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Is a Cheap supergun really that bad? I'm assuming yes lol

pixelvsprintdot

pixelvsprintdot

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Hi everyone,

So I see a lot of nice pre-built superguns online that cost around $600. I bought this cheap(but probably still overpriced) one on Yahoo Japan, it works fine, but it got me wondering what are the nicer superguns doing that this one isn’t?

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/p1068482599

I think its call the CU1 or USB-supergun/cbox ver 1.0...maybe?
I see a lot of really bad looking ones on eBay for around 30$ is this basically the same?

can you guys educate me on what the nicer superguns are doing that this one cant do ?

thank you

IMG_6391.jpg
 
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Look into ones like the Parsec, Minigun and HAS. Those are the recommended budget options that handle the video properly.

Also that supergun's power supply is extremely suspect. Handling all the power on a single 12v laptop charger definitely won't cut it for a lot of PCBs and you don't have the option to calibrate and adjust the 5v rail.

The Meanwell RT-125, RT-65, and RT-85 psu's seem to be the ones recommended by the community. They use quality parts and have an adjustable 5v rail. They aren't all that expensive either. You can pick one up for under $50 from Digikey. You'll just need to learn how to wire some terminals safely. I have the RT-65A and powers my CPS2 fine.
 
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pixelvsprintdot said:
Sorry everyone my bad I worded this poorly , I have already bought the cheapy one .
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Return it if you can. Poorly designed SuperGuns have a history of being dangerous to the displays / upscalers, controllers, and arcade PCBs they’re plugged into. Burned out SCART switches, upscalers and controllers can and do happen with poorly-designed SuperGuns. The HAS, MiniGun and Parsec all have been extensively tested and used safely by enthusiasts for years now.

And having a arcade-specific PSU with an adjustable dial for the 5.0V line is a must. For example, an Irem M72 three stack PCB draws a lot more power from the 5.0V rail than a tiny Cave PCB. Using a non-adjustable supply designed for a middle-ground board would under-power an Irem board or over-power a Cave board, potentially damaging them. That’s why the three SupeerGuns I mentioned above have LED readouts showing the power draw on the 5.0V line - you’ll readjust the PSU to have the readout as close to 5.0V as possible whenever changing from one game board to another.
 
ShootTheCore said:
Return it if you can. Poorly designed SuperGuns have a history of being dangerous to the displays / upscalers, controllers, and arcade PCBs they’re plugged into. Burned out SCART switches, upscalers and controllers can and do happen with poorly-designed SuperGuns. The HAS, MiniGun and Parsec all have been extensively tested and used safely by enthusiasts for years now.

And having a arcade-specific PSU with an adjustable dial for the 5.0V line is a must. For example, an Irem M72 three stack PCB draws a lot more power from the 5.0V rail than a tiny Cave PCB. Using a non-adjustable supply designed for a middle-ground board would under-power an Irem board or over-power a Cave board, potentially damaging them. That’s why the three SupeerGuns I mentioned above have LED readouts showing the power draw on the 5.0V line - you’ll readjust the PSU to have the readout as close to 5.0V as possible whenever changing from one game board to another.
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To reiterate what @ShootTheCore is saying, please get another supergun. There are probably more shitty superguns coming from aliexpress now than there are actual Jamma PCBs in circulation. It's not worth it to potentially kill a pcb you paid $$$$$$ for and further reducing the dwindling supply of boards still in operation. These boards are very delicate and do not have the modern conveniences that electronics nowadays have against shorts, spiked voltage or anything else electrically going wrong. They are not idiot proof by any means and all that stuff must be in consideration by you.

I've killed a Neo Geo 1 slot from forgetting to power off my PSU before plugging the cable in to my supergun. A situation that most people without an electronics background will not bother to think about before it's too late, since most modern electronics have a protection against a short caused this way, as hotswappable devices have been the standard for decades now.


I really can't stress this enough. Please use quality Power supplies and superguns. They aren't even that much more expensive compared to the aliexpress specials.
 
The current version of the DJF cbox is 4.0 and has all the advanced features of other units, including adjustable 5V, USB support etc. There's some discussion here on the supergun subforum about the various models. Great unit imo. V1 seems pretty feature-bare in comparison.
 
SmallCab got their own supergun, which seems to be modified version or a remix of the venerable retroelectronik supergun. I own one and it's ok. The retroelectronik supergun was great, I use mine for like more than half a decade now, daily. Sadly, the family behind it lost everything in a fire.

The problem with those chinese superguns is that they are mass produced, cheap and available to ship. That's why they are so popular, unfortunately.
 
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I’m not a fan of the Retroelectronik SuperGun-it’s the one I was thinking of in terms of burning out controllers. The build quality on them is inconsistent-some of them work great while others have bad grounds.

Plus Retroelektronik has a history of cloning enthusiast-developed products-they’ve cloned a lot of @XianXi ’s work.

In the end, I agree with @djsheep - just get a HAS. I have two of them myself and they work great.
 
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I actually was asking something similar. Dont mean to hijack your thread, maybe the suggestions could be helpful?
I need a cheap secondary SG to use with my Naomi 1 /w Capcom I/O. Im running cvs2 via conversion cart. Video and Sound will be taken directly from the Naomi.
Im just looking for a cheap small SG that i can hook up to the i/o to power the board and handle controls via undamned.
This will only be used on my Naomi when my JNX SG is in use.
Any recommendations on the cheap SGs for my specific purpose?
 
MountainDewFKR said:
I actually was asking something similar. Dont mean to hijack your thread, maybe the suggestions could be helpful?
I need a cheap secondary SG to use with my Naomi 1 /w Capcom I/O. Im running cvs2 via conversion cart. Video and Sound will be taken directly from the Naomi.
Im just looking for a cheap small SG that i can hook up to the i/o to power the board and handle controls via undamned.
This will only be used on my Naomi when my JNX SG is in use.
Any recommendations on the cheap SGs for my specific purpose?
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If you only need controls from a jvs board like Naomi, get a jvs io that connects directly to usb like this https://www.arcade-projects.com/thr...worldwide-sales-troubleshooting-thread.20112/ (there are a couple on the market). Capcom io has one extra frame of lag anyway. Save your undamned converters for something else. Then for power just go directly from the psu to the Naomi.

https://toyoshim.github.io/iona-us/shop_en I think redsun has some or eBay
 
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I own a MP07-IONA and it's a great device but I've heard they are really hit and miss with Naomi. Don't have a Naomi myself to test so not sure how much of that is user error.
 
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