Want to upgrade sound board on my MTH 30-2003-0 Amtrak Dash-8 Diesel Locomotive

MrBoboKitn posted:

My sons and I are just getting into O-Guage railways.  We have a Lionel 2-8-4 Berkshire steam locomotive that my kids adore but it requires O72 curves to safely operate (with a 3 and 5 year old on control) so I have acquired a complete Amtrak train set but the horn in the MTH loco is horrible!  I would like to know if it is possible to install a better sound board?  The box states that it will accept "plug in Proto Sounds" but I cannot find any source for the PS1 system (we are operating with only a Z-4000 transformer).  I don't want to get into remote control systems yet.

I found Electric Railroad.com and they have a Railsounds upgrade for a Dash 9 locomotive that sounds great.  But is it possible to install a Lionel based upgrade in a MTH Rail King loco?

 

Thank you for any advice you can offer.

 

I would look into a Proto Sound 3 board as there was a pretty good (for Railking) sound set released for the Dash 8 in 2013. It incorporates very realistic GE sounds, such as the trademark "whoop" sound the air compressor makes. The horn and bell aren't amazing, but for the engine sounds alone and Rule 17 lighting, I think you'd enjoy it.

You can most likely put a Lionel upgrade in there, as it is possible to do the reverse (put an MTH system in a Lionel-based loco). I just prefer Proto 3 because if you ever decide to go 2 rail you have DCC functionality. You will also have access to many more sound sets, such as another version of the Amtrak Dash-8 in one of the latest catalogs. 

Lionel doesn't always have the best sound, though they do a pretty good job with what they have.

Hope this helps.

The upside to a Protosound 3 upgrade is that MTH finally has a reasonably accurate Amtrak-specific horn as you can see in this video:

You can obtain this sound set from MTH's website and upload it into your upgraded loco. Only downside is the upgrade kit costs more then the Electric RR kit and you'll need access to a DCS system to load the sound set. (on the other hand Amtrak-specific sounds are not available on ERR's upgrade)

---PCJ

RailRide posted:

The upside to a Protosound 3 upgrade is that MTH finally has a reasonably accurate Amtrak-specific horn as you can see in this video:

You can obtain this sound set from MTH's website and upload it into your upgraded loco. Only downside is the upgrade kit costs more then the Electric RR kit and you'll need access to a DCS system to load the sound set. (on the other hand Amtrak-specific sounds are not available on ERR's upgrade)

---PCJ

Most brick and mortar hobby shops will do sound installs for you. The shop I work at does them for free if I recall correctly. They started doing that because way back when the Pacific Surfliner Railking RTR set was introduced, it shipped with Kansas City sounds. If you know anything about the Surfliner, Kansas City would be a long way from home. Thankfully, MTH released a patch sound set and many set owners (including myself) were able to get it fixed and now station announcements come through as Irvine, Los Angeles, San Diego, and other points north.