Going to test Shaun's Amp this Weekend

[jbow]

If you could design an amp that would increase the TX only for whatever frequencies the Sov is using for detection, excluding the frequencies for ground tracking... I bet it would work well in mineralized ground and really be something. I have no idea how you could determine which frequencies to amplify unless you could somehow make them selectable or at the very least build it with a pot to tune from high to mid to low frequencies... then you might have an amp that wouldn't choke in mineralized ground and might work with SEF coils... easy for me to say right? But its an idea. You really seem to like a challenge and maybe you can do it!

What say ye?

J

 

[Joe of South Jersey]

n/t

 

[Joe of South Jersey]

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[Joe of South Jersey]

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[dbsmokey]

Would someone mind posting a picture or pictures of this amp so I may see what it looks like? Thanks.

 

[goodmore]

Well I am back from spending about 5 hrs with the Amp. I didn't find any gold or Silver. I did pocket around 50 clad coins. Thanks to Joe's meter mod only a couple Zincs were dug. I dug square tabs for a while then any 156-158 was ignored. So going back to another thread I would say that a meter on a beach can save you time.

As far as the Sovereign I just want to say that every time I take it to the beach (a 2.5 hr trip for me) I come away very satisfied with it's performance. I am getting better with it all the time. My technique in scooping is improving as well. I wish I had the eyes I had when I was a teenager. But I guess I just better get those prescription glasses.

As far as the beach at Cape May I couldn't ask for better weather the middle of November. I actually got hot out there yesterday. When we arrived at the beach I could see that some waves made it all the way to the dunes recently. There was standing pools of water and the fluffy white sand was wet and compacted. All right I'm thinking the beach has changed for better hunting so let me at it.

As far as the Amp goes let me say that it does make the Sovereign a hotter detector. It magnifies all the good things about the Sovereign. The trade off is it magnifies the bad also. I am by no means an expert with this Amp and it certainly deserves some more time hunting before I say if it is a keeper or not. So let me tell you a few observations I had.

THE BAD

1. I normally just carry my scoop in my left hand and swing with my right. I have a nice steady swing . The same good technique for years. Let me tell you with the Amp on if the coil even caught a glimpse of that scoop It sounded off. Carrying the scoop on your shoulder or dragging it behind you is a must.
2. Many targets that are junk for me are off to the side when pinpointing. Like I missed the pinpoint. When I am chasing a target around a hole there is a very good chance it is junk. The Amp magnifies this issue.
3. Shallow targets are harder to pinpoint with the Amp on also. There is an on /off button on the Amp. Sometimes I would just turn the Amp off when dealing with issues 2 and 3. Raising the coil also helped.
4. Tiny bits come in stronger. I have a RTG scoop that used, I don't ever recall having so many tiny target fall out a hole in my scoop. Chasing tiny targets is aggravating. I guess a diamond stud would be OK.
5. There are just times when I had t back the Amp down. That little iron infested area.
6. As Plugger said earlier mounting the Amp on my hip mount system required some time.

THE GOOD

1. Over all the Amp ran very smooth. For what I feel was running on the edge. It wasn't the same as just cranking up the sensitivity. In the very wet sand hunting I did (very little) I could get the sensitivity to around 12:00. If I tried 11:00 the detector would just false too much. But I could use the Amp to get a little more out of the Sovereign. So the two settings seem to do two different things.
2. The Sovereign seemed hotter with the Amp. I wish I could tell you all the wonderful targets that I could only hear with the Amp on. I just didn't encounter that many faint signals. One nickle I dug was over 10 inches. The Amp on was louder, and more noticeable.

Over all the Sovereign and the AMP and the S-12 worked well together. I really don't think any other detector out there would do any better. Yes there are better hunters out there than me. But it isn't because of the detector.

Would I recommend the AMP. The jury is still out. I can tell you that I enjoyed myself with it and I can't wait to do it again.

 

[synthnut]

I'm wondering since the amp is so powerful , if it wouldn't be to your benefit to work with a good smaller coil like an S-8 or similar to be more focused on the target and not having a larger coil that would tend to be reaching out so far all over the place ....Just a thought .....????.....Jim

 

[OldBeechnut]

Thanks for the field report Goodmore, Very ..Good....details......lotta similarity's to the Doc's Treasure Amp, which works at the other end, HP's. Did'nt you get the feel that as your swinging you were listening to every little detail of whats under the coil. . You would think you would be doing that with a regular un-modified Sov/excal but for some reason that's the difference that I felt with using Doc's Treasure {audio} AMP. It's like a Big microphone to the sand? Let us know on the next outing......................joe


I think the 10 inch coil is the way to go with Shanh's amp

 

[goodmore]

I will run the Amp with the 10" Tornado the next time. I think that it will give good results. I'm heading to Atlantic City soon. I'm not sure about all that EMI there. The last time I hunted there the local hunters were using 8" coils. I'm looking forward to it. Man what a great hobby!

 

[plugger]

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[OldBeechnut]

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[dbsmokey]

Thanks Beechnut. How much was this amp new?

 

[vfr800]

Goodmore

If you are heading to AC with your Sov. there has been a lot of interference that wasn't there before and affecting the Sov. to the point that you cant hunt. But it hasn't caused any problems with the Excal.

