Guitar Freaks 11th mix arcade resurrection attempt

[5m3g_head]

Hi folks,

 

Ive just purchased a Guitar Freaks 11th mix machine and am hoping to resurrect it.

 

The information I have from the previous owner is that it was in complete working order, the CDROM was removed to be tested in another machine and didn't get put back. It got mixed up with other drives and thats where it sat for the last 4 years.

 

So I have purchased the machine along with 6 CDROM drives, that hopefully one of which is the correct one. I know this hardware is fussy with optical drives, so it may be a challenge to find one that will work. Between myself and my work I can probably come up with another 10-15 drives to try.

 

As this is my first Arcade repair, Im posting here for some advice. I did repair a couple of pinball machines last year and had good success, with some fantastic advice from these forums.

 

The machine is a Japanese import and apparently has been converted to 240v. Ive had a look and it seems the original transformer has been replaced with a 240v in the unit and also in the external speakers.

 

This thing seems to consist of 3 main units. The power supply, the computer and some other box that I think is audio amplification.

 

The Computer is out and apart to access the CDROM, with the exception of the audio RCAs this seems easy to plug back in.

 

The Audio is strange. There a 3 pairs of RCAs on the computer, audio out 1, audio out 2 and a black pair with no label that may not be Audio. Im assuming the RCA cable goes to Audio out 1.

 

The RCAs go from the computer to the external speakers, one of which is full of amplifiers. Then it comes back and plugs into the 3rd box that I think is also amps. The cabinet speakers lead to a plug that goes to the external speakers, so I assume the cabinet speaker amps are in the external speakers.

The 3rd box also has two plugs that have orange and black wires leading to the power supply that are not connected. I dont know if they ever were. So Im assuming it has no power and doesnt do anything

 

I am wondering if this is because there are external speakers and perhaps the whole thing can be reconfigured just to use the cabinet speakers. This would be handy for me as the external speakers make an already large cabinet extra large and Im unlikely to need the extra power.

 

I have not powered the unit up yet, as I wanted to ask if there is anything I should check before I do.

 

 

 

So here are my questions to get started.

 

1- what should I check before I power it up ?

 

2- Does the computer receive its power via the Jamma port, because I cant see any other power to it.

 

3- Does anyone here know about the audio system on these things ?

4- Any Advice on which CDROM drive this thing needs ?

 

Sorry for the long post and potentially stupid questions, Im always keen to learn so all advice is welcome :)

 

PS, anyone in Adelaide who wants to pop around for some beers and help put this old dinosaur back together is most welcome ;)

 

[5m3g_head]

update

 

After some further inspection I was convinced I had everything plugged in correctly so I powered it up.

 

Sure enough it came up with CDROM error and rebooted.

 

I messed about with all the CDROMs and only found one that worked. Its a TEAC CD-540E. However after a while the machine locked up and threw an error. The drive is old and very dirty and may need the lens cleaned.

 

I tried some of the CDROMs I have here and found one that works corectly, A LiteOn LH-20Ap

 

So the machine is working now, I just need to sort out the sound system and the lights.

Edited March 9, 2014 by 5m3g_head

[5m3g_head]

Update

 

Unless anyone objects I'd like to keep updating this thread with info for anyone else who fixing a Konami 573 game.

 

The Audio system in this machine is very impressive.

 

There are 2 speakers each side of the screen on the main console. In each of the external speakers there is a 2 way bookshelf as well as what appears to be a bandpass woofer, I wont call it a sub woofer as I doubt the driver is any bigger than 6-8?. Thats a grand total of 10 speakers !

 

The Left speaker contains 3 x 2 channel power amplifiers. One runs the cabinet speakers, one runs the Mid- high in the external speakers and one run the woofers in the external cabinets. There is also some sort of controller in there and some ins and outs, I assume this is for networking.

 

The game itself is a true 4 channel system, quadrophonic ! On the computer there are 2 sets of RCAs. Line out 1 is BGM (Music) , line out 2 is SFX (guitar sounds and voice overs). Both are routed out of the main cabinet to the Left external speaker where the Amps are. Then the speaker cables for the cabinet speakers come back in.

 

In the game play, the Music for the song your playing is heard in stereo though the external speakers. The Left guitar is heard mostly though the left cabinet speakers and the Right guitar mainly through the right. The voice commands and other SFX are stereo through the cabinet speakers.

 

The over all effect is very good, the system has heaps of power and despite mine having issues the sound quality is exceptionally good. Cant wait to hear it once I Sort the issues.

 

Notes on my system.

