I just found it to paste and ya beat me to it!

Thanks for the comparison chart!

I was going to ask you guys about the "traditional lock-down bar" Whats the deal with that? Honestly I don't even know what the difference is between a traditional VS latching one? All I know is, I put the lock down bar in position and lock it.

I have TAF, Star Wars DE, Getaway and Diner...any of these have the traditional? Thanks!

All Stern pros now come with a newer type of lockdown bar which is secured via two latches inside the cabinet. It takes a little more effort to lock and unlock, but I've actually grown to prefer it. It seems to lock more tightly than the traditional ones.

As for whether to go with the pro or the premium, it's a very tough call. Unlike a lot of other Stern titles, there are plenty of arguments for both versions. I ultimately went with the pro. I felt it offered a better bang for the buck. If money wasn't an object, I may have gone with the premium, but I'm still not a huge fan of the hammer. Either way, they are both awesome games. You really should spend some serious time playing both and decide for yourself if you think the added features on the premium are worth it to you.

Hammer is one of my favorite features.

Thanks a lot!

Does the PRO come with the lighting effects on the speakers?

Neither version comes with speaker lighting. It is an aftermarket mod.

Ty!

I like the mod that shrinks the hammer. I've never played one but I think I'd rather have it so I could see past it better.

We put spinners on our pro and love it. I just wish Lyman would activate them in the code as the hookup is there. We have them tied to the guitar pick stand ups right now.

I thought they may eventually revise their model selling pro's with them kind of like they did a final run of ACDC pro with a swinging bell (I think). I have mine hooked to the picks also.

This pin has a lot of mods, the snake body is a kit that comes with the plastic plate behind the snake head and the snake body ramp sticker. The sign is also a mod. This pin has a ton of LED upgrades to both the field and under the field. The box is also upgraded to color LED's making the Metallica logo change colors.

One of the reasons I went with the pro was the side art and the glass, I've played all three styles and the hammer was not a huge loss for me. You should play both the pro and premium before pulling the trigger.

Pictured is the Pro, Master of puppets, and Premium.

Metallica-pinball-machines-2013 (resized).jpg

My newer run premium has that side art

The hammer seems to get a lot of criticism on this thread (perhaps more so from Pro owners? ) but I honestly really enjoy it on my game. A lot more than I expected. Love the BAM! effect every time it locks a ball!

Haters gonna hate

I owned the LE for two years and I've owned the Pro for 15 months, so I think my opinion has some weight regarding the hammer:

I didn't dislike the hammer when I owned the LE, but I don't miss it. I don't miss the up/down cross or the snake jaw, either. What held me back from selling to get the pro was the spinners and color-changing spider inserts. I finally decided they weren't worth the $2500 difference (sold LE for $7500 and bought the pro for $5000)

I love the hammer also. The cross is rarely noticed...

What are some of the most common parts or pieces to break on Metallica? I have the Premium model.

I sure don't know, I've never broken anything on my Pro.

Looks like another cost cutting measure. My newer Pro has 4 flashers.

Maybe I'll put a couple of sockets back there to get Rickwh's effect.

Yea I dont understand what these haters on the hammer are talking about. You can clearly see past it and there is just nothing like it when it hammers the ball into the playfield, esp.ecially when connected to an external sub.

GET THE PREMIUM if you can afford it, you will not regret it one bit.

The Hammer kicks ass. End of story.

e1c0e9511f802ae2f87be292ed53d08e (resized).jpg

I'm in the hammer hater crowd. It's a big ugly blob, IHMO. I got the sweet color GI upgrade from TimeBandit, so I don't have to be envious of that LE feature any more. I do really wish the spinners were actually supported in the code on the pro, though. I won't do the addition just to wire them to the pick targets, but I would in an instant if there was a setting/adjustment for "Have spinners" that would actually enable them. Stern should sell it as a kit! Oh well.

Well, I agree about the stock hammer.... But I love mine!

image3 (resized).JPG

I've got #19.

Total Lightshow support for driving the sound call is almost here. No scoring, but better than wrong scoring off the pick targets.

advantages of the premium/LE over the pro machine

do the newer metal back box monster premiums still have the original receiver style lock down bar? the only reason that I'm questioning this is that the GB LEs use the latching system lock down bars, just like the pro version of the machine.

and while I like this feature as an end-user (I've loved it since williams used it in their joust), I can understand how it could be a bane for operators. the original lockdown bar had to be locked in place in order to install it, let alone close the coin door. however, with the latch system, there's nothing preventing an operator or other employee from correcting an issue, putting the glass back on the machine and simply inserting the lockdown bar into the slots and closing the coin door without actually latching the lockdown in place.

New met premiums have the traditional lockdown bar

yes, mine does... purchased a month ago.

Sweet, I'm in. Didn't you tune the Fade to Black dimming to account for spinner hits? Would this still apply? Timing with completion of Fade to Black may be difficult.

What about the songs? Can I upload any songs I want?

Nice review

Thanks! Wish I could play them, but there are none near me. Are there CPU versions?

You can swap out any song you want using Pinball Browser ....

http://tiny.cc/pinballbrowser

brian,
you should have sent him the thread link as well. there is a wealth of knowledge contained within
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/acdc-display-and-modify-dot-matrix-images

This just convinced me to buy Metallica! Thanks!!

Thank you!

I will probably just leave the spinners out of the FtB switch count. A hit to the spinners will most likely land you in the pops anyway, which is your target for quick switch collects now, so shot strategy remains consistent. It would be like handicapping a horse race, and would end up with the real strategy being to hit the orbit 4-5 times to get the count up, whether it be for pops or spinner hits.

But the new songs have to be the EXACT length as the songs your taking out.

Yes and no, they can be shorter but there will be some silent space at the end, or if they are longer then they will get cut at the time length of the original song. Now if you are good with a sound editor like sound forge etc... You can make shorter songs longer by looping in segments, or just fade out a longer song at the max time segment of the original song.

Well yeah, that's why I said exact.

There is the catch...

Can anybody tell me what is the big deal with the spinners? Is it that big of an issue for PRO owners?

What is your opinion on spinners vs no spinners?

It's not a "big" deal. It's just a moderate deal. Who doesn't love a spinner? And it always seemed such a cheap way to gimp a pro. Sure, take out the moving cross, snake jaw, hammer and light show, but come on..spinners?

True. But what about as far as game play? Do they make that much of a difference in points or awards or something?

I really like that the spinners trigger a varying tom tom drum beat sound for each switch contact while they're spinning. A cool audio touch!

Wow! That sound nice!!!

Youve got a ton of questions and answers, I have a feeling you are going to feel like you made a mistake if you go with the Pro. not that its not a great game, I mean, its Metallica!!! I just feel you are always going to have that thinking in the back of your head, did I make a mistake.

If you can afford it, do it.

That's what I'm afraid of....its just a very difficult decision...i got the money for the premium but a lot of people say its not worth the extra 2K...just a bit confused. I wish I could play them in the computer or something....to get a feel for both of them. Thanks