Seeburg C Low Volume

Thanks Ron,

I thought that might be the case.

I'll look elsewhere.

Gordon.

All of those type type seeburgs i have worked on all had low volume . The red cartridge should play pretty loud with the old style needles . The best cartridge for these is an old Pickering black or gold head . These ( after rebuilt ) will give the best sound and loud . If the amp has an auto lever compensator tube , you can pull that tube for always max output . My model G sounds its best with that tube pulled .

If your old needles still work but are worn ... i have 're-tipped' them with new needles . This requires tiny work and skill . You must make the old needle stub flat on the end then remove the stylus from a new needle and glue it strait onto the old stub without getting glue all over the new needle . I have done this several times with good results on several jukeboxes and other phonos .

If your old speaker sounds good and clear i doubt that is your problem . You can easly disconnect the voice coil wires from the speaker and test in a modern speaker .

ken g wrote: If the amp has an auto lever compensator tube , you can pull that tube for always max output . My model G sounds its best with that tube pulled .

The old tube AGC's on Seeburg had bypass switches. Aside from eliminating automatic gain, they also padded the the level between the preamp and following stages. There is a reason for this; the circuit was designed with extra gain which would be attenuated by the shunt tube.

If you remove that tube without setting the switch to no AGC while using original high output cart and styli, you will overload the tone amp stage and create distortion.

Depending on the overall condition of the machine, styli and records, you may not notice this added distortion, but it will occur.

Rob/NYC

Thanks to all for the advice.

My progress so far.....

I found an old broken needle in the bottom of the juke. It had the tip snapped off but it fitted it into the cartridge. I tried it and the music sounded pretty bad, and it ruined the record, but it was obvious that the volume was much higher.

Therefore, I think the problem stems from the the modern replacement needles I installed. These needles provide good music but low volume. I bought this juke in a non-working condition and as such, I was not able to play a record until I had the amp rebuilt. It had no needles installed when I bought it.

So, I have managed to buy a used Blackhead cartridge with some NOS needles (currently being shipped from the US) to replace the Redhead. These certainly are expensive items so I hope this will improve the volume.

My next task is to clean and adjust the Selector Assemble as the juke is now selecting 'some' records'.

I will post an update once I recieve the replacement cartridge and needles.

Thanks again for your help and advice.

Gordon.

Hi to everyone who offered advice....Thanks.

As an update, I ended up buying a Pickering 345-03D cartridge.

This resolved my problem. The cartridge was very expensive, however, the sound is great, good volume, good bass.

I was worried that I was going to have to live with low volume.

Next problem...rebuild the selection receiver.

Thanks again.

Kind Regards

Gordon...

Holy Shickhouse! I just did an Ebay search for that pickup and they are going for over $400 ea!

When these came out in 1992 I bought a bunch for $20/ea from Pickering.

If there were more of us jukebox nuts around I'd now be worried that they'd break into my location machines just to steal the cart!

Well, good listening Gordon.

Rob

Rob,
You are living in the "past"--I saw the last one up there for $511----don't know if it sold ?
---What's the lowest price you remember for a gallon of gas--I saw it as low as 17.9 cents--during a "price war"---"Normal" at that time, was 29.9 cents--
Ron Rich

Ron Rich wrote:Rob,
You are living in the "past"--I saw the last one up there for $511----don't know if it sold ?
---What's the lowest price you remember for a gallon of gas--I saw it as low as 17.9 cents--during a "price war"---"Normal" at that time, was 29.9 cents--
Ron Rich

The lowest I saw for gas was about 32c in 1972. My father just bought a Jaguar sedan so all of a sudden this subway rider noticed this.

If you look at the completed listings for that cart you'll find this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-PICKERING-3 ... 1c31e61ad8

$511.99 w/eleven bids -sold.

I suspect we are seeing a "tulip craze" and a crash to earth in in sight.

Rob

You are all correct. I bid on some of the carts on Ebay without success.

Also, some sellers will not ship to Australia.

I kept looking and finally found one in Australia. It was used but in good condition.

The guy selling also provided me other advise and assistance, so I bought it.

The sound is so much improved.

You should all look through your 'juke storage drawers' for old carts, as these things are like gold.

Regards

Gordo.