I have heard very few people say good things about sound in N scale. Well, I'm about to buck the trend. This V300 has been rock solid, both as a locomotive and as a locomotive with sound. That is, even if it didn't have sound, I'd be very happy with it, and the sound performance has been flawless.
Is it loud enough: Yes. It's really loud. I have the volume set at 150/255 and find it really loud. I don't want to turn it up more.
Is the sound distorted? Does is sound bad when turned up? No! It sounds good, all the time.
How many sounds: Start up, Shut down, various rev ranges, wheel squeal, and air brake release, horn and whistle.
The DCC interface from the factory has been trouble free.
So, I've been very happy with this engine. I guess my only complaint is that when there's dirt on the rails that creates a power interruption you can hear this revving down when it stops, and then if it recovers it revs back up again as it pulls away. If you're not looking it it, by listening only, you may think something peculiar is going on, but it makes sense. If the alternative is it coming to a dead and silent stop I don't think I can complain much, and as is it's great for spotting trouble on your rails.
Overall, I'd give this a 9/10. This locomotive is singularly the reason I continue to believe in N scale sound, and keep rolling the dice looking for similarly good performers. I've preordered a new Fleischmann 460 with sound which I've read good things about, I just hope it lives up to this.
Here's a video I found on You Tube this will give you a good taste of what this thing sounds like:
From the Manufacturer:
German Federal Railroad (DB) class V 300 general-purpose heavy diesel hydraulic locomotive. Built in 1957 by Krauss-Maffei as the type ML 2200 C'C', remotored in 1959 as the type ML 3000 C'C'. The locomotive looks as it did from 1964 to 1968. Era III.
The locomotive frame is die-cast metal. The locomotive has a digital decoder for DCC, Selectrix, and conventional operation. It also has a sound effects circuit with many operating sounds, diesel motor, horn sounds, blower motors, and others. The locomotive has a 5-pole motor with 2 flywheels. 4 axles powered. Traction tires. The headlights and marker lights are LED's and can be controlled digitally. The engineer's cabs have interior details in relief. The locomotive has a close coupler mechanism. Length over the buffers 127 mm / 5".
Digital version for DCC and Selectrix, with sound functions.
Nice review, good to hear something nice about N Gauge sound! I have the RAm TEE and the Class 44 each with sound...I have to say the Class 44 is pretty awesome. The TEE? Good, but not sure...the diesel engine sound just doesn't have enough bass. As for the Class 44, its incredible! From the videos I've seen of the Fleischmann 460 it looks and sounds amazing!
ReplyDeleteHi mate,
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that I found your site!! I have the ML3000 with sound from Minitrix (12466) which is almost identical with yours. I have no problems with the sound or the running performance, but I have the strangest behavior I have ever seen. The upper front-light from the 2nd cabin turns off by itself after a while. Than, if I stop the loco and let it cool down, it works again for a while, than again does not want to light anymore. Do you have an idea with this might be? Thank you for the answer!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteWell, that does sound like a puzzler. If just the one light goes off I assume that means that there are separate bulbs per lights, and not just one bulb split through a diffuser as is more common. Have you looked at the bulb and verified that it's properly seated, and that it's wires are well connected and are also not pinched by the body shell? It may be that over time the vibration of operation is jiggling it loose.
You can verify your issue is heat by running it with the body shell off and seeing if your problem still occurs. If it is heat, your only option may be removing some or all of the cab windows. Perhaps one on each end would permit enough airflow to keep things cool.
My suspicion though is that the issue is electronic. If you poke about this blog you will see my comments on my s3/6 locomotive, another Minitrix with factory sound. It's currently back at the factory because it's been nothing but trouble. It too would operate and sound great, for a while, and then after a period of run time start acting erratic. Sounds would become clipped, some CVs would reset, motion would become jerky, light would go off, or stay on (unresponsive) or even blink when reversing! After hours of off time (time for static discharge?) it would be properly operational again, but only for a while. Over months I observed the "good times" shrinking until it would start in a state of weirdness, producing clipped and random sounds and operating poorly all the time. My only recourse was to send it back to the factory. Had it been practical I would have removed the electronics and replaced them myself, but as a factory integrated sound/control solution it's everything is built into one tiny board.
So with luck your issue is a wire or heat... Let me know how it goes! We all learn by sharing knowledge!
Hi mate,
ReplyDeleteas far as I know ML3000 is the same as V300, which you have. My problem is that one of the 2 LEDs which are at the middle of the loco and illuminate the cabin and also the upper front-light, after a while is dimmed off until completely shut down. I've seen that there are some SW updates for the decoder, which allow separate activation of that LED and I thing that it is controlled separately (on a different output of the decoder) than the LED which lights the lower front lights. I've read a lot of things about S3/6 (frankly, due to your experience I will not buy that loco, even though it can be found on ebay at reasonable price) and I think that the decoder is the same. I'm afraid that there is something with this decoder also, or, in the best case, something is not soldered properly and when it gets worm, it does not function anymore.