Sovereign GT - The Three Kings of Depth

[Bryannagirl]

There are three controls on my GT that seem to be the kings of controlling depth. The are the Volume knob, the Sensitivity knob, and the Threshold knob.. From what I can tell increasing the Volume knob from off to increases depth. I also noticed it had some interaction with threshold. I also noticed on my unit that volume seems to drop when I go past the 3 o'clock position is that normal? The sensitivity adjustment seems obvious more means more depth if the unit stays stable. The auto position seems to do a pretty good job so for the most part have left mine in auto till I am more comfortable with everything else. - A side note - I did turn the sensitivity all the way down and found she still had pretty decent depth may 6 inches. Then comes threshold have been setting this so it just buzzes in my ear. Do wonder if that is too low or not. At that low level it is harder to hear the Peak Tone Hold maybe some louder head phones would help. I just figured running it on the endge of Audible will improve my chances of hearing a faint target. Any comments or suggestions on the use of the Three Kings would be appreciated.

Last would like to know how important it is to ground balance when you get to a site. If I understand correctly in discriminate mode it is not necessary. But it is important in the All Metal mode. Any comments on how you use all metal and when and if you ground balance would also be very helpful.

Thanks

Bryanna

 

[deepdiger60]

Bryanna the Sov GT is one of the best land and beach machines made so far it is incredibly easy to operate basically turn on and hunt with a few minor adjustments to the sensitivity and threshold i rarely use all metal mode , in disc. mode i have found 100,s of coins and relics over the last 3 years field hunting and beach hunting some very deep depending on which coil your using, getting used to the tones can take awhile but that happens quick the more you use it the better it gets , i use Black Widow HP,s i can hear the slightest whisper of a target i run at full volume on the GT but i can adjust the volume on my head phones with a barley audible threshold with that you can hit a target and the threshold will go away and you will get a loud signal . Like i said a very easy machine to use and learn, learn your sensitivity knob when you hit a target take it out of auto and turn it clock wise until you get the best signal i like to run between 11am and 1pm in that range . Also having a 180 target meter can be very useful on ID,ing tagets. I am sure there is alot more people in this forum that will chime in with much more experience and years on the GT then i have . Hunt low n slow Good luck Jim .

 

[Critterhunter]

Auto on the GT will not ride as high as on the Etrac. That said, Auto on the GT in my soil will still get deeper than ANY machine I've ever owned using a static manual setting. That alone blows my mind. Minelab chimed in a year or two back and said that the volume should be full blast on the Sovereing, and that it should then be adjusted on the headphones to a comfortable level. They said that this will insure hearing the deepest of targets. That said, lacking a volume control on my heaphones and no limiter circuit to drop down the loudness of surface blasts, I keep my GT's volume all the way down. Yet, in my tests, I seem to hear the slightest of first target response at extreme depth, so I'm not sure if full volume is in fact critical on the Sovereign for other reasons or if in fact they just said that to insure you'd hear the target.

Threshold should not only be loud enough to hear, but also loud enough to hear WHEN it changes to another tone that your hearing might be less sensitive to. For that reason, if you are hunting and the threshold seems to go away and not come back, sit still for a second and see if it returns due to too high of a sensitivity, too fast of a sweep speed, or the fact you were going over iron. If it doesn't come back then chances are it switched to a frequency you are not good at hearing. Turn up the threshold then, because you want to hear it no matter what it changes to.

In all metal...Yes...You must grand balance if using Fixed mode. If you hunt in tracking mode then sweep around for a few minutes and then switch to fixed, or pump the coil slowly up and down in a CLEAN spot until it stays stabile from air to ground and vise versa...Or, slight increase as you approach and SOFTLY kiss the ground will balance it slightly hot and give best depth. Either way, fixed will give best depth. Only use tracking if the soill i changing quickily due to disturbance, changing ground, or so on. Fixed will get you more depth once set. But, in certain situations, such as going from wet to dry beach hunting or fill dirt and such, tracking is the best option. Personaly I never hardly hunt in all metal, because I have found in my limiting testing that discriminate is deeper than PP mode or all metal in my soil. However, a low conductor suchs at a gold chain or such will of course give me a better response in PP mode or all metal.

 

[Bryannagirl]

Thanks Critter and Jim - good info - I have noticed that a lot of Beach hunters with the Excal use PinPoint to hunt and check in Disc. I tried this on my first hunt but feel like you it is better to hunt in Disc. I guess what I was wondering is if GB has any affect on the Disc mode - I think the answer is no so that means I only need to GB if I plan to hunt in all metal. I think I may need to turn up my threshold since I do hear it go blank from time to time.

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Bry,Disc mode doesn't require to be ground balanced.Good Luck Ron

 

[deepdiger60]

Thanks Critter and Jim - good info - I have noticed that a lot of Beach hunters with the Excal use PinPoint to hunt and check in Disc. I tried this on my first hunt but feel like you it is better to hunt in Disc. I guess what I was wondering is if GB has any affect on the Disc mode - I think the answer is no so that means I only need to GB if I plan to hunt in all metal. I think I may need to turn up my threshold since I do hear it go blank from time to time.

