Picked up an empty Big Red

acblunden2

Rugal's Thug
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Nov 1, 2015
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Traded it for a painted over Williams cab that was once Moon Patrol, then converted to Wrestlefest. Pretty happy about my first Neo Geo cab!

It's in pretty good condition, but missing the monitor, bezel, glass, and rear panels. I have all the rest. Don't know if the light panels work. Hoping they do (fingers crossed).
 

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Dochartaigh

Edo Express Delivery Guy
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Very cool! All the ones by me are like $350, totally stripped, with cracked wood and just pretty much jacked-up absolutely everywhere.
 

ChuChu Flamingo

We have purposely, trained him wrong, ...as a joke
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I find playing games without a monitor can add an entirely new spectrum of difficulty and can be quite engaging. It is almost like you're blind when you really are not.
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

The Fatal Fury Disciple
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Traded it for a painted over Williams cab that was once Moon Patrol, then converted to Wrestlefest. Pretty happy about my first Neo Geo cab!

It's in pretty good condition, but missing the monitor, bezel, glass, and rear panels. I have all the rest. Don't know if the light panels work. Hoping they do (fingers crossed).

Nice find! Good luck with the project/build!

I find playing games without a monitor can add an entirely new spectrum of difficulty and can be quite engaging. It is almost like you're blind when you really are not.

:lol:
 

coreykun667

Galford's Armourer
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How the hell does your control panel look that nice? Usually they're rubbed down to the metal. Anyway, nice scoop, man!
 

acblunden2

Rugal's Thug
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Nov 1, 2015
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...........and here is the converted cab that I traded for the Big Red with. Of course, I pulled the marquee, bezel, monitor before making the trade. I really like the charm of that Williams Moon Patrol cab. But I think I came out on top here.
 

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drmadd220

n00b
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Feb 8, 2006
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Traded it for a painted over Williams cab that was once Moon Patrol, then converted to Wrestlefest. Pretty happy about my first Neo Geo cab!

It's in pretty good condition, but missing the monitor, bezel, glass, and rear panels. I have all the rest. Don't know if the light panels work. Hoping they do (fingers crossed).

Nice pickup - the light panels usually die out - you can get replacements though - I just switched out mine to the A6 EL panels from Glowhut.com. They are very close in width but maybe about 1/4" to 1/2" taller. You can either cut them or tape over that extra. I used electrical tape to tape over the extra and worked out perfect.
 

acblunden2

Rugal's Thug
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Nov 1, 2015
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Nice pickup - the light panels usually die out - you can get replacements though - I just switched out mine to the A6 EL panels from Glowhut.com. They are very close in width but maybe about 1/4" to 1/2" taller. You can either cut them or tape over that extra. I used electrical tape to tape over the extra and worked out perfect.

Very cool to know. I did a search on the forum and found an old post from 200x-ish where it was stated, "either live with it or get a working set". But it is good to know there has since been an alternative found. Because I did plug the cab in and while the LED's for the CP turned on, nothing came on in the marquee. I did see some cut wire just hanging down from the marquee. Hope the damage isn't too bad. But yeah, happy to know there has since been a solution.
 

drmadd220

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Very cool to know. I did a search on the forum and found an old post from 200x-ish where it was stated, "either live with it or get a working set". But it is good to know there has since been an alternative found. Because I did plug the cab in and while the LED's for the CP turned on, nothing came on in the marquee. I did see some cut wire just hanging down from the marquee. Hope the damage isn't too bad. But yeah, happy to know there has since been a solution.

Hopefully the inverter board that powers the panels is still up there - it should be mounted on the back of the wooden board the marquee holder and speakers are mounted to. Those seem to be a little trickier to find. If it is up there take a look at the two 1-ohm resistors by the input section - you may need to replace those. For some reason they used those for fuses instead of actually installing fuses on the board. Mine were cracked and a little charred looking so I had to replace them.
 

acblunden2

Rugal's Thug
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Nov 1, 2015
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Hopefully the inverter board that powers the panels is still up there - it should be mounted on the back of the wooden board the marquee holder and speakers are mounted to. Those seem to be a little trickier to find. If it is up there take a look at the two 1-ohm resistors by the input section - you may need to replace those. For some reason they used those for fuses instead of actually installing fuses on the board. Mine were cracked and a little charred looking so I had to replace them.

Thanks man. The Big Red pickup is like a new girlfriend. Reminds me of that Journey song where the line goes /I get the joy of rediscovering you/..... Last time I seen a Big Red was I'd say....'95?

I won't see the cab again till the weekend since I travel during the week for work. But I'll take a closer look behind the marquee when I do for that PCB. I do see the EL Panel LCD's. I see the CP LED PCB's. And looks like the mem card and headphone jack PCB is there too. But there is no slot cut out in the CP for those things. I'll take lots of pics when I get home. Didn't have a chance to on Monday when it was delivered to me right after the NBA Finals closeout game. Maybe even turn this thread into a restore thread.
 

coreykun667

Galford's Armourer
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Dec 30, 2011
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455
I don't get to take a look at my cab often either. It's stored over in Ceres, which is way out of the way of where I live now. I think a couple of my EL panels are out too, but that's the least of my worries with mine lol. I was mainly worried about getting my monitor rejuved. I had the luck of having a Zenith monitor that's absolutely notorious for their issues. :oh_no: Good to see another NG member that's relatively close, and has one that's similar to mine!
 

acblunden2

Rugal's Thug
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Nov 1, 2015
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90
Next time you need a tube re-juved, let me know. I picked up one recently and need to get some use out of it. Always good to save some dough in this hobby so we can get to playing games.
 

coreykun667

Galford's Armourer
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Dec 30, 2011
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455
The monitor should hopefully be fine for quite some time. I'll keep that in mind though, so thanks man! We rejuved it in the back of my pickup outside his house :lolz:
 

acblunden2

Rugal's Thug
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Nov 1, 2015
Posts
90
Alright, home from work for the rest of the week. Took some snaps of the cab.

