Rock ola 443 jukebox question

Hi rob, i found it online that is combined with the 442 manual so evreything is there on it, and its a virtual copy of it. and im going to talk with somebody lator on today that i can arrange a visit to with the machine, and i can ask the guy if he could possibly add a weight to it unfortanly i dont have one of those gauge messurements around, i will get one at somepoint but odd enough when the jukebox was turned on to see if something happend on it said select a song or ep on that little light up sign

Rob / Ceramic, that amp is germanium transistor based and is the same as in my 442. The amps came with inputs that could take either ceramic or magnetic pickups, so no pre-amp required with this. Not sure why the 443 came with Ceramics by default, couldn't have been too much difference in cost.

I should update my thread with the tonearm mod, I painted the washers black and made it look much nicer now , Rob's right its very worth while. After much experimenting I settled for 3.5g - 4g tracking weight with the standard M44 stylus, its worked great since. You could get it tracking lower on a different cart, but for a conical stylus 4g is not very heavy...

If the amp works OK I wouldn't worry too urgently about it, but for longevity it will still require new capacitors, checking and adjustment of the output trans bias, and checking resistors too for good measure. Its more critical to service tube amps due to the high voltages and heat drying out components quicker, but remember jukeboxes do often stay on all day every day for a very long time. Put it this way, my amp was transformed by replacing the capacitors and was well worth the effort for sound quality.

I know what manual you refer to, its decent and does have some items that aren't in the regular servicing documents, but I think you will struggle to read parts of the amplifier schematics!! As you progress you may want to invest in the real deal

Sorry folks for the confusion regarding the amp. I had been thinking of the 429 in a previous thread.

Rockola was a bit confusing and contrary regarding amps of that era. The 424-425 were transistor, while the following 432 had tube amp but included a powered socket for a transistor ed preamp for a magnetic cart even though, to my knowledge, none of the tube machines ever had a magnetic cart. . I owned a 425 and 432 and couldn't make sense of this one step ahead and two back approach.

Best sounding was the tube amp with and modern transistor pre and Pickering DAT-2 cart and added horn tweeters.

Rob

https://www.facebook.com/DenGamleBy/vid ... 182909761/ look guys, in this video theyre useing a totally diffrent stylus for the jukebox and its the exact same like mine,

That is a Shure 44M. Both Rowe and Rock-ola used those from around 1967-on.

But look also at the condition of that records it turns. See the "graying" islands? That is the result of poorly balanced tonearm and the resulting high tracking weight.

If you eliminate that crude spring that sets the tracking pressure and replace it with a counterweight at the rear of the arm, a much lighter, more even tracking can be obtained.

Take a look at the discussion from last year:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=6578

Properly modded, the later R-O arms are quite easy on the record and better carts and styli can be used.

Rob/NYC

i did look at it, i am gonna mention it to the repair man im sending this one to when i get money to repair it off adding weight to it, and by the way, how easy could it possibly be to get a General Electric magnetic mono cartrigde? i have a garrard player im hopefully can get repaired, the little metal connectors to the wires broke off.

I so hope i can get that jukebox to be allive and playing sometime soon.