Proud owner of a 1962 Wurlitzer 2600

[Skeleton Man]

I finally found something I liked..  a Wurlitzer 2600, complete for $500!

It was my first coin-op road trip..  6 hour round trip to pick it up..  normally I look for something closer to home, but this was an exception.

I'm having trouble getting it to work:

1) It WAS selecting the right record when I triggered the mechanism manually with service switch on (bottom ring with all the tabs and switches, push one tab in and it starts the matching record playing). I say WAS because all of a sudden it started making a weird humming noise and now it won't cancel (before when I hit cancel button on the amp, it would stop playing and return record to the carousel - now it does nothing and continues to play).

2) No sound at all. I can hear the record playing if I put my ear near the tone-arm (barely audible) but nothing in the speakers. One thing I noticed is that only 3 of the 4 tubes are glowing, the fourth one does nothing. Could this be the problem ?

3) No connection to the coin mech. There is a 5 pin round male connector, but no female connector in sight. Also the pricing unit (coin grinder?) has been disconnected. This is the small box in the bottom left with 3 levers marked 0 - 15 (I was told this sets how many plays for dime, quarter and half dollar?)

Also, he offered me a stepper to run wallboxes, but I declined at $150... I suspect this may have come with the machine and he removed to sell seperately..

Does anyone have any experience with this model ? I am buying a reprint of the manual and the seller is meant to be scanning the original to pdf in the mean time..  He has an original service manual (not a reprint!) but won't part with it.

Chris

[Kilroy]

First of all, welcome to the hot wax club. The 2600 is one of the last wurlys with a visible mech,  it makes playing it that much cooler

First thing i'd do is unplug it, and try reseating the 'dead tube.  it may be loose after the ride ( I always remove tubes before transporting, some are a bear to find or  RC V81 prices for replacements) or doa. Did you play it before you packed it up. And yeah, a dead tube, if it's on the amp can kill the sound.

A repro service manual is fine. They are on Ebay,  Victoryglass.com and Jukeboxusa.com  offer them. Denny at Victory glass  is much like Curtis and others here always willing to answer questions. But yeah,  the service manual is your friend.

Haven't worked on Wurlitzers much, my 1400 is still in the queue waiting to be restored.  There is a Wurlitzer group at Yahoo.com,  free to join and the members are knowledgable and  don't talk down like i've seen on other discussion boards ( no not this one)
I'll also ask my buddy Randy, who does all my mech work for suggestions as to what to look for with reject problem.

Congrats again Chris

[David D]

Do you know if the amp has ever been recapped?  If not maybe it's time.  I've found the following site/list to be very helpful.

http://webreports.netlojix.com/pipermail/jukebox-list/

[Skeleton Man]

The amp has not been recapped. I just wanna get the thing to play - was hoping rebuilding the amp could come later. I will try re-seating the tube.

There is a dial and two sliders on top of the amp - can someone tell me what these do ? Volume, bass, treble ??

Chris

[Skeleton Man]

Well I took a closer look today and I seem to be missing about 6 tubes!

Top image is mine, and the bottom image is from google. Notice how the two big tubes at the bottom and four smaller ones are gone.

I really need a forum that deals with jukes/wurlitzers.. mailing lists like google groups aren't really all that helpful.

[Jim]

Chris,

Fortunately, the amp has the tube labels and you'll know what to purchase.
2 - 7199
4 - 6973

There is a dial and two sliders on top of the amp - can someone tell me what these do ? Volume, bass, treble ??

I can check to see if i have a 2600 manual; the manual may identify these...

[davethebirdman]

To Be honest you are probably going to get more help here than you would on a Juke Forum... I belong to a few and the poeple on them tend to be very techy and if you aren't they don't really want to know..It like you need to have done a night school diploma before they'd help... I belong to one in the UK which is a little more friendlier but is not very active BJO (British Jukebox Owners) via Yahoo clubs I think... might be worth trying them.... Just my large old English Penny's worth...

Dave

[Skeleton Man]

Thanks Jim, that would be great. I am waiting on a service manual in the mail, since there is not one available online and the seller never scanned it for me.

Dave, yes I know I get all kinds of help here. This place should be "soda machines and anything else coin operated .com" lol

One thing I cannot find anywhere is the cable that connects the coin mech to the coin grinder. It would have a large female plug on the coin mech end, and a small male plug on the coin grinder. See the pictures below, there is a large male connector on the mech and a small plug on the coin grinder that says "slug rejector".

While I'm at it, how do I rig this for free play ? Can I just jumper a plug where the coin grinder connects the chassis?  alternately, what is the maximum credits per coin you can set ? I'm thinking setting 15 plays for a dime or something would elimate the need to keep a change bucket, while keeping everything authentic.

One last question - there are 4 ports on the chassis that are marked "stepper". Does this mean I need a stepper for each wallbox ? or just 1 stepper for any number of wallboxes ?

