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Most of the older hunters on here are familiar with the Depthmaster signal enhancers from the 80's and 90's that were made by Detector Electronics. They plugged into the headphone jack and the headphones plugged into the Depthmaster unit and were held on the detector control box with velcro.
There was several variations made to cover most all of the detectors at the time. I recently got a Depthmaster Plus from a buddy to use on my Silver
For sure Joe! Two things this ole timer hung on to over the years was my "spare" X2 Super 7 coil, and my DepthMaster Plus. I realized right off that the Super 7 would be hard to come by later on, and that the DM Plus would also come to be a rare one also . Both keepers for sure!! I think there may be even fewer of the "Plus" versions by DepthMaster than we realize. You are the only one I have read of as to having that version. Moreso have I heard mention of some of the other versions, and they too have all been been spoken well of. HH Charlie
The one I had years ago also had a limiter on it so one did not get get blown away by surface targets which was not mentioned in previous posts.. I know they made several versions and on most units of that time did add depth. Not sure how they would act on the depth demons of today.
Dan, you are correct about the Depthmasters having a limiter built in to prevent loud blasts from surface targets. There was at least 5 different versions of the Depthmasters made I am aware of and possibly several more units made by different companies. The Depthmasters worked great on the 1200x
Fishers I had back in the 80's and 90's. One target I found back in the 80's still sticks out in my mind....It was a sterling silver victorian medal that said ' reward of genius' on a banner and suspended below the banner was a half dollar sized medal with gold washed edges with a patent attorneys information on it. I found it in a small city park at an honest 14 inches or so with a Fisher 1260 with a Depthmaster. They most definately worked....but as you say, not sure what they would do for todays powerful detectors, but still worthy of being used on some of the detectors like my Silver
Do you guys know if the depth master would work on a compadre? I love my compadre. I have had it for less than
6 months now and it has more than paid for itself. My next machine will definitely be another Tesoro. I will never get rid of my compadre, even after I upgrade. The silver umax sounds amazing. Had a guy in the park the other day who had an whites mxt pro drooling over my compadre after I told him how much it cost and what it would do. he seemed a little overwhelmed by the mxt pro and needed to have started with something simpler.
I wonder what could be inside a depth master. If it is powered by 1AA, there could be a single transistor amplifier and maybe a diode based limiter? If they are not manufactured anymore, maybe they could be reverse-engineered and an open source project could be based on it. If we could get some clear pictures of the inside, it should not be a very difficult task. And putting one together should be very easy as well.
I love Google The circuit is described in this patent: http://www.google.com/patents?id=mMwxAAAAEBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=David+Bernzweig&hl=en&ei=pv68Tt62H8bCtAb888jEAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA
And it is what I said - a single transistor amplifier with a diode limiter or volume control The patent even contains the part values. Anyone can make one, that is great.
I used a Depthmaster Champion system on my Bandido II in the early 90s.
Problem was is that all of the signals sounded the same weather they were deep or shallow.
You could Also get the Depthmaster super phones with the depthmaster built in.
could no longer tell if it was a deep target or a inch in the ground.
But other than that it worked great.
Actually, that is the point - you cannot tell if the target is deep or not. But you can hear the deep targets better. That is why there should be a bypass switch.
Deep targets rarely have a solid tone that isnt broken or crackling with this detector.
So this box just makes them louder? As in theyll sound just like shallow trash?
I dont see how that's useful.
There are occasions, where a thing like this would be helpful - for example a windy day on a beach where a relatively silent target could get missed. It also depends on how the audio is made. Silver should get some benefit from using an amplifier but maybe not as much as other detectors. Some will not get any benefit at all - the thing would be useless on most of digital multitone machines for example.
Hi Roger, you pretty much nailed it when you mentioned the "older hunters" because they are certainly the ones likely to understand the real importance of their hearing. not being what it once was. Most younger guys don't have a clue as to the true importance of "hearing protection" and what it will amount to 20-40 years down the road. Hearing aids are not always the cure you would hope for. I was told by the VA back in the 80s' that the type hearing loss that I have can't be helped to any significant degree with a hearing aid. My 40+ years of being surrounded in heavy construction machinery'/tools etc.with every kind of "noise" you can imagine being wound out at full blast/,whine/screetch/ scream etc. has taken it's toll on my hearing. Even "protection" when worn does very little good in many situations.Not to mention natural hearing loss due simply to old age. God fixed us so we simply wear out.Any increase in the audio of a deep good or bad signal should be seen as an aid for us old guys(or ot so old) in having better days in the dirt. You younguns best be serious in protecting your hearing as best you can so you can continue to hear those deep goodies. HH, Charlie
on the older Tesoros like the Bandido and Bandido II non micro. The deeper the target the fainter the signal would be.
The depthmaster did help.
But it made all of the signals sound alike.
And reduced the sound on those ear blaster surface signals.
I do not know how it would work on the new Models.
You are supposed to hunt with the Depthmaster off, when you get a signal that is deep and hard to make out, iffy, faint- switch on the depthmaster and it will boost ,and clarify. Its just another tool to help you make your decision weather to dig or not.
In the 80s i had one but it did not take batteries,it looked like a cable tv filter you see on cable lines.I used it on tesoro built pillar reale.It would limit loud blast w
hile enhancing weak signals.I liked it.I think i saw something similar on the net at docs detecting supplies.
The circuit is described in this patent: http://www.google.com/patents?id=mMwxAAAAEBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=David+Bernzweig&hl=en&ei=pv68Tt62H8bCtAb888jEAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA