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bbickell

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Stillwater OK
Hey all - I'm looking to purchase my first cab and I'm looking for advice. As for usage, I want to run a MiSTer in it, and potentially other mutli-game, MAME, NAOMI Net-Dimm options down the road.

I had thought I wanted something in a sit down candy-cab style format with a tri-sync CRT in it. I was zeroed in on the Blast City but I hear people say that it's not a good starter cab option. I'm curious as to why, and what you might recommend instead?

I'm aware that everything will cost a fortune to ship to Oklahoma. I'd had my heart on a Blast City which was going to ship for $1,550 total to Oklahoma but now I'm reconsidering what I should go with.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!
 
I have 2 blasts, both currently set to 15hz, but I will eventually pull the monitor in one and try to get 31hz working on one of them. the downside is apparently you can't easily set it for both 15hz and 31hz at the same time. Other than that I think they are great cabs if you want a CRT cab. If you want higher res and ease of getting a new monitor down the road then a vewlix starts to make more sense. Hooking up modern stuff will be a lot easier on a flatscreen cab, but can be done with any cab. I have been through a lot of arcade cabs and my favorite are easily my candy cabs. So I think you will be happy with whatever you end up with as your first cab.
 
Hi Geddon,

Thanks for responding. My real interest in getting a sit down cab is for older stuff where I want authentic CRT scan lines. I've got plenty of large modern displays for modern systems and games and though they aren't in a cabinet, I'm ok with that.

Mostly I'm just trying to avoid getting ahold of something that I'm not really suited to maintaining or repairing over the long run.

I've heard some folks say Astro City or New Astro City is an easier to work on cabinet? Or even New Net City?

I'm not sure that I want to jump all the way up to a Vewlix since it loses some of the appeal for me of a CRT. I'm the kind of guy that also hunts down Sony PVM displays.
 
My vote is for NAC or Astro.

NNC and Blast are both tri Sync.
Are tri sync monitors really that much more of a pain to maintain?
There's just a lot more that can go wrong. A lot of first time owners blow it messing with the remote board while it's on and that's not to mention all the threads upon threads in the monitor section with people who have tried everything and still can't figure out what's wrong. I love mine but even switching from 15-> 31 isn't what people who don't have cabs think it is. I have to perfectly tweak all the back pots on my chassis to get it to look good in one and those settings won't look good in the other so it's not like I can just switch back willy nilly. That's just for 2930s but 2931s have actually more problems so it's just something that if you're gonna get into it you need to be really ready to get into it and someone trying to find a first cab locally probably isn't it. Like get a cab get into it and then get into the labrynth of monitor shenanigans. I'd definitely suggest getting comfortable with less complicated stuff first. Dropping a bunch of money having expensive shit shipped to you long distance, IOs, control panels, power supplies, there's plenty to learn first.
 
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Beginners basically need to get into one era of software first. A lot of people want a blast because they think they're gonna be able to play everything on it and you don't ever really actually do that anyway. So pick a jamma cab or a JVS cab and go with it and get more later when you know what else you want. An aero, an astro or new astro or even an egret 3 are good for jamma but there are many other options that are all pretty good. And a noir or a vewlix are probably the easiest and most reliable for JVS.
 
So for what I’m wanting, and to get started it sounds like either an Astro City or a New Astro City might be the best fit.

I think a 15/24 monitor would be just fine. I love the aesthetic look of both of these cabs but I think I went in thinking that the Blast City was newer and likely to have fewer problems which doesn’t appear to be the case at all.

So, now I guess is the real question of how to find one anywhere near Oklahoma, or find one worth shipping?
 
You got some solid advice from @bagheera369 in the KC thread. Make contacts, check all the online classifieds and be patient; or find one who’ll ship if you’re not as patient.

Have cash ready and a way for transportation, too. Otherwise, the cab may be sold from under you, especially with classifieds.
 
You got some solid advice from @bagheera369 in the KC thread. Make contacts, check all the online classifieds and be patient; or find one who’ll ship if you’re not as patient.

Have cash ready and a way for transportation, too. Otherwise, the cab may be sold from under you, especially with classifieds.
Bagheera369 has been very giving of his time and information. I appreciate all of the advice so far!

Am I missing any obvious classifieds besides Craigslist, FB marketplace, ebay?
 
Yeah, them, OfferUp, and arcade forums. Again, reaching out to local Ops will also help, but may need relationships built.

IMO, cab shopping comes down to time or money. You better have a lot of one if you want to a candy cab, especially locally, but you absolutely need diligence regardless.
 
Everyone's mentioned most places to look already, but I'll also toss in Letgo. And if you do decide to ship out of CA and can have someone take a look at it, buying from KC is an option.
IMO, cab shopping comes down to time or money. You better have a lot of one if you want to a candy cab, especially locally, but you absolutely need diligence regardless.
YES!

And if you are going to post any form of WTB for a cab, put a number on it. People will very rarely reach out to you otherwise.
 
I look at the tube first.... how easy is it to source a tube? or a tube locally from a TV? I pick the easier to acquire tube and go for that cab,,no matter how she looks because to my eyes, the monitor makes or break the cab. The chassis, you will mostly ship it to someone for repair.. The cab that you get, will most likely have burn in and if that is not a concern then you are good to go:)
 
I don't have anyone to go look at it, so I'm just dealing with KC directly, but I'm close to buying an Astro City from him.

I'm expecting to have to do a ton of cleaning. Like, a ridiculous amount. Also planning on potentially trying to recap the chassis myself (or perhaps if I get in over my head, send it to rewrite).

What else am I missing?
 
What else am I missing?
A bottle of krud kutter and hot water will get you really far in terms of cleanup.

You can get really nice replacement panels from @alberto1225 if you need.

Electronically:

If the speakers are really worn out you should be able to wire in some new ones pretty cheap, there's nothing fancy in the Astros for those.

Make sure your PSU holds stable voltage. It shouldn't go up and down over time, nor should it be wildly different on each power on. Test /without/ a game first.

Please, for the love of all that is good, buy a $20 multimeter before your cab shows up. It's an absolute necessity in this hobby!
 
Good call on the multimeter. I will definitely pick one up.

Also planning on replacing all of the sticks and buttons in the panel right away. I'm familiar with that from building arcade sticks in the past. My plan is to run it with a MiSTer in it, connected to a J-Pac.

Inspired by this guys post where he did the same: https://imgur.com/gallery/J1A3x0h
 
And here I am still using the free multi meter I got from Harbor Freight with a coupon
That's an excellent option too!

I just mentioned a price-point because I've had people who just spent 1600 bucks on a cab tell me they "don't want to buy expensive tools"....
 
One quick question I just thought of - since this is my first cabinet are there any unique tools you recommend I pick up for service?

Any oddball screw types? I have a pretty healthy set of driver bits. I'm picking up a multimeter. I thought to get a nicer soldering iron as well in case I need to try to fix something myself.
 
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