But…now it’s personal

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Thanks Chaka

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yes… off course Chaka

Lucky for you, my pin is on lockdown for a bit. So enjoy this moment while it lasts.

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Has anyone noticed that November Rain has gotten SIGNIFICANTLY harder now that the record spinner only counts as one switch per full revolution (or so it seems), as opposed to really being able to give it a spin and knock out 200-300 switches before it stopped spinning? Just about all of my old high scores have fallen, but if November Rain has truly been nerfed like this, I'll be hard pressed to ever top the 112M I put up once upon a time.

Hi folks - 11 year Pinsider here, but new in this forum. I've been waffling on GNR for over a year now since I first played it, finally ordered my own. I found a JJP CE supposedly in "mint" condition, couldn't resist. Hopefully it will be here in 10 days or so. In the meantime I have a lot of reading to do in this forum! I also have a Rush LE, was active in that thread for some time, and a also a Hurricane ('91 Williams) and have also been active in that thread. I'm sure I'll start posting here as soon as the machine arrives...

Welcome to the best rock concert in a box!!!

I guess that's what I was experiencing! I love my, well, "Rush" as I saw that band multiple times in concert and have been a fan since the 90s. I thought that was the perfect marriage, my (nearly) favorite band rendered in silver balls. Although I liked their music, I was never a huge GNR fan, but playing that machine (both were standard editions) made me one immediately. I love that massive display JJP uses and can't wait to see the "over 600 RGB LEDs" in action! I'm sure I'll be adding upgrades almost immediately. I'm all about the dBs and bling...!

Sub for sure #1 thing

Hey there GnR peeps. I've been eyeing this pin for quite some time as I'm a HUGE, lifelong GnR fan. I'm also a bassist who was heavily influenced by Duff's playing when I started playing bass 30 years ago (I can play the entire Appetite album note for note ). So, this is obviously a dream theme for me, but my question is, has the newest code balanced out the game and have the multi-balls been tamed a little? I really want this game, but what's held me back is the weak flippers (which can now be fixed with the cap kit or full board), the unearned multiballs, and to a lesser degree, the scoring.

If I make the jump, will I be happy with the pin with the new code and IO board?

Well, given all that, it’s crazy you’ve waited this long, in my opinion!
Score balancing is much more logical now, yes. Even if you’re just chasing numbers, you no longer want to skip those fun album modes or Slash solo.
But I’ve never felt there are “unearned multiballs” - those little two-ball parties are there to boost your scoring when you get to the real deal - the songs.

Double post oops.

Just do it!

There’s less multiballs in GNR than some of your other pins (AIQ, GZ, Bond). So you should be fine. To dive deeper, there’s (4) 2-ball multiballs that are quite easy to start and all stack. But there’s settings to make them harder to start and not stack if you wish. The song multiballs depends how many balls you locked prior to starting; each song has waves, as you beat each wave, you get an add a ball. All that coupled with the powerchord lock feature, you’ll be balancing anywhere from 6 balls down to 1. So sometimes you’re in a multiball, sometimes not. The game is hard, but fun. And it’s difficulty will have you begging for an add a ball or multiball.

I was in the same situation. GnR was my fav band in high school, had a Slash Epiphone Les Paul. Saw Slash’s Snakepit live in grade 11. Got into more “underground” metal/rock bands after that.

Fast forward 25 years and my wife and I saw the Not In This Lifetime tour. I was blown away! Loved it!

I didn’t buy GnR before as I was worried about the flippers, code flaws, playfield pooling.

Then, I heard the new code was coming soon, flippers can be fixed with mods or a new board, and I found a trusted seller I delt with before that had a mint LE. No pooling or chipping.

Then Bam! I have not played any new pinball machine that has come into my house more than this one!

Also, never had a game this deep! Very refreshing for me!!

Do it!

