Black Matrix
Well-known member
Space Duel, Black Widow, Gravatar.....Dedicated Atari games with Amplifones in them
Hello all,
In a recent post, I learned something that I was unaware of. Atari modified Major Havoc pcboards to operate faster than their conversion counterparts. The reason was apparently that the Amplifones could handle the extra speed (since they were MED RESolution) and had a faster refresh rate (I think?) The post that talked about his was somewhere in here:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=261947
Anyways, this got me thinking.....Maybe Atari modified other PCBs to run at faster rates when they had Amplifones in them from the factory. From what the other post said, they did this by using faster crystals...and jumpering some of the chips (at least on Mj. Havoc.) I think ded. Mj. Havocs had Amps in them as did Quantums. So it stands to reason that the boards would probably have the faster crystals and maybe the mods.
My point. I have a Space Duel project that is missing the original pcb. Long story....don't ask. But I would assume Atari had occaisonally put Amps in other games like Black Widow, Gravitar, maybe Tempest...whatever. So my first question, is does anyone have any of these games with dedicated Amplifone monitors in them. And my second question is could you take some pics of the pcb and maybe make note of the Crystal speeds. If there is a difference, I would suspect jumper wires and crystals to be be faster (higher Mhz). And maybe some Vector/Atari guru already has the answer to this. Just thought I would throw it out there since the thought of a Space Duel that not only looks better, but runs faster sounds like a worthwhile project. Conversely any repro pcb that should use an Amplifone (i.e. the new run of Quantum PCBs) might not look their best running on a Wells 6100 without the slower crystals.
Then again, maybe its Sat. night...and I'm board, and completely off the mark on this one. Just thought it was worth a conversation.
Hello all,
In a recent post, I learned something that I was unaware of. Atari modified Major Havoc pcboards to operate faster than their conversion counterparts. The reason was apparently that the Amplifones could handle the extra speed (since they were MED RESolution) and had a faster refresh rate (I think?) The post that talked about his was somewhere in here:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=261947
Anyways, this got me thinking.....Maybe Atari modified other PCBs to run at faster rates when they had Amplifones in them from the factory. From what the other post said, they did this by using faster crystals...and jumpering some of the chips (at least on Mj. Havoc.) I think ded. Mj. Havocs had Amps in them as did Quantums. So it stands to reason that the boards would probably have the faster crystals and maybe the mods.
My point. I have a Space Duel project that is missing the original pcb. Long story....don't ask. But I would assume Atari had occaisonally put Amps in other games like Black Widow, Gravitar, maybe Tempest...whatever. So my first question, is does anyone have any of these games with dedicated Amplifone monitors in them. And my second question is could you take some pics of the pcb and maybe make note of the Crystal speeds. If there is a difference, I would suspect jumper wires and crystals to be be faster (higher Mhz). And maybe some Vector/Atari guru already has the answer to this. Just thought I would throw it out there since the thought of a Space Duel that not only looks better, but runs faster sounds like a worthwhile project. Conversely any repro pcb that should use an Amplifone (i.e. the new run of Quantum PCBs) might not look their best running on a Wells 6100 without the slower crystals.
Then again, maybe its Sat. night...and I'm board, and completely off the mark on this one. Just thought it was worth a conversation.
Last edited:




