General pinball Question

scaboo4u

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I'm looking into getting an older pin of some sort.
I'm looking for a specific sound. The bells and blings.

Is this only in EM machines.

Also needs to be more a kid genre theme.

If anyone would like to give suggestions of titles
would be great. If you have something 4 sale pm at will.


Not trying to make this a wanted thread.


Thanks
 
Yes Ems have that sound you are looking for.

I went to a Pin museum this weekend and my Son couldnt stop playing this one - dont know why but its got alligators, kids love that stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmxLdvw7wHk

Bally Nip it. I think i saw one FS recently, i can send a link if youre interested (not mine, and not someone i know!).
 
Buy only a pinball that has a schematic included or one that you can find a ladder schemtic on the net. EM can be very difficult to troubleshoot without one.
 
If you are looking for the "doorbell" type of dings and chimes, then you need to go with EM's. If you don't mind your dings being electronic, many of the late 70's solid state pinballs will work. Some even have dip or program settings to tun off the "fancy" music or sounds for an electronic chime effect...
 
Actually...

Early Bally Solid State games like "Strikes and Spares" have chimes instead of speakers and a sound board. They can play some music because the CPU can play 4 different notes. Original EMs couldn't do that.

Now that said, my advice on EM pins is this:

Buy a Gottlieb with lots of drop targets. Target Alpha is an awesome choice and can usually be found in nice shape for ~$800.00. We've enjoyed ours for years (and it's not for sale).

Gottlieb was the Cadillac of the EM industry. They made some of the best EM pins ever. The early Solid State Gottliebs are classics but you really need to know what you're doing to bulletproof them.
 
Some early SS machines have the bells too. Black Knight for instance has a large bell but also has solid state sounds. It is a mix of the two. I enjoy it. Has multi-levels, lots of timed drop targets, pop bumper, two kickout holes, multi-ball, etc.
 
There is something cool about hearing the xylophone-style chimes, score motors churning, and steppers stepping on an EM. They can be a bear to repair, since they are like a big Rube Goldberg machine, so schematics and manuals are a must-have. Once you get your head around how they work (esp. using the score motor cams for the more complicated logic), and learn to read their schematics, you will see how fascinating they are though.

Check out pinrepair.com for a slew of information about the workings and repairs

LeChuck
 
I'd agree with this. I'm new to pinball repair so maybe my observations will help your decision.

I'm on my 3rd pinball now and have the same great memories of the chimes from the old smokey bowling alleys.
here is what i learned

62 gottlieb flipper clown, rotating mechanisms require tweaking like working on an old car. gets old constantly tweaking stuff under the hood every 30 to 50 games. reading schematic on paper and find the spot on the machine is not a friendly endeavor. about requires an old experience mechanic to teach the stuff hands on the first time, otherwise it's just a head scratcher.
if i was going to do another EM, I'd get one with minimal moving/rotating parts, probably with a set of drop targets and an open playfield for aiming shots.

Bally eight ball deluxe- no comparison in fun factor. the kids wanted nothing to do with flipper clown after getting this one up. having the schematics made it fairly easy to find and diagnose problems. have to be comfortable with soldering and basic multi-meter usage.

Williams Black Knight- this is the latest one after we dumped the EM gottlieb machine. the mechanical simplicity and smart layout of the items is a pleasure. drop targets are simply than the bally and it was easy to replace bulbs unlike the bally.

i got the impression bally was a bit substandard in their design and cut corners after having the 2 side by side to compare and contrast.

EM's at the show are always cheap and reasonable it appears to be in the $350 range. buy one that's clean and i'm sure you'll love it. but be ready to outgrow it if your kids ever get to play an 80s or newer machine. cheers.
 
So far I would like to thank all of the input so far. Very helpful.

I saw a Time Machine video and liked what I saw.

Just can't find one.

Keep it coming as I am still searching.

Allen:)
 
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