People have done lots of things, but you need to have the fan close to the surface of the coils for best cooling effect if you're gonna DIY it.

Maybe the flipper switch blades on the cabinet are gapped wider on one side or the other, so there's a minute delay between the left and right activating? Look at them or measure with a caliper and try to get them gapped the same. Maybe that's what you're feeling.

Stern should be ashamed with the speakers they put in the Premium. Half decent speakers aren’t that expensive.

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Where’s that magnet cooler kit? I have my cart full of product just waiting to add that!

Yep! First thing I do is always upgrade my premiums to the same speakers they put in the LE’s

i bought a new set of speakers and the light kit to try on one of my premiums, but then I saw you needed to solder. Is it basically just heat up the weld, remove wires and then reheat with new solder on new speaker wires?

Ideally, you’d have some flux but you can do without.

Heat up the solder joint with the solder iron, removes the wires, then do it all in reverse. Adding solder can sometimes help the old solder “liquify”. Be patient and take your time. Sometimes, it takes awhile for the joint to heat up. Easy peasy.

Haha. Just snuck in the office to check mail. I'll put them in after dinner in 30min or so.

If you get rosin core solder, it has the flux in it so that's all you need to get the job done. It's pretty easy, and not as dangerous as working on solder points on a circuit board.

It seems like you might be confusing two different things. If the building changes levels by one level during gameplay (lock is lit) then the balls divert to different ramps.

When the building collapses to start multiball the balls are released out the front toward the flippers.

Okay, it's up on pinmonk.com. Pinside next.

Also from now until the end of the year I'm putting a pinmonk (L or XL) Cotton T-shirt in each order over $200.

EDIT: Now it's up in the Pinmonk store here on Pinside, too. Same unadvertised T-Shirt bonus until year end with either store.

i did that on my LOTR back in the day, worked fine but does not look pretty

Not true. You can stick a big fan inside the game and get the same cooling effect. It’s just cumbersome and silly when there are more factory looking options available like pin monks stuff. Before those existed I played with two small desk fans attached to the coin box that pointed up.

Before that I was a large stand up fan pointed into an open coin door.

Talked to stern early. Confirmed. They are ashamed.

Unfortunately, Stern is not The Borg, so that shame doesn't filter through the collective from the nodes that feel it.

Was playing my premium tonight and i heard something drop into the cabinet. I lifted the playfield and found this towards the back. I spent about 20 min with the playfield up trying to find the bolt it fell off off with no luck. Put everything back and played another 10 or so games with no issue. Guess i just wait till i see something jiggle too much?

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Not true and also ridiculous, the only sources of real heat in that cabinet are the flipper and magnet coils, I bet it would take 24 hours or more to saturate the cabinet with hot air just from those little coils on constant full blast, and that's assuming the cab was air tight. The air near the coils is stagnant and saturated with heat- heat transfer from the coil to air slows to a crawl and builds heat within the coil faster, moving around air will help, A 6inch fan would work splendidly, we've done it on select wpc games during tournaments the results are there

I have a Premium coming some day soon, hopefully. Does the speaker upgrade make a real noticeable difference?

Im not sure why super trains can't be added to the pro with tweaked rules due to having to alternate ramps. Its simple coding at little to no cost to give it to the pro owners.

Thank you sir! Order placed!

I've yet to see anyone whilst playing a pro do anything other have a blast... definitely haven't seen anyone stop and go hey this is missing shit... pass.

I agree, i would even keep it as is. A right ramp shot returned to the right flipper can easily be transferred either with a nudge or even a rolling pass over to the left flipper finger for repeated right ramp shots. I do this kind of transfer all the time on my LE when the building is raised completely.

My preference would be to not add it to the Pro but if it must be added then I agree that this is the way to go. Having it alternate between ramps is too close to the Gigan battle. This is a case where just because something can be added doesn't mean it should be.

The things people will say and do to make a dollar

After primarily playing the LE on route and having a Pro in my house for almost a week I agree that the gameplay isn't quite the same. There are things that I prefer on the Premium/LE and there are things that I prefer on the Pro. I would say that both games are about equal in the fun department.

LE Preferences:
-The moving building and the ability to change shot paths. This is really cool and can dynamically change the shot flow of the game.
-The moving bridge. It's a bit underutilized but it is cool to see it move and shake vs. having a static ramp.
-The Mechagodzilla sculpt looks really cool in the game and it is satisfying to hit him to start the multi-ball

Pro Preferences:
-I'm probably in the minority, but I prefer the way that the Pro handles Godzilla multi-ball. The first couple dozen times you see it on the Premium/LE it's really cool but I like how the Pro gets straight to the point and doesn't do virtual locks for balls one and two. It just tells you when it's ready to hit for MB. Less waiting and fanfare and more action. The ball release on the LE/Premium just kind of drops them down the middle anyways.
-I like the tighter right spinner shot and having that spinner lane open all of the time for more shot flow. The spinner is too easy to hit on the LE/Premium and I don't really enjoy having the area closed off during the stand-up phase. I think the Pro difficulty is about perfect in terms of hitting the spinner and stand-ups whereas it's a bit on the "too easy" side on the Premium/LE in terms of the stand-ups and spinner shot.

