List All The Sovereign Mods, Like An Amp, Tuning, Etc.

[Critterhunter]

As I'm currently planning to buy a used GT and already have a thread going for discussion on various coils to make a wise decision on that, I'd also like to start a "one stop" information thread for the various aftermarket and DIY mods available for the Sovereign. This will help me get informed on what is available in that department as well. I'm pleased to see with the limited researching I've done so far that there are DIY projects and other "performance" mods out there for this machine that can be done. For instance, I see talk about a performance tune up by Dixie, a amplifier that can be bought to increase depth, several aftermarket ID meters, and even guys building coils for the machine (check out Geotech's website).

So, here come the questions:

What is the Dixie performance tune up and are there any DIY links to do this yourself? Depth increase?

What does the amplifier do? I'm going to assume this is some kind of performance boost for the machine and not an audio amplifier. Are there DIY plans for this? List some commercial links. What coils won't it work with? Depth increase?

What's the best of the VDI modules out there? Do any offer any better resolution on say a silver dime versus a silver quarter and other coins than others do? I saw reference to a DIY project for one of these. Anybody have a link?

Besides Geotech's website, does anybody have any links to other places where people are building coils for it?

What's the best shaft mod for this machine, and in what configuration do people like to hunt with it? Control box on the hip, etc?

Please post any info and links for the above or other mods out there. Thanks for the input.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

My turn to be the bad guy.The Sovereign isn't for everyone a lot of newbies don't make the cut.Put some time on the machine before you invest in after market accessories.Any Sovereign loaded is going to set you back a few bucks. HH Ron

 

[therover]

Get a stock GT and use that first. It's plenty good right out of the box.

 

[thinkin2]

I love my Sov GT and it comes with a straight shaft. I use it chest mounted with the included bag and I can swing it all day long. I hunt salt water beaches with it so I have no need for meters or too many coils. I like the 10" Tornado that's on it so I haven't really made any mods to it at all but if I decide to I will probably try a WOT coil. But if I were hunting parks and school yards or other potentially trashy areas I might want a small coil and a meter. Haven't heard about the Dixie Tune Up. Anyway, the Sov is a top notch detector right out of the box imo. --Jerry

 

[UtahRich]

I am going to be watching this thread with a lot of interest. I just picked up a used XS-2A Pro earlier in the week and am in the process of making a few adjustments to make things as comfortable and easy to use as possible.

Two thumbs up on the detector itself. After work I stopped by an old haunt of mine I have hunted off and on for the last 25 years. It had just snowed all day long and I was looking for a clear area to hunt. There were a few open areas under some trees that hadn't yet dropped their leaves. I spent the next hour and a half digging up some of the normal junk trying to associate various sounds with targets. The Sov has no trouble at all finding deep targets. I was impressed that I found a 1925 S wheatie and a 1930 Buffalo nickel (originally thought it was a 36) down in the 6" area. Both coins were adjacent to iron. I have been pretty thorough on previous hunts and wasn't really expecting much, especially with the limited area to hunt due to the snowfall.

I am hoping to have some nice finds to post before too long. We will see how the weather holds and if the last of my parts come for the Minelab meter rescaling. I have it 75% done, just need the potentiometer to arrive. I will let you know how it goes.

I'm sure I will have more questions as things move along. I will thank all of you that contribute thoughts and information ahead of time. It really is a help.

Thanks,

Rich (Utah)

 

[Tony]

I have and use the Sovereign amplifier on the stock 10" coil.
The amp is a genuine power boost....nothing like those audio boosters you see for many gold prospecting units !

After much testing, the amplifier would not work with the SEF 15"x10" coil, even with the power at minimum. There would be continuous interference. I have sold the SEF coil which was a great coil by itself.

I love the amplifier but now use it only with the 10"coil...perfect across all power settings (GT and Amp).

Depth increase at full power is somewhere between 15% and 20% across all targets.

I hipmount using a really comfortable camera case....great protection.

Here is a pic,

Tony.

 

[plugger]

n/t

 

[plugger]

I use mine with the S-8 and I believe it gives me at least a 15% increase on the depth. I have a super new setup, but I haven't had the time to put it together. I had some leather pouches made for the AMP and Battery pack to go side by side with my hip mount fanny pack. All on a 2" belt with another side pouch for goodies. I promise some pics in the next week or so.

 

[plugger]

n/t

 

[plugger]

If this will be your first Sov, just go and hunt with it for a couple weeks and learn it "naked", no meter, no AMP, no nothing, just your ear! If you truly do, you will be a believer! I don't sell them, I just use them and I haven't found a machine I enjoy more than any model Sov, and I have had them all!

