Seeburg SS160

Hello everyone! This seems to be one of the best places for Seeburg info! I inherited an SS160 that's been in the family for about 20 years. When I got it, it had the "classic scans twice, plays nothing" issue. While looking around I noticed that the 1/8 Amp fuse in the SCC3 was blown. I replaced it and the juke correctly scans and selects records. Now that I fixed that issue, on to the next. The A side of records plays fine, however the B side is having some problems. When the mech picks up the record and the needle arm goes to play, it starts off 1/2 to 3/4 of the way into the record. There is sound and the speed seems to be fine, however the needle seems to be floating and skipping along very loosely, like there's no control. This only lasts for 10-20 seconds before the needle is at the end (inside) of the record. The mech returns the needle to its resting position, and the record to it's slot and contiues correctly. It does the same thing for all side B. Side A plays without a problem all night long.

I've also seen a couple other "smaller" issues. Not that they're small, but because it doesn't hinder the playing... There's a random loud buzzing sound. It seems to kinda creap up, and I haven't pinpointed why it starts. I do know that it went away when I used the buttons to select another song. Also, the right speaker (as you look at the juke) seems to be weaker than the other. The motor that rotates the album covers in the top of the jukebox is also noisy, which I think is why it was unplugged.

I'm sure I'll run into more issues as I continue to clean/restore the jukebox. I plan on buying as many books as I can afford, but for now I only have you guys and the Internet. Any help you can lend is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Did you swap needles side to side ? What color is the tone arm on that phono ? What color are the needles ?
Have you oiled it properly--with the correct oil ?
Speaker issue is probably an amp problem--especially if it's the same at all volume levels-"Creeping buzzing sound" is probably the key board latch solenoid--worn out--especially if the phono was put on free play"--Bad practice, can cause a fire !
Hope you replaced that 1/8 fuse with the same value ---
Ron Rich

Thanks for the reply, Ron. I'm new at this and without books, so my answers probably won't please you

The tone arm is red with yellow needles. I didn't try swapping the needles because I didn't think the needle would cause the tone arm start half way into the record on side B. I was thinking it had to be something that controls the movement of the tone arm. I have new needles, or can swap them like you suggest.

I haven't oiled any motors yet, as I'm unsure where to oil without the book.

I'm guessing, from the reading I've done, that many (if not all) the capacitors should be replaced. Everything looks very old. The juke has been on free play for as long as I remember, so the keyboard latch solenoid could likely be the problem.

For testing the "scan twice, plays nothing" issue I replaced the 1/8 with a 1/2 amp fast blow. The local radioshack didn't have anything smaller. I'm gonna look around for an 1/8 or order on the Internet if neccessary.

For what it's worth, I'm not playing the jukebox and it's unplugged until I can work out the above issues. I certainly don't want it to catch on fire!!

The red tone arm was a failure on the SS-160 model. It was recalled and should have been replaced with a "green(ish)" one.
If the needle is bad, it can and will "skate" at set down. If it's bad, the reason is most likely that the tone arm has failed. I would not suggest that you install new needles in that arm--For future reference, as far as I'm concerned, you NEVER want to replace a fuse with one of a higher rating--even to "test"-- Ron Rich

Thanks again for the advice, Rich. Looks like I'll be purchasing a new tone arm as well. Where do you suggest I look for one? I have already ordered 1/8 amp fuses to replace the "test" fuse. I admit, electronics are not my forte, but I'll be sure to pay close attention to all ratings from here on out.

I won't even attempt to tackle that tone arm without a book for reference. What book(s) would you reccomend to get me through it? I also need a good book for routine maintenance, that likely hasn't been done routinely!!

Seeburg published an excellent Service Manual for that model--I suggest that you get it from www.alwaysjukin.com Buy the total package, not just the Service Manual. I would also suggest that my "Seeburg Mechanism Guide" would be of help. You may get that there also, or directly from me. I also have tone arm assemblies for sale--if interested contact me at ronnnrich@yahoo.com Ron Rich

hey ron, my ss-160 has the red tonearm but it never noticed a problem with it. how do i know if i need to replace/upgrade it to the greenish you mentioned?

Larry,
Put the mech in play position,with a record in the clamp, shut off the motor with the service switch,and pull the tone arm all the way back (away) from the record--then let go--if the arm "bounces", when it hits the record, it's bad! Ron Rich

So... it's been about 4 years since I last posted and I've done nothing with my SS160 besides buy the service manual. In fact, it's been so long that when I googled and found this post I read the whole thing not even realizing it was me who started it!! I found a gentleman that used to service jukeboxes, games, etc and he tells me he knows all about the jukebox. I'm going to have him check it out, but wanted to post a couple pictures for review. I see at least one transistor (??) that is definitely bad, but maybe another as well. Maybe someone can spot other problems. I'm still in need of a tone arm to replace my red one if anyone has a source.

"strosk" that machine is now 47 years old and from your pics, it appears not to have had any service or rebuilding. It is likely to have serious failure if left in this state.

The good news here is that both the control center and speed unit contain few components that will actually need replacement.

The amp is another matter. If you are familiar with transistorized equipment the repairs here are straight-forward. If not, I suggest sending it to someone who is experienced in rebuilding these old juke amps. That amp is not operating anywhere near it's best at this point.

And NO, you do not need to replace the red tonearm assembly. (:-))

Rob/NYC

Hi Strosk,
I see one RESISTOR that appears as if it may be bad--which, BTW, should be replaced with a 4 or 5 watt unit--
The tone arm assembly is a mater of opinion--Seeburg's engineer's, and I, agree that the red tone arm was defective-
Rob/NYC seems to think differently ??
Ron Rich

What is "defective" Ron is the use of vertical damping on a low-mass tonearm using a high compliance styli.

We have a difference of opinion about the usefulness of damping on vertical tracking in Seeburg arms. I have always eliminated it because it adds to the effective vertical mass of the arm and prevents it from following warps -even slight ones as rapidly as the arm is capable of in a fast enough manner. I've used Seeburgs commercially w/out the damping since April 1986. A total of several million plays and no ill effects. I've read accounts where people claim that the arm 'slams" down on the record when no damping is used. In my experience if the arm is properly set up with regards to setback and tracking weight with no burrs or defects on the "fork" the action is smooth and clean.

My grandmother (father's side) used to call this "goin 'round and 'round" when we'd get into these sorts of arguments.

If "strosk" wants to buy, clean, install and set up a new arm assembly to gain what I consider a counterproductive "feature" -that's fine, but get the real problems addressed such as rebuilding the electronics done first.

Rob

Thank you for your responses! I'd rather not mess with the tone arm if I don't have to, it seems like I have enough other things to worry about. I cold handle the soldering to replace all the components, but I don't necessarily know everything that needs replacing, and it seems like it'd be a daunting task trying to figure out where I would get all the parts. I'm going to post a few more pictures for you guys to take a look at. Please let me know a rough idea of what I'd spend to send the parts out for repair.

Here's a few more pictures... added some of the mech as well.

The main candidates for replacement are capacitors.

For instance, on image 2130 you see several gold-silver and cardboard covered caps along with two black ones along the terminal strips. Those, along with checking and possibly replacing two known troublesome resistors are about "it". Not a lot of parts there.

The speed unit has even fewer, mainly the two large caps.

The amps is considerably more complex.

Do you have a schematic for each unit? If not, I can scan-in the data from the original pages.

The mech looks bone dry.

Rob/NYC