Rock-Ola 442? Worth It?

Hey Guys,

My name is Carlin, I'm a cinema audio/video engineer in NYC with no background in jukeboxes at all and I'm new to the site. I was considering picking up a Rock-Ola 442 jukebox from a woman that lives in my area as my first Jukebox. My wife and I thought it would be a great piece for the dining room in our house and I thought it would be a very cool piece of history to have. I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were. The woman is asking $350. She says it worked perfectly but after the movers moved it recently to her new home it needs "alignment," and I noticed in pictures the top right there seems to be a scratch in the glass/plastic covering the "442". Other than that it looks to be in great shape cosmetically and is loaded with 45's as well as having the titles printed in the little windows. That's all I know at this point. I'm supposed to go look at it tomorrow afternoon.

Any information would be greatly appreciated and it's good to know there's people around that know what they're doing with these old things if I ever need the help during the cleaning/restoration process (which I'm sure I will).

Thanks in advance!

I completely understand and I've done a lot of reading through other posts and noticed some of those situations you were speaking of. She claimed it was working perfectly before the move but I'm not sure in what manner it was transported or how much care was taken. I'm going to open it up and take a bunch of pictures of the mechanics and plug it in and see what it does. I will post some later before I make any decisions. I'm glad it has great potential though!

Personally I have no jukebox experience, but a heavy background in electronics and mechanical engineering. I've been rebuilding 35mm projectors and now digital cinema projectors and sound systems in commercial movie theatres for years, so I'm not afraid to get my "hands dirty," as long as I have some direction.. My boss also conviniently worked for RCA in the 1950's-60's and repaired these things quite often so I'm hoping he will be able to help too.. Although he said when he left the company it was just BEFORE the solid state versions came out, most all the ones he saw were still running tubes.

I will update later, but thank you for the quick response!

Hi Carlin,
"--Alignment"-- Not being able to see it, and not knowing what it is/is not doing, I have no idea, but--I don't think so-- ANYTHING can be causing this--including the service switch set to the "off" position !
Before plugging it in, I would carefully open the upper lid, remove the front panel, and see if I could find anything "out of place--jamming any parts", or partly -- fully, dis connected plugs ( check under the mechanism shelf, in the "junction box area"--famous for this on RockOla's). Also, check that the turntable is seated properly. Ron Rich

Thanks guys! It's good to know what to look for. She told me she plugged it in and it lights up but she didn't say anything else. As far as the "service switch," I'm not even sure where that is haha.. I've been trying to find the service manual online in a downloadable form somewhere but came up with nothing. Found a few sites selling the actual paper manual but I didn't have time to buy one and have it shipped before today. Does anyone here have it?

Anything else I should be looking out for? I read somewhere the value decreases substantially if the coin mechanism is missing or broken. That was one of the things on my list to check.

Ron Rich wrote:Hi Carlin,
"--Alignment"-- Not being able to see it, and not knowing what it is/is not doing, I have no idea, but--I don't think so-- ANYTHING can be causing this--including the service switch set to the "off" position !
Before plugging it in, I would carefully open the upper lid, remove the front panel, and see if I could find anything "out of place--jamming any parts", or partly -- fully, dis connected plugs ( check under the mechanism shelf, in the "junction box area"--famous for this on RockOla's). Also, check that the turntable is seated properly. Ron Rich

I saw a video of the upper lid opening, it looks like it hinges upward.. But what front panel are you talking about and how do you remove it?

Hi Carlin,
Generally, the whole front of RockOlas of that age just lift off--after "undoing" two "catches", any "plugs/wires", AND the safety chain(s--sometimes two, one on each side). Ron Rich

Ron Rich wrote:Hi Carlin,
Generally, the whole front of RockOlas of that age just lift off--after "undoing" two "catches", any "plugs/wires", AND the safety chain(s--sometimes two, one on each side). Ron Rich

Thank you, Ron! I'll be going over to look at it very soon, I will update you all when I get home.. Very excited

Riley,
When you have "worked on" as many RockOla's as I have, one "learns" not to trust that chain--especially if there is only one !
It is heavy, but I find it easier to remove the panel, so I can get a "GOOD" look. Ron Rich

I have a 442 and I love it. I would say go for it, its a fair price even if it needs some work. Least compared to UK prices. And a fairly hard to find jukebox from my experience. The 50 record 443 model is much more common.

