The ultimate rock'n'roll box with the ultimate rock'n'roll songs. This juke comes from Kansas City and and is now situated in Norway restored and running smoothly.
A lot of work assembling that video! And the machine looks and works perfectly. Lucky to own such a piece of American Ingenuity! Great song selections and title strips
I have to compliment you on your GREAT TASTE of these selected 45's !! This juke box is AMAZING TOO !!! Absolutely impressed, and YOU are very Blessed !!! Thank you for posting this video !!
I'm in the final stages of doing a "total, frame-off" restoration of a 1960 - ROCK-OLA JUKEBOX TEMPO 2 machine. I disassembled it down to every last part, and cleaned, replaced, re-painted all the parts. It is an incredibly complex machine (schematic alone measures about 2.5 x 4 ft!) The "mechanical memory" (which knows which records have been elected) is a marvel in itself. When this machine is finished, I'll put it up for sale, and use the money to purchase a vertical ("knee") milling machine, so I can make parts for the restoration of other vintage machines.
Nice restoration. I just finished a 200-selection Tempo II after a 2.5 year effort. It is now perfectly restored to brand new operating condition. As an FYI, there was a TV show titled "Jukebox Jury" that ran from 1959-1967. Its format was simple -- a live studio audience and a stage panel of 4 celebrities rated new songs as a "hit or a miss" after playing about 25% of the tune -- directly off a 1960 Rock-ola Tempo II 200 selection jukebox on the stage. As a result, this model is one of the most collectible jukes in Europe. If you add stereo side speakers, the total output is nothing short of sensational. Pure, rich, perfectly balanced music that is the absolute perfection of '60's analog sound. Gives me goosebumps every time I play it. What I like to do load a few "ringers" -- some newer 45's, like Mariah Carey's Hero ('93), and you can hear just how incredible this machine sounds. The amplifier is designed to play from -20 to 60,000 cycles -- 3x the ability to hear for most people. Why did they design an amp that far exceeded what humans can hear? At first it made no sense to me, but a professional audio engineer told me that the higher the cycles or HZ, the lower the distortion. Sure enough -- the distortion on this '60 amp is less than 3% -- which is literally no distortion. So if you turn the volume all the way up,(not that you would), the rate of distortion is practically nothing. Incredible!
I just picked one of these up, I am going to start a restoration set of videos, maybe i can get some advice along the way. My first video is up with my box on a hydraulic platform lift. I have ordered the manual. One problem off the bat is the pinbank is not picking up signals.
MrUABAMA The best Rock-ola expert in the U.S. is Donnie Kueller. He is located in New Jersey and Florida. You can get his contact info off the Internet. He will be able to assist you in your restoration. As a word of precaution, when you get the manual the amp specs were changed in mid-production in 1960 so if you use the schematics from the manual chances are that modification will not be shown in there. I believe it was a change to one of the output tube pins but I don't remember precisely. However, if you get sound from your jukebox now then you are OK; if not, then you will need to research precisely what the modification was or else your jukebox won't have any sound. Most Rock-ola restorations are pretty straight-forward but the Tempo II was the first stereophonic jukebox made by Rock-ola. You will also need to get 2 side stereo speakers unless you want your machine to play mono only. The speakers must be in compliance with the amp specs. I know for a fact that Bogen makes a pair of side speakers that sell for about $100 that are in compliance. They are compact and can hang easily on a wall -- best position is to the extreme right and left of the cabinet to provide a "wall of sound." All you need do is to set the amp to "hybrid" position and all the speakers -- cabinet and sides will be on. Sounds spectacular. Good luck.
Nice machine, I have a 1475 that has been well maintained, new rectifier, motor brushes for the magazine motor, it is running here in the U.S. on 60 cycles and I see no noticeable difference in the cycle speed between your machine and mine. As far as Rockola having the fastest cycling mech of the era.....well.....having a lot of experience with a lot of jukeboxes, that is a new one for me, the Seeburg 222 I owned which was from the same year (59) seemed faster from selection to play.
I assume your jukebox in Norway is playing at 50 cycles; that's why it is cycling so slowly. In the U.S. we use 60 cycles. This model had one of the fastest cycle times of any jukebox for its time. It plays and sounds great. Enjoy it.
I need a little help troubleshooting why my Rockola Tempo II won't start and pick up a record when I push the selector buttons? Nothing happens, any help will be appreciated!!
Just as a heads up, all those wax caps have been replaced, right? You'd be surprised how many don't do that. 95% of these are DOA or very close to it and can go, sometimes with fire involved, or go out and take expensive, hard to find parts with them.
I just saw that at 08:20, and my first thought was "Well, those paper caps aren't long for this world!" I bet this would sound 100x better if those caps had been replaced!
I love it and you're very close. Have the speed corrected and it'll be better, and a shure magnetic pickup and it'll really rock. it's running too fast and those ceramic pickups do not have good bass. great box though
+Robert Wirth This is the one and only juke for me. Greatest look. Btw: The motor is the original 60 cycle, but runs on 50 cycles, and with a spring mounted on the capstan to widen the diameter. It results in some speed change. The jukes exported to Europe had an 50 cycles motor. My juke is powered by a step down transformer. (220V to 110V) The bass sound great in my machine, but the video does not serve the sound well. Sorry.