 

[Tony]

I use mine with the S-8 and I believe it gives me at least a 15% increase on the depth. I have a super new setup, but I haven't had the time to put it together. I had some leather pouches made for the AMP and Battery pack to go side by side with my hip mount fanny pack. All on a 2" belt with another side pouch for goodies. I promise some pics in the next week or so.

I shall look forward to seeing the pics !!!!

Tony.

 

[Critterhunter]

Thanks for the input. This isn't exactly my first rodeo as I've owned many of the machines out there through the years. I haven't met a machine I can't get to perform at it's best properly yet. I have, however, had machines that I didn't care for in either performance or being a "high maintenance" machine (IE: Explorer, XLT, DFX). If the Sovereign will do what you guys say it will do depth wise, has usuable audio harmonics and tones (unlike a "beep and dig" type of machine), and isn't a total pig in some other respect that nobody has mentioned yet, then it'll be my next machine. I need max depth, just enough control to max the machine out, and a workable tone ID and VDI numbers. I don't want slugish top heavy software or features that are so obscure that they'll probably never be used. Not that I mind computerized detectors. The QXT is one, but it offers just enough control and not too much so that it has nice fast response and leaves no doubt in my mind that it's been set up properly for the site. The rest is up to the operator.

I'll pick up a used GT in any configuration so long as the price is right. If I find a base stock model at the right price then I'll add on later, but if I find one with some coils or other mods at the right price then I'll go that route. It's not like it can't be sold down the road if need be.

 

[Art (NWOH)]

If you hunt in severely noisy places you will kick yourself.
Electrical interference eats up the Sov. I got the QXT for places where interference is brutal on my Sovs ....it tolerates a lot more of it.

Do I know you from somewhere? Once or twice on the chat room?

HH

 

[Beachnut]

After 3, 2 to 3+ hour hunts under my belt, and having an older Whites 6000 DI Pro SL as my previous detector, here are my thoughts:

1. This GT is a very quiet machine! Trash has very little effect on it. So much so, that sometimes I question if i am finding everything. But my finds are still near par with what I was finding with my Whites. I have named my, (her) detector "Penny" as I have NEVER found so many penny's as with this machine. I was starting to think it would ONLY find Penny's but I am finding dimes nickels and quarters now too! After using this detector, I do not think I will be using my Whites very much anymore.

2. This GT is HEAVY! (And unbalanced). I think it is the coil weight more than the control box. My whites is very well balanced, yet also heavy, as it is Old School mid 90's vintage, analog meter. Yet the 9.5" coil on the Whites is very light, and with the S shaft, it is very well balanced, and not that fatiguing to hunt with for 4+ hours if your strong! This GT is kicking my BUTT! The stock 10" coil is HEAVY! I hip mounted the box on my last hunt and that helped quite a bit, but swinging that weight on the end of that shaft still takes a lot out of you. I am finding, and gaining new muscles that I previously did not have!

3. I am not too sure how useful the meter really is. Yea, I can tell it is a quarter as I set it to "170", but really, anything over 135 I am going to dig, and I can already pretty much tell that it is above 135 just by the sound the GT is making over the target without looking at the meter. So unless you are doing parks, or somewhere that it is hard to dig, I do not think the meter is all that useful, or needed. (Probably why they sell the GT without the meter).

4. My wife has a new Whites MXT, and she gets too many false targets in the wet sand, (even in her "salt" G.B. mode) for her to bother hunting that valuable area, same with my 6000, just too many false targets. The GT has such a great ground balance that it is the same on dry sand as under the salt water, quiet, very effective, and very very few false holes dug for trash. My bottle cap, pull tab, and trash digs have dropped by more than 2/3rds with this machine when compared to my Whites. This GT just seems to hit more on the REAL targets, rather than the Trash! That equals about 2/3rds less digging also!

I would agree with others here, get the stock GT and learn it first, before you buy any extras. The GT really IS a great machine!

Beachnut

 

[Critterhunter]

If you hunt in severely noisy places you will kick yourself.
Electrical interference eats up the Sov. I got the QXT for places where interference is brutal on my Sovs ....it tolerates a lot more of it.

Do I know you from somewhere? Once or twice on the chat room?

HH

Are you using the GT with it's 2 band noise cancelling? I've heard it's pretty good around interference if you use that. No, I've never been in the chat rooms. You might have seen my name from the QXT tips page on JB's website and the field guide I wrote.

I'm a little confused about the ground tracking on the GT. From what I'm hearing it only has ground balancing and the ability to lock it at fixed or track in all metal. So, is there no need for it in discriminate due to the multifrequency? I'm just a little concerned about this effecting performance, or if the BBS technology makes it a non-issue?

