About to purchase a Sega Blast City. Things I should know?

[Nostromo]

I am seriously considering purchasing a Sega Blast City arcade cabinet to use with Neo Geo, and I have some questions maybe someone more knowledgeable can answer some of my questions, thanks!

1. It comes with a monitor the goes up to VGA resolution, does this mean that when playing Neo Geo graphics will look too sharp especially when compared to a 15khz monitor?

2. How reliable are these monitors, both the chassis and tube? Is there anyone in Europe that can fix/refurbish the chassis should the need arise?

3. I have seen some replacement chassis for sale NOS from China, are these any good?

4. Should I need to remove/replace the chassis how hard is it to do so without frying myself in the process. I know near to nothing about monitors.

5. The Blast City has a Capcom style button layout. Is there a standard way on how to wire NeoGeo on these control panels?

Anything else I should know or consider do let me know, thanks!

 

[Atro]

Or ... Or...

6. I'm gonna get tired of it in about 2 days and sell it back asap
/Nostromo mod off

Dealing with CRT is like playing with fire. It's always a fingers crossed thing when getting one. Either you're lucky with the one that comes with it or you have to pay high to have a top condition chassis.

As for the 15Khz, the original monitor is capable of doing that frequency. You're covered on that.

 

[Chempop]

http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?222204-Blast-City-Club

http://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/Sega_Blast_City

1. It comes with a monitor the goes up to VGA resolution, does this mean that when playing Neo Geo graphics will look too sharp especially when compared to a 15khz monitor?

Not exactly, the monitor is tri-sync so it changes res, so if will play low res in 15k, hi in 31k.

2. How reliable are these monitors, both the chassis and tube? Is there anyone in Europe that can fix/refurbish the chassis should the need arise?

They are built to be running 15 hours a day and some are still working 20 years later with varying degree of faultiness. Like all ectronics, they break and then you (or someone else) has to fix it.

4. Should I need to remove/replace the chassis how hard is it to do so without frying myself in the process. I know near to nothing about monitors.

It's a pain to get the monitor on of the cab, but if you are sorta on the strong side you should be able to manage without a second person.
taking the chassis off I recommend doing some careful reading and having someone else present just in case of an accident.

5. The Blast City has a Capcom style button layout. Is there a standard way on how to wire NeoGeo on these control panels?

Some player harnesses only have jamma 3 buttons, others have the 4th wired in. Not a big hassle.

 

[Nostromo]

Finding someone who is prepared to fix it in my country is impossible. So the only way is to remove the chassis and send it abroad for fixing, assuming I can find someone.
Is it possible to remove the chassis without taking the whole monitor out of the cabinet?

 

[Chempop]

Is it possible to remove the chassis without taking the whole monitor out of the cabinet?

Theoretically unlikely, realistically hell no.

 

[Nostromo]

Heh ok. Let's hope there will be no reason ever to have the chassis fixed

 

[Fritz]

1.The 15k image won't look quite as soft as say an astro (ms9 chassis). I also prefer the look of a 24” vs a 27” monitor, but depending on the genre some might prefer the larger screen. If candy cabs are hard to come by in your area and it’s a solid deal I wouldn’t let this persuade you from making the deal.

2.I own a blast but have not touched the tube or chassis yet for repairs. From info gleamed from others though, the tri-sync on the blast is a bit more finicky than the ms9, comparing it to an astro again. It has more caps and there have been issues with the flybacks on some machines.♥ Again, still a solid tube and chassis. I believe there is someone in AU that fixes them but I don’t recall offhand who.

3.The Wei-ya chassis replacements are a lower quality than the Nanao’s, and the picture isn’t quite as good.♥ There was a comparison thread on arcade otaku I believe.

4.I haven’t tried it but if you take your time and do some re-search first it shouldn’t be too difficult from what I have gathered. Trying to do some of the actual repairs depending on how tricky it is I would personally avoid.

5.If its already wired for jamma with the 001 loom you should be fine. I think the issue with some blasts is if they were wired for only Bass Fishing yea?

 

[todosnk]

i recommend you post on the blast city group thread.
there are a lot of good and wise people there that will advice and provide useful info.
I went through the same as you two years ago and i all can say its the best shopping Ive done in years. Got mine setup with hyperspin and an arcadevga and could not be happier!