Bry when your in disc.mode and your threshold goes blank most likely your over a iron target it,s hard to tell if your not using a target meter at first you will get that null sound , it will change once you move off the iron and hit a good target leave the threshold set low no need for it to be cranked up . Jim HH

 

[Critterhunter]

Yea, the threshold going away is either: too high of sensitivity (but try slowing down your sweep more first before lowering it), going too fast with your sweeping, or you are going over iron. Or, as said, it can be it's switched to a pitch you can't hear well. Hold the coil still and see if it comes back. If it doesn't then you can't hear that pitch, so tweak the threshold up a hair more until you can just hear it. Also, how to know if it's iron or too fast of a sweep or too high of sensitivity? Sweep over the same spot where it nulled. If it happens every time it's iron. If it doesn't then you're sweeping too fast or sensitivity is too high.

 

[jamesinwesttexas]

On Dec. 10, 29, and 30, 2011 on this forum, comments were made on this subject by Darkflamedesign and RickND. I would like to see some more discussion about ground balancing although I never do it prior to hunting in disc. Good Luck.

 

[Bryannagirl]

Thanks will have see if I can find those, this discussion kind of leads to another but related discussion on what is Deeper All Metal, All Metal PinPoint or Discriminate mode. I read a lot of posts from the UK and over there they seem to think at least in bad ground that All Metal performers better then Discriminate. But the caveat is bad ground which is why the GT with Accutrack should perform better the previous models. Also begs the question is the Sov still multi Freq when in All Metal and is the only difference not processing the signal through discriminate circuit. If that is true I would tend to think All Metal is deeper.

On Dec. 10, 29, and 30, 2011 on this forum, comments were made on this subject by Darkflamedesign and RickND. I would like to see some more discussion about ground balancing although I never do it prior to hunting in disc. Good Luck.

 

[deepdiger60]

Look for this booklet on e-bay read the entire post at the end is a e-bay look up number i think it cost 4 bucks 15 pages of very useful information on the GT Jim
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/minelab/275174-great-gift-i-recieved-minelab-master-hunting-modes-sovgt-but-who-made.html

 

[Critterhunter]

Some Excal guys swear PP mode is deeper on those machines than disc while others say disc is. I think it might be the type of ground being hunted that makes the difference. On my GT there are some deep targets that disc hits fine but PP mode can't seem to see for me, so I suspect PP mode is not as deep on my GT in my soil, and that maybe the Excal (some have suggested this) has a different PP mode than the Sovereign? Now, all metal fixed on the GT might in fact be deeper than disc but I really haven't compared it much myself yet to see. Way I look at it I'm already getting deeper in disc in my soil than any other machine has for me, so WHY would I want to use All Metal anyway? I can tell you that no machine I've ever owned was deeper in all metal than it was in disc. At least that's the way my tests always looked on that in the past. I think a lot of the all metal being deeper stuff originates from the older machines up until the late 80's or so when the discrimination circuits were much more primative than they are now.

Now, one interesting question...In iron rich soil could it be that PP or all metal will see a deeper target only because disc is ignoring it due to the microscopic iron in the soil? Could very well be, and perhaps that's where some feel PP or all metal is deeper for them. I know if I was looking for gold chains too I'd be using either of those two modes, because it's conductivity could easily drop into the iron range too.

PP mode DOES NOT use a ground balance. It's a form of all metal that doesn't use one. I think it's a variation of all metal from some of the older machines of the 80's or earlier in that respect. Some of those machines had a no-ground-balance form of All Metal. Why was it abandoned in favor of all metal with a ground balance on those machines? Because it can be somewhat unstable and noisy, but oddly it doesn't seem to be that way in PP mode on the Excal or Sovereign.

 

[imalookin2]

If you are switched on to silent threshold it will change with the volume control. Leave it on threshold and adjust your settings and volume. Set your volume to full then the threshold to very faint. If it is in silent mode it acts different. I think that is what you were doing.

 

[rick5224]

The best thing you can do is put Ron's meter on it. I put it on mine recently and went relic hunting on the 4 at an 1843 plantation here in SC found 1883 indian my oldest coin,I was jumping around near the house when I found the coins also 1942 wheaty.the meter is great on land I take it off for beach hunting.

 

[Bryannagirl]

Got the Minelab Meter - works but the tuning sure gets bumped out of cal pretty easy. Also want a different shaft with a meter mount up high and easy to see.

quote=rick5224]
The best thing you can do is put Ron's meter on it. I put it on mine recently and went relic hunting on the 4 at an 1843 plantation here in SC found 1883 indian my oldest coin,I was jumping around near the house when I found the coins also 1942 wheaty.the meter is great on land I take it off for beach hunting.[/quote]

 

[Critterhunter]

Plugger sells shafts that are very high quality and even certain models have the Soveriegn V-Clip mounted on top of the grip to mount the meter. Check him out. People seem to love them. Make sure you get the right model as some are for older Sovereigns that I think used another V-clip for the control box while others are for the GT and Elite. Check Fleabay or I think one of Findmall's sponsors carries Pluggers shafts? Anybody? I built my own custom light weight shaft and mounted the meter on top of my bike end bar grip via a copper pipe hangar that others on here tipped me off to. You drill the rivets out of the v-clip and then mount it on the pipe hangar via a couple of flat head screws so it will clear the meter when slid on. With Ron's meter though you don't need to do this as it stands up so you can see it easily in the stock location.