 

[Art (NWOH)]

The band switch on the GT has not done enough good in miy hunting spots to bother with it.

All metal gets you through some really bad dirt that is very rough in disc mode. Operation is so much different between the modes that it's like having two completely different detectors.
HH

 

[kered]

In Disc mode the GT uses digital filtering and it works a treat, unless you give it too much candy

 

[Critterhunter]

I really must start searching the threads in this forum before asking all these questions, as I've found tons of information that address the various questions I've had in several threads threads I started. Anyway, one thing I haven't found the answer to yet is a comparison of the various AMPS out there for the Sovereign. Thus far I've seen three or four. Three of them being used on the RX signal while only one being used on the transmit coil. Has anybody tried these various amps? How well did they work and increase depth, and which do you consider being the best?

As a side question, I'm wondering if anybody has found a good cheap pair of headphones at a local chain store that work well with the Sovereign. My KOSS headphones are a little worse for wear these days. By the way, I've heard that to achieve best depth on the Sovereign on faint signals it's best to crank the volume all the way up on the GT and then lower it to your comfort level on your headphones themselves?

While I'm writing, I'm wondering if these new DigiSearch meters are easier to see on the GT than previous ones were on various models? From what I've read it sounds like they can be a real pain but that was refering to the old Minelab meters. Did they correct this problem or does the straight shaft that comes with the GT help? If not, does anybody have an easy way to mod the meter and lift or tilt it back some for easier viewing without resorting to paying $10-$20 for an aftermarket job. Just hate the idea of paying that much for a piece of plastic.

Lastly, does the GT still benefit from using rubber O-rings on the dials and even the meter's POT? I was a little confused at to the way you are supposed to install these. Do you pop off the dial or just stretch it over it, and where does it sit?

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[Critterhunter]

I've been sifting through old threads researching the various things about the Sovereign and have another few questions that I can't find answers to. I've seen mention of a "performance" tuning done by Dixie Detectors but all the links show nothing. I'm wondering if there are DIY instructions for doing this. I do have some experience in electronics and electrionic calibration equipment of various types so I'd like to do this. What kind of performance increase does it give?

Also, I've seen reference to changing the tones via the internals. Has anybody done this and what does it do? Does it simply just raise or lower the entire scale of tones, or does it stretch them out so there is more variability between the lows and highs? I have high frequency nerve damage (didn't know it until a routine check up last year) and perhaps lowering the tones would help me to identify them better? Really I haven't had a problem with hearing the high tone and it's "variations" on the QXT Pro. In reality there is only one high tone but subtle variations in it help me to figure out clad versus silver dimes and quarters and a few other things.

 

[Rick(ND)]

The Tones setting will lower or raise the scale of all the tones for your personal preference, most leave them right where they are. I too have a hearing loss, but very severe in the high tones and completely deaf in the real high tones and bad in all the others so I need a set of headphones that have the volume. I found that the Timberwolfs work the best for me on the Sovereigns. I can hear the highest tones the Sovereign give out with the factory setting and have bought and used ones that have had the tones changed and it does not work as good as the factory settings.
Been using a Sovereign since 1997 and there is no magic pill, just have to get out and use it and learn the language so you know what it is telling you. This is easy for some and hard for others and many will give up before they get to know the Sovereign. Those that master it or even gets close will tell you it is one of the best detectors they ever used. Like I say there is no magic pill like different coils, different mods or add on amps that will help you until you learn the Sovereigns which is done by using it and learn as you go.
Few tips is don't go to the trashiest area first, maybe do a lot of area where there is a lot of newer coins at to help learn the tones, then to a area where there maybe not much trash so you can go slow and listen for those deep weaker signal where the tone of the threshold only changes and are repeatable.
Just remember you got to pay your dues like we all did by using it and understanding it before you will start to love the Sovereign. I bet after the first few days with the Sovereign most felt they made a big mistake getting the Sovereign, but after more time they liked it than after more time they really like it and finally after a lot of time and getting to see what this detector can do just love it and are finding some very nice finds.

Don't give up, get out to use it all you can and learn something new each time out.

Recommended accessories for the Sovereigns is first a good 180 meter to help understanding the tones, second is the Sun Ray S-1 pinpointing probe to help locate some of the targets so you can find them faster and in some case Even find them at all so you don't leave some nice find for someone else, you will find more each time out as you will find them faster. Next is your coil or coils you may need, some like the real big ones, some need the small ones while some need several. With the GT I have the stock one and the 8 inch coinsearch coil, but haven't used the 8 inch all year as the stock coils on the GT has been doing good for me.

Good Luck, go slow, and have patience it will be worth it in the end.

Rick