Is the Sovereign amplifier still being made?

[jbow]

Has anyone used one with good results? I was thinking about getting a 12x10 SEF or a 14 or 16.5 EXcelerator coil for mine but then I got to thinking that with the amp.. the stock coil may do just fine and for just a few dollars more.

Any thoughts on this? Can I still get one?

Julien

 

[goodmore]

I had the same thoughts a couple months ago. I talked with the gentleman who made the amps through email. He said he no longer made them. I forget his name. But Plugger had a review of the AMP on his site. So Plugger might know more. I then tried to get a hold of one through another source. Little did I know the link took me right back to the original guy. He was wondering about the popularity of the AMP all the sudden. I then explained that I was the same guy. He did say if enough interest was generated he might make a few. So if you pursue this and talk with him count me in.


The mans name is Shaun Amp@Insidemedia.org

 

[midalake]

Try this site.....lots of good stuff.

http://docsdetecting.com/

Dave

 

[Rick(ND)]

Air test I see a good 2 or more inches difference, what I did was swing the coil over a coin and when it was hard to pick up I turned it on and the coin came in loud and clear and was able to bring the coil up about another 2 inches and it still sounded good. I took it to one of my old parks and was able to try it for a hour or so before someone wanted me to find something for them but never got a real deep signal to try it on in that hour I used it. I been thinking on selling it as I just not able to get out much because of my health so if you want to try it Julien you are more than welcome.

Rick

 

[Tony]

I love my Amp and get best results when using the stock 10" coil on my GT.

I found that the bigger coils (SEF 15x12 and WOT) falsed too much to get any real benefit from the Amp.

However, with the stock 10" coil, I can run the GT sens at 10 o'clock and the Amp at max power.
This combination has resulted in the deepest detecting machine that I have owned. I have used high powered PI's but the GT is ahead with this combo.....AND when I run in PP mode !

A lot of people might question my previous paragraph but I plan to video the whole thing when I finally get some time.

My depth increase over the stock GT is from 11.5" to 14" on an Aussie $2 coin.

Tony.

 

[badarse]

I agree Tony, Shaun really has something here. I am surprised more sovereign hunters have not picked up on this outstanding upgrade. It is well worth the price and more. And Shaun stands by what he sells. I would highly recommend the amp to any sovereign owner!

Bob

 

[Critterhunter]

I've heard nothing but good things about it. My only concern is yet more weight and wires added to a Sovereign. That's when I decided I'd rather buy larger coils rather than have all that mess, but I hear it does very well with the 10" coil.

 

[Tony]

CH,

I know what you mean by more wires and boxes but I have everything setup in a comfortable backpack.
Because I am 99% beach hunter then mostly I can set and forget the Sovereign when hunting.
Hunted the dry/wet sand recently (PP mode) and only made the one change to the threshold setting all day.

Dare I say it but (for me), I just may have the ultimate beach hunting combo.

Luckily, my beaches are much like Florida's......no black sand to speak of and very little iron junk, except the odd bobby pin and beer tops.

Hope you all have a great summer....coll and sunny down here.

PS.......(For Floridians)........The family and myself will be in the Orlando area early September this year. Am I right in reading that it will still be very humid and warm that time of year ??

Regards,
Tony.

 

[OldBeechnut]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twQsExBnm7o&feature=player_embedded

 

[kered]

Thanks OBN you just took the sweet out of my mouth want one but can't have it

 

[plugger]

I have one and I used it a few times before getting the meter mod done to my 2 GTs and I can tell you that it worked, in the field, just like Shaun's bench test. I went to the beach and buried a dime just out of reach of my Sun Ray S-8 coil and then turned the AMP on and did the sweep and it hit it loud and clear. I haven't figured out how to fit it on my belt yet because I am now using a deep Tamrac telephoto bag so I can see the meter, which is in the old speaker hole on the GT, but, I do intend to set it up one of these days. I hip mount my Sovs to keep the rod light, so I will probably put the Amp on my belt in the back (small of my back). You gotta love the Sov for all the different mods you can do to the best darn beach detector ever made! When fully set up on my belt, with AMP & the Meter Mod, the Tamrac bag and my special coin and trash pouches, I will have about $1200 on that belt. I have even found a way to balance my scoop between the bag and my belt so this old dog doesn't have to hold onto it all the time when targets are scarce. You have to get smarter as you get older!

 

[Critterhunter]

A while back I think I saw him in the Explorer forum asking if anybody would be interested in one being custom made for Explorers, because the Sovereign version won't work with one. At the time I thought maybe he had moved over to the Explorer with his intention to market it and left the Sovereign, but haven't seen anything since or whether he did make an Explorer version. I would expect that it would sell well for the Sovereign so long as he did a better job of marketing it. That doesn't mean fancy ads in magazines but just a more thorough review of his product, solid performance comparisons, and some testimonials to promote it. What I saw from him was very little in the way of promotion on here. His website also took forever to load the pictures, and I do mean forever even on a fast network.

What little I know about it is that it uses I think a 3 or 4 cell lipo as it's power source and then cranks up the output voltage to the transmission coil to I think 44 amps or so. The effect of that is that the magnetic field formed by the TX coil is both larger and stronger, which in theory means more depth. I think it has a dial on it to adjust either the amplified output or the RX gain, maybe both. Your Sovereign uses an amplifier on the RX signal when you adjust sensitivity, so I'm not sure if it would make much sense to have a duplicate on the RX side on the unit. I've heard maybe one or two people say that it wouldn't work with any coil in their soil, while everybody else seems to say it will make those nulls or non-responses come through at the proper signal at greater depth.

One thing I wish would have been done in the video would be to build the testing rig so that the coil is parallel to the ground like it's normal orientation when hunting. The results might be even better. Coils are for the most part antennas and there is a thing called polarization which determines how well a receiver receives a transmit signal based on their orientation (polarization) to each other. Ever notice how a detector will some times false when you lay it on the ground to dig a target, almost like the sensitivity it now too high? That's because the coil is now vertical and is more prone to picking up RF noise that is bouncing around the planet. I plan to do build my air test rig for my 3 coils so that the coil is flat.

 

[Critterhunter]

What little I know about it is that it uses I think a 3 or 4 cell lipo as it's power source and then cranks up the output voltage to the transmission coil to I think 44 amps or so.

Oopps, meant to say I heard it cranks the voltage up to like 44 VOLTS or so from memory, not amps.