Portable Jukebox (Formally Fender Twin Amp Jukebox)

[heretic]

As a birthday gift, a group of friends are contributing to get a buddy a gift for his bar. The guy is really into the Rolling Stones, Harley motorcycles, country music. I've been racking my brain how to create an mp3 touchscreen jukebox. I first thought of the Harley wings logo with the touchscreen in the center but the thing would be 6 feet wide by the time I was done. There was no way to make a Stones (lips and tongue) logo with the screen incorporated.

I think the best way to incorporate the theme is to find an old non-working guitar amplifier (I decided on a Fender Twin Amp as this is Keith Richards' choice according to Wikipedia), and use the faceplate and knobs from the front as well as the Fender logo and corner protectors to use in the project. A small plastic Stones logo and / or Harley logo could also be attached to the face.

It's probably easier to build this from scratch using mdf and covering the sides with amplifier covering and the face with black speaker tolex. The face would have the opening for the 15" ELO touchscreen (already purchased) and the tolex would mask the openings for decent 2.0 computer speakers (for relatively low volume listening). A second audio output would run to the stereo inputs under the bar for louder listening.

I'm considering a Zotac IONITX based motherboard / cpu combo due to sound and low power consumption and have even considered the Zotac Mag which can be fastened right to the back of the touchscreen via VESA connections. Alternatively buying individual pieces offers more flexibility with larger hard drive.



This project would be mounted to a wall above the end of the bar but only needs to be approx 6 inches deep, rather than a full 12 inch amp (that's why it's probably easier to build from scratch).

I've been playing with E-touch (formally Freebox) for the main software with Tiny XP OS. Maintenance could be via WiFi or cordless mouse/keyboard.

Stay tuned.

[RetroBorg]

I look forward to following this project, sounds great.

[caesar]

Hello,
He's an idea that came to mind...I realize your still in the planning stage.

Suggestion: Assuming your mounting the monitor in the center of the speaker grill area.
   When you mount the monitor don't use a thick outer trim(wood/metal) frame, Use the amp's grill cloth material right up to the monitor's outer edges. Then use a color scanner to scan the amp's grill pattern and incorporate the grill's image as the background of the Jukebox software. I think the look will allow the monitor to blend in better.

Thanks!

[Kman-Sweden]

My thoughts exactly.

[mwong168]

Have any of you guys considered using an ASUS EEE Top desktop computer?  I've used a few them for thin client applications at our work and it's not bad.



The older ones come with a widescreen 15" touch screen, Intel Atom cpu, Wifi, LAN, sound and more for < $500.  Not sure how much you guys are picking up your ELO touch screens for but I might considering using one of these if I ever build some sort of jukebox for myself.

[heretic]

It's done; here's what it looks like. Impossible to find disposable amplifiers or buttons. This is not a recycled amp; it was built from scratch. Detailed writeup to follow.

[heretic]

pic

[heretic]

pic

[heretic]

pic

[RetroBorg]

Looks good but I'd like to see a pic with the screen working.

[heretic]

software of choice is Zenpoint MediaCenter. I really like E-touch but those grainy album covers despite resolution was the turning point. You'll notice I modified the Zenpoint Logo.png with my own for this theme.

[heretic]

one more

[caesar]

Very Nice Work  


http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=98605.0