Inspired by Muddymusics thread, and in memory of the wonderful cabs that have passed through my hands over the years...
Starting with a Space Firebird cocktail, I bought this as a shell from a member of J+, although it was via eBay so didn't know at the time. I was very new and inexperienced and just wanted it for MAME so stuck a pc monitor in it and jazzed it up a bit and it did me for a few years, unfortunately I decided to sell it when i needed a little cash...
Next up was a Lordsvale MVS - again, this was off eBay - and i put a multi-cart in it, Like the MAME cocktail it was sold when i needed the money.
Bought a Mushiking off AndyGeezer and converted it to MAME - sold on via eBay and like the others above i really missed it once it had gone...
So that was it for a couple of years, I had sold everything and filled the gap by playing lots of Xbox 360 stuff, but i always went back to the classic games on XBL and realised i wanted a cab again. It was then that i discovered Killercabs, which then disappeared about a month after i became interested. Fortunately ArcadeOtaku started up and i became a member there. I was lucky in that i found a very nice astro pretty much straightaway...
This Astro is still here now and I guess will be here forever - it has GroovyMAME running but all the original wiring etc is in place.
As the Astro was a success i decided to get a few more cabs and got a couple of naomis, which i chopped and tarted up with new artwork. As both had 31khz monitors they were ideal for make so i did one as a horizontal cab and made a custom cp for the other so i could play trackball and spinner games...
After a couple of years i decided i didn't like the look of both those cabs so got rid of them - although they look good in photos both were a little tatty so i just gave them away for nothing on the forums. Out of the blue one of the 'buyers' contacted me a few months down the line to say he had decided to sell the cab and as i had given it to him for free he sent me half the money he had got for it - a great gesture and shows the decent community we have!
So, just down the the Astro, i decided I wanted to try more 'retro' cabs so bought a Taito cocktail shell off eBay, and ended up selling it on eBay for £20 when i realised I couldn't get the parts for it...
So, for various reasons money started flowing in and i bought a few more dedicateds...
My all-time favourite game, Sinistar! Very expensive and hard to find but worth every penny. In excellent condition, the sound card unfortunately broke and i sent it off to Andyman on J+ to get it fixed... Took over a year to get it back but i guess i was one of the lucky ones. In the meantime i bought a repro soundboard from the US.
Star wars with ESB kit... bought from a forum member and it was a fantastic bit of kit, The ARII broke but i sourced another one from a member here and it worked great. Always worried me that it would break on me as my skills are far too limited to fix such a machine but it was bombproof.
Marble Madness:
I loved this machine in the arcades and felt so pleased to get it off eBay - i paid a premium price but what the hell! Unfortunately it has a problem which meant that the marble speed would never go fast enough, i tried everything possible, even sourcing a new ultra-rare LETA chip from the US but this didn't solve the issue. Eventually i gave up and traded it for a Defender...
Joust:
bought from a forum member, got it home, switched it on and the LOPT blew! The chase was sent back to the seller who very kindly fixed it for me, put it all back together and the board developed a fault. This was sent off to another forum member who very kindly fixed it for me.
Defender:
Got in trade for the Marble Madness, I bought new buttons etc, another Williams game where the sound card blew! Fortunately i was able to fix it without too much trouble.
Burgertime:
Came from the same place as the Defender, switched it on, the monitor didn't work! After a few phone cals it was found the B+ had somehow decided to change in transit to me, when this was adjusted all was well.
Another Lordsvale MVS as i missed the first one i had too much!
The LOPT blew after a couple of days, took it up to Grant who fixed it for me. Fitted a 138-in-1 cart from a member here.
GORF:
the wiring had been butchered on this one even though the cab was in lovely condition. Did a complete rewire the night i got it and it worked great - fitted a few new bulbs etc and some NOS fittings i got from the US
Pleiads in a Space firebird cocktail:
Got locally off eBay, it had been rewired for the Pleiads bootleg board but the monitor was a bit waft - did my first monitor recap and it worked great after that.
Space fever cocktail:
bought off eBay - the guy thought it may be a power issue as it had been working recently for him but when i got it home i found this was complete bollocks - most of the wiring was butchered and couldn't have worked for years. Unfortunately when i sorted the wiring out the monitor blew the LOPT and a new one could not be sourced anywhere as it was a really rare model. i ended up putting in a scary tv running a 48-in-1 board.
Judge Dredd pinball:
Not much to say - bought from a guy in London, i will probably hang onto this forever as it is just too big and heavy to get back out of the room!
Atomiswave SD:
Bought from a forum member, converted to run GroovyMAME, this one is not in the best condition but it works!
So, the present day...
earlier this year i became really fed up with the dedicated cabs, i found that i had had so many issues with them that i was scared to turn them on just in case something went wrong. I decided to sell up and over the space of about a month i got rid of everything except the Astro, Atomiswave and JD pinball. And i am so glad i did - they were lovely to look at in the room but i didn't really play them, hopefully they have all gone to homes where people will enjoy them and maintain them for the future.
I still enjoy reading the forums but i can't ever see me buying a machine again - i can play all the games i want on the two MAME candies and that is enough for me. I joined the internet back in 1997 when i first heard about MAME through a friend and I have kind of come full circle.