Richard

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Welcome to the jungle. Enjoy one of the best rock experiences in pinball

So I was specifically trying to collect patches, and I had the GN portion collected and then suddenly it disappeared like I hadn’t hit any left ramp shots and went back to needing all 3 letters again. Anybody else see this before? Curious if it’s a new bug

The lanes (and their progress) move when flipping to the left and the right. Is it possible you had 2 lights in the GNR lane and flipped, moving the two lights to a different inlane?

Ok so after going back and trying it again, you are correct. Now I’m not fully sure how or what is going on. So hitting the flippers moves the letters, but how does that affect my ability to hit the left ramp for patch letters? Does it have to be lit before hitting the ramp, or what exactly does this do?

Welcome to the club!

Now here’s what you can do in the meanwhile.

#1. The flipper upgrade. This is a must (unless the game came with this already) The 3 methods are a. Purchase the $400 Flipper I/O board upgrade, b. Install The Hercules kit (which is a solder-less capacitor upgrade solution), or c. Replace the caps.

The fully populated I/O board thread is here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/jjp-fully-populated-enhanced-i-o-board

The Hercules solution is here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/herculease-jjp-flipper-power-consistency-kit

You will definitely want to do one of these because the stock flippers just blow. But do play the game stock so you get an idea first, but then you’ll want to upgrade

#2 Study the rules:

http://tiltforums.com/t/guns-n-roses-jjp-rulesheet/6803

#3 When the machine arrives, inspect it, replace the balls with new ones (carbon/non magnetized preferably), level it, play it.

The game sometimes needs some minor tweaks (orbits, scoop sdtm, etc) this is normal with most pins.

#4. Upgrade the code. This has significantly changed in the last couple of months.

#5. Watch out for Rolls-Royce - he has a CE and plays with the glass off and wears fancy slippers

#6. Have fun! It’s pinball

And if if you have any questions at all, this is the place

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It was a GNR weekend for me. First time stretching the new code and had a great time. No real big scores to be honest, it’s been a long time since I’ve played this game; Forgot how tough it can be. Only real issue is once I got in any kind of rhythm, the wife or kids needed me; not sure if there’s a fix for that I only kid. It feels good to feel good about GNR again.

Hahahaha

Classic lane change here. So, the game does this so you can make progress on an "easy shot" and move your progress to a "harder shot". So, if you want a patch, hit the left ramp, and then flip your flippers to get the lights to the correct inlane before it returns to your flipper. The progress is scored when it rolls over the metal switch in your inlane.

Has any body here played around with any different alternatives to the snubbers for the center scoop? This will be my third time changing them. Something more robust that doesn’t change gameplay as for as rejects or anything?

Ok that makes sense. I was thrown off because it awards a letter if the ball drops out of the upper playfield hole as well and I was looking at that. I was thinking every left ramp shot either rolled down wire form or dropped down hole giving a gnr patch letter regardless. This makes more sense now. Thanks for the explanation

Novel idea.
Lemme know when or if you find something!

Love seeing the new owners pop in!
bhelms welcome
Rush and GnR great combo!

Just replaced the IO board tonight. Easy board swap, no issues and took about 10/15 minutes.

Gameplay is faster now for sure. The balls whip around the orbits and up the ramps. I can feel the difference in the flipper strength. Multiball is definitely more fun now with the speed of the ball’s whipping around. I was ok with my flippers before but I can’t deny that this is a huge improvement. Especially during multiball!

Downloading the new code now. Can’t wait to play some games with the updated code and stronger flippers!

Someone used a piece of blue toilet flange seal. Not sure what the results were

Yesterday I decided the cap swap still wasn't enough for me. I wanted those flippers to be just a little more snappy. I took up the power a bit from stock. I also increased some power at the slings too. Boom. I couldn't be happier now with how it shoots.

You can also try precision flippers and coil fans for even more juice. This is what I have on my machine. I had to turn the power down quite a bit with my setup. I was getting crazy air balls off the left ramp.

Nice! Can you share your exact setting?

Thanks!

Richard

I need to change mine as well. The left side is worn. Right side is fine.

Is there instructions on here on how to do it?

Thanks!