I will say that both games are awesome and the more I play this game I'm convinced that it is probably KME's best game to date!

yea i just picked up some "electrical solder" from lowes. will try this weekend.

just placed my order. thanks PinMonk

great quick learn videos on youtube as well. watch a few. you shouldnt have any issues.

i have been soldering since highschool back in 1986.

These speakers fit in a premium flush without a different mount?

If you upgraded your pro speakers what did you go with? I don’t want to add an adapter plate so go to larger premium/LE speakers. I have cointaker’s speaker lights. My pro is still sitting 5 1/2 hours away in Vegas, was supposed to be delivered today

I’m doing the LE speakers with the adapter plates. I am considering the fire ardiuno lights though. Those actually look great. I normally don’t like the entire speaker frame lit up.

I still get a grin and laugh when the ball hits off the left sling and goes around the pop & reverse tail whip all the way around upper flipper and back down to left flipper! It would be awesome if that combo of switches triggered a 2-3sec hurryup somewhere on the right side of the playfield for some kind of special shot(;

We were laughing so hard last night at some of the clips in this game. The Zilla to baby Zilla electrocution scene for ball save and at one point for a super jackpot it’s this hilarious scene where Zilla flys across the screen to kick another monster. So good.

No, you can not mount a 5.25" speaker on a 4" speaker plate without some sort of adapter (or ditching the 4" speaker plates for the proper 5.25" speaker plates). Buying upgraded 5.25" speakers and then cheaping out to stick them behind the original 4" speaker plates....I just don't get it. Especially when some people are selling these adapters for almost as much as the proper 5.25" speaker plates cost. What Allibaster has pictured on the right is mounted on a 5.25" speaker plate.

I'm not sure who you are asking. It appears Allibaster went with the 5.25" Pyle PL53BL and many people go with the 5.25" Kenwood KFC-1366s that Stern uses in most of their LE games from the factory. I don't think there is anything you can do to make those cointaker knock off light kits work with 5.25" speakers. Maybe you could put some sort of adapter between the back of the light kit and the speaker, but I'm expecting that would make their bad looking light kits look even worse if that could be done.

You could also get upgraded 4" speakers that should mount the same as the factory pro and premium speakers. The 4" Pyle model would be PL42BL, but I'm expecting nearly any 4" speaker would be a step up from the default Stern speakers and, as I said, mount the same without any need for an adapter or different speaker plates.

EDIT: I guess if you did get upgraded 4" speakers that have extended tweeters, you may have to add some space to the front of the speaker (between the speaker and the speaker plate). Though, I have heard there are good 4" upgrade speakers that have a lower profile tweeter that do not need any additional space in front.

I know nothing was meant by it and I see this a lot....., but I don't like the term "adapter" when talking about the 5.25" speaker plates. They are not adapting anything. They are 5.25" speaker plates for 5.25" speakers. If you are sticking a 5.25" on a 4" speaker plate you would be using an adapter (which, as I said, people do sell), but using the proper 5.25" mounting plates for 5.25" speakers is just using the right item to get desired effect correctly.

Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)

i took electronics for a few years in high school. I soldered a bunch of stuff back then, its just been like 22 years

While I await my replacement speakers from Stern because the ones that shipped are complete shit (see above) I've been trying to dial in the rest of the machine. (Almost certainly end up getting the PinWoofer kit, but thought I'd give Stern the chance.) Never having had a modern game in my meager collection, I'm surprised how much this all matters. I'm sure each machine is very different in how it plays, but I was wondering if you folks could give me a little help setting a few things up?

First I'll describe the playing experience and history so far:

1) Started off with the on surface level with a significant portion of the bubble bisected by the top line. It was almost impossible to hit the right ramp due to lack of momentum. This was too high. Left ramp requires utterly perfect shot.

2) Dropped it so that the top of the bubble was kissing the top line, but not visible over it. Our highest scores, such that they are, were achieved at this cant. The right ramp was still somewhat iffy, though less than perfect shots occasionally made a lazy turn at the top to score. Left ramp still extremely difficult, but easier.

3) After reading Stern's material apparently the bubble is supposed to be centered? Decided to try that, was achieved by dropping rear legs all the way down. The right ramp is no easier to hit at all, maybe harder(!?) due to lack of momentum. Perhaps less energy being carried in the ball due to so much less slope? Left ramp a little easier, still very hard shot. Scores have pretty much cratered.

4) In all cases the VAST majority of drains (probably 80+%) are SDTM from right ramp rejections (either from otherwise solid left flipper shots, or routinely on misses at the upper flip loop) combined with left out lanes, including an absolutely soul crushing number of left flipper control attempts that reverse in-lane u-turns. Basically pretty much ANYTHING but a direct in-lane feed on the left side drains. (Side note, is there an audit that shows how / where drains occur?)

