Re: Wells Gardiner vs Ampliphone

Mike,

An Ampliflame monitor does look very different from the Wells Gardner.
This monitor is composed of a separate high voltage board, usually with
a large red transformer, a separate deflection board, with a large
rectangular black heat sink on one side, and then the tube, not
mechanically connected to either of the two circuit boards. It is
mounted to the cabinet frame, and not to a monitor frame like the WG.

When looking from the back of the machine, the HV board will be mounted
near the top, on the left hand side, and the deflection board will be
mounted in the middle of the right hand side.

Personally, I'd hope it was the Amplifone, because the resolution of
this tube is dramatically better than that in the WG. I have both
monitors, and have used each monitor with both Tempest and Star Wars,
and I can tell you that Star Wars really benefits from the higher
resolution display. Tempest looks great also, but it's not strictly
necessary.

It is true that if it has the Amplifone monitor, that you'll have
reliability problems with that red HV transformer, and you will need to
replace it with the WinTron replacement, which at last count cost $190
back in November. Mine was $160 back in October.

If it's the WG monitor, you'll have greater reliability (than a stock
Amplifone), especially with Anders Knudsen's LV2000 low voltage supply
retrofit, and you won't shell out cash for a new HV transformer, but the
display quality will suffer noticeably.

Personally, I see the $190 as a bargain to restore my Star Wars machine
to look the way in which it was intended. But, I have balked at doing
the retrofit with my Tempest, due to the price.

Joel-
  

Ranger Mike wrote:
>
> Hi all, hoping you can help....
> A friend recently indicated that he knows of a star wars machine
> for sale locally. It in some-ones recroom and in nice condition. So I
> asked around and found some interest (hi Brendan). The question is,
> what monitor is inside? So I have to ask the guy the question over the
> phone.
> Now when I got my Gravitar, the monitor itself had no name on it
> other than an atari part number, but beacause I also got the manual, I
> know that it is a WG. After having fixed the monitor, I am now pretty
> familiar with it, and can describe it. The Ampliphone , however, I have
> no experience with(nor have I ever seen one, is that a good thing or a
> bad thing?), and was wondering if there some "Slap you in the face"
> physical feature I can ask the guy to determine the monitor make.
> The WG for instance has the familiar "metal cage" and all the
> board numbers (324 etc..) are hard to see. Does the Ampliphone have the
> cage? Any distiguishing features? Atari Part number?
>
> Thanks in advance
> Mike
Received on Tue Feb 17 07:10:32 1998