Richard

Post #28690 is how I did it. No issues. Easy cheezy. Just be mindful and careful as some people have reported issues with this method.

Hey there .. so for my own edification, were you able to swing out those nib holders without the back lower edge digging into the playfield on yours?
If so they must be installed better at JJP.
Mine are less than a mm from it and angled down in such a way that they would drag across ripping up the art.
Even sevenrites who made that video acknowledged afterwards that it did tear his playfield but he didn't notice it during the process until it was too late.

I would say consider yourself fortunate if you're able to swing those out without damaging your playfield. It seems logical that is the design in order to make these nib replacements accessible to the end users.

Unfortunately factory assembly didn't work out on mine with the specs for gap needed in order to make this method accessible to me and some others without damage.

This is why both my nibs have been broken for a long time now and I just keep smashing into it with the balls... I'll replace the balls eventually If they get too dinged up.

I said it before, if I could come up with some sort of slip-on or clamp on nib style cushion This would be ideal for people in my situation you could just pop the old ones off and pop the new ones on as needed. The current stock solution needs a revision or an aftermarket mod that works for everybody.

Maybe at minimum if there's a way to fix the angle of those holders so the proper method can actually be utilized I might be willing to go in and do it once if it was once and for all. But I don't want to lift up the upper playfield and go through the pain of replacing nibs every 6 months or so. It's easier to replace balls

Got pics of the damage?

Has anyone with the upgraded flippers (particularly the Herculease) noticed an increase in "collateral damage" elsewhere on their machine as a result of the increased flipper power? I definitely notice some ramp shots running out of steam before making it to the top, and while I'd love to solve that, I also don't want to run into other maintenance issues because of it. I tend to get some airballs from time to time, and I'm not sure if that'd only get worse (and possibly break the glass) if I had higher-powered flippers.

Help a mechanically-uninclined brother out here!

Yup, mine was fine. No problems

That’s good! Would there be enough room I wonder to put something thin under it before sliding it aside? Like cut off a piece of a pinball life mirror blade protector?

Richard

That's a considerations and was discussed but I couldn't even get a plastic business card under there... The gap on mine is so tight it wouldn't fit but metal was not touching.

I didn't do damage to mine since I couldn't swing them out and it was obvious to me it would so I bailed.
I'll check sevenrites posts... I think he posted one pic of his or someone around that time he released the video posted theirs because they didn't realize it would until they forced the holder to swing open to access the nut, and too late, damage was done.

Here's the response post I was referring to
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-official-jjp-gnr-thread/page/490#post-7421152

It was the motion he did in his video at minute 2:00 I Believe That is what can cause the damage... It's been a minute.

And here is another post which contains the key post containing his 30 min video on the quick change
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-official-jjp-gnr-thread/page/481#post-7347274

Can someone tell me which wires go to which servo on the left spotlight? I'm upgrading the servos and idiotically didn't mark the wires.

Thanks!

You can use the diagnostic in settings

For the nubbers, mine was quite tight as well, so I slid a piece of wax paper under the nubber and all was fine. Sevenrites procedure was one of the easiest solutions to a pf problem I’ve ever had. A five to 10 minute job.

Hmmm. Wax paper, interesting.
I'll give it a look next time I have the glass off.
Thanks for the suggestion

I did this tonight! Easy! And it sounds better! No cracking in songs where there was before!

Thanks for the info Pinwoofer!!

Richard

I did this as well and I seem to have lost the ability to fine tune the bass settings through the amp, did this happen to you as well? I can still turn up the bass at the sub itself but I can’t hear any changes when turning the knobs on the amp. Honestly can’t say if this is better or worse…

Printed some support for those big bad boys.

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Great idea!

Nice! Got a model to share?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6631236

I used a hex spacer to attach it to the Backboard.

Loving the innovation, you 3D printers always come out with great stuff. The only thought I have is the bridges being covered up might get hot due to little airflow (don't know that for a fact)...may want to modify the bracket and give it either it's own cut out or some air holes...just thinking out loud.