Just some heads up if you go there bring two detectors.

 

[Shaunfth]

Hello Everyone..
Ive been away form the forums for a while, didn't know there was so much talk about my Amp. To answer some of the questions posted, I stopped selling it because there was no demand for it. Lots of activity on the forums but no sales. As for those trying to make there own, Its not as easy as you think. I thought it would be easy also, but it took over a year and thousands of dollars to develop the amp. The sales price was $300. Many thought this was to much for such a device, but my cost to build 10 units was $200 each and many hours of my time to assembly and test them. You do the math.... I would be happy to help anyone who is trying to build there own. In the end the Amp had some good points and some bad, but if you took the time to learn how it behaves in various conditions you could really go deep.


Shaun.....

 

[ToniSteve]

Hi Shaun,
Could you elaborate on the good and the bad a bit? Thanks for posting here, that is the best thing that could have happened!

Best Regards,
Steve

 

[Tony]

Hello Everyone..
Ive been away form the forums for a while, didn't know there was so much talk about my Amp. To answer some of the questions posted, I stopped selling it because there was no demand for it. Lots of activity on the forums but no sales. As for those trying to make there own, Its not as easy as you think. I thought it would be easy also, but it took over a year and thousands of dollars to develop the amp. The sales price was $300. Many thought this was to much for such a device, but my cost to build 10 units was $200 each and many hours of my time to assembly and test them. You do the math.... I would be happy to help anyone who is trying to build there own. In the end the Amp had some good points and some bad, but if you took the time to learn how it behaves in various conditions you could really go deep.


Shaun.....

Hi Shaun,

The only bad for me was that I couldn't get the Amp to work with the 15" WOT and bigger SEF coils. Even at the lowest AMP power setting and with the GT sens turned down, the detector falsed constantly.

Using it with stock 10" coil is amazing....so deep and stable.

Any ideas why the bigger coils caused such problems (tried in different locations as well).?


Tony.

 

[Critterhunter]

Printing this thread out to read later, but I did see you asked about the progress on the project. I turned over a bunch of Sovereign related info (frequencies, etc) and schematics on the TX output/RX pre-amp, along with some general information about how the Sovereign works since he doesn't metal detect. Also explained that there is a sensitivity dial (gain control) inside the machine. I think he's got enough info to bash out a schematic for me to hack together and experiment with to see if it has any bugs. I emailed him all this stuff and spoke with him on the phone to let him know that I sent it. Only question at this time is if anybody knows what signal type the machine puts out like a square wave or sign wave. I haven't been able to dig up that kind of info, and since my friend moved to a new state I really don't want to send him my GT or have him send me his oscilloscope. He offered to send it to me to take some readings if need be but I really don't want to bother about that. Besides, oscilloscopes are way out of my field of experience at this time.

He's had the info for about three days or so now and I'll probably call him in a day or two to see what's up. Don't want to rush him too much about it because he's busy building mobile power plants (big ones that can power city blocks and ride on trains/tractor trailers). The guy is amazing. I'm sure he's forgot more than I even know about electronics, but of course my schooling was for a specialized field and more limited in scope than somebody with an electrical engineering degree. Just had a thought too...He's coming up in a month or so to fly some RC with me and visit. If we can't dig up the signal type info (?) then I'll have him bring along his oscilloscope to take some readings on my GT.

If you've got the money to spend or aren't the do-it-yourself type then I'd highly recommend buying Shaun's Amp. From what I've read it's a quality product. Not snubbing it, just not in a position to spend that kind of money at this time (job market is real bad around here right now), and besides I enjoy building stuff like this and tweaking things out. It's also a great learning experience to expand my knowledge a bit. More info when I have it. Printing out the thread, so I may have other comments later.

 

[Critterhunter]

OK, before going further with the amp thing I figured we'd clear out the battery/charger info to power it. This info is also good for those who don't want to build an amp but would like to power their Sovereign with a lipo for less weight, faster charge times (1 hour), and having a battery that won't go dead sitting on the shelf because these lipos don't self drain.

Shaun

 

[Critterhunter]

So there you go. For about $12 you can buy a lipo charger, and for say another $8 get a lipo pack to power it. That should hack away at the cost of building an amp a good bit. Keep in mind you could buy a couple lipos with higher capacity than the stock nimh pack on a Sovereign, a charger, and a male plug to plug it into and still be about half the price of just a stock battery pack alone for a Sovereign. They only take an hour to charge or less and won't go dead sitting on the shelf so they are always ready to go on a hunt.

 

[Critterhunter]

I would be happy to help anyone who is trying to build there own. In the end the Amp had some good points and some bad, but if you took the time to learn how it behaves in various conditions you could really go deep.
Shaun.....

Hey Shaun, can you relate any information about the signal type being generated by the Sovereign? I need to find that out and lacking an oscilliscope I need some input on that. Square wave, etc?

In terms of it's performance, I'm curious if you or anyone has any input on it's ability in discrimination mode while land hunting. I dug up some remarks about people loving it on the beach, but a few of those mentioned running it in All Metal or PP mode for better stability. Mainly I'd be interested in pushing things deeper on land for old coins, so I'd like to hear from anybody who has had success at that.

Thanks for the offer to help people out. You should probably throw some more together as it looks like you've got some waiting customers on here.