 

When I hooked mine up, there was a lot of noise so much so it was unusable. Also the speakers make a terrible thump when turned on, so I suspect there is no speaker protection on the amps. I'll be looking to add that so I can have a soft start up. The noise turned out to be interference through the RCA cables. Ive setup a temp sound system while I fix the factory one and when I used the factory RCA leads the noise was there. I replaced the RCA leads with some thick heavily insulated ones and its whisper quiet. So Id advise getting rid of the cheap crappy RCA cables. Jaycar has some nice triple shielded cable that would be idea for this. Also there is no hardware volume control. Both the SFX and BGM music can be controlled through the menu (in english) but id prefer a hardware limiter, so Im going to wire some pots into the RCA leads.

 

I think if you were to use this system in a Home environment, the Audio system will need some tweaking, however it is brilliant and I think well worth saving. If you decided you didn't want Guitar Freaks this thing would be an amazing jukebox ! Personally I want to keep it original, how many guitar freaks are there in Aust anyway ?

 

I found an operators manual for the first Guitar freaks here.

 

http://antelopearcade.com/files/Arca...TAR_FREAKS.PDF

 

While it doesn't cover the sound system in my GF, it does have some good info.

 

Here are some pix. How it looked when new and mine in action as it stands today.

[5m3g_head]

Ok, Looks Like Im going to need some help with the Audio.

 

Ive put some better quality RCA leads in and ive also installed some Line level volume controls to manually adjust the volumes.

 

However I still have a hum I cant get rid of, its less now, but still annoying. When I run the RCAs to some home amplifiers I have, there is no noise, however using the factory system there is a hum. more so out of the cabinet speakers than the external speakers. There are also 3 or 4 really loud pops during boot up that i don't get on the other amps.

 

Im wondering if this is something to do with a ground loop or a bad ground. In the speaker cabinet with the amplifiers I see there is a 240v-110v transformer and I think that goes to the original 110v transformer then onto the power supply. not sure if this is any issue.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can quieten this down ?

[Crafty]

I have absolutely no idea but congratulate you on your effort's so far. Keep us posted and enjoy the game :)

[5m3g_head]

Still working on this noise issue.

 

I removed all the inputs to the 3 amps and the hum remains, so Im pretty confident its not a ground loop.

 

I think the next step is to look at the power.

 

I tried moving the 240v-110 transformer away from the amps, but this didn't help.

 

Ive noticed the AC is wired from the plug to a noise filter, then to the 240-110 then to the 110 transformer.

 

At this point I suspect the 240v-110v is introducing the noise. Makes sense as this is the only non factory part.

 

Im wondering If I can move the noise filter and put it after the 240-110.

 

Does anyone know if a 240 AC noise filter can be used on 110v ? or do I need to purchase a 110v one.

[5m3g_head]

Here is the next update if anyone is following.

 

With nothing connected to the power amps except power and speakers the hum is there.

 

An Engineer at my mates work recommended changing out the large filter caps on the power supply. The original caps were 2700uf 80v 105c , I replaced them with some 6800uf 100v 86c. Upon power up the hum was pretty much gone. If you put your ear to the speakers you could hear it, but standing in front of the machine the power supply fan drowns it out, that’s how quiet it is.

 

However once the RCAs are plugged in the hum is back.

 

The RCAs from the computer come into the external speaker and plug into a board which I now know is a mixer + active crossover. From there other RCAs connect to the Power amps.

I took the RCAs from the computer and connected directly to the power amps and the hum was gone.

 

So the second hum is coming from the mixer. The mixer has its own power supply so the Im looking to replace the filter caps in that as well.

 

With the RCAs connected directly to the power amps I still have some errant noises. There is a clicking sound when the strobes go off and a loud thump when the power is turned on.

 

The clicking was resolved by installing ground isolating RCA adapters that I got from jaycar.

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=AA3084

 

Ive also noticed that the thump when you switch it on is caused by the mixer power supply, when this is unplugged from the AC there is no thump at switch on, so Ive my fingers crossed that replacing the filter caps will sort that as well.

 

Im also going to install an inline volume on the input to the high/mid speakers in the external speakers so I can turn them down. Thereby increasing the bass output from the woofers.

 

A side effect of the new filters caps was that the Sound Quality really changed. The midrange and overall size (for lack of a better word) of the sound increased. It made a big difference, much better.

 

I also repaired the lights last week, turns out the 3rd box in the cabinet was the light controller. It wasn't plugged in and there were no bulbs in the strobes. When I plugged the controller in I got the start buttons flashing. With the strobes, I replaced the small Edison screw fittings with some Gu5.3 fittings (standard 12v down light fittings) and installed some 5w LED down lights. I also put some LEDs into the start buttons. So the lights are all good.

 

There are a few things left to do. Player one guitar needs a new button and movement sensor and I need to look at the convergence on the monitor, although its not too bad Id like to see if I can get it better.

[Crafty]

Good work, sounds like you know what you are doing, changing out components on boards.

 

Doing better than I could. I would have lived with the hum and turned up my jukebox :)

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Good work, sounds like you know what you are doing, changing out components on boards.

 

Doing better than I could. I would have lived with the hum and turned up my jukebox :)