Ok, just got my new genesis sd45-2 in the mail today. First impressions, very nicely detailed, and a sharp paint job. Put it on my layout-- THE LOCO NEEDS 2 TAPS ON ANY FUNCTION KEY FOR IT TO RESPOND – love how they maake every decoder different huh?? Out of the box, the sound is set to full volume, and the only way to lower it, ( besides changine each sound individually ) is to open up the loco and turning a thingy-ma-bob with a scerwdriver. ( sigh ) The loco runs nice and quiet, and the sound is OK, ( better at low volume ) but the engine runs slow on DCC. It runs a lot faster on DC. The top speed is not very high. Even my slowest loco is faster. A nice feature is that there are a lot of sound choises. Some are bad, some are good. You get to pick. Well, overall it is a nice locomotive. Great detail, and sharp paint. The sound system is OK, better at low volumes. Other than being a slow runner, great buy. about 8.75 out 10.
ok, adjusted v-max, fixed the speed problem. I guess the factory setting was not what it was listed to be.
Got mine, non sound SCL unit. Very nicely done. Unless I could get a really great price on one, I doubt if I’d get any more.
Sounds like everyone who’s gotten one so far really likes them.[:D] I might have to buy one sometime, but not now, because I’d reeeaally like an AHM Big Boy.[:D]
By the way, in the MR review it looked like the trucks were the standard Athearn 6 wheel trucks instead of the Genesis ones used on the SD70 series. Are they the regular Athearns or are they Genesis trucks?
Well, when i first looked at them, they did look different than the standard genesis trucks. I don’t have a sd70, but I do have a F3. The trucks are deinatly not the same, they look like the trucks on my f59. Don’t know whats up there. But I can tell you, theose trucks do make a little more noise than the genesis ones…
Darth Santa Fe - If you want a BigBoy -getan Athern!!!
Well I should hope they arent the same trucks as on the SD70s. Those were awful! I think i might have to pick up one of the no-sound versions for myself.
PS. I saw the genesis big boy, beautiful!
I also heard the big boy, mmmmm, not so beautiful.
You know, I think a person would be hard pressed to find a “Bad” review of any locomotive in MR. They always say the same thing and never truly give a definite “stay away from this dog” review. I’d like to see a rating scale of some sort. The reason I don’t think they EVER give bad reviews is the manufacturer may decide not to advertise with them that month, or there just plain isn’t that many different manufacturers of locomotives out there.
Am I the only one to see the obvious?
Absolutely, but they arent comepletely useless. If you read a review of say, a BLI engine, they might say how the sound is clear and realistic. When they review the athearns with MRC sound they say something along the lines of “its equipped with sound, and you can select from many sounds preloaded on the decoder.” Or at least that is my impression.
I’d actually rather have the old Rivarossi. The Athearn one is sound only, and I don’t really want sound, and it’s more expensive. The silver railings and big flanges on the Rivarossi make it look real neat and shiny, so it’s somehow more attractive to me. I also like taking engines from manufacturers like Mehano, Bachmann or older Rivarossi that people would call “junk” and fixing them up real nice so they’re just the opposite.[:-,][:)] My AHM/Rivarossi 0-6-0 is now one of my best runners, coming close to Spectrum quality running.[:D]
No, you are not the only one to see the obvious. The MR reviews are nice and polite and looking for the good points and overlooking the poor sound and running qualities. The Genesis do not run slow and smooth like most other models available today using DCC. They did list the minimum speeds, but skip over it like it does not matter. I have already installed a Tsunami into the new Genesis Big Boy, but am not completely happy with it either. I want to try a Zimo drive in the Big Boy to solve the slow running problems. The Challenger and Big Boy must use the same motor since they reacted the same with the Tsunami installed.
I have been emailing Athearn and they do answer most of the time. I know they are committed to the MRC drive and sound, which is one step above my old American Flyer trains, but they are almost sixty years old. Now is the time for new sound, but their contract probably runs five years or more.
You might also try Loksound. They have BEMF which will help the slow speed performance. Hmm, actually I cant remember if the Tsunami has BEMF or not. It must have something similar like dither.
So ar, I have to say LokSound is the BEST sound decoder, followed by QSI.
Well, it’s Friday, so I might as well start a little controversy.