Starting with a Space Firebird cocktail, I bought this as a shell from a member of J+, although it was via eBay so didn't know at the time. I was very new and inexperienced and just wanted it for MAME so stuck a pc monitor in it and jazzed it up a bit and it did me for a few years, unfortunately I decided to sell it when i needed a little cash...
Next up was a Lordsvale MVS - again, this was off eBay - and i put a multi-cart in it, Like the MAME cocktail it was sold when i needed the money.
Bought a Mushiking off AndyGeezer and converted it to MAME - sold on via eBay and like the others above i really missed it once it had gone...
So that was it for a couple of years, I had sold everything and filled the gap by playing lots of Xbox 360 stuff, but i always went back to the classic games on XBL and realised i wanted a cab again. It was then that i discovered Killercabs, which then disappeared about a month after i became interested. Fortunately ArcadeOtaku started up and i became a member there. I was lucky in that i found a very nice astro pretty much straightaway...
This Astro is still here now and I guess will be here forever - it has GroovyMAME running but all the original wiring etc is in place.
As the Astro was a success i decided to get a few more cabs and got a couple of naomis, which i chopped and tarted up with new artwork. As both had 31khz monitors they were ideal for make so i did one as a horizontal cab and made a custom cp for the other so i could play trackball and spinner games...
After a couple of years i decided i didn't like the look of both those cabs so got rid of them - although they look good in photos both were a little tatty so i just gave them away for nothing on the forums. Out of the blue one of the 'buyers' contacted me a few months down the line to say he had decided to sell the cab and as i had given it to him for free he sent me half the money he had got for it - a great gesture and shows the decent community we have!
So, just down the the Astro, i decided I wanted to try more 'retro' cabs so bought a Taito cocktail shell off eBay, and ended up selling it on eBay for £20 when i realised I couldn't get the parts for it...
So, for various reasons money started flowing in and i bought a few more dedicateds...
My all-time favourite game, Sinistar! Very expensive and hard to find but worth every penny. In excellent condition, the sound card unfortunately broke and i sent it off to Andyman on J+ to get it fixed... Took over a year to get it back but i guess i was one of the lucky ones. In the meantime i bought a repro soundboard from the US.
Star wars with ESB kit... bought from a forum member and it was a fantastic bit of kit, The ARII broke but i sourced another one from a member here and it worked great. Always worried me that it would break on me as my skills are far too limited to fix such a machine but it was bombproof.
Marble Madness:
I loved this machine in the arcades and felt so pleased to get it off eBay - i paid a premium price but what the hell! Unfortunately it has a problem which meant that the marble speed would never go fast enough, i tried everything possible, even sourcing a new ultra-rare LETA chip from the US but this didn't solve the issue. Eventually i gave up and traded it for a Defender...
Joust:
bought from a forum member, got it home, switched it on and the LOPT blew! The chase was sent back to the seller who very kindly fixed it for me, put it all back together and the board developed a fault. This was sent off to another forum member who very kindly fixed it for me.
Defender:
Got in trade for the Marble Madness, I bought new buttons etc, another Williams game where the sound card blew! Fortunately i was able to fix it without too much trouble.
Burgertime:
Came from the same place as the Defender, switched it on, the monitor didn't work! After a few phone cals it was found the B+ had somehow decided to change in transit to me, when this was adjusted all was well.
Another Lordsvale MVS as i missed the first one i had too much!
The LOPT blew after a couple of days, took it up to Grant who fixed it for me. Fitted a 138-in-1 cart from a member here.
GORF:
the wiring had been butchered on this one even though the cab was in lovely condition. Did a complete rewire the night i got it and it worked great - fitted a few new bulbs etc and some NOS fittings i got from the US
Pleiads in a Space firebird cocktail:
Got locally off eBay, it had been rewired for the Pleiads bootleg board but the monitor was a bit waft - did my first monitor recap and it worked great after that.
Space fever cocktail:
bought off eBay - the guy thought it may be a power issue as it had been working recently for him but when i got it home i found this was complete bollocks - most of the wiring was butchered and couldn't have worked for years. Unfortunately when i sorted the wiring out the monitor blew the LOPT and a new one could not be sourced anywhere as it was a really rare model. i ended up putting in a scary tv running a 48-in-1 board.
Judge Dredd pinball:
Not much to say - bought from a guy in London, i will probably hang onto this forever as it is just too big and heavy to get back out of the room!
Atomiswave SD:
Bought from a forum member, converted to run GroovyMAME, this one is not in the best condition but it works!
So, the present day...
earlier this year i became really fed up with the dedicated cabs, i found that i had had so many issues with them that i was scared to turn them on just in case something went wrong. I decided to sell up and over the space of about a month i got rid of everything except the Astro, Atomiswave and JD pinball. And i am so glad i did - they were lovely to look at in the room but i didn't really play them, hopefully they have all gone to homes where people will enjoy them and maintain them for the future.
I still enjoy reading the forums but i can't ever see me buying a machine again - i can play all the games i want on the two MAME candies and that is enough for me. I joined the internet back in 1997 when i first heard about MAME through a friend and I have kind of come full circle.
