Buying Blast City Cab this week. Have questions/need advice

[bodine1231]

I was searching online and saw that a local guy had one for sale but it was over year ago, I thought I'd give it a shot and see if he still had it. He didn't,be he put me in touch with the guy who he passed it on too. That person offered to sell it to me for a really good price ($250) however there is a problem,the monitor doesn't work. Apparently the monitor needs a new chassis. Also,the game is currently setup for Black Bass and has the fishing controller attached so I'll need to buy a two player control panel. Aside from that I'm told its in great shape (pics below).

The seller (who owns and has repaired many cabs) offered to show me how to discharge the monitor and remove the chassis (watched a lot of videos,seems easy enough) and pointed me to this universal chassis that he was planning on using http://www.ebay.com/itm/120966957215?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT to replace it. I have no idea how to do this but I've been texting with the original owner all day about arcades and gaming (really cool dude) and he offered to help me fix the monitor and get the cab up and running (he also has a TON of arcades). He says its an easy fix,just time consuming. It would also be nice to watch someone do it in person and learn for myself incase something happens down the road.


So, right now I'm trying to come up with a list of what I'm gonna need to do and looking for advice in general as this is my first cab.

My goal with this (if/when i get the monitor fixed) is to run groovymame at 15khz full time.

Should I try and get the original chassis fixed? If so who should I contact about doing that, or should I go with the universal one linked above? All I know from the original owner is that its a tri sync monitor. It would also be nice to have a spare if I can get it repaired and use the universal one.

I will need to buy a JPac for this?

I plan on buying the panel linked below to replace the Black Bass one. I see that it doesn't come with the wiring to the cab. Since I'm running groovymame into the pc,can I just wire all the buttons and controls directly into the jpac? Or even better,can I just use a Xin-Mo controller board and wire all the controls into that and go USB into the pc just like my bartop? I will not use this cab for anything but Groovymame. (ok I might play some Black Bass but I assume its just a matter of putting in the pcb and fishing controller?)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/311841791610?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

I think thats it for now,I wont know more until I have it in my possession. But both guys have been really nice in offering help so far to get it up and running since its my first cab.

Thanks for any help,here's a couple pics. I'm told the unit is complete and also includes the stand. Everything works except the monitor.

[xga]

The chassis in the Blast City cab will either be a Nanao MS-2930 (manual tri-sync) or Nanao MS-2931 (auto tri-sync). The combination of the Nanao chassis mated with the Toshiba tube in the Blast City cab's results in amazing image quality that IMHO craps all over the image quality of Wei-ya chassis'.

I would definitely look to get the Nanao chassis fixed or replaced with a second hand working one if you care about image quality. I believe Chad from arcadecup.com repairs the Nanao tri sync chassis's, so might be worth reaching out to him.

[bodine1231]

The chassis in the Blast City cab will either be a Nanao MS-2930 (manual tri-sync) or Nanao MS-2931 (auto tri-sync). The combination of the Nanao chassis mated with the Toshiba tube in the Blast City cab's results in amazing image quality that IMHO craps all over the image quality of Wei-ya chassis'.

I would definitely look to get the Nanao chassis fixed or replaced with a second hand working one if you care about image quality. I believe Chad from arcadecup.com repairs the Nanao tri sync chassis's, so might be worth reaching out to him.

Thanks. I just checked his site and it looks like he has a line drawn through both of those so I guess he doesn't have the parts anymore. Also turnaround time is a couple months

[xga]

I checked his service queue on his site not too long ago (few months ago perhaps) and he had listed that he had fixed a few MS-2931's at the time.

Spare parts shouldn't be an issue. The flybacks on tri-sync Nanao chassis' are meant to be bullet proof.

He also has a rush service which costs 20% more if you want to jump the queues.

Otherwise, time to hunt down a secondhand chassis' if you want to keep it original.

[bodine1231]

I checked his service queue on his site not too long ago (few months ago perhaps) and he had listed that he had fixed a few MS-2931's at the time.

Spare parts shouldn't be an issue. The flybacks on tri-sync Nanao chassis' are meant to be bullet proof.

He also has a rush service which costs 20% more if you want to jump the queues.

Otherwise, time to hunt down a secondhand chassis' if you want to keep it original.

There is also Sharp Image Repair that has great reviews at arcade-museum so I might try him out. The original owner said he'd look more closely at it and maybe its something he could fix. I'd still like to find a backup though as well.

[xga]

Sharp Image Repair sound like a good option.

In case you weren't aware, there is a ton of surface mount components on the underside of the Nanao tri-sync PCBs which can make these chassis' difficult to troubleshoot and repair for the novice.

[bodine1231]

Yeah I have no interest in trying that myself,hehe. The original owner said he'd take a look at it first and has experience with it but if he can't do anything I'll send it off or order a universal one.

[Mrhide]

The blast is the Cadillac of cabs with lots of input options. You should consider/keep the option open to put a real Jamma board it in that you could switch with the groovymame.

this is what I've done: (hopefully the image will show up)

http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/download/f ... &mode=view

I bought the jvs-pac and the sega i/o board which allows me to quickly switch between daioujou and the pc ...


again, great cab! congrats and good luck!

[bodine1231]

The blast is the Cadillac of cabs with lots of input options. You should consider/keep the option open to put a real Jamma board it in that you could switch with the groovymame.

this is what I've done: (hopefully the image will show up)

http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/download/f ... &mode=view

I bought the jvs-pac and the sega i/o board which allows me to quickly switch between daioujou and the pc ...


again, great cab! congrats and good luck!

Ok I've been reading up some more on my cab and it appears that the Sega Bass cabs are different in that they are Model 3 and I will need a new loom to use Jamma.

If my only goal with this cab is Groovymame and nothing else,what exactly do I need to get it up and running?

[Mrhide]

If my only goal with this cab is Groovymame and nothing else,what exactly do I need to get it up and running?

an ATI card and an IPAC ... and some patience