First time Sovereign GT user

[Mike in Ky]

I should have a Sovereign GT tomorrow. I've had the Explorer XS and EX II and Quattro before but never a Sovereign. I'm getting the Minelab meter and 8" coil also. I'm going to take it to a field I hunt on a regular basis. There is a ton of history to this field but there is also alot of small iron. I've gotten 88 flat buttons, enfield bullets, 3 ring minie balls, US bridle bit boss, thimbles, rings etc. out of here with a couple of different detectors. Most everything has only been 4-5 inches deep so far. This field has been an Indian campsite, colonial homesite and civil war campsite over the years, so I've been told. So now I'm going to try it with the Sovereign GT. If you have any suggestions, I sure would welcome them.

Mike

 

[Mark Sowder]

Turn on machine, set disc at far left (0) notch at far left (0) and turn iron mask off. Do not use silent search. Set switch to auto track, make a couple slow sweeps until you hear a threshold tone, adjust volume to comfortable level, set threshold to barely audible.

When you start a slow sweep, as you encounter targets, the machine will give you a different kind of variable tone that is different but I think more informative than a Quattro or Explorer. Also, the tone will stay the same until you come to another target, so don't get upset and think that it is stuck. That is the way the Sovereign is.

First time out, dig every target, and the tones and their quality will slowly begin to make sense, and then you won't want another machine, unless your shoulder wears out, but the GT is the best balanced machine so far.

I've owned them all and keep coming back to the Sovereign, it is unique and works well.

Mark

 

[Rick(ND)]

In disc you have the option of turning the iron mask on or off, not auto track as in disc it uses the BBS. If you turn off the iron mask some of the good target will not be heard if close to iron. With it on you will be able to get a signal on a non ferrous item that is close to a ferrous one, but you will hear some of the bigger pieces of iron and may notice it wont be as stable, but will work good. This info is on 7. 5.1. of the owners manual.
Now what you want to do is turn the disc and the notch fully counter clockwise, switch the disc toggle to center position (iron mask on), set the ground balance toggle to Pinpoint and not track or fixed unless you want to run in all metal then these switch's work as they do not work in disc mode. This is explained on 7.8.. Now with the volume control fully clockwise, flip the disc toggle to all metal to set the threshold which you want at a slight hum, now switch it back to disc and you are ready to hunt. Go slow and listen for those tone and the nulling of iron and remember the threshold tone will be that of the last target only the volume goes down after you go over the target. If you don't like to hear the tone after the target then you can switch to silent search if you want. When you want to pinpoint your target then you will have to switch the toggle switch up to all metal and your ground balance toggle will already be in the pinpoint mode, not track or fixed as you can not pinpoint when in those modes.
Good luck, have Patience it will be worth it in the end.

Rick

 

[Tony]

Great tips there Rick,

Here in Australia, quite a lot of people are purchasing GT's for gold prospecting as the ground balance is very, very good and can handle heavily mineralised ground no problems at all. Areas littered with iron (tin) rubbish are being re-detected with GT's and the gold is being found as the iron ID is brilliant. Doing the "wiggle" over an iron target (with a good target very close by) does allow the good target to break through with the resulting high threshold.

I am extremely impressed with all aspects of the Sovereign GT....this is my first Sovereign detector and I'm very glad of it !!

Regards,
Tony

PS I now have the 15" All Terrain coil (WOT)......very happy with this coil, slightly more depth but the coverage is what I'm after.....just have to back the Sensitivity off a bit to reduce falsing when compared to the 10" Tornado.

 

[Mike in Ky]

n/t

 

[chuck ky]

do you set the threshold in all-metal on the older sovereigns or just on the g.t.

 

[Walter L.I.]

I am under the impression that the GT must be much more Sensitive to small gold compared to all other Sovereigns if it is being used for prospecting. Is this true?? Has anyone done any comparisons on items like gold stud earrings, small gold crosses etc.Thanks for any responce. Walter

 

[Rick(ND)]

On all of the Sovereign I find it is easier to use all metal to set the threshold so it is not nulling while trying to set it in disc. This way you know you have it set plus on the GT or any that has had the Silent search mod done to it you know it will work correctly.

 

[Rick(ND)]

Walter to use for prospecting the GT is used in the all metal mode with either track on or locked. I don't think many use it for beach hunting or coin hunting in all metal. The Reason the GT will work better then the other Sovereign for prospecting is the auto track mod it has.
Now in disc I have notice the GT to be a bit more sensitive than the other Sovereigns around iron in manual sensitivity as it will false more on it until you know what to listen for. I also feel I am seeing more smaller trash items with the GT, so I feel it should see some of the smaller gold items better too.

 

[Walter L.I.]

n/t

 

[Mike in Ky]

The GT is the best I've ever seen as far as pulling good targets out of iron, bar none. I've been thru alot of detectors and this thing is awesome in iron.

Mike

 

[Rick(ND)]

I have always felt the Sovereigns have been awesome in iron and it will pick up some once in a while too, but not like many I have used either.
I find when it is real dry I get a few of the old rusty bottle caps will ID as a nickle and get a few rusty nails at time too as I run a higher sensitivity and they can sound like a deep coin at the fringe area of the detector.
Over all the GT is one of the finest detectors you can buy, but it need some patience that some don't have as they want the detector to tell them what to dig, the Sovereign series give you the operator all the info and lets you decide what to dig and what not too so In the end you will dig many good targets many will walk over and yet still leave trash like iron others will dig.

Good luck and keep us informed as how you are doing and remember to ask any question you may have.

Rick