Forgive me, I did a search and could not find what I was looking for and have emailed one of the popular retailers for information but have not heard back yet. I just purchased a new BLI locomotive for my son for Christmas and installed a DCC decoder and tested it. All I can say is WOW, what a difference sound makes on a layout!!! So I want to look into adding sound to our two other existing loco’s but don’t have a clue as to which sound decoders will work with these loco’s:
Since they already have DCC the natural choice is a unit that is sound only. The only one of these I know of is the Soundtraxx DSX units.
The other option is to take out the existing DCC decoders and replace the whole unit with a sound one. In that case there are many options including Soundtraxx DSD, LokSound, and Digitrax SoundFX, and ummm seems like I’m missing one. I purposely did not mention MRC as they not only sound bad they are simply junk. Do not purchase one of them. I also purposely did not mention Phoenix as they only work in really BIG HO locomotives. Would definitely not fit in the two you listed.
The tricky part of any sound installation is the speaker. Speakers are easy to install but hard to install AND sound good. Both of the units you have mentioned are narrow hood diesels that make it even harder. There is very little space in there for the decoder let alone a speaker. I don’t know your modeling skills or electronic experience but would have you consider this seriously before attempting it. Usually I recommend people attempt a sound installation on a steam locomotive first where they have a whole tender worth of space to work with.
There is NO extra room in those locomotives. Unless you want to do a bunch of milling, I would either pass on installing sound or buy locos with more room to spare inside.
Without having one of these two engines myself, it’s hard to give you specific instructions, but generally sound can be installed in anything if you are a little creative about it. If an engine has a separate metal weight you might have to remove that for example.
In this case, maybe something like a Soundtraxx decoder, the kind that are meant to “drop in” to an Atlas or Kato engine with a 1/2" speaker would fit?? That’s what I’ve used on a couple of Atlas engines. You’d have to remove the light board (which I assume both engines have - a green board on top of the motor where the lights and other wiring is connected to??) and replace it with the Soundtraxx decoder which is basically the same size and shape as the light board, so it doesn’t take up any more room as the light board. Then usually you can find someplace (like towards the rear of the engine) to fit in the 1/2" speaker and enclosure.
I’d maybe try posting a question specifically about these engines on this forum and the Bachmann forum too (like “Adding Sound - Bachmann GP35?” for example) to see if you can find someone who has done this conversion.
Thanks for the replys guys, this really helps. Sounds like I need to do some investigating…I think I will open up both locos and see how much space I have and if I decide to go through with it will look at the DSX decoder. And thanks Stix for the advice on posting to the Bachman forum, not sure why I did not think of that.[:I]
Another idea is get a dummy loco or a cheap powered one and take out the motor and put a DSX in it. You can make a consist of it and your powered unit.
While I am also skeptical about MRC decoders I picked up one of their 1662 Sounder’s for $26 (sound only decoder) and put it in a dummy. It works and sounds good. Hopefully it will last for a while.
I’ve seen all the complaints about the MRC decoders, but I have installed several, in hood diesels and have had no problems, so far. I got them from Trainworld, for $29.95 each, so if they crap out, I’m not out that much. They do have great sound, and I had to turn the volume down a bit. I also have installed several Soundtraxx decoders, which also have great sound, but not very good volume. I do have a problem with one of my locos not starting slow, and requireing half throttle before it lurches away. That may be the decoders fault, or maybe something else. Haven’t checked it out yet. In any case, I can buy three MRC sound decoders, for the price of one of the other brands.