SMC1 “Disco” Jukebox

Manufactured by Seeburg (c)1979

It was probably around the time I acquired my 10th or so arcade machine that I decided I wanted to poke around and look for a 45RPM jukebox for the gameroom.  It didn't take long to find one super cheap.  I went and picked up a Seeburg DS160 … non working … and in parts.  Man did it look nice though.  Too bad it was WAY … WAY … WAY beyond my abilities to fix.  I had that juke and tinkered with it for about a month before I decided to sell (for the same price I paid) and look for a "working" juke.  It just so happens I managed to find a decent "working" jukebox a couple days later… before I was able to find a buyer for the DS160.

I picked up this 1979 Seeburg SMC1 "Disco" Jukebox for a decent price (as far as jukes go) from a guy in Boise who'd had it stored in his garage for a number of years.  It worked.  Mostly.  By "mostly" what I mean is that it did pick up records… most of the time the right ones… and it did play the records… most of the time at the right speed… but it was going to need a little help.  When the juke was "cold" it would play 45RPM records at about 40RPM… just slow enough to be noticeable.  It also had a tendency to pick up the record one or two away from the one you wanted.  These problems seemed to lessen as the juke warmed up.  After 3 or 4 records it played at full speed… and seemed to have less difficulty finding the "right" record to play.  Another issue was that the amplifier would,  from time to time, produce a bit of a static… a little bump of the amp area oftentimes fixed the issue. I also noted that the right 12" driver had some tearing going on around the edge of the cone.  But even with all it's issues… it played!  That put it well in front of the DS160 and a worthy addition to the garagecade.

The guy included a bunch of 45RPM records in the sale.  Probably only about 1/4 of them were of a genre I'd consider putting in the juke.  As anyone who acquires a juke will tell you,  once you get one,  you get somewhat "addicted" looking for records to add to it.  I spent probably three months looking at local garage sales, mom n' pop shops, etc. for records.  You tend to learn quite a bit about record quality when you start buying them.  You really start paying attention to "grades" given records when you start paying $5,  $10,  hell,  sometimes $15-$20 for a single record you want on ebay.  You also realize really quickly that someone elses VG+ (Very Good Plus) isn't necessarily YOUR VG+.  After a short time,  I decided that if I was going to spend the kind of dough I was spending on records,  I would stick to M (Mint) or NM (Near Mint).  The best record is a brand new,  never been played record… but even they can have issues.  Not to mention the fact that not everyone is honest about whether a record is brand new or not. You also learn that if you're looking for more modern songs on vinyl,  you're likely going to pay for it.  Some of the more current records I own I paid more for than I would for a brand new CD of the entire album.  I think the most I paid for a record was somewhere in the realm of $25.00… for two songs.  Yes,  it can become an addiction in of itself.

As for what I've done thus far to improve the juke… i replaced the needle.  I purchased a full set of manuals for it.  I bought the proper oil for it and gave it a proper oiling (probably the first time in a decade).  After doing so it no longer needed to warm up to play at full speed.  Doing so also seemed to "mostly" fix the issue with it pulling the wrong record,  though it will still do so from time to time (though it now seems to always be the record right next to it when it does).  I recently replaced the 12" drivers with actual Seeburg drivers,  though not the exact models that came out of it.  After looking for exact replacements for a couple years,  I jumped on an opportunity for "almost the same" replacements.  They sound fine.  I also looked in to re-coning the drivers but it would have cost a fortune to do so and the one guy the juke folks recommend didn't answer two emails I sent on the topic.  I also purchased a cap kit for the amp.  I figured re-capping would likely rectify the static issue I'd been having (more frequently) with the amplifier.  When I recived the cap kit I realized that it was going to be one helluva job to re-cap it.  There must be 200 damn parts included with the cap kit.  No wonder it was so expensive.  That cap kit is still sitting on my shelf today.  I'm waiting for when I have a whole weekend to myself to even think about attempting to install it.  I also bought a nifty label-maker program that prints out nice colored labels rather than having to buy the colored labels and type them up.

Today the juke still sounds pretty good.  The static issue is more prevalent and it's getting to the point where it would really behoove me to take the time to re-cap the amplifier.  The new 12" drivers seemed to add a little more bass than the last ones.  I did manage to take it off "freeplay" mode somehow while I was messing with things,  so I'm going to have to bust out the manual to figure out how to get it back in to "freeplay" mode (freeplay isn't really freeplay but rather "service" mode).  Another option I might consider is adding a switch to coin it up.  I still look for a few records that I would love to own on ebay from time to time,  though I am pretty happy with my current selection in the juke.  If I ever come across a Primus 45RPM record I would snatch it up in a heartbeat.  The same goes for Cyprus Hill.  Currently you'll find many genres of music from classic rock (CCR, Iron Butterfly, etc),  to 80's rock (Van Halen, Aerosmith, etc), Rap (Beastie Boys, Run DMC),  to metal (Judas Priest, Iron Maiden), to more modern genres of metal (Metallica, Anthrax, Godsmack, etc).   I "had" to have a couple records in the juke… had to… one was Green Onions… and the other was House of the Rising Sun.  There is also this kickass record I managed to find in a record lot I picked up locally… and it was in AWESOME shape…

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