Greetings fellow Judges! Just picked up my second game yesterday and starting to learn how this newer (to me) game is all put together. I plan on starting to tear this thing down so I can get all the dirt and grime cleaned up, working out the small issues my game has to get it sorted 100% and then on to upgrades and customization! The game itself is in really nice shape. The playfield is a solid 9/10 with only couple of slight issues and the cabinet is a good 8/10.

A couple of questions I have: Is the sound kind on these machines normally flat? It doesn't sound like the bottom speaker is putting out a lot of audio. Also, are there any common issues I should scout for to see if they need to be remediated on my machine? I just printed a hard copy of the manual today and got it spiral bound, so I'm starting to go through it, but tips from the community are always appreciated!
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Yeah, more investigation uncovered that the sound coming from the cabinet speaker is very low, while the backbox audio sounds fine. I'm suspecting either a bad capacitor at C32 or the amp for that channel needs to be replaced. The speaker is good as it works fine in another game. I'm going to take a crack at doing some testing on the sound board this weekend.

Uh, WTF?!

For those of you that have a colorDMD in your machine, did you choose the LCD or LED version, and why? I'm going to get one here soon for my Dredd, but I'm not sure which one I want to get. I've seen both and LED works well for some games and LCD for others. Can you post some pics?

Yeah, OK that makes sense. That pic kind of seals the deal for me. Thanks!

Got the sound board fixed this weekend. Ended up replacing the TDA2030A for the cabinet speaker, and recapping the AC smoothing capacitors. I ended up tearing out the thru-holes for those, as was warned by many repair guides. I ended up getting a thru-hole repair kit and fixing those so that they are better than new and will not fail again. Now the Judge is LOUD. Where before I had to have it at about 16/32 to get any decent amount of volume, it is actually much louder now on 6/32! I am very happy with the results, even if it took a few weeks to get the stuff to properly fix the board.

I've got an LCD Color DMD coming this week, and a few LEDs to fix some lighting issues. I am very happy to be back up and running!

I would take it off your hands for a fair price. Mine is kind of knackered.

Does anyone know the connector type on the A-16927 trough opto board? This is the 5-position plug on the front board. Another case of RATHER THAN FIXING IT PROPERLY, someone decided to just hack the board together and do a poor job of soldering the wires directly to the board. Why...WHY? Why can't people just spend the $1 and fix these things the right way the first time?

Sure, I totally get it. A down game ain't makin' money for Daddy. But all the same, the three games I've all picked up have dumb little issues like this. I did some research and it looks like that connector is no longer made, so I understand the repair. That said, why doesn't stuff like this get properly fixed when the game goes back into the shop for a tune up? Whoever "repaired" this board did a really horrid job with the soldering and it shows, since, here we are looking at it again. You would think that at some point they would want to properly repair it so it wouldn't have issues again down the line. Also, once it goes into home use, you would think the owner would want to fix stuff like this. I know when I see it, it drives me crazy knowing it's there, but maybe that's just my engineering brain at work.

Whatever, I guess. I'm just grateful that I can notice these things and get them fixed myself, and in the end enjoy a slightly cheaper game that I can still tinker on.

That's because Bally (and Williams, and Gottlieb, and...) all want you to buy the newest, latest shit. Can't sell pinballs if you're telling the customer tht the one you just bought is going to last you 30 years.

I just literally bought it off the marketplace a few days ago, but it doesn't look like it's on there anymore. It looks like I may have gotten the last one?

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You may have to check the TDA2030A amp transistor on the sound board. I had one that was bad on mine which was causing the sub to not work.

Hey, an easy fix is a good fix!

I got something in the post last week. A little sneak peek...
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+1 on this. I upgraded to an LCD ColorDMD and it's friggin' awesome! I will have some more pics of my game tonight, with another upgrade in place!

What is that odd glow?
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Thanks to ragefactory for the awesome cooling tower mod...it looks fantastic!
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For @durgee7, in case he needs convincing that a ColorDMD is a Good Idea(tm)...
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I hooked mine up to a nearby GI light. I’ll get down there in a bit and take some pictures.

@bladefury, here is what I did:

This image was poached from ragefactory from earlier in the thread. Take the wire bundle and run them through one of the holes left from drilling out the Tower #3 standup. I had to widen my hole slightly to get all six wires to fit through, but not by a whole lot.

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There is a 1" access hole nearby on the playfield, near the standup target. Drop the wires through the playfield and secure the tower down with the playfield plastic installed. You may have to prop the playfield up on the kickstand and feed the wire through with one hand while guiding it down from the top. I found that it was easier to run the wires through the plastic first, then finagle the plastic and wires into place, then tighten everything down. This pic shows where the wire come through the hole, towards the bottom.

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I then cut the wires to length and soldered them to the GI bulb that was close by. Note, I did install a couple of nylon wire guides to make the install clean.

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I'll get down there in a bit and pull the plastic off and post a comparison pic for you here. As far as a scoop protector, I'm not aware of anything out there.

Yeah, it does look like you're missing one of the side bars for the scoop, but I don't see any holes for it on the playfield. Interestingly, mine have posts behind the double rubbers for the bottom ones, where yours doesn't. I doubt that matters a whole lot. I think you're kind of SOL with that missing wire form in the front though...it doesn't look like anyone stocks that part and you'll have to wait for one to come up.

Yeah, I like the always-on look. The great thing about this mod is that there are so many options, you can do what you like!

Alternately, you could always run a few test games and activate the planet to see if it's working fine.

I'll get downstairs later today and take a pic of mine for you. I had to replace my whole button for 'Start' and it's the same style button for 'Super Game'. I think I paid $10 for it, if it is indeed the switch.

Hope these help.

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And to answer your other question: I wouldn't use a 1N914 there, as they're only rated for 150 mA @ 100V, where as the 1n4001 is rated for 1A @50V. If you think the diode is bad, I would remove it from the switch and use a digital volt meter to test it.

Also note that my switch has two diodes connected to it: One from the red wire to the left terminal (inside the rubber tube) and the one between the front and top-front terminal.

Hmm, that's the trough coil. I wonder if he needs the actual flipper coil? If you need the flipper coil let me know and I'll sneak down there and play a few ga....I mean take a pic for you.

Just a +1 for DystopicPinball and @ragefactory. This is a quality piece and is SO much better than the plastic standups that were original with the game.

Ooh, I got something special in the mail today from overseas! I AM EXCITE

Soooo much better than what came with the game.

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Couldn't tell you to be honest...they were there when I bought the game.