So given the above, I was wondering how most folks set up their home machines? What about outlane posts? I haven't touched mine, but my GOD, do I eyeball that left post. Should point out that while I have not done anything scientific or used anything fancier than a little shelf level, the game feels good to me side to side.

Where do you set your playfield level? Am I nuts that the game is harder flatter? I think I've played enough on each that it's not just the differing geometry of the shots. In fact I think we've played MORE on the flattest setting.

I'm concerned that my left flipper is a little weak. I'm not a pro, but I'm not a rank novice, and there are shots I would definitely expect to score that die almost up, before coming back down to drain (if I'm already on tilt warnings). And I'm not crazy right, that thing is fading in power as I play it? New rubbers? Weak coils?

Would different balls help?

Does it come cleaned and waxed? Do I need to do that already?

It's totally possible there's an existing FAQ or thread covering this shit already. If so, feel free to just point me to it.

Steep. Bubble usually is a tad past the top line. But I’ll adjust depending on the game. I HATE floaty games though. I even set EMs way steeper than they are supposed to be.

Outlanes stock. I never move them unless the game is too easy. In those cases I’ll remove rubber or the posts entirely.

You should have zero issues hitting any of the shots. Double check all the flipper parts on the mech are good and strong and moving freely. Especially the coil stops. Those fail early on sometimes.

Flipper fans will help you keep consistent flipper performance. You shouldn’t see fade until you’ve been playing it for around an hour though.

Balls have nothing to do with this. The flippers aren’t weak. You can adjust their power in the settings if you want.

Clean your game when it gets visibly dirty. Clearcoat should provide plenty of protection, but wax will add to that protection. However, it will make the game play lightning fast.

Great mod for the Pro, the plastic figure is way too small. Thanks for the info, Just finished mine and now waiting for my Diddys bridge mod to ship / arrive.

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You can't always trust the bubble level, best to get a digital level. For me, I've found that most games including newer Sterns play best at 6.5° to 7.0° which is usually the front leveling pads all the way in and the rears nearly all the way out, maybe a half inch at most still above the leg nut. much more than that and you will get some instability with stock leveling bolts. Also make sure the side to side is at 0.0°. Small adjustments to the leveling pads can make a big difference.

Keeping the playfield cleaned and waxed will also help. I like my games very fast and wax (I don't use the generally recommended carnauba wax as I like newer spray type waxes that don't leave any residue) every couple/few weeks as needed if I'm putting on hundreds of games played in that time.

Thanks for the reply! Can you point me in the right direction / link a good source about the giving the flipper mechs a once over? Coil stops?

I'll look up flipper fans. We play more than an hour regularly.

Any drawback to dialing up the flippers?

Where do you put your digital level? When I leveled right/left I used my shelf bubble, but I mean, since there's basically no way to 100% position it, I did my best and went of feel. Feels right...

Pitch though, I'm 100% open. Cause right now, it's much less fun than it was, but, way back up where I had it originally it was a "hey look at that, we made the ramp" type of experience. :-/

ballfinder ain't finding that...

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Search rebuilding flippers here. Vids guide has all the information you need.

No drawbacks to dialing up the flippers. Might induce more airballs off standups.

If you’re hitting the ramps clean, they should never reject. You have an issue somewhere else that has nothing to do with pitch or leveling.

I usually put the level in a few spots... between/ just in front of the flippers and then a couple places further up the playfield. Pitch may change a little from top to bottom, but side to side should stay the same. A bubble level will work for side to side, but hard to get down to the nitty-gritty which can have some impact like where the magnet drops the ball to the upper flipper.

If you put the levelers as I mentioned above, the pitch should be "close" to get you started.

Have these gone on sale yet? I’ve been waiting.

Not sure.

My Pro speakers were bad to begin with and started to get worse over time. Buzzing and distorting almost from day one. It’s not surprising, they’re super-cheap speakers and it’s a demanding soundtrack. I went with the 10” flipper fidelity kit at pinball life because 8” was out of stock. No crossovers or volume controls are needed because you can tweak all that in software. I didn’t have to upgrade my Infinity Quest or Jurassic Park Pro which are still sounding good. Anyway IMHO speakers are a must upgrade for Godzilla Pro day one—just before the shaker, which I haven’t done yet but should.

Enjoy your new game. The hype about it is true.

The reason I swapped out speakers is because I was getting an awful "paper speaker" distortion or rattling noise out of the originals. The cabinet speaker was the worst, but the backbox had it too.

The new speakers eliminated the noise. The highs are definitely more prominent. I think it sounds better, but it's not a huge upgrade. I'm still playing with the settings to get it all tuned the way I want it.

Most people go with the Kenwoods that are found in the LE. These Pyle PL53BL were about $23 for a pair on Parts Express. Good value.

I think the cabinet speaker was more of a significant improvement. I went with the Goldwood GW-8024. $39 on Parts Express.

Joined the club today with LE #175.

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Dropping in a fairly reasonable amp with a little punch also helps out quite a bit when doing those speaker upgrades.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076P2VS9H

Add this to my machine, and yeah it is interactive

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