Phonoland

Just measure them--about 600 ohms on each channel--

catboxer wrote:I was able to take apart the adapter. I'm not familiar with the pinout, but shouldn't I be able to bridge both + leads and both - leads to convert this down to mono?

To strap them mono you form an "X" with jumpers. From looking at your pic, it appears that that may have already been attempted. Understand that soldering directly on a cart is the very worst thing you can do to it. The heat from the iron will melt the plastic the pins are embedded in and this in-turn will stress the tiny wires on the coils inside. There is a strong likelihood that you will break a wire but, it is worth trying if you can afford to lose the cart.

If you want a shot of the socket and pinout that cart fits into, here is one:

http://s1192.photobucket.com/user/Rob-N ... sort=2&o=1

The green and white wires are at the front of the cart. That is the notched part on the right in your shot.

Use a small, low-wattage iron. Do not attempt to melt the solder all over the pin. Just tack the wire on as quickly as possible. You will need to secure the cart and have good lighting. The hands of a surgeon would help too. Good luck. When done the measured impedance should be approx half what you measured earlier.

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As for the "hiss", that is not normal for those amps. When the cart is lifted during play, or the RCA plug is removed there should be nothing more than a very faint 60hz hum. It can be a noisy resistor in the grid or plate of the preamp, or the tube itself.

Rob/NYC

I have an adjustable temp Weller station and I used some wire wrap to add the other jumper, but it was impossible to get it back in the adapter case without snapping a lead. Too much glue residue! The 60hz hum is very minimal on the amp in play position, running, and the RCA removed. The hiss is much louder, but I can't say how noticeable it would be when also playing a record with the appropriate amount of gain. With my phone as the source you definitely could not hear it over the music. I'm guessing my Amp is done except for replacing the 6SK7 tube. I guess I just need to find a Redhead cart with a stereo compliant needle. Thanks for all your help!

3) Change the tonearm to a newer type. The best choice here will be the later type as used in SS160 -end, There are a lot of these around from parted mechs. It is necessary to cut off the tail piece on the "new arm and cut down the existing counterweights to balance the new arm. this will give the best sound and cheapest styli.

Is there any tutorial with pictures on how this would be done? IE: Where to cut the arm? Ron V. was nice enough to locate a Redhead Cart for me, but I would really like to have both channels mixed down to mono. Unfortunately I'm not familiar with all the Seeburg models to know what to search for on Ebay. SS160 turned up no tone arms.

Referencing this page: http://www.pinballrebel.com/archive/seeburg/sfeat.htm Can I search for any of these tone arms post SS160?

Ok, here is what all of this looks like,

http://s1192.photobucket.com/user/Rob-N ... ort=2&o=83

This is a shot of the underside of a later arm assembly showing the two counterweights. One is coin shaped, the other which is knurled is the adjustable one. In the middle you can see a "bit of tail" the tailpiece from the tonearm itself.

Next to is is a tonearm with that tail removed and somewhat filed down. This is necessary because the original arms had the weights on the cradle and the later ones have it on the arm itself.

Next is a shot of the original weights look like when cut down to balance the 345-03D (mono retro cart). Notes in the caption explain the to use the later stereo arm the weights get cut down a little more.

http://s1192.photobucket.com/user/Rob-N ... ort=3&o=25

IMO, given that good styli are again available for the original redhead, that might be best for home use. It will balance w/out mods and you will get both channels -just in mono.

Rob

Rob-NYC wrote:IMO, given that good styli are again available for the original redhead, that might be best for home use. It will balance w/out mods and you will get both channels -just in mono.
Rob

Rob that's good info on the retrofit but great news that the original redheads output both channels in mono. I had incorrectly assumed a mono cart would always be outputting only 1 channel. So using a redhead with any compatible .7 Mil stylus will be fine?

I've seen the new styli here: http://www.needles4jukeboxes.com/seeburg_needles.htm

But there are also some NOS Astatic's here on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASTATIC-SEEBURG ... 19f4d7a64d

Thanks again for the help!

The E-bay sale is for mono 'spikes. They would have good output but will ruin stereo records. The seller probably means well, but those can not have the compliance to deal with stereo records. Besides, the price is for one styli. The idea of getting "75.000 plays" out of any stylus is why jukes sounds as they did (awful). Even with the new stereo compliant type 4-6K on the A side is the most to expect.

I'd go with the newly made offset ones.

Set the arm to balance properly, use no more than 4 grams (3gm if you can measure it) and wash records before using them. You will probably never need another set.

Rob