Use Auto sensitivity or a real low manual one at first to get used to how the GT should act when stable. The sensitivity dial goes *backwards*. The further counter clockwise you turn it the higher sensitivity gets until it finally clicks into Auto. If you try manual go way down past 3PM on the dial to insure it's stable so you can learn how it should act, but usually Auto is a better choice for extreme stability (not at all sites) for learning the machine.
Noise band 2 to match all the prior Sovereign charts, as band 1 will make some mid conductors like nickels read a little higher (say 149 versus 144 or 146). Only use band 1 if you find it allows higher sensitivity settings than band 2 (sometimes, rarely, this is the case due to the particular EMI present).
Disc and notch all the way down. Since the Sovereign has built in iron rejection in disc there is no fuss trying to tweak the disc dial to get iron rejection just right like on other machines. Just keep it all the way down and it'll nicely ignore 99% of it without issues.
Iron Mask ON will pull non-ferrous signals out of iron like magic in some instances, where you'll wonder how a machine with all the built in iron rejection of the Sovereign is sniffing stuff out of iron so well. Unlike what you would think, Iron Mask OFF does not accept iron either, and in fact will do less well at sniffing non-ferrous stuff out of iron than with it ON. My tests show that with it ON you also gain about a half inch more depth on a dime sized target. Some people turn it OFF in really bad ground to tame the machine down some, but honestly I've found with it ON this GT is much smoother than any other machine I've owned over the years in my mineralized soils and sands. Like a hot knife cutting through butter.
Set your All mode mode switch to pin point. With the disc switch then flipped to All Metal you'll turn control over to the other switch, which since it's set at PP mode will put you into that. Many don't even use PP to pin point a target though. Disc works pretty much just as good, and I prefer disc so PP doesn't drag me off a potential coin to some nearby iron when I'm pin pointing. Some use PP to judge an iron false from a real coin hit, as it will often PP off to the side of where you get the coin hit, but I have dug coins that where next to iron that PP indicated were iron falses by dragging me off of it when PPing, so I don't trust that as a method to judge.
Set your threshold switch to threshold mode and then raise the threshold just high enough to hear. If you were to use silent search you'd adjust the threshold as normal and then flip over to Silent Search and it should go dead. My tests show Silent Search costs some depth, but I do use it sometimes in the woods where I can got for long periods of time without hitting a target to change the threshold. That conserves battery power, and also keeps me from being droned by the constant non-changing hum. Once I hit an area of activity I'll flip back to threshold mode. So many reasons to use threshold, besides the extra depth also the changing pitch to whatever target you just nicked and didn't notice at first.
The ground balance function in All Metal does not apply to disc of course. BBS uses a unique way to ignore the ground signal. Only ground balance via the Tracking All Metal mode if you are planning to use Fixed, or I'm told PP mode on the GT also uses that setting, so now I balance for that even though without doing that in PP the depth and stability was still outstanding. According to the Email I received from Minelab, the notation in the manual that PP mode is a form of all metal that doesn't feature a ground balance is wrong in at least the GT's case. I suspect that wording is a hold over from prior manuals.
If you do set the balance for Fixed or PP, flip over to tracking and either pump the coil up and down in a *clean* spot (found via PP or all metal first to be sure no iron is present) or sweep in that spot for a little while to calibrate it, and then flip over to Fixed or PP from there. I've taken to just sweeping in a clean spot for about 15 seconds and then I go to the pump method to make sure it's balanced to my liking. A slight rise in threshold when approaching the ground will balance most machines slightly hot. I would assume this is the case for the GT as well. The increase in threshold slightly as you approach the ground is pushing the response near the edge due to the ground load, so it's easier for it to sound off to fringe depth stuff. I always did that with machines that required a ground balance.
If your using a meter, don't calibrate it until the machine has warmed up about 5 to 8 minutes or so. Chances are once it's warmed up it'll read what it should, while for me it's about 1 or 2 digits off until it does so. Once you calibrate it you shouldn't have to touch it from hunt to hunt unless you change coils.
How fast or slow of a sweep speed to use while hunting? Next time you hit on a fringe depth target try doing long general "hunting for my next target" sweeps over it from super slow to super fast. Depending on soil or coil choice this might change. For me a super slow Minelab crawl of say 4 seconds per sweep almost never gives me best depth and the target will disappear. Something approaching or right around a medium Whites speed is what gives me maximum depth most of the time.
Once a target is found, for sure the short/fast Minelab wiggle will pull the best ID and tone out of it at depth. This has to be kept in constant motion to work the ID/tone up. Not unique to the Sovereign. I've owned other machines that required this same type of wiggle or short sweep to pull that last little bit of proper tone/ID out of a target at fringe depth.
Most important of all, be prepared to hate this machine for a while. I've owned a ton of machines over the years but it was the most different to me at first. Coins, for one, sounded large like pop can lids in their response. When I saw that I thought how in the world is this thing going to separate stuff. Truth is even with the stock coil, being a quality DD, it'll sniper stuff right out of trash left/right wise. The 12x10 makes this even more "effortless".
Recovery speed is a non-issue so long as you don't swing the coil like you are launching a golf ball. I much prefer a slower machine these days anyway, as I feel it allows me to slow down and sniff between the trash better, or take long hard looks at super deep stuff by hovering over it to drink up the best look at it, without a machine trying to reset on me or become unstable/losing depth while doing so. I liken it to trying to read a sign going 100mph versus doing 35.
If you find the threshold dropping out swing over the same spot. Does it happen all the time? Then it's iron. If it comes and goes then you are either riding sensitivity too high or swinging too fast for the given sensitivity and soil. Seems the higher you ride sensitivity the slower you need to sweep in some sites to keep it from nulling out on you, and the flip side of that coin is that the lower you ride sensitivity the faster you can sweep at some sites. Even with sensitivity maxed out to the edge of stability with the 12x10 though I find I can swing much faster than most people say a Sovereign should be swept, and in fact if I do the always recommended super slow turtle crawl the depth degrades on targets I check that on. Only way to tell is a long sweep, and not the short/fast wiggle to inspect targets.
on the top of this forum is the stickys look up Sovereign settings great site and good luck take your time learning the machine it will pay off . GL Jim
