1983 Rowe R-88 jukebox amplifier troubleshooting

Here I show some more repair progress on the Rowe. It looks like there is a bad Darlington output transistor on one of the channels of the amp.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• 1983
• Rowe
• R-88
• jukebox
• amplifier
• troubleshooting
• darlington
• transistor

[vwestlife]

Does that thing have a backwards mounted stylus!? I noticed the tonearm is on the left side, but the record is still rotating clockwise.

[retrochad]

Yes, the stylus is mounted backwards so it tracks properly on the record although the tonearm is on the opposite side than usual. All Rowe and AMI jukeboxes since around 1963 use the opposite mounted tone arm.

[vwestlife]

Strawberry Wine... great song!!

Sounds like you have a cold? Take some zinc... it helps!

[retrochad]

I really like the song too, it's especially cool that it's actually on a 45RPM record. I can't wait till I can hear the jukebox completely repaired.

One morning last week I woke up and my voice was totally trashed out, I have taken ZICAM and am now feeling a lot better but my voice hasn't totally recovered yet.

[vwestlife]

I have Faith Hill's "This Kiss" on a 45. I bought it brand new in a Nashville record shop in the summer of 1998. Back then, some Nashville shops still had racks full of 8-track tapes -- never opened, still sealed in the original cellophane, for 25 cents each!

[retrochad]

Country music always seems to still be available on older formats like 45's and AM radio a lot longer than rock/pop. In 1998 I can still remember going into a diner or bar and seeing a vinyl record jukebox. At that time they were probably 2/3 CD 1/3 vinyl so they were still making the records. Do you know if 45's of current country artists are still being made? I heard this relatively new song called "The One In The Middle" by Sarah Johns I'd like to find on a record.

[Sunsetdrivein]

Those Rowe juke amplifiers develop bad electrolytics on the preamp board next to the voltage regs. Replace the electrolytics on both driver boards too. These boards are well known for cold solder joints at the connector header pins.

Ken Layton

[TheTheErdfg]

How many channels of sound can a jukebox have?

[wildbilltexas]

Here in East Texas there are still bars and clubs (and the Waffle House!) with vinyl jukeboxes, mostly playing older songs.

I remember years ago watching a guy at a restaurant fix a 45 jukebox while we were eating. He had several of modules with him and he kept swapping them in the amp until the jukebox worked.

[hdyudu]

we have become so wasteful so much it is indeed apaling it just kill me about the ideal of trashing it and getting a new one if it brake down first time

[WC0125]

We were buying new artist 45s as late as 2003for jukes. The selection had dwindled to a trickle but some distributors were still offering them. Considering the locations vinyl boxes were placed in there wasn't much call for new stuff. I pulled my last vinyl box out in 2005 so I don't know what's out there now in new product other than repressings. Since most of them are from re-issue companies they have terrible fidelity compared to the original pressings though.

[kjm1983]

I had that stuff too...I had next to no voice for a week.