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The cab comes with a 2-slot. I'll quickly swap that out for a 4 slot to bring the cab back to its rightful function. Notice the marquee invertor cable is unattached?

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Here is a shot of the underside of the CP. Phew....sure glad all of the PCB's are there.

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A shot of the top side of the CP. I do see a crack in the plastic. Something I'll have to live with since it is OG. Otherwise, it is in good shape.

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Right side of the cab.

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Closer look at the right side reveals a crack in the laminate. I'll also learn to live with this since the side art is largely intact and is OG.

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Left profile. Nothing major in terms of damage.

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Lower laminate is ripped off the cab. I think I will paint rather than attach laminate as paint is more durable, easier to clean, protects the cab better than laminate, is easier to repair, and last longer.

IMG_1481.JPG

As it turns out, I do have the mem card slots and headphone jacks afterall. Just the sticker was removed and it was dark when the cab was delivered to me and I didn't notice the slots/jacks.

IMG_1482.JPG

And and and and the all important invertor for the EL Panels is still there and looks surprising clean for it's age and considering all the archeological dust all around that area! Thanks for the heads-up on that one drmadd220.

Welp, 3 days ago, I knew nothing about the Big Red cab. Now, I am loving it. I have a ton of cabs (well projects), but this one is easily one of my faves already. Can't wait to bring her back to life.

Thanks all for the feedback, info, and answers to my future stupid questions :lolz::lolz: Let the fun begin!
 

drmadd220

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Feb 8, 2006
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Alright, home from work for the rest of the week. Took some snaps of the cab.

And and and and the all important invertor for the EL Panels is still there and looks surprising clean for it's age and considering all the archeological dust all around that area! Thanks for the heads-up on that one drmadd220.

Welp, 3 days ago, I knew nothing about the Big Red cab. Now, I am loving it. I have a ton of cabs (well projects), but this one is easily one of my faves already. Can't wait to bring her back to life.

Thanks all for the feedback, info, and answers to my future stupid questions :lolz::lolz: Let the fun begin!

Good news in the invertor board. Looks to be in nice condition.
 

drmadd220

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Posts
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View attachment 45261

Here is a shot of the underside of the CP. Phew....sure glad all of the PCB's are there.

View attachment 45267

As it turns out, I do have the mem card slots and headphone jacks afterall. Just the sticker was removed and it was dark when the cab was delivered to me and I didn't notice the slots/jacks.

It looks like the memory card/head phone jack board is there (maybe?) based upon the mounting screws present in the underside of the CP pic, but that might be just the mounting screw to the standoff for the board. It looks like the headphone wire harness wires are cut, they look like the 4 wires on top of the memory card PC mounting plate. Also I do not see the memory card wire harnesses. They are two larger harnesses about 1/2" in diameter with a bunch of wires in them. They would be exiting out the left side of the memory card/head phone jack board. Take a look under that upper mounting plate under the CP and see if the board is there.
 
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acblunden2

Rugal's Thug
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Nov 1, 2015
Posts
90
Good news in the invertor board. Looks to be in nice condition.

Yeah man. Thanks for that. You saved me hours of Google-fu by letting me know that. Also, getting the marquee working is imperative for me. The arcade experience isn't the same without the faint glow of marquee light bouncing off one's face.

I have a 4-slot mainboard coming my way in a week or so. But I did attach the EL panel connector to the 2-slot mainboard. Hope that is the proper thing to do. But it looks like the EL panels are dead. I'll wait for the cheap ones on Ebay to come back in stock.

It looks like the memory card/head phone jack board is there (maybe?) based upon the mounting screws present in the underside of the CP pic, but that might be just the mounting screw to the standoff for the board. It looks like the headphone wire harness wires are cut, they look like the 4 wires on top of the memory card PC mounting plate. Also I do not see the memory card wire harnesses. They are two larger harnesses about 1/2" in diameter with a bunch of wires in them. They would be exiting out the left side of the memory card/head phone jack board. Take a look under that upper mounting plate under the CP and see if the board is there.

That board is definitely there. The two memory card ribbon cables aren't. What's a good source to replace those cables that are of proper length? Also, the headphone jacks do appear cut. Good news is that it looks like JST NH connectors are used to attach the headphone jacks to the mainboard? If so, I have a billion JST NH connector pins. So it might just be a matter of getting the connectors, then re-terminating them.

Any of you guys with one of these cabs find practical value for the memory cards in a personal collection environment? I am weighing if I should even pursue restoring that, then obtaining the necessary memory card. Like, I know I would never use headphones with this cab even though this should be an easy fix.
 
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supergoose

Die Gans,
20 Year Member
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Nov 16, 2001
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4,042
Alright, home from work for the rest of the week. Took some snaps of the cab.
As it turns out, I do have the mem card slots and headphone jacks afterall. Just the sticker was removed and it was dark when the cab was delivered to me and I didn't notice the slots/jacks.
Make sure to check and clean the pins before trying to insert a card. I used to have a card reader that had lots of corrosion.
 

acblunden2

Rugal's Thug
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Posts
90
Ah I remember when I wanted one of those so bad...

I like that cab alot. But I have too many. I will be putting it up for sale soon. It is in good working order and condition (exactly like it i in the picture above). But will be sans PCB.
 

FilthyRear

Neo-Geo.com's, Top Rated Bully.,
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I like that cab alot. But I have too many. I will be putting it up for sale soon. It is in good working order and condition (exactly like it i in the picture above). But will be sans PCB.

Those things are tanks. I like how the CP doesnt feel cramped with 2 players.
 
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