You may see the many posts Ive made fixing the various issues mine had, Im very familiar with this machine now and have learnt a lot on this forum from Ron Rich, Rob-NYC along with Clones and Doghouse. You wont find better Jukebox knowledge than this forum

My 442 cost me £1000 and was sold as restored but had a miriad of issues, so I guess you never know what you're getting till you get to know it! Theyre electro mechanical machines and almost anything can be repaired or replaced.

Great looking and great sounding machines when in good order

So it's official.. I'm the proud owner of this Rock-Ola 442!! Made the deal for $300 even!

Now, the fun part.. I plugged her in and took as many pictures as I could. When I flicked on the main power switch to my surprise all the lights came on immediately, even the fluorescents. At this point there was also no audible noise from the speakers at all (read on). Please take a look at the pictures and consider the things I'm about to mention and give me all the input you can! I'm picking it up next Saturday afternoon so plenty of time to ponder haha.. Here are the few things that I noticed right off the bat:

1) The main "alignment" problem she was talking about was this.. When you first make a selection, a relay clicks and the large, armature type wheel on the right side with all the contacts (what looks like a super sized variable AC transformer) starts to spin, but the carousel that holds all the records does not. I'm assuming they are both supposed to be spinning together. Because of this the wheel on the right spins about 3 full turns before the relay releases and the unit stops. I'm guessing since the carousel with the records is not spinning it is endlessly searching for the selection and just times out in the process?? Because of this nothing else happens, no arm movement or anything from the turntable. I didn't try anything else in fear of damaging something more. Obviously couldn't test audio yet either.

2) The coin mechanism appears to my untrained eye to be completely in tact and clean (see pic). However, as you can see in the pictures they unplugged the coin mechanism from the main board which in turn allows selections to be made with no money inserted? I would like to make the coin mechanism active again like it was originally.

3) Over on the left board which seems to be dedicated to audio processing as you can see in the picture there is a hole in the metal case and a piece of electronics hanging out of that hole by the wires which looks like it's supposed to be mounted in that spot. One of the two single small wires its hanging from where the electrical tape is wrapped is disconnected from the push on terminal that seems to be its mate. The other interesting thing is because this piece in question is hanging by the wires I naturally grabbed it to look at it and as soon as I moved it enough that the metal shell it's in lost contact with the metal shell on the main board it's hanging from a loud 60 cycle hum began emitting from the speakers. As soon as I let it hang against the main board again from its own weight the hum was gone. Assuming since it's probably supposed to be mounted in place in that spot it's just a normal grounding issue, just thought I would share.

4) All colored panels and nameplates seem to be in great shape, although there is one large scratch across the clear panel that covers the graphic that says "442".. Can this be easily replaced or fixed? I thing I also have to refurbish the plastic speaker vents on top which used to be chrome plated as its wearing off pretty bad. This seems easy enough though. The rest of the steel on the unit Is relatively scratch and rust free and just seems to need a good cleaning/polishing.

5) Main power cord is missing the ground pin.. Not a big issue, I will most likely install a new complete power cord anyway.

That's all I can think of for now until I get it home and really tear it apart for cleaning. Can't wait to hear all of your input!!

My advise--Purchase the service manual package from one of the suppliers listed above--then--
READ it !
Before you move the phono, remove all of the records that you can--Remove the turntable, and tape down the tone arm.
Also, look for any/all "loose items", remove or secure them !
To your numbered points--
1. Once you have read the Service Manual, you will know what items are called, and can ask questions, using terms we can all understand--as of now, I don't know if you are speaking of the write in arm, or the read out arm, here ??
2. Its a National brand, NDQ,HD, or D, unit--it may or may not work--probably needs a bath ! The fact that it's un-plugged has nothing to do with "free play", but yes, it needs to be plugged in for coin play.
3. Yes--audio processing unit--commonly called the Amplifier, or Amp. The "thing hanging", is the "local" or remote volume control--can't tell which.
4. I dono--don't work with plastics--but you might look at the parts book, get the part number and try Victory Glass--they MAY have it, NOS ?
5. IMHO--good idea ! Do this before you power it up,again--
Ron Rich

Thanks for the info Ron! I will make sure I properly secure all the loose parts. I'm sorry if I didn't use proper terminology, I'm going to buy the manual tonight. I just thought I would try to get an idea of what I'm dealing with this week before I bring it home next weekend.


****EDIT*****

Just ordered all the literature for the 442/443!