[withintheflux]

Though I can understand your dissapointment, you should look at it from a business point of view. The bodies before were Chinese and the new ones are FAR more classy. Also, they are all made in Australia now so he can advertise the mics as fully aussie made. Furthermore, the new logo is an obvious improvement.. lastly, The mic is still well worth the price.

[softwareguy]

Also, I don't know what the old body was like, but bodies do actually influence sound, e.g., if they are made of brass, if they are heavy or light, if they tend to ping or ring, etc.

[mics]

Hi folks.

I thought i'd better chime in.

When the James was released, we were charging 899usd as an introductory price. It was a 1 man show too, just me!! The Australian dollar was around the 0.63usd so we were gettting about 1250aud for the James. The Aussie dollar is now 0.84usd so we were in effect losing 22% on the james in Aud.

The prices were always the introductory price.

We have now grown into a business of 4 staff and have decided to build the whole kit and Caboodle. At the price of 1499AUD, the James is still a steel. the parts cost in a james is way more than mics that cost 4 or 5 times the price.

The new James has a few differences. there is no longer a low pass or pad (we have decided to focus on signal path integrity), and there are 2 body's available; the james 51 and the James 60.

The James 51 has a body size that is very similar to the original. The James 51 is 1499aud.

The James 60 has a body and head grill size that is identical to the U47 (pictured). the James 60 is 2150AUD.

How do we build the new James;

For the head grill we use a solid rod of brass and machine it out. this process takes over 1 hour. we then hand cut and lay the brass mesh into place, we then solder it to fix it into place. the head grill is then dull nickel plated (to dull the brass resonance), it is then bright nickel coated to make it look pretty. The head grill is not totally unresonant (we like it this way) but if you want a nonresonant head unit then that too can be arranged.


For the body, we use an amazing metal, it is a tooling steel, usually this metal is used to make tools, it is a high carbon steel and out of all of the metals we tested, the tooling steel had amazing EI rejection.

This new body in our opinion is worth way more than we are charging.

Cheers.

btw, i do have 10 - 12 of the old oem jade bodies left. i can make these into jades, james or even arabella's for the old price. first in best dressed.

[asagaai]

[QUOTE][Attachment 134275Hi /QUOTE]


Very Nice Ben-bet it looks real nice in the fleeesh!!!!!


Hmm....I need another James to use with my original vintage James so I can use James M/S as a drum room pair.

Is there any sonic differences resulting from the James bodies 51 and 60-I assume all the internal electronics/capsules are the same?

Cheers

GJ
Newcastle/OZ

[MadGuitrst]

Having three of the OEM BeesNeez, I would say this:

I am very happy with my mics as they are; however, except for the Phelicity (whose body - but not the grill - looks like the James in that photo), the mics are like having a Porche's performance, a Mercedes' interior and ride, in the body of a Ford Taurus.

It's not that the OEM body is bad, per se', but it certainly is not up to par with the rest of the mic(s), which is just fantastic.

So......first off, the introductory price is done with (hasn't every mic maker raised their prices?). I guess Ben could have spent money advertising and started out selling his mics without an introductory price (I'd rather have proof in the pudding rather than see BeesNeez billboards ) Now, you are truly getting a mic that rivals mics costing 3,4,5,6 times more in every way. There is now nothing about these mics that are not 100% world class....nothing.

And if you think the price is askew, compare them to any mics in the same $$$ ballpark and, overall, it's simply no contest.

Would you rather put your money in something like an AK47 that has a nice body, some decent internals (transformer), and simply a QC'd Chinese K67 capsule?.....for even more money? How about putting it into a TLM49 with surface mount technology imitating tubes and NO transformer (yeah, I have an MXL M3 that is like that, but I only paid $100 for it)? I have an idea, how about spending almost 2 times as much on a TLM67.

Seriously folks, I bet you will wet your pants and cry tears of joy once you hold one of Ben's new mics in your hands. You'll have no buyers remorse and you will KNOW that you have a world class mic at a bargain price.

And no.....I don't live in Australia.....I live in PA in the USA.

[drBill]

Ben, do you have a shot of the shockmount for the new bodies?

[MadGuitrst]

The shock-mount I have for the Phelicity looks something like this:

[Fastermouse]

Well, thanks for chiming in. I feel that the whole thing is very up and up. I was just passing on the info, and I hope that I can get one of the old models, I have just a little saving left to do and will be a Beesneez owner soon, I hope!

[John Eppstein]

Originally Posted by softwareguy

Also, I don't know what the old body was like, but bodies do actually influence sound, e.g., if they are made of brass, if they are heavy or light, if they tend to ping or ring, etc.

That's EXACTLY what I was about to point out. The quality and physical design of the body can have a MARKED effect on the tonality of the mic. If you don't believe me, ask Michael Joly.

[withintheflux]

by the way.. it looks like Ben has updated the site. thanks Ben! just awaiting the pics of the new mics.


blake

[Darwin James]

In all seriousness I would love to try one of these mics.

[mikymike]

Originally Posted by darwin james

ma-200 is another great mic to consider. It's what i used on my upcoming album.

omg wtf???

[mikymike]

Originally Posted by Darwin James

In all seriousness I would love to try one of these mics.

drummers who tell you that they won't keep a regular beat because they have to express themselves must be fired" - faizz

How about musicians that cant write original music must be fired and ignored!!!

[pan60]

Originally Posted by Darwin James

In all seriousness I would love to try one of these mics.

me two!

[Heartfelt]

I took a chance and absolutely love my James.