MRC sent the wrong decoder back to me (n-scale instead of HO) so I returned it. For the trouble, they sent me an upgrade, a newer mini sound decoder in their brillance line. I put in a KATO SD90Mac. This decoder has 17 or 19 sounds and a start-up sequence as well as the prime mover throttle linked to speed. It does come with a small speaker, which I wondered about, but was OK cause there isn’t much room in the SD90 shell for anything thus needing a “mini” decoder.
OK, now for the controversy. While running it one night I was playing with the sounds and said "That start up sequence sounds pretty good. So I ran the 90 up next to a Tower 55 ES44AC with the Digitrax sound FX unit (factory installed). Shut it down and took turns starting them cause they both have a start-up sequence. I liked the MRC better, it was clearer, more distinct and just a better sequence. The normal idling sounds and pop offs seemed better too. Horn…goes to the Tower and that is probally the speaker. But overall I liked the MRC better.
The not really a train person girlfriend is coming over this weekend so I’ll get an independent opinion. Crow might taste good Monday. [(-D]
Tilden,
Not controversy at all as there have been various opinions regarding the MRC sound units.
I’m not saying this to be spiteful, but having hung around prototype locomotives I listened very carefully. The new SD45-2 I heard at my LHS had a good startup sequence, however imho, the overall sound quality in comparison to the LOKSound and Soundtraxx DSX equipped units I’ve heard was inferior.
I’ll explain why.
The turbocharger sound was accurate, but in the opinions of all present, it overwhelmed the other sounds to the point where the LHS store owner said it sounded like an L-1011 jet!
The prime mover, blowers, and compressor sounds were accurate but I noticed they sounded slightly distorted and muffled when compared to the competition whether the volume was high or low.
I was very dissappointed with the horns. While the selection was varied they all sounded as if the treble was turned down to -4 (those of you with home stereo equilizers know what I’m referring to).
The Nathan M5 or M3 horn and the Leslie S series horns that are part of the selection were accurate but sounded “foggy”, especially when we compared them to the sounds on the BLI units that were in the store.
But these are some of the views and opinions that me and several modelers that were at the store had. Some of you may find the sounds satisfactory and there’s nothing at all wrong with that.
Had this been the year 2001 or 2002 these sounds would likely have received a good rating by a lot of us. But the technology and qualilty for N thru O scale sound has advanced a great deal since then which results in higher expectations from users.
Like them or not, QSI, Soundtraxx and LokSound have done a great job and service in raising t
I haven’t heard ANY diesel sound system that sounds like a real locomotive under load.ALL of the ones I heard sounded like the engine was idling along even while going upgrade…The steam sounds far better.
Antonio,
You’re right about the foggy horn, and they don’t have a button to clear it’s throat. Soundtrax has been around for a long time, in one form or another so I guess they have the experience factor working for them. Have you heard the Digitrax FX decoder? What do you think?
Tilden
I heard one in a Kato Amtrak F40PH. The sounds were pretty decent and in my opinion comparable to LoK Sound. The high rpm sound of the HEP equipped powerplant of the diesel were neat to hear.
My only disappointment was the horn. Prototype Amtrak F40s were equipped with Nathan P5a and later K5LA horns. The horn I heard sounded more like a Leslie S-2. But then I realize that F40s from some of the other roads may have used different horns.
My limited thinking is that either Digitrax got the entire F40 sound recordings from a non-Amtrak F40 or they got the horn sound by itself from a sound collection.
My friend who is a computer tech told me that this decoder is capable of receiving uploadable sounds, so Nathan K5 or P5 series horns may be possible to obtain and upload. I e-mailed Digitrax and asked them about the horn. I’ll post their reply when I get it.
What? No pictures yet?
Well, here are some pics of my SD45-2 in CSX paint.
It looks great, it runs awesome, but the sound isn’t very good (compared to LokSound or QSI).
-Brandon
like someone said before there are tons of opinions around. Personally I’m not all that impressed with the digitrax decoder, i only heard one so it may have been a dud, but it sounded pretty generic. Although the sound was clear, i just didnt like it.
How is the reliability so far on that brilliance? Over the past 6 months, 4 friends of mine have installed 5 brilliance decoders. 2 still work, and both of them have some mental issues such as loss of control, forgetting programming and what not. Not to mention the HEAT! Anyway, unless MRC makes some quantum leap in thier quality I will be keeping my money out of thier hands. And