I was told that with the stepper installed, I can install any make and model of wallbox, not just wurlitzer. Is this true ?  What about volume control ? is that what they call "remote loudness" ? (terminals on the amp are marked for this)

Thanks again guys

Chris

[Kilroy]

The manual will tell you  how or you can adjust the number of credits per coin,  it was usually 5 plays for a quarter, 3 for a dime, one for a nickel,

Yes you can use non Wurly wall boxes,  but the 2600 is a 200 selection juke  (50 records 2 songs per 45), so you wouldn't be able to play half the songs with a 100 selection wall box.

The wall box cables will plug in to the stepper unit which passes the  credit selection impulses to the credit mech.  And yes you can have more than one stepper attached to the juke.

The remote volume control is just that. It was used in bars and restaurants where the sound  needed to be adjusted based on how loud or quiet the  room was.  Do you need it? Not really, but having it is a personal choice.

And i think pop machines and jukes go together,   it's an appreciation for a machine that was useful and had beauty  my non  collecting friends just don't see. 

For the  missing coin mech cable  you can try Durfee Coin Op or Roy Dean's Jukebox Junkyard, either place can direct you if they don't have one.

I'm sure someone wil jump in on the free play question, there is an Ebay seller from Canada  tghat sells a plug for earlier model jukes, I imagine it energizes the solenoid in the credit selection to keep one credit active . I'll look up his name, he may have one that will work on your box.

[Skeleton Man]

Thanks kilroy. Is there any reason you would NEED more than 1 stepper ? Do I need a new stepper for each wallbox ?

Also, I need new locks for the lid - are these standard cam locks or is there some special model I need ? is the coin door lock the same ?

I agree jukeboxes and pop machines go together, although I doubt my cav 64 will make it into the living room any time soon.

Chris

[Skeleton Man]

Got the service manual today    The schematics should definately help things. Just gotta wait for the tubes to arrive in the mail and I can get to work.

Chris

[Skeleton Man]

Got the new tubes and the right needle today and it worked for a few hours, then the sound just cut out and wouldn't come back. Preamp works because I can hook up the external amp jacks to my home theatre and it pumps out sound! Just no speaker output. It did this a couple of times before, but turning it off and back on always fixed it - no dice this time.

Got one other problem too: occassionaly the record fails to cancel - it will kill the sound but the turntable continues to spin. If I unplug the machine for about 20 minutes it
will finish the cancel cycle when I plug it back in.

Does this sound like bad capacitors or should I look elsewhere for the
problem ?

Last but not least, I have a record that's 45rpm on one side and 33rpm on the other - it has a small hole in the middle, not a big one like the rest of the 45s.  The 33 side plays fine, but the 45 side also spins at 33rpm and as such plays too slow!  Is there anything I can do about this ? I heard that small hole always means 33rpm - is this true ?  and why on earth would you have both sides at two different speeds ?

Chris

[davethebirdman]

Chris

Yu may have a 45 from the UK ... For some reason we have small holes on all our 7" records and have to dink them... I have some 7" that are 33RPM but they play at that speed on both sides... Never heard of one that plays different speeds on different sides...

Dave

[Kilroy]

I've never heard of a record with two different playing speeds on each side either, are you sure it isn't playing normally, but one of those weird  hippioe  acid induced songs that just sound lsow?
The amp cutting out could bea bad cpaacitor , or a bad tube, . I've got a friend I can bounce your issue of off, the fact you would power it off   to get it to play suggests once the cap colled down again  it could handle the load , but finally gave out.

[Skeleton Man]

Damn, when did U2 become hippie acid induced music ? 

Side A: With or Without You @ 45RPM
Side B: Luminous Times & Walk To The Water @ 33.3RPM

I'm guessing the machine sees the small hole as 33RPM and plays both at that speed.

Chris

[Kilroy]

That's exactly wahat's happening. interesting  marketing ploy though, and now I don't suggest dinking it 9 making the hole a 45 rpm size)

[Skeleton Man]

Yes it's definately different, I'm guessing the 33RPM B side is so they can fit the extra song ?

Chris

[BrianB]

That's wild! I'll have to remember that problem.

[Skeleton Man]

I must have something rather rare here, I just figured it was common place to find two sides at different speeds.

[collecture]

I must have something rather rare here, I just figured it was common place to find two sides at different speeds.

You might...I never seen a record with different rpm's!

But why do they have the 2-song side at 33rpm?...45 rpm is faster!

I have an old Coca Cola Tony Bennett 45rpm with 3 songs on each side called an 'Extended Play'

[TomFromJersey]

It sounds to me like you have a leaking cap also. Be very careful as to continuously applying power to the amp, you could seriously damage things. It's always prudent to have an amp rebuilt right away for any box you may keep.

[Skeleton Man]

I have new caps for the amplifier, I just wanted to get it playing first. I don't think the kit includes capacitors to replace the large multi-value "cans" so I'll be doing those next (re-stuffing the original cans with new capacitors).

I gotta make a list of a resistor values too, because nobody sells a "resistor kit" - the guy that sold me the caps fed me a line of BS that resistors absolutely never need replacing!

Chris