Vectrex

Blades

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Just picked up a Vectrex system. Damn, those things are cool. It came with 6 games
Armor attack
Bedlam
Berzerk (very fun)
Scramble
Spike
Solar Quest
and mine storm(built in)

Along with the overlays.

It's been decades since I have seen one of these and it's just as cool now as it was back then!

Now the system I have is the earlier version that had the speaker buzzing issues. Is there any maintenance or fixes for this? Also is there any other maintenance that I can do for it too keep it going for a long time. (cap kit) etc. since it's a vector monitor.

I understand this is a little out of sorts for this forum, however I'm sure there are some Vectrex collectors among you that could answer some of the questions above.

This is quite the kick ass system.



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I'm on the huntdown for one, let me know if you come across another one.

The hum, to my knowledge, is present in every Vectrex system. It's pretty much a trademark for the system (much like the "blinking syndrome" for NES). Its caused by a lack of shielding between the tube and speaker wiring. I'm not sure if there is a fix for it, maybe replacing the wiring? Buy why do it anyway? Thats the charm of playing a Vectrex.
 
According to some websites, they say that most/early models had the buzz. Apparently it was fixed on later models right before they quit making them. The buzz isn't a real big thing though. But I would be interested if there is any monitor maintenance that I should do. Really cool system though. Here is some good info on it....


http://www.racketboy.com/retro/2009/06/vectrex-101-a-beginners-guide.html




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I picked one up a few weeks back. Now I'm just waiting for them to get the 72-in-1 multicarts back in stock.
 
The "chat about anything" forum has had a couple of threads on the Vectrex. I just rebuilt one last month that was a real basket case and did the "buzz reduction" mods.

The first mod of removing the ground doesn't do anything, the second more involved mod uses shielded co-ax cable and totally eliminates the buzz along with improving the game sounds. The challenge is finding shielded co-ax cable that you can solder since some versions have foil or stainless steel braiding, neither of which you can easily solder to.

I used a Zanen cap kit but it has several wrong values that don't match the schematics or "as built" specs; look up the thread where I post the correct values and details on the buzz upgrade.

Here's mine before, during and after:
vec2.jpg

vec26.jpg

vec4.jpg

vec3.jpg
 
I love the vectrex, I have one with the Sean Kelly multicart. He throws a group of them on ebay from time to time with a BIN in the 80 dollar range. Just get a saved search for it with emails and you should be able to pick one up. They make the system really worth having.
 
There is this Multi cart on Ebay, but it only has 32 games on it. Still better to have an all in one, instead of turning your console off and on(effectivly the monitor off and on) continuously to change a game.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170381073009



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Hey Mike,

I found your audio buzz thread, but didn't see your cap kit thread. Also where do you order the cap kit, or do you search the caps out one by one. I looked on the website posted 5 or 6 answers above, but couldn't see the tutorial on the cap kit. Thanks



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The one drawback to the multi-carts is that you don't get the overlays. I picked up a system off e-bay a while back with a bunch of cartridges and overlays and it also had one of the smaller multi-carts. Either way, I need to find that thing and do the buzz mod on it and it looked like it could use a cap kit too. Thanks for the reminder and congrats!

-VJ
 
Hey Mike,

I found your audio buzz thread, but didn't see your cap kit thread. Also where do you order the cap kit, or do you search the caps out one by one. I looked on the website posted 5 or 6 answers above, but couldn't see the tutorial on the cap kit. Thanks



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It was in the Vectrex rebuild thread, here's the text from my August post:

I think the vectors tend to move near the borders depending on the relative amount of drawing being done on screen- mine does and the videos on YouTube I've seen seem to show the same effect.

Here is the cap list, the first 5 are the correct values that were wrong in the Zanen kit:

C409 .47@50v Bi Polar! (Zanen supplied 1uf@50v)
C410 .47@50v (Zanen supplied 1uf@50v)
C507 47@100v (Zanen supplied 4.7@100v)
C508 47@100v (Zanen supplied 22@50v)
C516 3.3@350v (Zanen supplied 4.7@250v)
C211 220@16v (Omitted from Zanen kit, but on the Zanen cap list)

Caps included in the Zanen kit, and checked for accuracy against "as built" and schematics:
C409 4700@35v
C113 10@63v
C114 220@16v
C117 10000@25v
C118 10000@25v
C119 4700@35v
C120 47@35v
C121 47@35v
C122 220@25v
C404 1000@25v
C411 1000@25v
C504 47@35v
C511 22@25v
C512 22@25v
C513 1000@25v
C521 47@35v
C523 470@25v
C212 100@16v
C213 100@16v
C228 10@63v
C323 4.7@50v

Other notes I made along the way-
1. Yoke wires are Blue, Red, Green, Yellow (only Blue and Yellow are labeled on the board)
2. R333 and R335 pots control alignment and size.
3. R302 is for adjustment to 0 volts during screen blanking using a test cart and measuring at pin 1 of IC304.

As for the buzz reduction mod, it works but only the version using the coax cable, option #1- clipping the ground wire didn't do anything. The real challenge is finding coax cable with an outer jacket you can solder, the first one I tried was stainless and wouldn't solder. Plain foil jackets won't work either, you need either copper or steel.

Also note, the coax cable routing is discussed as passing under the logic board but then over the cartridge port- keep it simple and route it on top of the logic board but behind the power board (deflection board to you and I). That gets it away from the magnetic flux coming off the yoke and eliminates the buzz.

The audio wire has a two prong plug but it switches from one side to the other depending on which board it's plugged into. The guide mentions "right hole", I'm not sure if they mean "right" as in direction, or "right" as in correct. Suffice to say, pay attention!

Here's a link to the mod version I used, it's a bit of a bear to pull off nicely but it works awesome: http://www.playvectrex.com/vectech/q...et_vectrex.pdf
 
vectrex

i have seen the info on the sound buzz but my vectrex has very low volume? when you turn it up all the way you can barley hear it. anyone have a fix for this? thanks!
 
Sweet mike. Thank you!! I've been playing this thing. Cool as hell.

BTW, you mention the Zanen Cap kit. Am I not looking in the right places to buy it, or do you put it together yourself? Where are you purchasing this kit? Thanks!


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:) Drop everything and get yourself a cart of Protector by Alex Herbert. (It was being sold as Protector / YASI when I bought mine.) It is a flicker-free port of Defender, and possibly the greatest indie cartridge ever made for any console system.

Well I found the cart, does anyone know where I can find the artwork? That looks awesome.

http://www.classicgamecreations.com/protyasi.html
 
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